Day 292: Biden Pledges Further Boost To Ukraine's Air Defenses In Call With Zelenskyy

Facts

• In a call with Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy late on Sunday, US Pres. Joe Biden pledged to further boost Ukraine's air defenses, as well as to continue efforts to restore the country's battered energy infrastructure following Russian attacks.
• According to a White House readout of the call: "The US is prioritizing efforts to strengthen Ukraine's air defense through our security assistance, including the Dec. 9 announcement of $275M in additional ammunition and equipment that included systems to counter the Russian use of unmanned aerial vehicles."
• In a tweet, Zelenskyy said the exchange was: "A fruitful conversation with POTUS. I expressed gratitude for another security package. We discussed further defense cooperation, protection and maintenance of our energy sector." He added that the pair coordinated their positions ahead of an online G7 summit on Monday.
• The G7 meeting, convened by German chancellor Olaf Scholz, aims to introduce further EU sanctions on Russian organizations and individuals, in addition to agreeing further military and humanitarian aid.
• Meanwhile, following a meeting with US and Russian diplomats in Turkey on Friday — where only technical issues such as embassy staff and visas were reportedly discussed, rather than Ukraine — Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Vershinin was quoted in Russia's RIA Novosti on Monday as stating that "Istanbul is a convenient place for such contacts," however, "unfortunately, we do not see a constructive approach from the American side aimed at concrete results."
• On the ground, Ukraine's exiled governor for Luhansk, Serhiy Haidai, said that Ukraine launched a HIMARS attack at a hotel in the region that he claimed housed members of the Russian mercenary force, the Wagner Group. "A huge number of those who were there died," Haidai said, though the claims could not be independently confirmed at this stage.
• Russian attacks, meanwhile, continued to be recorded in Donetsk, where one civilian was killed and 11 more were injured in the past day, and in Kherson, were one civilian was reported injured in the same period. Russian attacks were also recorded in Sumy and Dnipropetrovsk, though there were no additional reports of civilian casualties.

Sources: Axios, Al Jazeera, Yahoo News, and Ukrinform.

Narratives

• Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by PBS NewsHour. This invasion is an egregious violation of international law. Putin's ultimate aim is to restore the Soviet empire, even if it takes massive bloodshed and false pretexts such as calling the 2014 Ukrainian revolution after an election a "coup". This unprovoked attack is the latest chapter in Putin's Orwellian attempt to rewrite history.
• Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by National Security Archive. NATO and the US have ignored Russia's security concerns by breaking its promise not to expand eastward in return for German reunification. These concerns are legitimate and taking them seriously would have avoided the Ukraine tragedy.

Predictions