Victory Chronicles-DAY 1041

U.S. President Joe Biden has announced that Washington will provide Ukraine with nearly $2.5 billion in security assistance. 

He expressed pride in providing this support to Kyiv as it fights to retain its independence and freedom from Russian aggression. The funding includes a $1.25 billion drawdown of U.S. military equipment for the Ukrainian military and a $1.22 billion Security Assistance Initiative for Ukraine (USAI) package. 

The Ukrainian Defense Ministry has already allocated all remaining USAI funds. 

Biden has instructed his administration to continue providing Ukraine with as much assistance as possible, including the write-off of older U.S. equipment, rapid delivery to the battlefield, and the restoration of the U.S. defense industrial base. 

He reassured that under his leadership, Washington will work tirelessly to strengthen Ukraine’s position in the war for the remainder of his term in office, which ends on Jan. 20.

Ukraine secures $15 billion stemming from frozen Russian sovereign assets. The U.S. is providing the loan backed by frozen Russian assets through the Washington-based World Bank, according to Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. The agreement was respectively signed by Ukraine’s Finance and the World Bank. 

These funds will be allocated for social and humanitarian spending as part of the PEACE in Ukraine project. The $15 billion is a part of the US contribution of $20 billion under the G7 initiative to provide assistance to Ukraine with the use of nearly $330 billion in frozen Russian assets. This funding will support Ukraine in addressing its social and humanitarian needs.

Rescuers in the Donetsk regional town of Pokrovsk are targeted by Russian artillery while extinguishing a fire. On Dec. 28, Russian occupiers shelled a residential area of Pokrovsk, hitting a building and causing a fire. The first responders were able to contain the fire, but due to the repeated shelling and the threat to their lives, they had to suspend their firefighting efforts.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, in cooperation with the Tavria operational and strategic group, successfully destroys an enemy headquarters in the Zaporizhzhia region. A Ukrainian military aerial reconnaissance operation led to the discovery of a Russian command and control post located in an area temporarily occupied by the enemy. Based on this intelligence, a missile strike was carried out in cooperation with the Tavria air defense system, resulting in the destruction of the Russian occupant’s headquarters. The operation also resulted in the death of six invaders and left three others seriously wounded. 

Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov explicitly rejected two suggestions reportedly considered by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team in early November as conditions for ending the war in Ukraine – the delay of Ukraine’s membership in NATO for 20 years and the deployment of European peacekeepers in Ukraine. 

Lavrov told Kremlin newswire TASS on Dec. 29 that Russia is “not satisfied” with the Trump team’s proposals to delay Ukraine’s membership in NATO for 20 years and to station a European peacekeeping contingent in Ukraine.

By doing so, Russia’s top diplomat is amplifying Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin’s Decc 26 explicit rejection of the Trump team’s reported suggestion to delay Ukraine’s membership in NATO for 20 years. 

Lavrov stated that any agreements to end the war in Ukraine “must eliminate the root causes” of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and “must establish a mechanism to make it impossible to violate them.” 

He said in a Dec. 26 interview that the two main “root causes” of the war are NATO’s alleged violation of obligations to not advance eastward and “aggressive absorption” of areas near Russia’s borders and Kyiv’s alleged discrimination against ethnic Russians and Russian language, media, and culture in Ukraine. 

Lavrov’s statements are part of ongoing senior Russian officials’ statements that the Kremlin refuses to consider any compromises on Putin’s late 2021 and early 2022 demands. These demands include forcing Ukraine to become a permanently neutral state that will never join NATO, imposing severe limitations on the size of the Ukrainian military, and for the current Ukrainian government to be removed.

Sgt. Kyrylo Ulman, codenamed Nemets, was killed by an enemy sniper’s bullet on Feb. 15 near the city of Avdiivka, Donetsk region. He was 26 years old. Ulman was born in the city of Dnipro. He lived with his family in Kyiv. He was an entrepreneur, the founder of a Ukrainian company that produces a soft drink based on kombucha.

He joined the 3rd Assault Brigade when Russia’s all-out war started in February 2022 and served in an anti-armor battalion. For the successful completion of a combat mission in the battles for Klishchivka, Donetsk region, he was awarded the Golden Cross. In February, the soldier took part in heavy fighting near the Avdiivka Coke Plant. On Feb. 13, his unit was ordered to move into a landing near Avdiivka to prevent the enemy from breaking through to the so-called “road of life” that linked Ukrainian forces with the city’s garrison. 

Knowing what to do, Ulman without hesitation organized a high-quality defense together with soldiers of neighbouring units. They managed to gain a foothold in the necessary areas, but the enemy managed to bring in a significant number of reserves. 

Close firefights began. Ulman took part in them together with his unit. He personally assisted the wounded and organized their evacuation, saving 4 comrades and replacing one of the wounded at a firing position. He worked with a PKM (Kalashnikov’s machine gun), covering one of the flanks to prevent an enemy maneuver. Until the last minute, he provided precision fire while destroying and pinning the enemy down.

“Kyrylo’s death became a motivation! It did not frighten his fighters, did not make them want to hide, did not make them lose faith in the common cause — it encourages them to take up arms, master them and ruthlessly wipe the enemy off the face of the earth. And it also increases people’s involvement in the war. That’s how heroes go, leaving behind their memory, ideas, deeds and inspiration,” the widowed wife said.

The defender was buried on the Alley of Glory at the Lesnoye Cemetery in Kyiv. Ulman is survived by his wife, sister and parents.

*Kyrylo’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

• Finland finds anchor drag marks left by tanker that broke cables
• Russia loses over 2,000 soldiers in one day
• Zelenskyy proposes that Canada increase funding for Ukrainian weapons production
• Azerbaijani president demands compensation and admission of guilt from Russia over downed plane
• UK Defense Intelligence: Russia writes off loans to contract soldiers to make up for significant casualties in Ukraine
• Russian smugglers import luxury cars from Europe despite sanctions