Weekly Update #96
 January 2, 2024

REFUGEE SITUATION

(as of 28 December 2023)

General Figures


Refugees from Ukraine recorded across Europe 

5,935,000

Last updated December 28 2023

Covers those granted refugee status, temporary asylum status, temporary protection, or statuses through similar national protection schemes, as well as those recorded in the country under other forms of stay 


Refugees from Ukraine recorded beyond Europe

403,600

Last updated November 28 2023

Covers those granted refugee status, temporary asylum status, temporary protection, or statuses through similar national protection schemes, as well as those recorded in the country under other forms of stay 


Refugees from Ukraine recorded globally

6,338,600

Last updated December 28 2023

 

Source: UNHCR collation of statistics made available by the authorities

STATUS OF THE CONFLICT

(as of 29 December 2023)

Russian forces conducted the largest series of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion on the morning of December 29. Ukrainian military sources reported that Russian forces launched 36 Shahed-136/131 drones and over 120 missiles of various sizes at industrial and military facilities and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Odesa cities and Sumy, Cherkasy, and Mykolaiv oblasts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Russian forces struck civilian infrastructure such as a maternity hospital, educational institutions, a shopping center, a commercial warehouse, and residential buildings in cities throughout Ukraine.


In an 18-hour onslaught, Russia launched 158 missiles and drones targeting locations across Ukraine, including in Kyiv, Lviv, Kharkiv, Sumy, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia regions among others.


The strike package that Russian forces launched on December 29 appears to be a culmination of several months of Russian experimentation with various drone and missile combinations and efforts to test Ukrainian air defenses. Over the past several months, Russian forces have conducted a series of missile and drone strikes of varying sizes, using various combinations of drones, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles.  In most of the more recent strikes, Russian forces notably used either exclusively Shahed-136/131 type drones or a majority of Shahed drones accompanied by a smaller number of missiles.  In contrast, the December 29 strike package included 36 Shahed drones and 120 missiles of various sizes. Ukrainian military officials, including have long noted that Russian forces frequently use Shahed-type drones to probe Ukrainian air defense and determine what strike routes most effectively circumvent Ukrainian air defense clusters.


Russian forces will likely conduct intensified strikes in the coming days to coincide with the New Year Holiday as they did last year in an effort to degrade Ukrainian morale. Russian forces may still decide to strike Ukrainian energy infrastructure at scale in the coming months.

________________________________________


Ukraine has pursued a concerted effort to expand its defense industrial base (DIB) in the past year, and the reported Russian strikes against industrial facilities likely mean to prevent Ukraine from developing key capacities to sustain operations for a longer war effort.


Current Russian missile and drone reserves and production rates likely do not allow Russian forces to conduct regular large-scale missile strikes, but likely do allow for more consistent drone strikes, which can explain the recent pattern of Russian strike packages. 


The Kremlin's efforts to sufficiently mobilize Russia's defense industrial base (DIB) in support of its wartime objectives, including large-scale strike series, may been more successful than Western officials previously assessed due in part to Russia’s ability to procure military equipment from its partners and the redistribution of Russia’s resources for military production purposes. 

________________________________________


Western aid remains vital for Ukraine’s ability to defend against Russian strikes, and the end of such aid would likely set conditions for an expanded Russian air campaign In Ukraine. Ukrainian air defenses, in part buttressed by Western-provided systems and missiles, are crucial for Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian missiles and drones throughout Ukraine, especially as Ukrainian officials have indicated that Ukraine lacks enough air defenses to evenly cover the country. Ukrainian air defenses have proven successful at pushing Russian aircraft and glide bombs away from Ukrainian cities and even the frontline in some areas. Western–provided air defense systems have thus kept Ukraine’s cities safe from bombing raids, which the Russian military would almost certainly begin to devastating effect in the absence of such systems.


Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday urged the international community to respond to Russia's latest aerial assault on Ukraine — the biggest since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. Britain will send about 200 air-defence missiles to Ukraine after the Russian strikes, the UK defence minister said on Friday.


The United Nations Security Council called an urgent meeting to discuss the escalating situation in Ukraine after Russia launched its biggest air attack of the war so far.  The United States, France and Britain were among the countries that condemned the attacks on Ukraine. In a statement issued by his spokesperson, secretary-general António Guterres said the attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine “violate international humanitarian law, are unacceptable and must end immediately”.

________________________________________


In its daily intelligence briefing, the MoD said the average daily number of Russian casualties (killed and wounded) had risen by almost 300 a day compared with 2022. “The increase in daily averages, as reported by the Ukrainian authorities, almost certainly reflects the degradation of Russia’s forces and its transition to a lower quality, high quantity mass army since the ‘partial mobilisation’ of reservists in September 2022.”


Russia has lost 359,230 combat personnel since its invasion of Ukraine last year, according to the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. A further 5,977 tanks and 11,070 armoured combat vehicles have been lost.


The high casualty rate, particularly among units such as the VDV that were considered elite before 2022, is largely a reflection of the fact that the Russian military command has chosen to pursue simultaneous offensive operations along the entire frontline, often prioritizing marginal gains at the cost of disproportionate losses. 


More than half a million Russian casualties in Ukraine by 2025, UK estimates. Russia will have sustained more than half a million personnel killed and wounded in its invasion of Ukraine by 2025, if casualties continue at the current rate, the UK believes.


The average daily number of the country’s troops injured or dead has risen by almost 300 per day over the course of 2023 compared to last year, according to the latest Defence Intelligence update.


The update said the increase “almost certainly” reflects the degradation of Russia’s forces and its transition to “a lower quality, high quantity mass army since the ‘partial mobilisation’ of reservists in September 2022”.


A declassified US intelligence assessment reportedly shared with Congress on December 12 stated that Russian forces have lost 315,000 personnel since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.   The current tempo and style of Russian offensives in Ukraine are reflective of these estimated casualty rates. Russian forces have conducted multiple waves of mass mechanized assaults and infantry-led assaults to capture Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, since October 10 despite heavy personnel losses, for example, and have rushed untrained VDV elements to defend against Ukrainian ground operations in the east bank of Kherson Oblast, where they have also taken heavy losses.


 The Russian military leadership has undertaken extensive force generation measures as part of efforts to offset manpower losses, however, including partial mobilization since September 2022 and ongoing crypto-mobilization efforts. 


The current casualty rate should not be taken as permanent—the Russian military command could change the tempo and pace of offensive operations or take time to reconstitute its forces for more effective future offensive operations. Ukraine's Western partners must guard against complacency when assessing Russian losses and operational failures in Ukraine, as ISW has previously assessed.


It will likely take Russia five to 10 years to rebuild a cohort of highly trained and experienced military units, it said.


Sources: ISW (December 29)

ISW (December 31)

CNN

Independent

The Guardian


_________________________________________________



Ukraine war: Three ways the conflict could go in 2024


The conflict in Ukraine is about to enter its third calendar year. The front lines have hardly moved in the last few months but could the course of the war change in 2024?


President Volodomyr Zelensky has admitted his country's spring offensive has not been the success he hoped. Russia still controls about 18% of Ukraine.  Three military analysts offer how they think the war will unfold in the next year.


1.  War will drag on but not indefinitely.

Barbara Zanchetta, Department of War Studies, King's College London


The prospects for an end of the war in Ukraine remain bleak. Compared with this time last year, Vladimir Putin is stronger, politically more than militarily.


The situation on the battleground remains uncertain. Recently, Ukraine's winter offensive seems to have come to a halt. But there is no Russian breakthrough, either. More than ever, the outcome depends on political decisions made miles away from the centre of the conflict - in Washington and in Brussels.


The West's impressive show of unity displayed in 2022, and that endured throughout 2023, is starting to vacillate.


The US defence aid package is held hostage by what President Biden rightly labelled "petty politics" in Washington. And the future of the EU's economic aid is seemingly dependent on Hungary's incongruous stance.

Hesitation in the West's capitals has emboldened Putin. His recent public appearances and defiant statements demonstrate that as far as he is concerned, Russia is in this for the long haul.


So, will the West have the strength and stamina to continue to oppose him and all that he represents?


The EU's decision to open membership talks with Ukraine and Moldova is more than just symbolic. It implicitly means continued backing for Kyiv, as a future in the EU for Ukraine would be impossible with a full-blown victory for Russia.


In Washington, a complete reversal of policy is unlikely. While it is tempting to depict doomsday scenarios for US assistance as Trump's ratings rise in the polls, the former president, amid all the theatrics, did not walk out from Nato in 2016. And he would not singlehandedly be able to revolutionise America's 75-year-long transatlantic partnership.


This is not to say that the recent cracks in the Western camp are meaningless. For the West, and therefore for Ukraine, 2024 will be more difficult.

For democracies, long-term consensus in support for war has always been more complicated than for autocrats with no accountability.


While it is likely that the war will drag on throughout 2024, it cannot drag on indefinitely. With Western hesitancy bolstering Russia, and in the absence of either a coup or a health-related issue leading to Putin's demise, the only foreseeable outcome will be a negotiated settlement that for now both sides continue to refuse.


2.  A year of consolidation ahead

Michael Clarke, former director general of the Royal United Services Institute


The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 saw the return of major war to the European continent. The course of the conflict in 2023 marked the fact that industrial-age warfare had returned too.

Industrial-age warfare bends significant parts, or in some cases whole economies, towards the production of war materials as matters of priority. Russia's defence budget has tripled since 2021 and will consume 30% of government spending next year.

This will make the war in Ukraine a longer and more traumatic enterprise than anything Europe has known since the middle of the last century. The coming year will demonstrate whether Russia - and its suppliers in North Korea and Iran - or Ukraine - and its Western backers - are able and prepared to meet the voracious demands of industrial-age warfare.


It would be wrong to say that the front lines in Ukraine are stalemated, but both sides are capable of fighting each other to a standstill as they each try to take strategic initiatives. Russian forces may try to push again along the entire front, at least to secure all of the Donbas region. Ukraine will probably try to exploit the success it has had in re-establishing its control over the western Black Sea and its vital trade corridor to the Bosphorus.


And Kyiv will likely also try to spring more military surprises on the Russian invaders to knock them off balance in some areas.


But in essence, 2024 looks like being a year of consolidation for both Kyiv and Moscow. Russia lacks the equipment and trained manpower to launch a strategic offensive until spring 2025, at the earliest.


Meanwhile, Ukraine needs Western finance and military support to keep it in the war during next year while it, too, builds up its intrinsic strengths to create the conditions for a series of liberating offensives in the future.

Industrial-age warfare is a struggle between societies. What happens on the battlefield becomes ultimately only the symptom of that struggle.


The military course of this war in 2024 will be determined in Moscow, Kyiv, Washington, Brussels, Beijing, Tehran and Pyongyang more than in Avdiivka, Tokmak, Kramatorsk or any of the devastated battlefields along the frontlines.



3.  Ukraine will press Russia around Crimea

Ben Hodges, former commanding general, United States Army Europe


Russia lacks a decisive, breakthrough capability to overrun Ukraine and will do what it can to hold on to what it currently occupies, using the time to strengthen its defences while it hopes for the West to lose the will to continue supporting Ukraine.


But Ukraine will not stop. It is in a fight for its survival and understands what Russia will do if it stops. More European nations are now talking about the need to step up aid in light of concerns that the US is weakening in its resolve.


I do, however, anticipate that early in the new year the US will rediscover its strategic backbone and pass the aid package that was delayed in Congress in December.


Therefore, I anticipate Ukraine will do the following in the coming months as it prepares to regain the initiative:


By early summer, Ukraine will be able to use US-made F16 fighter jets for the first time, which it hopes will improve its ability to counter Russian aircraft and strengthen its own air defences.


The most strategically important part of Ukraine that remains occupied by Russia is Crimea, which is what we call the "decisive terrain".


Ukraine will do all it can to keep pressure on the Russians there to make it untenable for the Russian navy in Sevastopol, the handful of air force bases there and their logistics base at Dzankoy.


They have already proven the concept. With just three UK-provided Storm Shadow cruise missiles, they have forced the commander of the Black Sea Fleet to withdraw a third of his fleet from Sevastopol. Ukrainians do not have unlimited resources of course, especially artillery ammunition and long-range precision weapons.


But the Russian soldiers are in worse shape. War is a test of will, and a test of logistics. The Russian logistics system is fragile and under continuous pressure from Ukraine.


Source: BBC

THE HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Humanitarian Situation

The year-end attacks, particularly on December 29, damaged vital civilian infrastructure, including a still unconfirmed number of homes, hospitals, schools, parks, energy infrastructure, a metro station, and a shopping mall across the country. Energy infrastructure were damaged in Donestka and Kharkivska oblasts, eastern Ukraine, and temporary disconnections were also reported in Dnipropetrovska, Kyviska and Odeska oblasts, adding to the challenges faced by thousands of people who are currently cut off from power in over 250 towns and villages along the front line.

Today’s strikes hit most of the main Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, and other areas further from the front line such as Lviv, in addition to cities, villages and towns in the north, east and south, where hostilities and fighting have been relentless since the escalation of the war in 2022.

In Kyiv and Kyivska oblast, the strikes damaged many homes, a metro station and a warehouse, reportedly killing and injuring over 30 civilians who had just started their working day. Also further from the front line, in Lviv City, in the west, at least three schools, a kindergarten, and multiple apartment buildings were damaged in the aftermath of the attacks, according to aid workers. At least one civilian was reportedly killed and over 20 injured, according to preliminary information shared by the authorities.

In Dnipro, in central Ukraine, a shopping mall in a busy area of the city was hit in the morning, reportedly killing at least 5 civilians and injuring another 25, according to local authorities. During most of the day, the State of Emergency Service of Ukraine teams were searching for survivors under the rubble. The blasts also damaged a maternity ward and over 20 apartment blocks, according to humanitarians on the ground. Also in central Ukraine, in Cherkaska Oblast, over 50 houses were damaged, injuring 8 civilians, including a child, in Smila Town.

In the nearby Zaporizhzhia City, many apartment buildings were damaged or destroyed, killing and injuring, according to the authorities, almost 20 civilians. In front-line communities of the south-eastern Zaporizka Oblast, including Bilenke Village and Orikiv Town, hostilities reportedly killed or injured nearly a dozen civilians, according to the authorities.

In southern Odesa City, over 20 apartment buildings and a local school were damaged, killing at least 4 and injuring over 20 people, including 2 children. Rescue operations continuein a high-rise building, where rescuers evacuated over 20 people and pulled out 5 people from under the debris. Civilian infrastructure was also damaged, and several civilians were killed or injured in Kherson City and front-line parts of Khersonska Oblast, where humanitarian needs are already dire.

In Kharkiv City, eastern Ukraine, several waves of overnight attacks damaged an oncology centre and three hospitals, a school, and houses and killed over a dozen civilians. Power outages caused the temporary disruption of public transport in the city. The facilities of the local organization Frunze – Be Kind, which provides hot meals to war-affected people, were damaged, interrupting today’s daily delivery of food to about 3,000 civilians. Not far from there, in Sumska Oblast, strikes were reported on 28 December night, injuring at least three civilians in Konotop Town, according to local authorities.

A new wave of indiscriminate Russian attacks from 30 December night through the early hours of New Year's Eve has caused death and destruction in many Ukrainian cities and villages, particularly impacting Kharkiv City. A power plant in Donetska Oblast was reportedly damaged for the second day in a row, disrupting electricity production, in a region where over 120 towns and villages are already without power supplies due to hostilities.

Fighting and hostilities have led to further destruction of homes and civilian infrastructure in other parts along the front line, including in Iziumskyi and Kupianskyi Raions of Kharkivska Oblast, Nikopol in Dnipropetrovska Oblast, and several villages and towns in Donetska Oblast, including in the occupied territories. In Chernihivska and Sumska oblasts, bordering the Russian Federation and Belarus, cross-border shelling reportedly killed a resident in Semenivka and damaged over 30 houses and civilian facilities. Shelling and strikes were also reported in Zaporizka and Khersonska oblasts, damaging homes, schools, and leaving several civilian casualties.

These strikes came at a time when search and rescue operations are still taking place in many parts of Ukraine, including in the capital Kyiv, where emergency services are working to find survivors or recovery bodies from under the rubble left by the massive attack in the morning of 29 December. Relentless hostilities are taking a heavy toll on civilians across Ukraine, adding to the challenges faced by millions of people who are already facing urgent humanitarian needs due to war.


HUMANITARIAN RESPONSE

Aid workers have immediately mobilized help to civilians who survived today’s attacks across Ukraine, complementing the efforts of rescue services, local responders, volunteers and authorities. The Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs is in contact with local communities and authorities to assess the urgent needs and mobilize support accordingly.

Aid organizations have provided immediate medical assistance and psychological support to survivors of the strikes in Dnipro, Lviv, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia. Amongst other first responders, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the NGOs Angels of Salvation, Posmishka UA, Winds of Change and others have been on the ground since early morning providing this kind of support.

People in Kharkiv, Lviv and Odesa received meals, hot drinks, and warm clothes from national and international aid organizations, including ACTED, New Dawn, Frunze – Be Kind and World Central Kitchen.

Emergency repair materials have also been provided to people whose homes were damaged in Dnipro, Lviv, Kharkiv and Odesa by UN agencies — IOM and UNHCR — and national NGOs, including NEEKA, Proliska, Rokada, the Tenth of April and others. In Kharkiv, the national NGOs Dobrobat and Proliska have delivered repair kits to health facilities damaged by the attack.

In Dnipro, protection partners, including Martin Club, Proliska and Right to Protection, are also providing legal consultations to the affected people on restoring the lost ownership documentation and applying for compensation for the destroyed or damaged property. As well, about 15 aid organizations are registering affected people to receive multi- purpose cash assistance and cash for repairs.

In Kharkiv, aid workers arrived at sites hit shortly after the strikes, and provided people who were rendered homeless or had their homes damaged in the middle of a winter night with relief supplies and services. National NGOs, including the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and Proliska Humanitarian Mission provided first aid and psychological assistance, in addition to warm blankets and emergency repair materials to cover broken windows and walls. World Central Kitchen delivered meals and hot drinks to the affected people and rescuers. The support continued this morning.

Additionally, in the Kharkivska Oblast, an inter-agency convoy reached today the small front-line town of Kupiansk-Vyzlovyi, where 1,500 civilians are struggling to access essential services and supplies due to constant bombardments and widespread destruction. Today's convoy delivered 16 tons of aid, including food, hygiene items, emergency shelter materials and sleeping bags appropriate for severe winter conditions. The supplies were provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the NGOs Care and Polish Humanitarian Action (PAH). The local organization Peaceful Heaven and the NGO ADRA will distribute the items to the families in the coming days.

Separately, humanitarians also continued emergency response to the previous attacks. In Zaporizhzhia, the local NGODobrobat and Sontse.UA provided additional materials for emergency repairs and hygiene items, while Caritas Zaporizhzhia has registered people for emergency cash assistance. Aid workers, including from UNFPA, have continued first aid and psychological support, while municipal rescue and utility teams where on the ground clearing debris and repairing critical services.

In Lviv, UNFPA, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society, the NGOs Malteser Ukraine and Norwegian Refugee Council provided emergency psychosocial and legal support, while the NGOs Sant'Egidio and World Central Kitchen brought hot meals to the affected people. UN agencies, including the IOM and UNHCR, and international and national NGOs, such as NEEKA Ukraine, People in Need, Rokada and the Ukrainian Red Cross continued to distribute emergency repair materials.

In Dnipropetrovska Oblast, the international NGO People in Need delivered additional emergency repair materials to families in Novomoskovsk and Dnipro City, while UNFPA provided psychological support and information about the specialized assistance to people affected or at risk of gender-based and other violence.

This is on top of the support provided by UN agencies and NGOs earlier.  The emergency support has been provided in addition to the regular humanitarian response in Ukraine. By the end of November 2023, aid organizations had provided vital aid, including food, water, cash, repair materials, health support and other services and supplies to nearly 10.5 million people. Some 800,000 people across Ukraine received supplies for the winter, including fuel for heating, warm clothes and blankets, amongst other services.


Residents inspect damage outside an apartment building in Kharkiv. Photograph: Sergey Bobok/AFP/Getty Images


Sources: OCHA

OCHA

The Guardian

EU sends additional 500 power generators to Ukraine

The EU is mobilising a further 500 power generators from its strategic rescEU reserves to strengthen Ukraine's energy resilience.

Continued brutal attacks by Russia have left Ukrainian energy infrastructure fragile. Despite the efforts by local authorities, it is impossible to restore all the destroyed power grids within a year.

Deployed from the EU's emergency rescEU reserves hosted by Poland, the generators range from small 12.5 kVA to large 1000 kVA that are capable of suppling energy to entire hospitals in case of power cuts. The financial value of the 500 power generators being sent to Ukraine is €16.5 million. The generators will be provided to different Ukrainian ministries. The goal is to ensure sufficient supply of electricity during cold and dark months, but also to keep vital services like hospitals, wastewater treatments and heating stations up and running. For example, 40 of the 500 generators are designated for schools.

Together with this new deployment, more than 5,500 power generators have been sent to Ukraine via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, which includes offers from the Member States and 2178 from the EU's own rescEU stockpiles that serve as an additional protection layer. In addition to generators, the EU has been delivering other vital energy supplies to Ukraine like transformers, autotransformers, high-voltage equipment and LED light bulbs.

Russia's war against Ukraine has led the country to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe. In response, the EU has mobilised all its available resources to provide emergency assistance to Ukraine.

The crisis response to the war in Ukraine is the largest, most complex and longest running operation ever conducted under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.  All 27 EU countries, plus Norway, Türkiye, North Macedonia, Iceland, and Serbia, have offered in-kind assistance ranging from medical supplies and shelter items to vehicles and energy equipment. So far, more than 98 000 tonnes of assistance has been delivered to Ukraine via the Mechanism.

In addition, the EU has mobilised assistance from its rescEU medical, CBRN, shelter and energy stockpiles hosted by Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia and from the rescEU private sector reserve hosted by Belgium and Poland.

The EU has also been coordinating medical evacuation flights transferring patients for treatment in European hospitals. More than 2 900 Ukrainian patients have been evacuated to 22 European countries.

The overall financial value of the support provided under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism is €796 million.

Source: European Commission

________________________________________

From collective sites to private homes: UNHCR enables forcibly displaced people find dignified housing solutions

With vital support from the United States, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, helps internally displaced Ukrainian families move out of collective sites into private accommodation.

The full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine has forced of the country’s population to flee their homes, leaving behind such comforts, and most of their belongings and the lives they had built.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and its NGO partner Medair helped Iryna find an apartment to rent and sign a rental agreement. She also received cash assistance to cover rental payments for six months and utility fees.

Through its Rental Market Initiative launched in 2023, UNHCR supports internally displaced people like Iryna who cannot return to their homes and continue living in collective sites across Ukraine with accessing alternative housing solutions. The programme is implemented in eight regions in central and western Ukraine, which host the largest share of internally displaced people.

UNHCR identifies families that seek to move out from collective sites and provides the necessary support, which can include protection services and legal advice, conclusion of rental agreements and improvement of living conditions in the new apartment. UNHCR also provides cash assistance to cover several months of rent and utility fees and helps facilitate access to job opportunities, to enable the families to become self-sufficient and continue paying the rent once the rental assistance from UNHCR ends.

Source: UNHCR

UPDATES ON INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT TO UKRAINE


Context of the EU-Ukraine Partnership

The EU cooperates with Ukraine in the framework of the European Neighbourhood Policy and its eastern regional dimension, the Eastern Partnership, with the objective to bring Ukraine closer to the EU.

Since the Russian aggression started, the EU, Member States and European Financial Institutions have mobilised around €9.5 billion to support Ukraine's overall economic, social and financial resilience in the form of macro-financial assistance, budget support, emergency assistance, crisis response and humanitarian aid. €2.5 billion so far have been dedicated to military aid provided under the European Peace Facility. Moreover the EU has provided in-kind assistance worth €425 million under the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.


Overview


Specific EU Support

Source: European Commission

________________________________________

US announces new weapons package for Ukraine, as funds dwindle and Congress is stalled on aid bill

The U.S. on December 26  announced what officials say could be the final package of military aid to Ukraine unless Congress approves supplemental funding legislation that is stalled on Capitol Hill.

The weapons, worth up to $250 million, include an array of air munitions and other missiles, artillery, anti-armor systems, ammunition, demolition and medical equipment and parts. The aid, provided through the Presidential Drawdown Authority, will be pulled from Pentagon stockpiles.

A Pentagon spokesman said there is no more funding to replace the weapons taken from department stocks. And the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, which provides long-term funding for future weapons contracts, is also out of money.

President Joe Biden is urging Congress to pass a $110 billion aid package for Ukraine, Israel and other national security needs. It includes $61.4 billion for Ukraine, with about half to replenish Pentagon stocks. It also includes about $14 billion for Israel as it fights Hamas and $14 billion for U.S. border security. Other funds would go for security needs in the Asia-Pacific.

Source: AP News

________________________________________

Britain and Europe poised to ramp up efforts to help Ukraine beat Russia in war

Britain is said to be ramping up efforts to help Ukraine defeat Russia amid fears the US will withdraw support if Donald Trump wins the 2024 election.

A senior Whitehall source told The Times that the UK and European countries were keen to get more weapons and ammunition to the Kyiv frontline, ahead of any change in power in the White House.

The source said 2024 would be about “stretching Putin into 2025 and beyond — effectively calling his bluff and testing his resolve”.

Source: The Independent

HOLY FATHER ON UKRAINE

Angelus - January 1, 2024 (Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God)

And please, may we not forget Ukraine, Palestine, and Israel, who are at war. Let us pray for peace, all together.

I greet the choir of young Polish and Ukrainians, who have brought a message of peace to the Franciscan shrines of Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio; as well as the students of “Manhattan College”, New York, the Fraterna Domus group and the faithful of La Valletta Brianza and Casatenovo.

E per favore, non dimentichiamo l’Ucraina, la Palestina, Israele, che sono in guerra. Preghiamo affinché avvenga la pace, tutti insieme.

Saluto il coro dei ragazzi polacchi e ucraini che hanno portato un messaggio di pace nei santuari francescani di Toscana, Umbria e Lazio; così come gli studenti del “Manhattan College” di New York, il gruppo della Fraterna Domus e i fedeli di La Valletta Brianza e Casatenovo.

Links to the full text in ENGLISH and ITALIAN

Angelus - December 31, 2023 (Sunday)

Let us continue to pray for the people who are suffering because of war: the beleaguered people of Ukraine, the people of Palestine and Israel, the people of Sudan and many others. At the end of a year, let us have the courage to ask ourselves: How many human lives have been broken by armed conflict? How many dead? And how much destruction, suffering, poverty? May those who have interests in these conflicts listen to the voice of their conscience. And let us not forget the suffering Rohingya!

Continuiamo a pregare per i popoli che soffrono a causa delle guerre: il martoriato popolo ucraino, i popoli palestinese e israeliano, il popolo sudanese e tanti altri. Al termine di un anno, si abbia il coraggio di chiedersi: quante vite umane sono state spezzate dai conflitti armati? Quanti morti? E quante distruzioni, quanta sofferenza, quanta povertà? Chi ha interessi in questi conflitti, ascolti la voce della coscienza. E non dimentichiamo i martoriati Rohingya!

Links to the full text in ENGLISH and ITALIAN

General Audience - December 27, 2023

E per favore non dimentichiamo di pregare per quanti soffrono le conseguenze terribili della violenza e della guerra, specialmente preghiamo per la martoriata Ucraina e per le popolazioni di Palestina e Israele. La guerra è un male. Preghiamo per la fine delle guerre.

Links to the full text in  ITALIAN

MEMBER PHOTOS

More than 140,000 homes have been destroyed since the beginning of the war. Malteser Ukraine repairs houses and distributes generators in preparation for winter. (Photo: Archive/Malteser Ukraine)

Malteser Ukraine offer psychosocial services such as group or individual sessions with psychologists and special offers for children to help them heal from the trauma of the conflict. (Malteser Ukraine)