For today, links to six reports: from Tass, Reuters, the Associated Press, the Kyiv Independent, and National Public Radio, and to commentary from Kyiv Post; others are accessible by clicking on their names or initials below. (GAZA entry for this date and a MEDIA entry are HERE and HERE.) — MCM
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Strategic defeat would mean destruction for Russia, Putin says. From Tass. MOSCOW — There have always been people in Russia who are ready to rise up to defend the country, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with the service members undergoing treatment at the Center of Innovative Technologies in Orthopaedics. “Someone from the outside says . . . READ MORE . . .
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NATO expected to sidestep Ukraine’s call for quick invite, by Sabine Siebold and Humeyra Pamuk | Reuters BRUSSELS — NATO was highly unlikely to heed Ukraine’s call for a membership invitation at a meeting today, according to diplomats, dashing Kyiv’s hopes of a political boost as it struggles on the battlefield and awaits Donald Trump’s return to the White House. READ MORE . . .
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FROM DEC. 2 U.S. to bolster Ukraine with $725 mln weapons package, by Patricia Zengerle | Reuters WASHINGTON – The United States will send Ukraine US$725 million of missiles, ammunition, anti-personnel mines and other weapons, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday as . . . READ MORE . . .
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Ukraine accelerating missile production, Zelensky says, by Kateryna Denisova | The Kyiv Independent Ukraine is accelerating the country’s missile production, President Volodymyr Zelensky said today. READ MORE . . .
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FROM DEC. 2 German leader Scholz vows more Ukraine aid and defends his phone call with Putin, by Hanna Arhirova and Barry Hatton | AP KYIV — German Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukraine for the first time in more than two years Monday and vowed to keep supporting Kyiv in the war, just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rebuked him for having a phone call with . . . READ MORE . . .
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There’s a lot of guessing about what President-elect Trump has planned for Ukraine. Steve Inskeep of NPR speaks with Eliot Cohen of the Center for Strategic and International Studies about Ukraine’s strategies preceding President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Click HERE to listen and, later, read.
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How Trump’s Ukraine envoy could reshape U.S.-Ukraine relations, by Katie Livingstone | Kyiv Post Lt. Gen. (Ret.) Keith Kellogg has been nominated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump as his official White House envoy to facilitate the end to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – leading to a collective sigh of relief from some experts in Kyiv. In Kellogg . . . READ MORE . . .