‘We Hope Orban Won’t Call Assad in Moscow to Listen to His Hours-Long Lectures’ – Ukraine at War Update for Dec. 12

The White House this week announced that it would grant a $20 billion loan to Kyiv as part of a greater $50 billion package from the G7 nations as a whole. The Russian Foreign Ministry fired back on Wednesday, calling the move “banal theft” that “will not go answered.”

Moscow claimed that it had “sufficient capacity and leverage to retaliate by seizing Western assets under its jurisdiction,” according to AFP, without elaborating.

According to the Yale School of Management, more than 1,000 companies have withdrawn their Russian presence and assets since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February of 2022. About 325 US-based companies are included in that list, ranging from Amazon, American Express and Apple to Twitter (now X), YouTube and Zoom.

Russian assets that have been frozen and seized by the West since the country’s illegal invasion of Ukraine mostly comprise funds invested in American and European financial institutions, as well as other assets such as a few high-profile yachts owned by Russian oligarchs, slipped and moored in European and Caribbean harbors.

The $20B loan decision follows long talks between Washington and its allies about the optimal way to use frozen Russian assets to help Kyiv.

Zelensky miffed about Orban’s call to Putin without Ukraine’s input

President Volodymyr Zelensky blasted Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban for his phone call with Russian leader Vladimir Putin on Wednesday, saying Orban was simply “boosting his personal image” rather than aiming for a “just peace” in Moscow’s nearly three-year invasion of the country.

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Orban, who has held the rotating presidency of the European Union since July and will do so until the end of this year, reported on social media Wednesday that he had held an “hour-long phone conversation” with Putin in the morning to discuss a ceasefire.

EU officials have been frustrated with the Kremlin-allied Hungarian leader, to put it graciously, for his consistent blocking of Brussels’ aid to Ukraine and his unilateral, unauthorized decisions to hold policy conversations with Putin.

In remarks on social media Wednesday evening, Zelensky snapped, “We all hope that Viktor Orban at least won’t call [deposed Syrian leader Bashar-al] Assad in Moscow to listen to his hour-long lectures as well.”

Assad and his family flew to Moscow earlier this week to accept Putin’s offer of asylum after rebels in Syria overthrew his family’s 50-year brutal authoritarian regime, backed by Russian forces.

“It’s absolutely clear that achieving real peace and guaranteed security requires America’s determination,” Zelensky continued, “Europe’s unity, and the unwavering commitment of all partners to the Purposes and Principles of the UN Charter.

“No one should boost personal image at the expense of unity; everyone should focus on shared success. Unity in Europe has always been key to achieving it. There can be no discussions about the war that Russia wages against Ukraine without Ukraine,” Zelensky posted.

For his part, Orban claimed that “We are taking every possible diplomatic step to argue in favor of a ceasefire and peace talks [in Ukraine].”

Pentagon warns that another experimental ballistic missile could be coming Ukraine’s way

Russia could strike Ukraine again with its experimental “Oreshnik” medium-range ballistic missile the Pentagon said on Wednesday, in another “message to the West.”

“It’s possible that Russia could do it in the coming days, said Sabrina Singh, Deputy Spokesperson for the US Department of Defense, at a Pentagon briefing. “I don’t have an exact date for you.”

She added that if Russia does launch an Oreshnik, it will not “be a game changer on the battlefield” but rather “another attempt to inflict harm and casualties in Ukraine.”

On Nov. 28, Russia fired an Oreshnik experimental medium-range ballistic missile on the southern city of Dnipro. (Fortunately no deaths were reported in that strike.) Kremlin-controlled news agencies described the attack at the time as “retaliation” for Kyiv’s long-range strikes against Russian territory using Western-made missiles.

The Oreshnik, or “hazelnut tree”, is classified as an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) with a range between approximately 1,864–3,418 miles, significantly extending Russia’s strike capability. Russia commonly names its weapons after flowers and plants: The “Gvozdika” howitzer-type weapon means “carnation”, the “Tyulipan” mortar is named after the tulip, while the 235 “Giasnt” is a Soviet-made 152 mm self-propelled gun named after the hyasnith, etc.

At the time, Zelensky said of Putin’s decision that “his current saber-rattling with ‘Oreshnik’ is aimed solely at disrupting the efforts of President Trump that are sure to follow his inauguration.

Putin wants to escalate the situation now so that President Trump fails to end the war, he said:

“That is why Putin’s escalation now is a form of pressure aimed at eventually forcing the president of the United States to accept Russia’s terms.”