Here is today's map of the security situation in eastern Ukraine, according to the National Security and Defense Council (click to enlarge):
Kyiv says it has new contracts for second batch of U.S. Javelins
By RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service
KYIV -- Deputy Defense Minister Anatoliy Petrenko says Kyiv recently concluded contracts for the delivery of a second batch of Javelin U.S. anti-tank missile systems.
Speaking on December 26, Petrenko said three contracts had been signed in the past three months in connection with the Javelins -- two with the U.S. government under the Foreign Military Sales program and one with NATO's Support and Procurement Agency.
The U.S. State Department in October approved the sale of $39.2 million in military equipment to Ukraine, including a second batch of Javelins, the world's deadliest anti-tank missiles, to help Kyiv in its ongoing five-year war against Russia-backed separatists.
The deal reportedly included 150 Javelin missiles and 10 launch units, adding to the 210 missiles and 37 launchers that Ukraine bought from the United States in 2018.
The Javelin missile systems are meant to be used in the event of a large-scale escalation in the war and not for offensive purposes, U.S. and Ukrainian officials have said.
The Javelin missiles were mentioned in a controversial July 25 telephone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy that was at the center of a whistle-blower complaint against the U.S. leader.
That complaint and subsequent revelations led to House of Representatives votes on December 18 to impeach Trump for alleged abuse of office and obstruction of Congress, making him just the third president in U.S. history to be impeached.
In the July phone call, according to White House notes of the conversation, Zelenskiy said he wanted "to buy more Javelins" before Trump asked the Ukrainian president for "a favor, though."
The sale of the Javelins had been finalized before the call.
But Democrats accuse Trump of pressuring Zelenskiy to investigate former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son Hunter, who had business dealings in Ukraine, by threatening to hold up military aid to Kyiv.
The Ukrainian government has been fighting Russia-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine since 2014 in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people.
Russia had seized and annexed Ukraine's Crimea region earlier the same year in a move that has been overwhelmingly rejected in multiple UN votes.
The United States and European Union have been providing aid to Ukraine since soon after the 2014 Russian invasion.
The Javelins, manufactured in a joint venture by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin, are medium-range, anti-tank guided missiles that are currently being used by the U.S. military in Afghanistan.
"Serious American" companies studying purchase of Ukraine Motor Sich, U.S. diplomat says:
By Todd Prince
William Taylor, the outgoing top U.S. diplomat in Ukraine, has said that "serious American" companies are studying the possible purchase of Motor Sich, one of the world's top makers of aircraft engines.
The United States, which has provided Ukraine with more than $1.5 billion in military aid over the past five years, has lobbied against the possible sale of the strategic company and its advanced technology to China.
Motor Sich is privately owned by its chief executive, Vyacheslav Bohuslayev. The 81-year old said he agreed to sell the bulk of his shares to Chinese companies because they were willing to invest the hundreds of millions of dollars necessary to keep the aging plant in Zaporizhzhya running and its thousands of workers employed.
However, the deal has yet to receive Ukrainian government approval.
U.S. President Donald Trump in August dispatched then-national-security adviser John Bolton to Kyiv to dissuade Ukraine from allowing the sale to the Chinese. Bolton subsequently "energized" the dialogue between U.S. companies and Ukrainian officials about the purchase of Motor Sich, Taylor said.
"There are some serious American and other companies interested in Motor Sich," Taylor said in an interview on December 26 in Kyiv with Ukrainian media as he gets set to leave his post on January 2.
"They're doing some due diligence, checking balance sheets, visiting the plant, talking to the owners. They're doing some serious evaluation," Taylor said.
He did not disclose the names of the American companies.
The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Erik Prince -- a private defense contractor whose company is registered in Beijing and Hong Kong and who is an informal adviser to Trump -- had been in talks to acquire Motor Sich.
A founder of the defense contractor formerly known as Blackwater, Prince had reportedly been to Ukraine nine times since 2014 and visited the advanced aircraft-engine maker's headquarters in Zaporizhzhya.
Citing U.S. officials briefed on the matter, The Wall Street Journal reported on November 5 that the U.S. administration had allegedly approached Prince and at least one other potential buyer to acquire the company, which possesses sensitive technologies. (w/Kyiv Post and The Wall Street Journal)