Good morning from Kyiv. The city remains on high alert and braced for yet another Russian mass missile attack, after an air raid warning across the entire country yesterday turned out to be a false alarm.
Despite the imminent danger, Ukrainian officials were in a defiant mood on Tuesday. “Is there anything else you can scare us with?” said Yuriy Ihnat, senior Ukraine Air Force spokesman.
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“I want to remind you that we already experienced the worst in February to March, when hundreds of missiles flew at our heads every day. We’ve all seen it, how can we still be afraid of something?”
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What’s happening today?
Potential missile strikes aside, it’s day two of the NATO summit of Foreign Ministers in Bucharest.
Ukraine is urging its allies to help restore its shattered power grid and speed up weapons deliveries, particularly air defense systems. The news so far has been a bit mixed, with some promises made on energy structure but a lot of feet-dragging on everything else.
Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said his request to fellow NATO ministers was simple: “Keep calm and give tanks.” You can read more on this story here
What was Zelensky’s latest message?
In his daily televised address on Tuesday evening, the Ukrainian president spoke of the “difficult” situation on the front lines.
He said: “Despite extremely big Russian losses, the occupiers are still trying to advance in the Donetsk region, gain a foothold in the Luhansk region, move in the Kharkiv region, and are planning something in the south.
‘Ukraine Doing Everything to Ensure 2025 Becomes a Year of Lasting Peace’ – Ukraine at War Update for Dec. 25
“But we are holding out.”
You can read a report on what the situation in the highly-contested Bakhmut area is like for Ukrainian medics here.
What else is happening on the front lines?
The Institute for the Study of War’s Nov. 28 daily assessment covers a multitude of topics, most notably:
- Russian forces made marginal gains around Bakhmut on 29, but Russian forces remain unlikely to have advanced at the tempo that Russian sources claimed;
- Russian forces continued to struggle with outdated equipment and domestic personnel shortages amid official actions indicative of a probable second wave of mobilization;
- An independent investigation found that Russia may have transported thousands of Ukrainian prisoners from penal colonies in occupied Ukraine to Russia following the withdrawal from the west bank of Kherson Oblast.
Anything else I need to know about?
The U.K. Ministry of Defense (MoD) notes that amendments to the 2012 Foreign Agents Law passed by Russian President Vladimir Putin come into force on Thursday Nov. 30, and will “further extend the repressive powers available to the Russian state.”
The MoD says: “The Ministry of Justice will… have the power to publish the personal details and addresses of designated ‘foreign agents’, almost certainly placing them at risk of harassment.”
A number of western media outlets including Bellingcat, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and many activists have been designated a “foreign agent” by Russia.
And that’s it for today’s Morning Memo. Kyiv Post will bring you the latest news throughout the day and we’ll be back with another edition tomorrow.
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