(Bloomberg) — European Union leaders gathering for a summit in Brussels will discuss the latest developments in the war, including how to help the Ukrainian people get through the winter following sustained Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.
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“We will continue our efforts to support Ukraine in the context of the war and the Russian aggression,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters. He also highlighted this week’s preliminary agreement clearing the way for the government in Kyiv to receive an EU support package worth €18 billion ($19.2 billion).
“We are in the process of discussing how to keep the consequences of this war under control for our economies and the world,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said as he arrived at the meeting. “This applies in particular to the question of inflation and energy prices,” he said, adding that the EU is “very close” to agreeing on a cap for gas prices.
(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)
Key Developments
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War in Ukraine Hinges on Who Gets More Rockets and Shells First
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Germany Eyes Arrival of First LNG Vessel to Ease Gas Crunch
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Russia Mulls WTO Dispute Over EU’s Kaliningrad Blockade: Tass
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Russia Sets Up Oil Transfer Site in Baltic Sea Amid Tanker Chaos
On the Ground
Russian forces continued offensive operations near Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in the east, Ukraine’s General Staff said in its latest update. Russian troops shelled the Nikopol district in the central Dnipropetrovsk region overnight and parts of the Mykolaiv region in the morning, local authorities said. The city of Kherson was hit by artillery fire, with Russian shells hitting residential areas and killing a woman and a child and injuring two people, according to the local military administration.
(All times CET)
Poland, Lithuania Holding Up New Russian Sanctions (11:30 a.m.)
Poland and Lithuania are blocking the EU’s ninth package of sanctions against Russia, according to Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis.
Landsbergis told reporters in Vilnius that details on food security potentially open a loophole and the possibility for sanctioned Russian oligarchs to increase their wealth. “We cannot accept the proposal to ease restrictive measures to those oligarchs, who support and benefit from Putin’s regime, by amending a regulation and unfreezing their personal economic and financial assets,” Landsbergis said.
Russia Better Able to Strike from Belarus: Hromov (11 a.m.)
Russia has expanded its capacity to strike Ukraine from neighboring Belarus by bringing in additional military equipment, according to the deputy chief of Ukraine’s general staff, Oleksii Hromov.
Russia’s forces in Belarus haven’t been built up sufficiently to enable a full-scale invasion into Ukraine from the north, Hromov said in a video briefing. The Kremlin has made use of Belarusian territory and military instructors there to train its troops. Since Dec. 8, Russia has launched 41 rocket and 32 single-use drone strikes on civil infrastructure and energy facilities in 17 settlements, including Kyiv, Hromov added.
War Hinges on Supplies of Rockets, Shells (9:40 a.m.)
Officials in Kyiv and Moscow face a critical question with the war in its 10th month: Can they secure enough missiles and artillery through winter to prevail?
Which side runs low first could decide whether Ukraine or Russia emerges in the spring with the strategic initiative to potentially end the war on its terms.
Zelenskiy Hails Progress on Air Defense (9 p.m.)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said his government has made “important progress” on getting “more modern and more powerful” air-defense systems.
Zelenskiy commented in his evening address after US officials said a decision to supply Patriot air-defense missile batteries awaits a final decision by President Joe Biden.
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