Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, European Council President Antonio Costa, European Commission Vice-President and High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and EU enlargement chief Marta Kos pose for a picture on the day of their meeting, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, December 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin approved budget plans, raising 2025 military spending to record levels as Moscow seeks to prevail in the war in Ukraine.

Around 32.5% of the budget posted on a government website on Sunday (December 1, 2024) has been allocated for national defense, amounting to 13.5 trillion rubles (over $145 billion), up from a reported 28.3% this year.

Lawmakers in both houses of the Russian parliament, the State Duma and Federation Council, had already approved the plans in the past 10 days.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022 is Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II and has drained the resources of both sides. Kyiv has been getting billions of dollars in help from its Western allies, but Russia’s forces are bigger and better equipped, and in recent months the Russian army has gradually been pushing Ukrainian troops backward in eastern areas.

New EU leaders in Kyiv pledge continued support for Ukraine. New European Council President Antonio Costa and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas arrived in Kyiv on Sunday (December 1, 2024), marking their first day in office with a strong message of support for Ukraine. Their visit comes as doubts are deepening over what Kyiv can expect from a new US administration led by Donald Trump.

“From day one of the war, the EU has stood by the side of Ukraine,” Mr. Costa posted on X, together with a photo of himself, Kallas and EU enlargement chief Marta Kos. “From day one of our mandate, we are reaffirming our unwavering support to the Ukrainian people.”

Speaking at a news conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Mr. Costa reiterated the EU’s recent commitment to help Ukraine continue through the war, including €4.2 billion ($4.4 billion) to support Ukraine’s budget and €1.5 billion ($1.6 billion) of assistance every month from the proceeds of frozen Russian assets.

Asked whether the EU would step up funding if Mr. Trump withdrew support, Mr. Costa said the block would “stand for Ukraine as long as necessary”.

Mr. Zelenskyy said that any future ceasefire negotiations with Russia would need to include representatives from the EU and NATO, because Ukraine seem its future security in both alliances. However, he said he failed to see what any such negotiations would focus on, adding that Ukraine would “never legally recognise any occupation of our lands by the Russian Federation.” He urged the outgoing Biden administration to use the remaining two months in office to exert influence “over those few European sceptics about our future. I see nothing, I personally see no risks, and most NATO countries see no risks from the recommendation regarding the positive future of Ukraine’s membership in NATO”.

Mr. Zelenskyy said Friday that an offer of NATO membership to territory under Kyiv’s control would end “the hot stage of the war”.

Three killed in Ukraine and a child dies in a drone attack in Russia. On the ground in Ukraine, three people died in the southern city of Kherson when a Russian drone struck a minibus on Sunday morning, regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. Seven others were wounded in the attack.

Meanwhile, the number of wounded in Saturday’s missile strike in Dnipro in central Ukraine rose to 24, with seven in serious condition, Dnipropetrovsk Gov Serhiy Lysak said. Four people were killed in the attack.

Moscow sent 78 drones into Ukraine overnight into Sunday, Ukrainian officials said. According to Ukraine’s air force, 32 drones were destroyed and a further 45 drones were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

In Russia, a child was killed in a Ukrainian drone attack in the Bryansk region bordering Ukraine, according to regional Gov Alexander Bogomaz.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said 29 Ukrainian drones were shot down overnight into Sunday in four regions of western Russia: 20 over the Bryansk region, seven over the Kaluga region, and one each over the Smolensk and Kursk regions.

Walking through the deserted streets of Pokrovsk as Russian troops inch closer and closer every day, Galyna said she was not worried about the prospect of occupation.

She was making her way home as artillery echoed in the distance, before the beginning of the 3 p.m. to 11 a.m. curfew that authorities in the eastern Ukrainian city imposed due to increasing shelling.

“I’m not scared. Why should I be?” the 53-year-old said.

“We are not going anywhere. This is our homeland… I’m for peace,” said Ms. Galyna, who did not want to give her family name citing fears of retaliation.

She is one of thousands of frontline residents who refuse to flee, frustrating evacuation teams trying to save their lives.

Civilians are running out of time to evacuate Pokrovsk, according to authorities who estimate the population has whittled down in a month from 48,000 to around 16,000.

People delay their departure for many reasons: some are too attached to their homes and jobs, while some are discouraged by past experience of displacement.

Others are quietly waiting for Russian troops.

“There’s no bad nation, only bad people, you know what I mean?” Ms. Galyna said with a knowing glance.

– ‘Absurd, surreal’ –

Evacuation teams say they are coming across some cases of pro-Russian disinformation as they plead with people to leave.

“There are cases of people staying to wait for the ‘Russian world’ but they represent a small percentage, by no means massive,” said Pavlo Diachenko, a Pokrovsk police spokesman.

“It’s a big problem, we are facing heavy propaganda,” said Alina Subotina, an evacuation coordinator with Children New Generation.

Moscow says the protection of Russian speakers in the Donbas region was one of its reasons for invading but has bombarded cities in the Donbas for over two-and-a-half years.

Ms. Subotina can only plead with remaining residents, pointing to the myriads of cities like Bakhmut or Avdiivka that Moscow razed to the ground.

“It’s absurd, surreal. You tell them: it’s not true, the cities are just burning, nothing good awaits you, you need to leave,” Ms. Subotina said.

Lilya Deynega raged against those who believed Russian troops would spare anyone.

The 28-year-old was fleeing Russian troops for a second time, after leaving the nearly occupied town of Grodivka where two neighbours died in a drone attack.

“They say ‘we will save you’ but from what? We don’t need to be saved from anything, everything was fine before they came,” she said.

– ‘Friends, comrades’ –

Even so, Moscow’s narrative has won some over.

On a bench in front of the Pokrovsk church, 82-year-old Sergei seemed indifferent to the prospect of Russian troops capturing the city. “People are still living their lives in occupied territories!” he told AFP. Sergei’s friend Nina interjected. “What about Russians? We were always friends, comrades,” said Nina, also 82.

“This whole mess started in 1990,” she said referring to the separation of Ukraine and Russia at the collapse of the Soviet Union. Both refused to give their surnames citing fears of retribution.

Nina’s argument was reminiscent of the claims hammered home for years by Russian officials and state-controlled media.

The Kremlin has refused to accept Ukraine’s democratic turn toward Europe and the West in the decades following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

It has instead alleged – without evidence – that Kyiv only implemented orders from Washington that it accuses of turning Ukrainians against Russians.

When pro-European protests took over Ukraine in 2014, Russia launched a first assault on Ukraine that led Moscow-backed separatists to occupy parts of the Donbas.

– ‘Die in the motherland’ –

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that the capture of the Donbas is Russia’s primary objective in the 2022 full-scale invasion.

To seize territory, his troops have caused widespread destruction, according to images captured by drones and satellites.

But Olena, another local resident, said life would go on if Russian troops take over. “We have potatoes, we won’t die of hunger,” she said. She was ready for anything to avoid a second exile, having already left her hometown once in 2022. There is little volunteers can do as they are forbidden to force people out.

“People will stay there in any case. They’ve made up their minds. We will help them as long as we are able to reach them,” Subotina said. She said locals often left the decision to the last moment, too late for evacuation teams.

For now, Ms. Galyna did not seem close to changing her mind. “If I die, at least it’ll be on my land,” she said.

View of the Peace Palace which houses World Court where Ukraine’s legal battle against Russia over allegations of genocide used by Moscow to justify its 2022 invasion, resumed in The Hague, Netherlands, on September 18, 2023.
| Photo Credit: AP

Ukraine’s legal battle against Russia over allegations of genocide used by Moscow to justify its 2022 invasion resumes on September 18 at the United Nations’ highest court, as Russia seeks to have the case tossed out.

Hearings at the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, will see Ukraine supported by a record 32 other nations in a major show of support.

Kyiv launched the case shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine, arguing that the attack was based on false claims of acts of genocide in the Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine and alleging that Moscow was planning genocidal acts in Ukraine. It wants the court to order Russia to halt its invasion and pay reparations.

Filing its case last year, Ukraine said that “Russia has turned the Genocide Convention on its head — making a false claim of genocide as a basis for actions on its part that constitute grave violations of the human rights of millions of people across Ukraine.”

Ukraine brought the case to the Hague-based court based on the 1948 Genocide Convention, which both Moscow and Kyiv have ratified. In an interim ruling in March 2022, the court ordered Russia to halt hostilities in Ukraine, a binding legal ruling that Moscow has flouted as it presses ahead with its devastating attacks on Ukrainian towns and cities.

Hearings this week are expected to see lawyers for Russia argue that the court does not have jurisdiction to hear the case, while Ukraine will call on judges to press ahead to hearings on the substance of its claims.

In an unprecedented show of international support for Kyiv, 32 of Ukraine’s allies including Canada, Australia and every European Union member nation except Hungary will also make statements in support of Kyiv’s legal arguments. The United States asked to participate on Ukraine’s side, but the U.N. court’s judges rejected the U.S. request on a technicality.

The court’s panel of international judges will likely take weeks or months to reach a decision on whether or not the case can proceed. If it does, a final ruling is likely years away.

The International Court of Justice hears disputes between nations over matters of law, unlike the International Criminal Court, also based in The Hague, that holds individuals criminally responsible for offenses including war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The ICC has issued a war crimes arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of responsibility for the abduction of Ukrainian children.

An explosion of a drone is seen in the city during a Russian drone strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine on September 10, 2023.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russia attacked Ukraine with 32 drones overnight into Sunday, Kyiv military chiefs said, most of them aimed around the capital.

Air defences shot down 25 of them, they added, without accounting for the other seven.

The aerial assault comes at a time when national leaders are ramping up calls for extra Western support to repel the Russian invasion.

The military’s general staff said “the occupiers attacked Ukraine with 32 kamikaze drones… of which 25 were destroyed by Ukrainian air defence forces”.

“The Russian occupiers directed most of the attack UAVs to the Kyiv region,” they said.

“Drones entered the capital in groups and from different directions,” Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, wrote on Telegram.

Debris fell in several districts, damaging an apartment in a multi-storey building, as well as road surfaces and power lines, he added, saying one person was injured.

Russia systematically targeted Ukrainian cities early in the invasion launched last year, but massive strikes have become less frequent as Moscow’s stockpiles dwindle and Ukraine bolsters its air defences.

Last month, Kyiv destroyed more than 20 drones and missiles in what it called the “most powerful strike” on the capital since spring.

Speeches by several senior Ukrainian officials released Saturday drew a picture of a country at war held back by allies who had failed to grasp the scale and urgency of the crisis.

Newly appointed Defence Minister Rustem Umerov called for more military equipment.

“We are grateful for all the support provided… We need more heavy weapons,” Mr. Umerov said in his speech. But he added: “We need them today. We need them now.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said the slow delivery of Western weapons was hampering the counteroffensive against Russian positions in the east and south of the country.

Deputy Intelligence Chief Vadym Skibitsky estimated Saturday that Russia has more than 420,000 soldiers in the east and south of Ukraine, including Crimea.

Mr. Skibitsky also said Russia had for a month been actively launching attacks from Crimea, which it annexed in 2014.

“Drones deployed in Crimea are used against our ports of Izmail and Reni” used as alternative export hubs, particularly since the expiry of the deal allowing grain exports on the Black Sea.

Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the east and south of the country in June but has come up against fierce resistance from entrenched Russian forces.

Intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory were mainly aimed at military targets.

“All (the targets) are enterprises of the military-industrial complex,” said Mr. Budanov. “This is the difference that distinguishes us from Russians.”

Attacks on Russian territory, which were rare at the beginning of the offensive, have intensified in recent months, with Kyiv increasingly claiming responsibility for them.

Russian authorities have reported civilian casualties from some Ukrainian attacks.

Ukrainian leaders also deplored the lack of progress on setting up an international tribunal to try Russia’s leaders, and on the transfer of frozen Russian assets.

“Unfortunately, we are in a kind of deadlock on both,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

He said the G7 group favoured a hybrid tribunal based on Ukrainian legislation.

‘A lack of will’

But this would not allow for the immunity of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin or Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to be stripped – an unacceptable option for Kyiv.

Ukrainian officials are arguing for an international court resembling the post-World War II Nuremberg tribunal.

There has been insufficient progress too, on the transfer of frozen Russian assets to Ukraine for use in the country’s reconstruction, Mr. Kuleba added.

“After a year and a half, I’m still hearing from Europe and America: we are working on it,” said Mr. Kuleba, who addressed a conference in Kyiv Friday, but whose comments were only released on Saturday.

“There is a lack of will to come to a conclusion. So we have to change that.”

Since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022, Western sanctions have led to the freezing of some 300 billion euros ($320 billion) of Central Bank of Russia foreign exchange reserves around the world.