Russia is widening its military offensive in Ukraine as Europe, on Friday, unveiled a bold plan to transfer frozen Russian assets to Kyiv. Amid reports of Russian troops gaining ground in the east, the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa was hit by overnight drone strikes, cutting the power and water supply.
The disruption of public utilities in the Ukrainian hinterland has been Russia’s usual strategy of demoralizing the country’s population, particularly during the winter months. “Russia attacked the Ukrainian port city of Odesa in the south of the country overnight on Friday, damaging civilian infrastructure and leaving parts of the city without electricity and water,” French TV channel Euronews reported. “Russia has intensified its attacks against Ukraine’s critical infrastructure with the arrival of colder weather, in a repeat of what Moscow has done as part of its war strategy in previous years.”
The overnight strikes come as Russia is ramping up its winter offensive. In recent days, the Russian military has claimed the capture of the eastern Ukrainian towns of Pokrovsk and Siversk.
Meanwhile, Britain, Germany, and France are firmly backing a European Union plan to use frozen Russian assets to finance the Ukraine war. “The EU has moved to create a legal basis to use Russian state assets for Ukraine by majority vote, aiming to block the funds from ever being returned to Moscow,” Germany’s DW TV reported Friday.
Most of the frozen Russian state assets in Europe are held by the Belgium-based financial clearing house Euroclear. BBC noted on that “In total, Russia has about €210bn of its assets, frozen in the EU within days of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, and €185bn of that is held by Euroclear.”
The Associated Press detailed the EU’s plan:
The European Union is expected on Friday to lock up Russia’s assets held in Europe until it gives up its war in Ukraine and compensates its neighbor for the heavy damage that it has inflicted for almost four years.The move is an important step that would allow EU leaders to work out at a summit next week how to use the tens of billions of euros in Russian Central Bank assets to underwrite a huge loan to help Ukraine meet its financial and military needs over the next two years.Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe – accused the European Commission, which prepared the decision, “of systematically raping European law.”A total of 210 billion euros ($247 billion) in Russian assets are frozen in Europe. The vast majority of the funds — around 193 billion euros ($225 billion) at the end of September — are held in Euroclear, a Belgian financial clearing house.
While the UK and most EU members support the move, criticism came from Hungary, with Prime Minister Viktor Orban slamming it as “clearly unlawful.”
Russia countered the European action by filing a lawsuit on Friday against Belgium’s Euroclear. “Russia’s Central Bank said on Friday that it had filed a lawsuit in Moscow against the Belgium-based depository that holds about 185 billion euros ($217 billion) in immobilized Russian state assets, which European officials are looking to use to extend a giant loan to Ukraine,” The New York Times reported.
President Zelensky, on Friday, visited the eastern frontline and announced that the Ukrainian military was pushing back against the Russian forces and advancing on the ground.”Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had visited troops fending off Russian advances near the embattled city of Kupiansk that Moscow claimed to have captured, which Kyiv denies,” The Guardian (UK) reported Friday. “Earlier today, the Ukrainian military said it had liberated several villages near the north-eastern town of Kupiansk.”
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