Troops from both sides suffering as a result of mild autumn and abundance of food for rodents, says UK intelligence
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Financial institutions that support the Russian military industrial complex are to be blacklisted by the US after president Joe Biden signed an executive order yesterday to deny banks under sanctions access to the American financial system.
“This announcement makes clear that those financing and facilitating the transactions of goods that end up on the battlefield will face severe consequences,” deputy US treasury secretary Wally Adeyemo wrote in a Financial Times op-ed.
What we’re trying to do is go after materials that are key to Russia’s ability to build weapons of war. In order for them to get those materials, they need to use the financial system, which makes the financial system a potential choke point and this is a tool that’s targeted at that choke point.
Our overall goal here is to put sand in the gears of Russia’s supply chain, which we think is one of the most effective ways to slow Russia down. But in order for the Ukrainians to speed up frankly and go faster, they need our support and that’s going to require Congress to act.
Russia’s recent advances near Avdiivka, as well as around other cities such as Kupiansk, Bakhmut and Marinka, are also further evidence that Russia has firmly seized the initiative on much of the battlefield.
“Currently, the situation on the front line is difficult and is gradually deteriorating,” Yehor Chernev, the deputy chairman of the Ukrainian Parliament’s committee on national security, defense and intelligence, said in an interview. “Without American ammunition, we are beginning to lose territory that was hard won this summer.”
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2023-12-23 07:26:47
Link from www.theguardian.com