Ukraine’s commander-in-chief criticised the current pace of drafting new soldiers as too slow in the face of uncertainty about Western aid and Russian moves to boost the size of its military.

European Union member states are set to agree to a four-year extension of a grace period for sales of some types of Russian steel before a complete ban on the imports. 

US money for Ukraine will run out on 30 December, Pentagon warns

The Pentagon said it would run out of money to replace weapons sent to Ukraine by 30 December unless Congress approves new funding, for the first time giving a precise date for when it will have exhausted its cash.

The Defense Department was spending its last $1.07-billion to buy new weapons and equipment that will replace those drawn down from stockpiles and sent to Ukraine, Pentagon Comptroller Michael McCord said in a 15 December letter obtained by Bloomberg News. Fifteen days later — on 30 December — its accounts will be empty.

“Once these funds are obligated, the department will have exhausted the funding available to us for security assistance to Ukraine,” McCord wrote in the letter to leaders of the House and Senate defence policy and appropriations committees.

Read more: Zelensky feels the chill from Ukraine’s allies in a tough week

The letter will add to pressure on Congress to break a deadlock over the more than $60-billion that President Joe Biden has requested to help Ukraine repel Russian forces. Republican lawmakers say the package must include steps to tighten security at the US border with Mexico or they won’t approve it. Biden administration representatives have been seeking to negotiate a compromise package of supplemental spending with senators. 

On 12 December, the Biden administration announced it was sending Ukraine a $200-million package from US supplies that includes artillery rounds, small-arms ammunition and other weaponry.

Once that goes through, the Pentagon will be able to send one more package of aid to Ukraine, McCord said.

Ukraine’s army chief urges faster pace of drafting new soldiers 

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief criticised the current pace of drafting new soldiers as too slow in the face of uncertainty about Western aid and Russian moves to boost the size of its military.

The authorities in Kyiv are struggling to increase troop numbers and attract volunteers to make headway on the battlefield after the failure to deliver a breakthrough during the autumn offensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky has since June delayed signing a bill that lowers the conscription age and asked his top brass to come up with a comprehensive plan to mobilise more soldiers.

“This is a problem for the guys fighting on the front line,” General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi told RBC-Ukraine in unscheduled remarks to the media during a public event in Kyiv. “They have to be replaced by someone.”

Ukraine needs to bring mobilisation to levels seen in the earlier phases of the war, he said.

In September aides to Zelensky were forced to play down speculation about a rift between him and Zaluzhnyi after the commander warned of a “stalemate” in the war. The president has dismissed all regional heads of military recruitment offices and said more than 100 probes into officials were opened amid allegations of corruption.

The campaign to sack recruitment officers had left Ukraine’s military without people who could effectively manage the draft, Zaluznyi said on Monday.

“Those were professionals, they knew how to do it, but they aren’t there now,” RBC cited the commander as saying.

In contrast, the Kremlin announced earlier this month that Russian President Vladimir Putin had signed a decree expanding the country’s armed services to 2.2 million people, saying the move was due to the war in Ukraine and the “expansion” of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.

A drop in foreign military aid to Kyiv is having an impact on the battlefield, with a shortage of artillery shells being a “very big problem,” Reuters reported, citing Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi.

Republicans say hurdles remain in border talks as Ukraine awaits aid

Republican leader Mitch McConnell said significant issues remained in Senate negotiations on US-Mexico border restrictions demanded by his party in exchange for clearing assistance to Ukraine and other US allies.

McConnell and Senator James Lankford, the main Republican negotiator, told colleagues in a letter it was not clear whether the Senate would vote on the package this week, according to a person familiar with the matter.

Negotiators met over the weekend after Majority Leader Chuck Schumer delayed the Senate’s holiday break to allow for a possible vote this week. A vote would increase pressure on the House, which has already left Washington until January, to act early next month. 

“We’re not anywhere close to a deal,” Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, said earlier on Sunday on NBC’s Meet the Press. “It’ll go into next year.”

EU set to extend grace period for some Russian steel imports

European Union member states are set to agree to a four-year extension of a grace period for sales of some types of Russian steel before a complete ban on the imports, according to documents seen by Bloomberg News.

The EU banned imports of rolled, semi-finished steel products from Russia in October 2022, but granted a grace period for shipping some goods to 1 October 2024. That period would be extended to October 2028, the documents show. The measures still need to be adopted by member states and could change before then.

The grace period allows Russia’s top steelmaker, NLMK, which is not under EU sanctions, to ship steel slabs for processing at a joint venture with the investment arm of the Walloon government in Belgium that owns plants across Europe that are dependent on NLMK’s slabs for finished product output. DM