‘Waiting Out Our Coalition Is a Losing Strategy’ – Ukraine at War Update for Oct. 24

President Zelensky meets with leaders of “civil society” to discuss internal Victory Plan

According to the presidential office website, President Volodymyr Zelensky met with “representatives of Ukraine's civil society, discussed the Victory Plan with them, and called for cooperation in implementing its points.”

Zelensky said that “civil society can help unite Ukrainians and the international community to support Ukraine. Our victory requires exactly the kind of unity we had in the early days of the full-scale Russian invasion.”

The meeting, moderated by International Renaissance Foundation Executive Director Oleksandr Sushko, included leaders of various organizations, from the ZMINA Human Rights Center and the Anti-Corruption Action Center to the Black Sea Institute for Strategic Studies and the Victory Drones project.

According to the president’s website: “The conversation mainly focused on the contribution of Ukraine’s civil society to Ukraine’s victory and its potential for promoting the Victory Plan.”

Zelensky said that, together with his team, he will consider all the proposals made by the meeting participants in various areas; he invited civil society to join the development of the internal Plan and thanked them for their willingness to cooperate.

Trump’s one-time White House chief of staff used the political F-word to describe the former US president

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Former US President and the Republican party’s nominee for the US presidential election on Nov. 5 was described as fascist by his former, and longest-serving White House Chief of Staff and retired US Marine Corps (USMC) General John Kelly, in an interview with the New York Times.

The telephone interview audio and transcription were released less than a fortnight before Americans finalize their choice in the 2024 presidential race between the former president and the current Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate.

Kelly first read a dictionary definition of the word fascism and then noted how he believes Trump meets the criteria. According to him: “It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterized by a dictatorial leader, centralized autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy.”

Kelly said Trump admired dictators and especially wished he had generals who were loyal and followed orders as Adolf Hitler’s top officers did.

According to Kelly, “Certainly, the former president is in the far-right area, he’s certainly an authoritarian, admires people who are dictators – he has said that. So, he certainly falls into the general definition of fascist, for sure.”

Kelly served as the White House Chief of Staff from 2017 to 2019, the longest tenure in the Trump administration.

The retired USMC four-star officer shares the belief that Trump is fascist with two others who served under Trump: former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley and former Secretary of Defense Gen. James Mattis. Milley told the Washington Post that “Trump is fascist to the core,” while Mattis said Trump is “a dangerous threat” to democracy.

G7 nations agree to $50 billion in loans for Kyiv, secured by frozen Russian assets

The Group of Seven wealthy democracies agreed to offer a new $50 billion loan in 2024, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Wednesday.

The loan would be secured by profits from the interest on Russian assets frozen after President Vladimir Putin began the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

“This loan initiative will provide Ukraine with urgently needed funds and will make funds available by the end of this year,” Yellen said, before meeting in Washington with Ukrainian Minister of Finance Sergiy Marchenko.

“It will send a message to Putin that waiting out our coalition is a losing strategy,” Yellen said.

President Joe Biden said the US would provide $20 billion of the total G7 loans “that will be paid back by the interest earned from immobilized Russian sovereign assets.”

President Zelensky posted on X (formerly Twitter): “This assistance will truly support us, and it is important that it be implemented this year. I am grateful to the United States and to the entire G7.”