01 December 22
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Vadym Skibitsky, deputy head of Ukraine's military intelligence, said Russia had enough reserves to bombard Ukraine but was negotiating increasing supplies with other countries, including Iran.
The Intelligence Directorate didn't record any delivery so far.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Defense Department's spokesman Pat Ryder said on Nov. 29 that the Pentagon is discussing "a wide variety of capabilities and support with Ukraine," including Patriot air defense systems, but doesn't intend to supply them "right now."
"We'll continue to look at working with allies and partners in terms of what we can get to Ukraine as quickly as possible so they can start employing those capabilities immediately," Ryder added.
He said that Patriot batteries, like other sophisticated weapons, demand "a pretty significant maintenance and sustainment tail, as well as a training tail," which complicates their supplies to Ukraine.
Ryder's comments are a response to Ukrainian and Polish requests to send Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine.
Poland's Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak repeated on Nov. 30 that the best way to protect Polish territory is to deploy highly-effective Patriot air defense units in western Ukraine.
Warsaw had earlier turned down Berlin's offer to deploy Patriot air defense systems with German crew along its border with Ukraine.
The Polish proposal to hand over the long-wanted systems to Ukraine has raised concerns among NATO allies that it would escalate their involvement in the war.
The Ukrainian military doesn't have experience piloting the Patriot systems.
Southern attacks
A 70-year-old woman was killed at home during Russia's yet another round of shelling against the recently liberated city of Kherson, Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said.
The official added that the attack hit a gas pipeline in central Kherson, as well as several residential buildings and medical institutions.
The early morning shelling also broke windows and walls of the Kherson Art Museum, according to Cultural Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko.
"Whatever they didn't steal, they destroy," Tkachenko said on Telegram about the Russian attack.
Ukraine's General Staff reported that Russian forces continue incessantly shelling Kherson and its suburbs. The casualty rate has been rising.
In neighboring Mykolaiv Oblast, Governor Vitaliy Kim said that Russian troops have recently forcibly relocated 37 residents from the settlements on the contested Kinburn Spit.
The narrow 10-kilometer-long spit, attached to mainland Kherson Oblast, is the only area of Mykolaiv Oblast still occupied by Russia.
Ukraine's Southern Military Command said earlier in November that operations are underway to recapture Kinburn, but no further details have been released since then.
The Institute of the Study of War said on Nov. 28 that Russia's strengthened defense positions on and around the Kinburn Spit suggest that it feels threatened by the prospect of a Ukrainian counteroffensive across the Dnipro River.
Grinding battle in the east
Russian forces are transferring more military personnel and equipment to Bakhmut and surrounding areas in Donetsk Oblast to replace the ones lost, according to Ukraine's General Staff.
Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported that two civilians were killed and 11 wounded in Bakhmut over the past day.
For almost five months, Russians have been trying to capture the town with a pre-war population of 70,000.
Russian troops destroyed a kindergarten and at least three residential buildings in Bakhmut, Kyrylenko added.
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