President Joe Biden promised to support Ukraine “for as long as it takes” after his administration confirmed almost $2-billion in military assistance and said it would deliver a Patriot missile battery to help Ukraine bolster its air defences. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Poland’s president on Thursday on the way back to Ukraine from the US. 

Russia criticised the outcome of Wednesday’s meeting between Zelensky and US President Joe Biden and said it would target the air-defence systems the US pledged to send to Ukraine. Armed forces chief of staff Valery Gerasimov said Kremlin troops had hit more than 1,300 critically important targets in the almost 10-month conflict.

Key developments

• Zelensky wins applause, aid in half-day dash through Washington
• Kremlin dismisses Biden-Zelensky talks in US, warns on weapons
• US to back Ukraine ‘as long as it takes’, Biden tells Zelensky
• Biden says giving Ukraine advanced weapons risks US alliances
• Putin vows no limit in funds to ensure army’s victory in Ukraine
• Investors trapped in Russian bonds find saviours in Kazakh buyers

Zelensky insists to Congress that aid isn’t ‘charity’

Zelensky pressed the US Congress for tanks, planes and other weapons to help repel Russia’s invasion, portraying the war as a battle of democracy against tyranny as he looked to win support from sceptical Republican lawmakers.

Zelensky told a joint meeting of the House and Senate that US support had been crucial so far and predicted that the year ahead would turn the tide in the war. He called for more sanctions and demanded Russians responsible for the war be brought to justice.

“Your support is crucial, not just to stand in such a fight, but to get to the turning point to win on the battlefield,” Zelensky said in his 27-minute speech. “Your money is not charity, it’s investment in global security.”

Biden reiterates caution on advanced weapons 

Biden defended his reluctance to give Ukraine all the advanced weaponry it wants to fight off Russia’s invasion, saying the provision of longer-range missiles and other sophisticated gear risks straining US alliances in Europe, including Nato.

“The idea that we would give Ukraine material that is fundamentally different than is already going there would have a prospect of breaking up Nato and breaking up the European Union, and the rest of the world,” Biden said at a White House news conference with Zelensky.

Biden pledges unwavering support for Ukraine

Biden promised Zelensky unwavering US support as Ukraine’s effort to repel Russia’s invasion nears its 10th month even as support from Republicans poised to take control of the House wanes. 

“The American people are with you every step of the way, and we will stay with you. We will stay with you for as long as it takes,” Biden said at the White House on Wednesday during a joint press conference, as the Ukrainian president sought to firm up US support for Kyiv’s defence against Russia in his first trip outside his country since Moscow’s forces invaded.

Biden says alliance will endure in 2023

Biden, in a joint press conference with Zelensky at the White House, said, “I’m not at all worried about holding the alliance together, Nato and the European Union.

“I don’t see any reason to believe there’ll be any lessening of support,” he said in response to a question about the continuing support for Ukraine in the new year among US allies.

Biden also spoke of Russian attacks that have left many Ukrainians without electricity, heat or water. “We’re also working to hold Russia accountable, including efforts in Congress that will make it easier to seek justice for Russia’s war crimes in Ukraine,” he said.

On the ground

Ukrainian forces repelled assaults near 16 settlements in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, Ukraine’s General Staff said on Facebook. Russian troops launched six missile attacks and 15 airstrikes over the past day, hitting civilian facilities in the Zaporizhzhia region among other targets, and carried out 64 artillery strikes. Russia hit the towns of Chasiv Yar and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region with missiles and salvo systems on Thursday afternoon. One person was killed and at least two injured, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said on Telegram.

G7 threatens Belarus with new sanctions

Foreign ministers of the Group of Seven threatened additional sanctions against Belarus if it continued to “enable” Russia’s war against Ukraine. 

The most-industrialised nations “call on Belarusian authorities to stop helping Russia’s war of aggression by permitting Kremlin forces to use Belarusian territory and by providing support to the Russian military”, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said in a statement issued in her capacity as chair of a virtual G7 foreign ministers’ meeting.

“If the Belarusian authorities more directly involve Belarus in Russia’s war, the G7 will impose overwhelming additional costs on the regime,” Baerbock said.

G7 finance ministers pledge ongoing support for Ukraine 

Group of Seven finance ministers, handing over the G7 presidency to Japan from Germany, said in a statement that they would support Ukraine for “as long as it takes”.

As well as the $32.7-billion in aid provided in 2022, another $32-billion is on the runway for 2023, they said. The ministers called on the IMF and Ukraine to agree on a programme “as soon as possible in 2023”.

Zelensky meets Polish president on way back from US

Ukraine’s president said on Telegram that he met his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, on his way back to Kyiv from Wednesday’s meetings in the US. 

Besides summing up “historic challenges” of the year, the pair “discussed strategic plans for the future, bilateral relations and interactions at the international level in 2023”, Zelensky said.

Zelensky’s Telegram feed showed a video of him disembarking from a plane at an unspecified airport, meeting officials, and later sitting with Duda.

Ukraine cuts 2022 GDP forecast on infrastructure damage

Ukraine’s economy ministry sees a somewhat bigger decline in 2022 GDP as Russian attacks continue to damage key infrastructure and the energy system, economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said at a briefing in Kyiv.

The economy is seen contracting by 33.2%-33.5% this year, compared with the ministry’s previous forecast for a 32% decline.

Should large-scale Russian air attacks continue, Ukraine may not be able to pivot to growth in 2023, she said.

Russia says it has hit 1,300 critical targets

The Russian army has hit more than 1,300 critically important targets in Ukraine since the start of war almost 10 months ago, its Armed Forces Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov said on Friday, according to Interfax.

The Kremlin’s troops have managed to stabilise the 815km front line in Ukraine and continue to focus their efforts on security control of the Donetsk region, he said.

Ukraine official looks for squeeze on Russian oil and gas income

Economic sanctions against Russia from the US and EU, including oil and gas price caps, can cut Russian budget revenues to a critically low level of $40-billion per quarter, Ukraine’s economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, predicted at an online briefing. Sanctions are working with a lag, but over time Russia will face “difficulties in financing its war in Ukraine”, she added.

Ukraine may need $57bn of external fiscal aid in 2023, says IMF

Ukraine’s 2023 external financing needs will be at least $39.5-billion, and as much as $57-billion in a worst-case scenario, reflecting “high uncertainty and large spending pressures,” the International Monetary Fund said in a joint memorandum with the Ukrainian government published on its website.

The IMF sees Ukraine’s economy contracting by 40.4% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, and 33% for 2022 as a whole.

Kremlin dismisses Biden-Zelensky talks in US

The Kremlin criticised the outcome of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit to Washington and warned that Russia would continue to target weaponry supplied to Ukraine by the US and its allies.

Moscow followed Zelensky’s meeting with President Joe Biden and speech to the US Congress and saw no sign of a “willingness to listen to Russia’s concerns”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Thursday, in answer to a question on the visit.

Russian defence minister talks to soldiers on frontline

Sergei Shoigu made a trip to an unspecified location in the war zone in Ukraine to inspect troops, the ministry said on its Telegram channel. 

It was the second announced visit to the frontlines within a week for Russia’s defence minister, on the heels of a day-long meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and top military officials on 16 December. 

Video posted by the ministry showed Shoigu looking at bedding on soldiers’ bunk beds, praising them for heating their bunkers well, and thanking them for their service.

Ukraine connects ninth nuclear power unit to grid

Ukraine connected its ninth nuclear unit to the grid, national nuclear regulator Energoatom said on Telegram without disclosing the location of the unit. The unit was disconnected on 18 December, just before a Russian drone attack.

That increases capacity to a nominal level, and the country will shortly receive full energy output from all nine units at the three nuclear power plants in territory it controls, the agency said.  

EU-Ukraine summit set for 3 February

The gathering will take place in Brussels, according to European Council President Charles Michel’s spokesperson. The Ukrainian president has been invited.

The EU’s 27 leaders are planning to meet the following week in the city, where they’ll probably discuss the latest on the war.

Veterans, relatives to make up 10% of population once war ends – Ukraine 

The number of Ukraine’s military veterans and relatives is expected to reach three million, or about 10% of the entire population, once the war with Russia ends, the Interfax news service reported, citing estimates from the Ministry of Veterans Affairs.

The figure includes soldiers who fought or died against Russia’s invasion and their family members. In January, before the invasion started, that number stood at 500,000.

Training from Belarusians helps plug a gap, says UK

The likely use of Belarusian military instructions to help train newly mobilised Russian reservists “is an attempt to partially remediate the lack of Russian military trainers”, the UK defence ministry said. 

“The move is a role reversal for Russia, which has traditionally considered Belarusian forces inferior to its own, and suggests many Russian military trainers are themselves deployed in Ukraine or have become casualties,” the ministry said on Twitter.

At least 60% of Kyiv’s power transformers out of service

Power outages in Kyiv remain the most difficult in Ukraine, the head of the local grid operator, Serhiy Kovalenko, said on Facebook. Almost two-thirds of transformers aren’t working, and the city can’t get electricity from the national grid, he wrote late on Wednesday.

He said that situation may improve after the damage is fixed, but it could deteriorate if the remaining 40% of transformers are hit.

Ukraine aid delayed over US border policy dispute

Plans for US Congress to quickly advance a package of $45-billion in aid for Ukraine as part of a broader spending package hours after Zelensky’s historic address were scuttled late on Wednesday over a dispute about US border security.

The Senate had been expected to vote on the assistance as part of a $1.7-trillion omnibus spending package late in the evening. Those plans were delayed after Democrats rejected a proposal by Republican Senator Mike Lee for an amendment extending pandemic-era asylum restrictions, known as Title 42, on the southern border of the US. DM