ukrainian air defenses shot down 72 of the 99 missiles launched by russia, including 10 daggers. the british prime minister's office said in a statement that the leaders discussed the successes of the ukrainian air defense forces, enhanced, in particular , by the systems provided by great britain. rishi sunok informed volodymyr zelenskyi about the current work of london in providing military and diplomatic support to kyiv and promised to continue unwavering support for ukraine. according to reports from the office of the ukrainian president, there is a special emphasis. speech was on the further strengthening of air defense and long-range capabilities of the armed forces. the joint work of great britain and the united states in support of ukraine was also discussed today by the chief diplomats of these countries, david cameron and antony blinken. the president of lithuania and latvia called on the world to act now and provide ukraine with more air defense systems. and the prime minister of estonia, kaia kallas, believes in the victory of ukraine and isolates russia. how do american experts comment on the latest events and what actions do they expect from the event?

let's talk about this with my colleague maria ulyanovska. hello maria. over 450 drones and rockets were fired by russia at ukrainian cities in the past 5 days. why are such massive attacks happening right now? and how, according to experts, it can change the course of the war. yuli, we know that it was previously reported that russia is just stockpiling these missiles, stockpiling drones in order to potentially launch such large -scale massive missile strikes on ukraine, and we see that this is happening for the second time. this week, the first such attack was on the friday before the new year, the second largest mass such missile attack to occur in the entire period of full-scale war, just a few days away, and we talked to experts about why this is happening right now, and they tell me that russia's tactic now is to recognize ukraine's air defense systems, so these missile attacks are massed so that ukraine spends a lot of anti-aircraft missiles.

defense why is this question important right now? we know that the united states recently, the pentagon allocated the last package of military aid from the finances that remained in the united states to provide aid ukraine. we know that additional funding for this year is currently stuck in congress. congressmen cannot agree on issues of migration policy, which means that they cannot vote for additional funding for ukraine, israel, the indo-pacific region. and border security issues, we also know that the european union also did not vote for additional funding for the next few years for ukraine, it was supposed to be 50 billion euros, but due to hungary's veto, this funding was not approved, and to this issue will return already this month, at the same time the minister of foreign affairs of lithuania warned that the west may repeat historical mistakes in the issue of military aid to ukraine, he said that... if

decisive steps are not taken now regarding aid to ukraine, then the west is choosing a path when it will suffer incredible and unnecessary losses before these steps eventually have to be taken. he said the event could wait for the pearl harbor effect. we also spoke with an atlantic council expert who commented on why, why russia is making these attacks now and why it is important? let's listen to him. it has been reported that russia is stockpiling its missiles and ramping up drone production for this very purpose. it will only be harder. we will see more such large strikes by russia on ukrainian cities and civilians . russia wants to exhaust the air defense of ukraine. russia wants to terrorize and bully the ukrainian people to make this winter as difficult as possible. if ammunition for anti-aircraft defense. ends, russia

will be able to destroy us-provided air defense systems such as patriot and nasams. it would be devastating, devastating loss, both for ukraine and for the united states. well, the minister of foreign affairs, dmytro kuleba, has already commented that he expects the western countries not only to condemn these attacks, but to take decisive steps to provide ukraine with further military aid. maria, but at a time when, as you said , the future... for ukraine is stuck in the congress, because the white house cannot currently continue to send aid packages to kyiv, including support for the ssnpo, can any other country take the lead in strengthening ukrainian air defense? julia, we know about that air defense systems are provided not only by the united states, we know that in ukraine there is an american patriot, there is a british iris, there are norwegian ones, nasamsi, and all these systems save a lot of lives, at the same time we also know that communication. .. the states are really

leaders in the provision of air defense systems, and when we spoke to experts, they say that when the united states began to close the ukrainian sky, the air defense of ukraine improved ... improved by 90%, that is, it is incredible such an indicator. we also talked with experts that the world currently has no resources at all to completely close the ukrainian sky. there are not that many means of air defense. at the same time, as oleksandr vershbo , ex-deputy deputy of nato and former us ambassador to russia, said, he says that due to such massive attacks and the fact that the west cannot now agree on aid to ukraine, we should expect that ukraine will be less . successful in shooting down these missiles and drones, which russia constantly sends and bombards ukraine with. let's listen to doug klein, an expert of the atlantic council, he talks more about what countries can do to improve the situation until the issue of aid to ukraine is resolved.

ukraine's other partners around the world should step up and try to fill the gap if the united states... in terms of air defense stockpiling, there are other countries that use patriot systems and can provide ammunition. we are talking about germany, japan, south korea and even sweden, which is currently trying to join nato. meanwhile, countries can too to try to make their own versions of a very important program that the pentagon is doing together with ukraine. it is called frankens and is designed to solve the real problem that the world literally does not have enough air defense systems that could protect all of ukraine, and therefore this program developed by the pentagon is trying to take other types of air defense, other types of missile systems and about to combine them together to create new types of air

defense for ukraine. congress can and should continue to fund this program, but also other countries can also make their alternatives. maria, maria, the issue of the possible transfer of frozen russian assets worth 300 billion dollars to ukraine is being actively discussed now, how realistic is it that this will happen, and that this money, in particular, can go not only to reconstruction, but also to the protection of ukrainian cities. well, as the historians said, today would really be a great day to do it, to unfreeze these assets and send them to help ukraine. we talked more about this with daniel, an analyst at the atlantic council freedom let's hear his assessment. the frozen russian foreign exchange reserves are estimated to be around $300 billion, most of this money is in europe, there has been great reluctance on the part of the european governments and the us government to actually use these frozen assets for ukraine because that

would require removing them from russia, but the biden administration slowly began to move in the direction of doing the right thing. the biden administration has finally moved on from not wanting to talk about it. the desire to promote this idea and do it not alone, and act with europe. congress is considering legislation that would clarify the legal authority to do so. this is a good step. i hope congress passes this bill. however, this money should not replace our own funds to help ukraine right now, because it may take some time to identify these assets and meet the legal requirements to seize them. i hope it takes. maria, thank you very much for this important information, we will continue to intern with how things develop, and the complete comment of danilefrid as well read on our website. maria ulyanovska was in contact with the studio. after the missile attack on the ukrainian capital, several dozen

kyivites came to the site of the fall of the fragments of the russian missile in the solomyansk district to help clean up the area. my colleagues anna kostyuchenko and pavel sukhodolskyi asked the volunteers and... the latter how the constant attacks affect them psychologically, what motivates them and do they count on the help of the event? i believe that the ukrainian population cannot be intimidated by anything. if it came now, it seems to me that more than a hundred people i know that some even came from the kyiv region to clean up, and someone brought tea in thermoses, so i believe that they will not be able to intimidate us, because... they can beat, but they will not create fear with this 100% . and it goes on and on, and everything doesn't end , and that's it, but when you think about what those guys who are harrowing there feel, yes in the frost, in

the cold, in the rain and everything, then you think that you are sleeping in a warm bed, even in the bathroom, but at home, and that's all... the darkness disappears and you think, what, what, what are you can you do more and of course, all the people we saw today who were leaving their homes, temporarily evicted, so they're in a lot of shock, and i think... they're going to take a long time to come to their senses, because they don't know how to react, well, for me, it's just hard for me to look at these people, but when you do something, it makes this effect much easier in general, and her reaction becomes such that you try to change something with your own hands, and this also gives confidence that we will be able to survive it all, i don't think i've really achieved it. because all the people who are here are the organization itself, we didn't have to wait for someone to invite us here, someone brought

balls to give out candy to others, someone brought honey, water, tea, chargers, so i don't think they eat it it won't work, it's annoying, for me these air attacks are more like an inconvenience, it seems that they are aimed at creating inconveniences for the daily life of the people of kyiv, because the russians are not... destroying anything important and big, they are just trying to terrorize people and make their lives difficult , well, who is afraid, who is not afraid, i didn’t, it’s, well, how can i tell you, i went to work today, it’s very normal, it rang a few times, we have a consulate and an embassy here and... they see all this, they have it, they write about this, they talk

about it, they point out, then i think that it is not something that is shown somewhere there, there it is people who are experiencing the same thing as us ordinary ordinary kyivans, that is, i i think so, because if it is not stopped, it will really go to europe, well, i want to believe that they are doing the best they can, but maybe people suffer not their houses. their people are dying, so at least 55 people died in a massive earthquake on the noto peninsula in japan. the president of the united states of america, joe biden, said that washington is ready to help the japanese with everything necessary. a passenger plane collided with a coast guard plane helping to deal with the aftermath of the earthquake as search operations continued at tokyo's haneda international airport in shikawa prefecture. five crew members of the transport plane died on board. meanwhile. from passenger liner managed to successfully evacuate all 367 passengers and 12

crew members. some of them were injured. an investigation into the accident has already begun to find out who is to blame for the tragedy. voice of america continues to sum up the year. today, the focus of our attention is the organization of the united nations. precisely for this international. the organization is committed to maintaining world peace. russia's full-scale invasion of ukraine became a test for the entire organization and the security council, its main body, which does not could neither prevent aggression nor stop it. the war in ukraine only emphasized the urgent need to reform the security council. did the member states manage to minimize russia's influence in the un? details, verina solomko. for ukrainian diplomats of the un , challenge 2 of 2023 has become to keep the attention of member states on the topic of the war in ukraine, because it fades not

only in the world media, but also in the fields of the organization, especially against the background of other 52 conflicts that the un takes care of. one of the tools that allow you to do this is the briefings of the security council, and diplomats have a lot to do here report. in 2023, on the initiative of ukraine and its partners, the un security council held 33 meetings dedicated to ukraine. 33 meetings are more... between two and a half meetings per month, relatively speaking, and this despite the fact that no one canceled another agenda of the red security service. another important task for ukraine and its partners was the reduction of moscow's influence in the organization, as well as, according to kislytsa, its displacement from key un bodies. the partners managed to prevent the election of a satellite of moscow to belarus to the security council. in 2023, russia was not elected to the economic and social council. the un, the un international court of justice, as well as the executive councils of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, unicef and unesco. in

unesco, many countries take the same position as in the olympic committee, you know, sport is sacred, i think, art is sacred, it is pure, let's not spoil it with all kinds of politics and so on, that 's why it's very important, and it is also important that... once again the united states elected the united states, great britain elected the executive council of unesco. in addition to political support, ukraine also received humanitarian support from the un. the scope of this assistance 2 almost 3 billion. for example, the humanitarian aid needs of syria, it was an incomplete 34%. somalia, incomplete 43% of needs. sudan,

less than 40% of needs. of course we need more help. but let's admit that among all the conflict zones, and thanks to the position of our partners who finance humanitarian aid, and thanks to the way the un secretariat sees priorities, in the 23rd year, almost 64% of needs were covered. among other achievements. countries in the united nations in 2023, kislytsia called and voted for the resolution, the principles of the charter of the un, which are the basis of a comprehensive , just and lasting peace in ukraine. 141 countries voted for the document. it largely dispelled the myths and narratives that

the united nations and the international community were tired of ukraine and the ukrainian war. and so on, why this resolution became important, again, returning to the peace formula, because high representatives of the un secretariat also participate in the meetings on the peace formula. at the same time, kyslytsia admits, ukraine failed to influence the question of russia's presence in the security council, and the main body of the un has not managed to make any meaningful decision regarding the war in ukraine. ukrainian members of the security council and, above all, permanent members of the security council continue to stand on the position that the russian federation is a full-fledged, full-fledged member of the security council, therefore they allow the russian federation to use the right

of veto, and they are not ready, let's be honest, to approach. not only to practical steps to deprive the russian federation of these powers, they are not even ready to start this is a political discussion. the ukrainian diplomat claims that 2023 has become one of the most difficult for the un since its foundation as a guarantor of peace and security in the world. according to him, un secretary general antonio guterres also recognizes this. the model was created in the 45th year. does not function in the current conditions, and of course, it is about the need to reform it, but, as the secretary general says, it is necessary to preserve those fundamental principles that were established during the creation of the united nations organization. the secretary general himself tries to defend in public comments the organization

responsible for the situation in ukraine. it was not the un that invaded ukraine. it was not the un that created the conditions for this conflict, so let's be honest, the responsibility of the member states must be taken by the member states and let 's not turn the un into a scapegoat for the failures or negative actions committed by the member states. speaking at the opening of the 78th session of the un general assembly, us president joe biden spoke about the need to reform the security council. in his in my address last year, i... emphasized that the united states supports the expansion of nato, increasing the number of permanent and non-permanent members. the united states has engaged in robust consultations with many member states, and we will continue to do our part to advance reforms, find common ground , and make progress in the coming year. we must get out of the loophole that is impeding

progress and blocking consensus in the security council. we need more voices and more perspectives. at the table. tyslitsa draws attention to the fact that radves can not only tame the aggressor, who is a permanent member of this body, but also to continue to perform peacekeeping functions in other regions of the world. the un peacekeeping operation has been scaled back. discussions are ongoing regarding the withdrawal of opem from the drc of the democratic republic of the congo. opes, they were the main tool. establishment of peace in post-conflict conflict zones, therefore, it is necessary to look for new forms and approaches to how the united nations organization will support peace in the future. many hopes for finding a way out of the crisis, member states and the un secretariat is entrusted with the summit

of the future, which will be held in september 2024. work on its preparation continues, negotiations are underway on the content of the final document. there is a skeptic that 193 un countries will be able to adopt a document that will truly become a tool for solving those global crises and conflicts that are currently on the agenda. from new york iryna solomko, pavlo terekhov, voice of america. the war in ukraine is already changing the way countries around the world prepare their militaries for potential challenges, with a particular focus on the use of drones. on according to american military experts, small armies of drones can become a common element of the introduction of modern wars. oleksiy kovalenko tells the details of the voice of america plot. in august, the pentagon announced a new one. a drone initiative called replicator, a new step in competition with china's military. the program involves the use of large numbers of small drones, a major shift in

us national security, the military says. small unmanned aerial vehicles in essence mean the democratization of high-precision munitions, because now anyone in the world, with a few thousand dollars, can create extremely powerful and accurate weapons, which previously only powerful countries had access to. they will remain on the battlefield. colonel mark jacobson teaches strategy and security at the us air force college. in his opinion, the war in ukraine is unprecedented in terms of the use of drones, because ukrainians alone use 5 to 10 thousand drones per month and train an average of 10,000 drone operators per year. some of the drones used on the battlefield in ukraine have autonomous capabilities and are equipped. supplies with artificial intelligence that can identify, track and attack targets without human intervention. jacobson says that such autonomy raises some ethical concerns about machines

making the decision to kill. it is very difficult to maintain data links in an electronic warfare environment, so there is a growing push for autonomy, so that drones can fly and make certain decisions on their own. this very quickly causes ethical problems rogers, executive director of the technology policy institute at cornell university, says drones are already making those decisions. once a target is identified by a pre-set algorithm, these weaponized weapon systems can make life-or-death decisions without human involvement in the process. so it is important to plan for the future, but it is also important to realize that this future has already arrived. the pentagon assures that even if they already have drones. such opportunities, the american military will always be apply what they call an appropriate level of human control, however, u.s. defense officials emphasize, cannot expect similar behavior from others.

oleksiy kovalenko, maya kay, voice of america, washington. the activists of the stand with ukraine foundation in los angeles chose an unusual way to draw the attention of american society to the war in ukraine and to raise funds for aid. they took the movember movement as a basis, when men grow during november. mustache for a charitable cause. did the activists succeed? grow a cossack mustache and raise funds - khrystyna shevchenko learned. and the movember shave begins. we shave clean. to grow a mustache, such a challenge was launched by activists of the los angeles-based charitable foundation stand with ukraine. in such an inventive way, they decided to raise funds to help ukraine. the idea of ​​growing

a mustache for charity appeared in 2003 in australia as a way to draw attention to men's health issues. since then , movember has grown into a global movement. peter lahr, activist of the stand with foundation ukraine says: this year, together with like-minded people , we decided to offer those who want to grow a mustache with a different goal. many of my friends have participated in this, they find an audience and grow a mustache for 30 days to raise money for a good cause. so this year, instead of raising money for men's health, we decided to do the same to raise money and draw attention to what is happening in ukraine. so 15 volunteers from california began growing mustaches on november 1 and sharing their progress on social media networks some participants of the charity event faced difficulties. the first week of my mustache progress for movembar in

ukraine, nothing. it's not a mustache, fluff, jokes alex denisov, a ukrainian activist originally from crimea. he posted pictures of his progress on social media every day and linked the posts to events in ukraine. the first, the first stage of mustache growth is very like this, well, it's funny, it looks, somehow it grows unevenly, it turns out like this very funny, since it's november for ukraine, every day i linked my post to some... news about ukraine, or something from advocacy, which we did, that is, we advocated for ukraine. the main goal of the campaign was to collect 25,000 dollars for the purchase of a thousand turnstiles, but there was also another goal of the mustache movement, - says the president of the stand with ukraine foundation mykhailo lavrys. a volunteer organization that has been actively helping ukraine since february 2022 needs new ways to encourage americans to donate money for aid. a lot.

especially among the local american population who are not heavily involved in the issues of foreign policy, they do not realize that the war in ukraine continues, continues, and, on the contrary, those who know, do not fully understand what can be done on their part, apart from direct donations, to help ukraine. accordingly, we 've also been saying in our daily videos that everyone can get involved by calling their congressman, their senator, and explaining that there are certain bills that don't even cost the taxpayers any money, but if they 're passed, they're going to be very, very help for ukraine. the mustachioed challenge raised only a third of the intended amount, but it was responded to, and that's the most important thing, say volunteers who, through trial and error, are looking for the right approaches to american society. europeans in the trenches are fighting for freedom, fighting for basic freedoms, ideas and

ideals. and it goes largely unnoticed in the united states. so we 're always trying to come up with something new to spread the message, to create an interesting way to engage people. you know, it's not just rallies, it's things like movember. we will keep going and try and spread our messages and communicate with the public and soon we'll come up with something new. they promise us what the volunteers will come up with next time. be sure to tell, the main idea, they say - don't stop, from los angeles, khrystyna shevchenko, bohdan shevchenko, for the voice of america and that's the end of it, thank you for watching the voice of america in ukrainian, see you tomorrow, take care, all the best, pope! we are looking for

11-year-old... georgy tarasyev from donetsk region. the boy disappeared in june 2023 in volnovatsky district in the village of velika novosilka. this area is very close to the front line, but the village where the boy lived was not under occupation, so it is difficult to even guess where george could have gone. there has been no news about the boy for more than six months, and i really hope that with your help the child will be found. attention to the photo. george looks. he is 11 years old, thin and has light blond hair, if anyone has seen the boy or knows where he may be, please call the magnolia children's hotline at short number 11630. calls from any ukrainian mobile operator are free, or write to the chatbot of the children's search service in telegram. any information is important. i also want to tell you. about

the disappearance of 15-year-old valeria polizhai, a girl also from donetsk region and also from voznesensky district. valeria lived in the village of urozhaine, which was liberated from the invaders during the summer counteroffensive. it was in the summer of 2023 that it became known about the disappearance of the girl, but there is still no news about her. therefore, i am asking for your help. try to remember valeria's face, and if suddenly you see somewhere. similar girl, immediately call us on the hotline of the child tracing service at the short number 11630. calls from ukrainian mobile operators are free. i have told you only two stories of missing children. in total, since the beginning of the war, we have received more than 200 requests for help in the search. fortunately, the vast majority of boys and girls have already been found, but the fate of many is still unknown.