Victory Chronicles-DAY 1380

A Ukrainian human rights group told U.S. senators that Russia is now abducting children from occupied parts of Ukraine without parental consent not only to camps inside Russia and Belarus, but as far away as North Korea for ideological “re-education.”

Kateryna Rashevska, an expert with the Regional Center for Human Rights, said her team has documented 165 such camps, where children are subjected to forced militarization and Russification, thus eradicating their ethnic and cultural identity. 

Speaking at a Dec. 3 Senate hearing in Washington, she said the geography of these operations has widened dramatically, with minors now appearing in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea nearly 5,600 miles from home.

Rashevska showed photos of two Ukrainian children – a 12-year-old boy from occupied Donetsk and a 16-year-old girl from the occupied Crimean Peninsula – who were taken to North Korea’s Songdowon camp. There, she said, children are taught combat drills and exposed to propaganda, including meetings with veterans who were involved in a 1968 North Korean attack on the U.S. Navy ship Pueblo.

NATO meeting yields $1 billion pledge for Ukraine’s weapons purchases. Ukraine says it has secured about $1 billion in fresh commitments from NATO partners to buy U.S.-made weapons through the alliance’s PURL program, which pools allied funding for urgent Ukrainian defense needs.

Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Andrii Sybiha, attending a Ukraine-NATO Council session during the ministers’ meeting in Brussels, said the pledges mark one of the most productive discussions he has seen. He described the talks as focused and blunt, with allies stressing the need for immediate action to help stabilize the front and strengthen Ukraine’s position in ongoing diplomacy.

Several NATO members announced new contributions, including Norway, which pledged another $500 million, and Canada, adding $200 million. Germany and Poland are also increasing their funding, and more donors are expected to join. 

Russian forces drop nine bombs on Sloviansk, injuring eight civilians including children. Russian aircraft dropped nine bombs on the Donetsk regional city of Sloviansk region on Dec. 3, injuring eight civilians, among them a 7-year-old girl and a 13-year-old boy. Local officials say one of the bombs struck a high-rise building, sending residents scrambling as police, firefighters and paramedics pulled several people from the rubble.

Prosecutors report that the injured include men ranging from 29 to 80 years old and a 30-year-old woman. Many suffered blast wounds, shrapnel injuries and severe stress reactions. The blasts tore through more than 10 apartment buildings and 24 single-family homes, as well as shops, cars and power lines.

Drone strike on Odesa injures 6 and ignites fire at power facility. Russian drones struck the Black Sea port city of Odesa overnight on Dec. 4, injuring six civilians and sparking a fire at a power facility that sits close to several apartment buildings.

Emergency crews said the attack shook the neighborhood, blowing out doors and windows in seven multi-story buildings and damaging cars parked nearby. A fire tore through part of the energy site before firefighters, working under a renewed air-raid alarm, brought it under control.

Officials said two of the injured were pulled from blocked apartments. Another 33 residents, including six children, received psychological support after the blasts rattled homes and sent debris flying.

Key Takeaways

1. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio acknowledged that Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin’s theory of victory and negotiating tactics assume that Russia can outlast the West and Ukraine in a war of attrition.
2. Kremlin officials continued to refuse to publicly discuss the outcomes of the December 2 US-Russia meeting, as ISW previously forecasted.
3. The Kremlin is reigniting narratives that Odesa City is a Russian city.
4. Russian forces achieved the tactical breakthrough northeast and east of Hulyaipole in mid-November 2025, likely in part by concentrating and committing a force grouping comparable in size to the one operating in the Pokrovsk-Dobropillya direction.
5. The 5th CAA’s tactical breakthrough north and northeast of Hulyaipole could enable Russian forces to achieve operational successes in both the Hulyaipole and Orikhiv directions. Russia’s ability to exploit such a breakthrough, however, largely depends on Ukrainian resistance and denial of Russian river crossings.
6. High ranking Kremlin officials continue to set conditions to justify potential future Russian aggression against Moldova and the Baltics.
7. The Kremlin is attempting to mobilize Russian and Belarusian civil societies, including Belarusian organizations and the Russian Orthodox Church, to garner support for the war in Ukraine and influence campaigns globally.
8. Ukraine’s European allies continue to provide military aid and support to Ukraine.
9. Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Vovchansk, Pokrovsk, Novopavlivka, and in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area. Russian forces recently advanced near Siversk and Pokrovsk.

• Netherlands announce 35 million euros in winter support for Ukraine’s Armed Forces
• Budget airlines plan Ukraine return
• UK and Norway launch pact to hunt Russian spy ships
• Australia and New Zealand announce military aid package for Ukraine worth over $70 million
• OSCE chair: Terms for ending war in Ukraine shape security of whole region