US Quietly Sent UKR Missile Systems That Could Hit RU; UKR Hits Multiple Russian Refineries Overnight; UKR Drones Struck 2 Rosneft Oil Depots; Attacks Hit RU Smolensk, Lipetsk, Voronezh Oblasts; 84 C.Clashes-F.Lines; RU Loses: 43 Art-Sys, 880 Sold-Past Day, LIVE UPDATES and LOTS MORE

US reveals it quietly sent Ukraine missile systems that could hit Russia as Pentagon announces $1B aid package:

The White House announced a new $1 billion military aid package for Ukraine Wednesday – and revealed the Pentagon quietly sent Kyiv controversial long-range missile systems capable of striking deep behind Russia’s frontlines earlier this month.

Minutes after signing a long-delayed $95 billion foreign assistance supplemental bill into law, President Biden promised that aid would begin rolling to Ukraine within “a few hours.”

Moments later, the Pentagon released an announcement detailing the critical weapons and military equipment it was sending to the besieged country.

While most of the equipment in the initial package fulfills basic military needs — and includes anti-aircraft missiles, small arms, artillery rounds, and night vision gear — national security adviser Jake Sullivan revealed that the US had quietly sent Ukraine Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) weeks ago, despite the White House saying there was no funding left for such assistance.

GOP leaders had successfully advocated for ATACMS to be included in future packages if the supplemental passed, senior House Republican staff told The Post last week.

Biden had previously been hesitant to send the impressive weapons to Ukraine, partly due to fears of escalating the fight.

Moscow’s troops had gained the upper hand on the battlefield in recent months, taking more territory and sneaking more missiles past Kyiv’s air-defense systems as Congress tussled over the supplemental funding package, which Biden first requested in October.

“You can measure the impact [of the funding delay] in different ways. With respect to actual territory, we’re talking about tactical losses in the east, not some fundamental structural shift in the underlying dynamic in the conflict,” Sullivan told reporters at the White House. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukraine Hits Multiple Russian Refineries Overnight Despite US Warnings:

Ukraine launched drone attacks on several Russian oil refineries overnight, Russian sources said on Wednesday, despite pushback from Washington urging Kyiv to reel in its strikes on Moscow’s oil infrastructure.

Russia’s defense ministry said its air defenses had intercepted two Ukrainian uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) over the Voronezh region bordering northeast Ukraine, another over the Smolensk region southwest of Moscow, and two over the border Belgorod region close to Ukraine.

“Our region is again under attack by Ukrainian UAVs,” Smolensk Governor Vasily Anokhin said in a post to messaging app Telegram early on Wednesday. Fires broke out around the city of Smolensk and in a town to the east of the city “as a result of an enemy attack on civilian fuel and energy facilities,” Anokhin said. There were no casualties, he said in a later statement.

Ukraine’s SBU security service struck two oil depots in the Smolensk region with kamikaze drones, Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform reported, citing an SBU source.

Aleksandr Gusev, the head of the Voronezh region, said four drones were intercepted over the area, reporting damage to at least two private buildings. Igor Artamonov, who heads the Lipetsk region, said Ukraine “attempted to strike at the infrastructure in the industrial zone of Lipetsk.”

Russian independent outlet Astra shared footage purporting to show fires blazing at oil refineries in Voronezh and Smolensk, adding that local residents reported an attack on one of Russia’s largest steel factories in the city of Lipetsk. Ukraine targeted the plant earlier this year.

Newsweek reached out to the Russian defense ministry and the Ukrainian military for comment via email. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:

+++++Russia-Ukraine News LATEST UPDATES: (REUTERS) (AP) (NY POST) and (WSJ)+++++

+++++Ukrainian drones struck two Rosneft oil depots in attack, Kyiv source says+++++

+++++Russian media: Drone attacks hit Russian Smolensk, Lipetsk, Voronezh oblasts+++++

+++++War update: 84 combat engagements since day-start+++++

+++++Ukrainian Armed Forces destroy Russian tank, 43 artillery systems and 880 soldiers per day+++++

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