► Ukrainian President visits the Eastern Front
The Ukrainian president visited Tuesday, December 6 near the Donbass front, not far from Bakhmout, the main battlefield in eastern Ukraine where the Ukrainian army has been resisting the Russian offensive for months.
President Volodymyr Zelensky released three videos of him in Donbass, a region which Moscow claimed for annexation in September, without however fully controlling it. “The east of Ukraine is the axis (you front) the hardest “he told military personnel on Armed Forces Day. “Thank you for your resilience”, he added, before presenting decorations to some of these men. In another video made in front of the entrance to the city of Sloviansk, the Ukrainian head of state greeted “all those who gave their life to Ukraine”.
► Russia accuses Ukraine of strikes on its territory
Moscow has denounced in the past two days Ukrainian attacks on military airfields, including two which are several hundred kilometers from the border. Kyiv has not officially admitted any responsibility for these actions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov for his part described them as “dangerous factor”adding, without providing details, that “necessary measures will be taken”.
The Russian newspaper Kommersant assures that Ukraine used Soviet TU-141 drones to strike, on Monday, the Engels base, located 500 km from the nearest Ukrainian border and which houses strategic bombers.
The British Ministry of Defense estimated on Tuesday that if kyiv had been able to carry out such an operation, Moscow must consider it as “the most significant strategic failure to protect its forces since the invasion of Ukraine”.
Tuesday morning, another drone attack, in the Kursk airfield area, near the Ukrainian border this time, set fire to a fuel tank.
► Emmanuel Macron explains security guarantees to Russia
Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday refuted any controversy after his remarks on future security guarantees to be provided to Russia, which were poorly received in kyiv and in eastern Europe. “I think we shouldn’t make big cases, try to create controversy where there is none”he said on his arrival at the EU-Balkans summit in Tirana.
“I have always said the same thing, that is, in the end, in the peace talks, there will be territorial issues about Ukraine and they belong to the Ukrainians and there will be issues of collective security throughout the region”he added.
The French president explained on Saturday that he had exchanged with his American counterpart Joe Biden on “the security architecture in which we want to live tomorrow”referring to the fact that it would be necessary to give “guarantees for its own security to Russia the day it returns to the table” negotiations.
► The EU wants to circumvent the Hungarian veto on financial aid to Ukraine
The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union, which represents the member states, announced on Tuesday that it would try to circumvent the Hungarian veto against financial aid to Ukraine for 2023 in order to be able to start disbursements in early January.
Hungary confirmed on the same day its blocking of European financial support to Ukraine to the tune of 18 billion euros, during a meeting of EU finance ministers (Ecofin) in Brussels.
“We are not going to be discouraged, our ambition remains to start disbursing our aid to Ukraine in early January”said Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura, who chaired Tuesday’s meeting, during a public session.
He asked the Economic and Financial Committee, an EU advisory body, to examine technical solutions « alternatives » to circumvent the blockade of Budapest. “This means that we would seek a solution supported by 26 member states”, he said. Aid to Ukraine is one of a series of issues blocked by Budapest in a tussle with the Commission over rule of law issues.