Author: dmitriy.vasyura@gmail.com

NATO countries will likely sidestep Ukraine's call to provide the embattled country with an invitation into the military alliance during the upcoming NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting on Dec. 3-4, Reuters reported, citing multiple diplomats.

"It will take weeks and months to get consensus," an unnamed senior NATO diplomat told Reuters on the condition of anonymity. "I don't see that happening tomorrow, I would be very surprised."

Kyiv submitted its application to join NATO in September 2022, and in July 2024, the alliance affirmed Ukraine's "irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership" — although Ukraine has not received any definitive news about its future accession.

The comments come as Ukraine's Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha asked on Nov. 29 that his NATO counterparts issue an invitation to Ukraine to join the alliance during the meeting in Brussels.

"I urge you to endorse the decision to invite Ukraine to join the Alliance as one of the outcomes of the NATO Foreign Ministerial Meeting on Dec. 3-4," Sybiha wrote at the time, pointing at the threat of Russian escalation through its use of the new Oreshnik intermediate-range ballistic missile, as well as the involvement of North Korean troops.

Last week, President Volodymyr Zelensky also suggested ending the "hot phase" of war along Ukraine's eastern front in exchange for NATO membership, not immediately including occupied territories.

In separate comments on a potential invite on Dec. 1, Zelensky said that the alliance's Article 5 collective defense principle may not apply to Ukrainian territories facing active combat if Ukraine were to join NATO.

Amid a recent shift in rhetoric, Zelensky said in in interview with Japan's Kyodo News that Ukraine might have to liberate some Russian-held territories through diplomatic means after the country's NATO membership becomes certain, as the country's military "lacks the strength" to do so immediately.

Despite Ukraine's pleas to join the alliance, a senior U.S. official told Reuters that the Dec. 3-4 meeting would focus on bringing Ukraine into the strongest possible position next year, "going into possible negotiations."

"The best way to (support Ukraine) is to surge money, munitions, and mobilization," the U.S. official added.

The comments comes as the Biden administration continues to make series of decisions aimed at giving Kyiv leverage in future negotiations, ahead of the January inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump — who has criticized military support for Kyiv.

Zelensky, who has repeatedly called on partners to issue a membership invitation to Kyiv, previously said that Ukraine will join NATO only after Russia's full-scale war ends.

France, UK discuss deploying troops to Ukraine for ceasefire monitoring, sources tell RFE/RLThe official, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak publicly, noted that these discussions happen in individual capitals, not within NATO.The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

During an interview with Kyodo News published on Dec. 2, President Volodymyr Zelensky disputed reports in Western media that as many as 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed during the full-scale war with Russia.

"Recently, some in, I believe, the American press reported that 80,000 Ukrainian had been killed. I want to tell you that, no, (the number of those killed is) less, much less," Zelensky said, while refusing to provide a detailed number of casualties.

"However, we have to be honest, we do not know how many Ukrainian have been killed on occupied territories of Ukraine," Zelensky added.

Zelensky's comments likely refer to the Wall Street Journal's claims published on Sept. 17 that 80,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died during the war, with a further 400,000 wounded.

Following the Wall Street Journal's reporting, Ukrainian lawmakers quickly disputed the claims with Roman Kostenko, secretary of the parliamentary defense committee, telling Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty that the numbers were "exaggerated." The lawmaker suggested that 50,000 soldiers killed could be an approximate figure, though he admitted he does not have the most accurate data and that even his number could be an overestimation.

The Wall Street Journal's reporting falls broadly in line with estimates published by the Economist on Nov. 26, claiming that between 60,000 to 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed, and 400,000 injured.

Zelensky did not comment on the number of Ukrainian soldiers reportedly wounded in the war.

Ukraine has largely avoided commenting on its losses, though President Volodymyr Zelensky said in February that 31,000 Ukrainian troops had been killed.

The exact figures for both sides are nearly impossible to establish as Kyiv and Moscow are secretive about their casualties. The last figure provided by Russian authorities was 5,937 killed soldiers as of September 2022.

In turn, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces put Russian overall losses at nearly 744,000 as of Dec. 2, a total the includes those killed, wounded, missing, and captured. The losses Russia suffered in the full-scale war are believed to be greater than during all the wars since 1945 combined.

Through open source research, journalists from Mediazona and BBC Russia, have identified the names of 80,973 Russian soldiers who died during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as of Nov. 29.

The number of daily Russian casualties continues to reach record highs, according to Ukraine's General Staff, with daily losses surpassing 2,000 for the first time on Nov. 29.

Russia also suffered record losses in military equipment and personnel in November in the war against Ukraine, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reported on Dec. 1. Nearly 46,000 Russian soldiers had been lost over the past month, while an estimated $3 billion in weapons and equipment had been damaged or destroyed.

Russia loses almost 46,000 troops, over $3 billion worth of military equipment in November, Defense Ministry saysIn November, the Russian military lost 2,030 soldiers in one day, which is the highest rate of Russian losses in a day since Feb. 24, 2022.The Kyiv IndependentKateryna Hodunova

An Air Alert has been issued in the capital of Ukraine due to the threat of unmanned aerial vehicles. The population is urged to go to shelter.

An Air Alert has been issued in the capital. This is reported by the head of KCMA Sergey Popko, reports UNN.

Attention! UAV threat to the capital! Go to the shelter

– it says in the message.

Recall

Earlier, the Air Force warned that there were detected air threats in the Kiev region.

Air Forces record the movement of enemy drones in seven regions of UkraineDec 2 2024, 11:51 PM • 3500 views