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Moscow is implementing a psychological influence campaign of intimidations to deter the US from supplying Tomahawk cruise missiles to Ukrainian forces, as reported by military analysts. A high-ranking legislator remarked: “We understand these projectiles very well, their flight patterns, defensive countermeasures, we worked on them in Middle East operations, so there is nothing new. Those delivering them and those who use them will face consequences … We will identify methods to target those who create problems for us.”

Ukraine's Counteroffensive Situation

Kyiv's troops were causing significant casualties in a counteroffensive in eastern Ukraine, the war's main theatre, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported on midweek. Zelenskyy's assessment, based on a report by his top commander, contradicted the Russian president's speech before senior Russian officers a day earlier in which he said Moscow's forces maintained the operational control in every combat zone.

In an assessment from early October, conflict monitors said Russia was incurring heavy casualty rates, particularly from Ukrainian drone attacks, in exchange for small operational progress. Defending units, the president stated, were “defending ourselves along multiple fronts”, mentioning particularly Kupiansk, a heavily damaged city in north-eastern Ukraine under sustained offensive operations for months.

Regional Developments

Administrative officials in southern Ukraine of Kherson said offensive operations on Wednesday killed three people in and around the city of the same name. The governor of northern Sumy, on the northern border with Russia, said three fatalities occurred in UAV assaults in various areas. Ukraine's air force said it successfully countered 154 out of 183 offensive unmanned aircraft overnight into Wednesday.

A Russian attack substantially impacted one of Ukraine's thermal power plants, authorities said on Wednesday. Facility personnel were harmed during the strike, as reported by energy company officials. Officials offered no further information, including the site's whereabouts, but government officials said strikes hit energy infrastructure in northern Ukraine, the Kherson area and the Dnipropetrovsk area.

Civilian Impact

In the border community of Shostka, severely affected by the military campaign against the electrical grid, officials have established temporary shelters where residents may warm up, drink hot tea, power electronic devices and access mental health services, according to regional head.

International Reactions

Kyiv's representative to Nato on midweek called on NATO members to increase acquisitions of US weapons for Ukraine. “The situation isn't that we favor United States armaments instead of European or other international equipment – the challenge remains that we are asking the US for weapons which EU members are unable to supply,” said Ukraine's NATO envoy.

Germany's national police will shortly receive authorization to neutralize UAVs, interior minister declared on midweek, following multiple UAV observations suspected as foreign operations to spy and intimidate. Announcing legal changes, the minister said law enforcement would receive permission “to take state-of-the-art technical action against unmanned aircraft dangers, for example with electronic countermeasures, electronic interference, navigation system disruption, but also with kinetic methods”.

Regional Security Challenges

European Commission President said on Wednesday that EU nations need to ramp up its defenses to deter Russia's “hybrid warfare” following airspace breaches, computer network operations and marine communications interference. “This is not coincidental events. It is a systematic and intensifying operation,” the official said in a address before the European parliament. “Several occurrences are isolated incidents, but several, many, frequent – this is a planned and specific hybrid threat strategy against EU nations, and European countries should answer.”

Humanitarian Situation

The Swiss government has extended its protection status granted to people fleeing Ukraine to at least 4 March 2027. Humanitarian status, which permits refugees to leave the country as well as work in Switzerland, is normally capped at a single year but can be continued. “This determination reflects the continued unstable environment and continuing offensive operations across large parts of Ukraine,” said a official communication. “Despite international peace efforts, a lasting stabilisation that would enable protected homecoming is not expected in the medium term.”