War in Ukraine: Zelensky says his “plan for victory” is ready, drone production increased tenfold… an update on the situation

Voldymyr Zelensky used the peace plan presented at the end of 2022, which provides, among other things, for the withdrawal of Russian troops and the full restoration of Ukraine's territorial integrity, as a basis for negotiations. The Ukrainian president, however, has opposed any negotiations as long as Russian troops occupy almost 20% of Ukrainian territory.

EU to transfer €160 million from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine

The European Union will transfer 160 million euros from frozen Russian assets to Ukraine to help it meet its humanitarian and energy needs this winter, the president of the European Commission said on Thursday. Ursula von der Leyen added that a fossil fuel power plant being dismantled in Lithuania would be rebuilt in Ukraine, 80% of whose thermal power plants were destroyed by Russian strikes. “Our goal is to restore 2.5 GW of capacity, which is 15% of Ukraine's needs”, the Commission President said.

Russia increases drone production tenfold, says Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Russia is increasing drone production tenfold to nearly 1.4 million units this year, an effort aimed at ensuring victory for its armed forces in Ukraine. Since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the conflict has served to develop the drone industry and illustrated the importance of these unmanned flying devices in modern warfare, whether to sow panic in infantry units, gather intelligence, sabotage infrastructure or attack arsenals.

“In total, around 140,000 drones of various types were delivered to the armed forces in 2023”, Vladimir Putin said at a meeting in St. Petersburg on drone production. “This year, drone production is expected to increase significantly. Well, to be more precise, by almost 10 times", he added. Both Russia and Ukraine have purchased drones from abroad and increased their own production since the war began.

The Russian president said Russia was making almost weekly progress in drone technology and that it also needed to develop its anti-drone defenses, which are technologies that detect, confuse and shoot down enemy drones. “The main task is to produce a wide range of unmanned aerial vehicles and set up serial production as quickly as possible,”, he said.

The Ukrainian offensive on Kursk has forced Moscow to move 40,000 troops

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday night that Kiev's offensive in the Russian border region of Kursk had forced Russia to move 40,000 troops there.

“We have already managed to send about 40,000 Russian troops to this region,”, President Zelensky said in his daily address.