Storms Impact Russian Navy as European Nations Boycott OSCE Summit
Moscow's Navy allegedly had to return all of its ships and missile carriers in the Black Sea to their bases due to tornado forecasts this week following a storm that killed at least 14 people and left millions without electricity in Russia and Ukraine. Though railways in coastal areas have report...
Facts
- Moscow's Navy allegedly had to return all of its ships and missile carriers in the Black Sea to their bases due to tornado forecasts this week following a storm that killed at least 14 people and left millions without electricity in Russia and Ukraine. Though railways in coastal areas have reportedly been damaged, British intelligence claims that Russia made advances around Avdiivka, which remains in Ukrainian control.1
- Kyiv said that last week, the Kremlin launched its third major attempt to take control of Avdiivka in two months, sending some 50 armor-supported assaults. According to its Deputy Defense Minister Oleksandr Pavlyuk, Russian fatalities from Nov. 20-26 reached 6,260, with 78 Russian tanks and 113 armored combat vehicles destroyed.2
- Elsewhere on Wednesday, Russian forces claimed control of Artemovskoye, known as Khromove in Ukraine and located on the outskirts of Russia-controlled Bakhmut in the Donetsk region.3
- Meanwhile, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has confirmed that the alliance and Ukraine approved a cooperation program including energy security, interoperability, and training of Ukrainian soldiers for next year in a high-level meeting where Ukraine's path to membership was also discussed.4
- This comes as the AFP news agency reported that the EU has agreed to more than quadruple its spending on training Ukrainian soldiers, increasing the amount from €61M ($66.9M) to €255M ($279M) as it works to put together a larger long-term support package for Ukraine.5
- Ahead of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) summit in North Macedonia's Skopje starting on Thursday, the foreign ministers of Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania announced a boycott in protest over Russia's top diplomat Sergei Lavrov's scheduled attendance.6
Sources: 1The Guardian, 2Al Jazeera, 3CNBC, 4TASS, 5Ukrainska Pravda and 6Balkan Insight.
Narratives
- Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by RT International. Ukraine's counteroffensive has failed due to strategic misjudgments and operational setbacks. The attempt to launch simultaneous offensives in multiple directions led to the dispersal of forces and the lack of significant successes in any key areas. Its inability to keep momentum on critical fronts has allowed Russian troops to take control and push Ukraine into a defensive position. This has been a blunder for Ukraine and the beginning of its military demise.
- Pro-Ukraine narrative, as provided by Business Insider. This has become a war of the skies, and Russia still hasn't invested in the Air Force as much as it should. Due to this lack of investment, and by sticking with its traditional strategy of protecting infrastructure, Moscow has limited its ability to track down and eliminate Ukrainian forces on the ground. In contrast, Kyiv has received far superior air warfare support from NATO — if Ukraine can garner further support, it still has a chance to hit Russia in a way with which Russia is very unfamiliar.
