Day 220: US Cools Ukraine's NATO Aspirations, Sends $12B in Aid; Russian Troops Withdraw From Lyman

Facts

• After Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he had taken the "decisive step" for the country to join the NATO military alliance on Friday, the US has – for now at least – thrown water on the idea.
• In a video message announcing the move, Zelenskyy said: "De facto, we have already made our way to NATO. De facto, we have already proven compatibility with alliance standards. They are real for Ukraine – real on the battlefield and in all aspects of our interaction." Addressing the issue at a White House press conference on Friday, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said efforts to join NATO "should be taken up at a different time."
• Meanwhile, shortly before midnight, US Pres. Joe Biden signed into law the stopgap funding bill agreed by Congress, keeping government agencies funded until December 16. The bill includes an additional $12.35B in aid for Ukraine – taking total US assistance to roughly $65B. Zelenskyy thanked Biden for the move in a tweet on Saturday.
• On the ground, as Ukrainian troops continued to press from the Kharkiv region into Donetsk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces alleged that an estimated 5k Russian troops were encircled in the city of Lyman. Later on Saturday, Russia's defense ministry announced that forces were withdrawn from the city to "more advantageous lines."
• In response to the withdrawal, top Putin allies hinted that Russia should resort to nuclear weapons, with the leader of the southern Chechnya region, Ramzan Kadyrov, saying, "more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons." The US has warned against nuclear weapons, telling Moscow it would face "catastrophic consequences."
• Elsewhere, Energoatom, Ukraine's state-owned nuclear energy company, accused Russian forces of kidnapping the company's head of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) on Friday. Energoatom said Russian forces stopped the car of Ihor Murashov before taking him away to an undisclosed location. Russia has yet to comment on the allegations. However, the International Atomic Energy Agency says that Russia told it that “the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained.

Sources: Newsweek, Guardian, MSN, Reuters, Ukrinform, and Associated Press.

Narratives

• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Tass. Zelenskyy's bid to join NATO is nothing more than a provocation that won't bring anything to fruition. Due to the current situation, NATO's members will be hesitant to accept the bid, as it would result in a direct conflict between the alliance and Russia. This wasted retaliation in response to the reunification of Russian territories is likely to fall on deaf ears.
• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by U.S. News. Russia's unprovoked war against Ukraine is the very thing that's pushing Kyiv straight into NATO's arms. While it remains to be seen whether all 30 members will welcome Ukraine, Zelenskyy's fast-track application takes a strong stance against Putin's illegitimate referenda and exposes that Putin is failing in one of his primary goals.

Predictions