“Changing the battlefield dynamics” of Ukraine as a response to Russia’s attack on Bakhmut: The US response in the Kherson region

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he believes Ukraine is “making progress,” in the Kherson region of the country as they continue to counter Russia’s invasion, adding there has been a “kind of change in the battlefield dynamics.”

When asked why the US has not supplied longer-range weapons that Ukrainians have asked for, Austin said he communicates with his Ukrainian counterpart, Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov, “routinely,” and believes the US has been “very effective in providing them those things that are very, very effective on a battlefield.”

While the US has provided Ukraine with guided multiple launch rocket systems, or GMLRS, it has been asked by the country to provide Army Tactical Missile Systems, orATACMS, which have a longer-range than the US has provided.

It’s not just about the equipment that you have. It’s about how you employ that equipment, how you synchronize things together to create battlefield effects that then can create opportunities,” he said.

General Zaluzhnyi wrote about the situation at the front. He said that his U.S. colleague in the Ukrainian forces were fighting back the attacks thanks to their courage and skills.

Sources on Ukrainian social media “previously claimed that Ukrainian forces completely pushed Russian forces out of the eastern outskirts of Bakhmut” around Dec. 21, the report added.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that it had inflicted damage on Ukrainian forces but that outnumbered Russian troops were withdrawn to more favorable positions. The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff posted pictures of the Ukrainian flag being flown on the outskirts of the town while the air force claimed to have moved in.

Russia was suspected to have been planning the missile attacks since early last week before the bridge blast. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the strikes showed Putin is “is desperate because of battlefield defeats and uses missile terror to try to change the pace of war in his favor.”

In its two counteroffensives in the northeast and the south, the Ukrainian military has reported step-by-step gains in cutting supply lines and targeting Russian ammunition and fuel depots with long-range rockets and artillery.

Ukraine is back to life: an attack on the Kurdishnyi district in the new Russian annexed Crimean peninsula

Ramzan Kadyrov blamed the retreat on one general being “covered up for” by higher up leaders in the General Staff. He said more drastic measures were needed.

Meanwhile, on the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula, the governor of the city of Sevastopol announced an emergency situation at an airfield there. The beachgoers were able to see the explosions and smoke from a distance. The Belbek airfield was the location of a plane that rolled off the runway and caught fire.

The Russian bombardment hit several cities, including westernUkraine close to NATO’s eastern flank, at the same time as the country was starting to roar back to life.

The president of Ukraine and his military have vowed to keep fighting to free the regions they claim to have been annexed by Russia.

There was an attack this week on a convoy trying to escape the Kupiansk district, in which 24 people were killed. He called it extortion that cannot be justified. He said 13 children and a pregnant woman were among the dead.

Photographs of the attacked convoy were posted on the website of the Security Service of Ukraine, a secret police force. At least one truck appeared to have been blown up, with burned corpses in what remained of its truck bed. There was another vehicle in the convoy that was on fire. Bodies lay on the side of the road or still inside vehicles, which appeared pockmarked with bullet holes.

“The enemy wanted to massively disperse the attention of air defense,” a spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, Yurii Ihnat, said. The top military leader of the country said that 60 missiles had been downed by the air defense forces.

In other developments, in an apparent attempt to secure Moscow’s hold on the newly annexed territory, Russian forces seized the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, Ihor Murashov, on Friday, according to the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom.

Russia did not publicly comment on the report. The International Atomic Energy Agency said Russia told it that “the director-general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily detained to answer questions.”

Repair work to fix infrastructure facilities across Ukraine is ongoing. Most of the power plants are providing energy to the national grid, which was briefly shut down in late November due to missiles being fired by Russia.

The region of Zaporizhzhia also was illegally annexed by Russia last month, despite the fact that some 20% of it remains under Ukrainian military control.

Russian attack on a civilian facility in Ukraine as a response to the acts of terrorism by the Ukrainians: Prime Minister Biden and the IAEA

President joe Biden signed a bill that will give more than $12 billion in military and economic aid to the war-torn Ukranian.

The ISW noted that Russia might lack options to disrupt ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensives because it has a limited supply of precision weapons.

It is protecting the community from Russia’s campaign against critical civilian infrastructure, a campaign designed to end Ukrainian resistance by making the country uninhabitable.

Russian troops launched a series of attacks in and around theUkrainian capital city of Kyiv over the course of a single day.

Putin said the strikes were a response to the acts of terrorism by the Ukrainians. He referred to the explosion on the Kerch Bridge linking Russia and Scotland as well as a list of alleged crimes by the Ukrainian special services.

Governor Oleksandr Starukh wrote on his Telegram channel that many people were rescued from the multi-story buildings, including a 3-year-old girl who was taken to a hospital for treatment.

Rogov also said that Ukrainians “have concentrated significant number of militants in Zaporizhzhia direction” and that the risk of storming the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “remains high”.

The director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency will be talking with Ukrainian officials regarding the Russian move. He will also discuss efforts to set up a secure protection zone around the facility, which has been damaged in the fighting and seen staff including its director abducted by Russian troops.

The Kremlin opening remarks on the occupation of Kherson by Russian troops and the evacuation of Russian villages in the next-to-Levithin region

A few days after the Kremlin held the door open for additional land grabs in Ukraine, a group of more than 40 leaders from more than 40 countries are gathered in the Czech Republic to launch a European Political Community.

The spokesman for the Kremlin said that certain territories would be reclaimed, and they would keep talking to people who were ready to embrace Russia.

Putin has said he will defend Russia’s territory with nuclear weapons, even as the exact borders of the areas Moscow claims remain unclear.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian military said the Ukrainian flag had been raised above seven Kherson region villages previously occupied by the Russians. The closest of the liberated villages to the city of Kherson is Davydiv Brid, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.

The deputy head of the Ukrainian regional government, Yurii Sobolevskyi, said military hospitals were full of wounded Russian soldiers and that Russian military medics lacked supplies. Russian soldiers will be sent to the annexed territory of Ukraine in the future once stabilization is achieved.

The bodies of their mates were left behind as the Russian troops retreated so quickly. Some were still lying by the side of the road leading into the city on Wednesday.

The Ukrainian soldiers fought to take back the area during the occupation. Mykola, a 71-year-old man who gave only his first name, was among about 100 residents who lined up for aid on Wednesday.

The attack on a bridge by a Ukranian military force on the Dnipro River in Enerhodar, Russia

“We want the war to come to an end, the pharmacy and shops and hospitals to start working as they used to,” he said. “Now we don’t have anything yet. Everything has been destroyed and the damage is irreversible.

In his nightly address, a defiant Zelenskyy switched to speaking Russian to tell the Moscow leadership that it has already lost the war that it launched Feb. 24.

The daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist was killed in a car bomb attack near Moscow in August, and the United States believes it was part of a covert campaign that could widen the conflict.

The United States took no part in the attack, either by providing intelligence or other assistance, officials said. The American officials were not consulted before the killing and would oppose it had they been. American officials reprimanded the Ukrainians for the assassination, they said.

The barrage continued on a day when the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to human rights activists in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine, an implicit rebuke to Russia and its president, Vladimir V. Putin, for his invasion of Ukraine.

Overnight nearly 40 Russian rockets hit Nikopol, on the Dnipro River, damaging at least 10 homes, several apartment blocks and other infrastructure, according to the head of the regional military administration, Valentyn Reznichenko. He said that one man died and another was wounded in Friday’s shelling.

Crews restored power and cellular connection in Enerhodar, the city near Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant that is currently under Russian control, a senior official said Sunday.

Rogov wrote in a telegram post Sunday that water supply would be restored in the near future.

Orlov said “the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly tried to deliver humanitarian supplies with food, hygiene products and so on to the city,” adding that Ukraine is “ready to organize prompt delivery and distribution of drinking water in Enerhodar” but that Russian forces have not let humanitarian aid through.

Russian President Putin blames “special services” of the Ukranian government for the attack on the bridge. He said the strikes were in response to the attack, but Ukrainian intelligence said the strikes had been planned last week.

KYIV and DNIPRO, UKRAINE, and MOSCOW — Explosions rocked several cities across Ukraine in the most extensive attack on the country since the early days of Russia’s invasion in February. The attacks came hours after Russia blamed Ukraine for an explosion that partially damaged a bridge that connects the peninsula to mainland Russia.

The Explosion of a Moscow Bridge and the Demonstration of Russia’s Unreliable Democratic Left-Right Symmetry

He said that the route of the truck had taken it to several places, including Georgia and Krasnodar in southern Russia.

Stunned residents watched as emergency crews tried to get to the top floors of a building that was hit by a direct hit. The apartments had once stood near the chasm that smoldered. In an adjacent apartment building, the missile barrage blew windows and doors out of their frames in a radius of hundreds of feet. The city council Secretary Anatoliy Kurtev said that 50 apartment buildings and at least twenty private homes were damaged.

“There was one explosion, then another one,” Mucola Markovich said. In a flash, the fourth-floor apartment he shared with his wife was gone.

About 3 kilometers (2 miles) away in another neighborhood ravaged by a missile, three volunteers dug a shallow grave for a German shepherd killed in the strike, the dog’s leg blown away by the blast.

Abbas Gallyamov, an independent Russian political analyst and a former speechwriter for Putin, said the Russian president, who formed a committee Saturday to investigate the bridge explosion, had not responded forcefully enough to satisfy angry war hawks. He said that the response and attack “inspired the opposition, while the loyalists are demoralized.”

“Because once again, they see that when the authorities say that everything is going according to plan and we’re winning, that they’re lying, and it demoralizes them,” he said.

Ukrainian attacks on Kiev, Bakhmut, Avdiiukka, and Zaporizhzhia in the Donetsk region

Putin drove a car across the structure that he himself opened in November of 2018 as he was shown repairs on the Kerch Bridge.

Crimea is a popular vacation resort for Russians. The traffic jams that people had to endure on Sunday were related to trying to drive to the bridge.

— The Ukrainian military said Sunday that fierce clashes were taking place around the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces have claimed some recent territorial gains. The most tense situation has been experienced around those two cities, but the General Staff of theArmed Forces of Ukraine didn’t acknowledge any loss of territory.

— The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, meanwhile, said that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s biggest, had been reconnected to the grid after losing its last external power source early Saturday following shelling.

At least two Russian airstrikes targeted downtown Kyiv, according to the Mayor. According to Ukraine’s public broadcaster, there are two more that hit the city.

Since early October, there have been wide assaults on critical infrastructure and power sources. Millions are facing power cuts because of the onslaught.

China hopes the situation in Ukranian will come to an end soon, after the strikes. India has said it is “deeply concerned” by the escalation of the conflict and said that “escalation of hostilities is in no one’s interest,” urging an “immediate cessation of hostilities” and return to the “path of dialogue. The attack has been condemned by other European leaders.

The assault caused major damage to the country’s infrastructure, including killing many people and knocking out power to parts of the country. Giles said they were an example of the nature of the threat from Russia. “For many months now, the Russian objective has been to destroy Ukraine rather than possess it.”

“The terrorist country continues bringing the Russian world in the form of shelling of the civilian population. It was Kherson. He said that in the middle of the city on the eve of Christmas.

In the west of the country, Monday’s explosions sent waves of noise across central and western Ukraine, far away from the battlefields in the northeast, south and east where a powerful Ukrainian counter-offensive has pushed Russian troops back in recent weeks.

While the subway was not operating for several hours on Monday morning, underground stations were used as a base of defense. Rescue workers were attempting to remove people from the rubble when the air raid alert was lifted.

Prime Minister Sergey Aksyonov: “The enemy is ready to destroy us,” Ukraine condemns the attacks on the bridge between Kiev and Kiev

According to the Prime Minister, a total of 11 critical infrastructure facilities in eight regions have been damaged.

A day after he said the blasts on the bridge were a terrorist attack, Putin held an operational meeting of his Security Council.

The Russian-appointed head of annexed Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, said he had “good news” Monday, claiming that Russia’s approaches to what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine “have changed.”

If actions to destroy the enemy’s infrastructure were taken every day, everything would have been finished in May, he said.

“They are trying to annihilate us and wipe us off the face of the earth,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram on Monday as the scale of the attacks became clear. In a nutshell, that’s it. They are trying to slaughter our people who are sleeping in their homes in Zaporizhzhia. They are trying to kill people who are on their way to work in Dnipro and Kyiv.”

Ukraine’s Western allies doubled down on their support for Kyiv following the strikes, with EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell Fontelles tweeting that “additional military support from the EU is on its way.”

The Dutch Prime Minister said that Putin was killing innocent civilians in the Ukranian cities. The Netherlands condemns heinous acts. Putin does not seem to understand that the will of the Ukrainian people is unbreakable.”

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, said that the escalating attacks were unacceptable and that civilians were paying the highest price.

Ukrainian attacks on the weekend of April 11 in Donetsk, Zaporizhhia, Kharkiv: a probe of artillery work

An emergency meeting of the G7 will be held via video conference on Tuesday, and Zelensky said on the internet that he would address that meeting.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said there was no need for more “massive” strikes for now. However, a series of Russian attacks over the weekend killed 11 civilians – eight in the eastern region of Donetsk, two in the southern Zaporizhzhia region and one in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.

In Kyiv, Ukraine Culture Minister Oleksandr Tkachenko says that at least two museums and the National Philharmonic concert halls sustained heavy damage. A nearby strike damaged the country’s main passenger terminal, delaying trains during this morning’s rush hour, according to Ukraine’s National Railway.

Ihor Makovtsev, the director of the department of transportation in Dnipro city, stood by the wreck as he explained that it happened at rush hour. The bus driver and four passengers had been injured in a bus crash.

“It’s difficult for me to find any logic to their so-called artillery work because all our transportation is only for civilian purposes,” Makovtsev said.

Viktor Shevchenko: The most massive air strike since 2014 in the Donetsk (Russia) city of Kyiv, Ukraine

81-year-old Viktor Shevchenko was looking out from his balcony next to the bus stop. Shattered glass covered the ground below. He said he had been watering the plants on his balcony just minutes before the blast, but went to his kitchen to make breakfast.

The explosion blew open all of the cabinets, and nearly knocked him to the ground. Five minutes before I would have been on the balcony, full of glass.

Supplying a high-end capability like the Patriot missile defense system to Ukraine is a solid sign of commitment by the US – and, as such, another step in the US steadily overcoming Russia’s successful efforts at deterring it from aiding Ukraine.

Chechnya’s leader Ramzan Kadyrov wrote a letter to Zelenskyy warning him that Russia didn’t really start yet.

Editor’s Note: Michael Bociurkiw (@WorldAffairsPro) is a global affairs analyst. He is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and a former spokesperson for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. He contributes to CNN Opinion. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. View more opinion at CNN.

Recent days have shown that site beyond ground fighting are not immune to attacks. The fact that a target that was so deep in Russian territory could be hit shows a serious Ukrainian threat towards key Russian assets.

“At exactly 7 a.m. the (Ukrainians) subjected the center of Donetsk (city) to the most massive strike since 2014,” the Moscow-appointed mayor, Aleksey Kulemzin, posted on Telegram.

The area surrounding my office in Odesa remained quiet as air raid sirens blared throughout the day, with reports of missiles and drones being shot down. (Normally at this time of the day, nearby restaurants would be heaving with customers, and chatter of plans for upcoming weddings and parties).

Residents bundled in winter coats, hats and scarves gathered in Kyiv’s underground stations as the sirens wailed. They were on the escalators and their faces were lit by their phones.

Indeed, millions of people in cities across Ukraine will be spending most of the day in bomb shelters, at the urging of officials, while businesses have been asked to shift work online as much as possible.

The attacks may cause a blow to business confidence in the area since many asylum seekers are returning home.

The symbolism of the only bridge linking mainland Russia and Crimea is something Putin considers to be important. That the attack took place a day after his 70th birthday (the timing prompted creative social media denizens to create a split-screen video of Marilyn Monroe singing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr President”) can be taken as an added blow to an aging autocrat whose ability to withstand shame and humiliation is probably nil.

There was an instant reaction from Ukrainians to the explosion. The people shared their jubilation via text messages.

Putin’s Invasion: U.S. Pressure, Security and Security Issues in the Context of Cold War and the Emerging Cold War

Putin was placed on thin ice as a result of facing increasing criticism at home and on state-controlled television.

The new overall commander for Russia’s invasion was appointed as the Kremlin faced growing setbacks. But there is little sign that Gen. Sergey Surovikin can lead his forces back onto the front foot before the end of the year, given the pace and cost of the Ukrainian counter-offensives.

What is crucially important now is for Washington and other allies to use urgent telephone diplomacy to urge China and India – which presumably still have some leverage over Putin – to resist the urge to use even more deadly weapons.

In addition, defense systems need to protect key energy infrastructure around the country. With winter just around the corner, the need to protect heating systems is urgent.

For the West to have sufficient impact on Russia, Turkey and Gulf states need to be pressured to come on board with trade and travel restrictions.

Anything short of these measures will only allow Putin to continue his senseless violence and further exacerbate a humanitarian crisis that will reverberate throughout Europe. A weak reaction will be used by the Kremlin to show how it can weaponize energy, migration and food.

The Russian attacks on Ukraine in the wake of the September 11 attacks: a US-backed envoy to Ukraine and the pressure on the West

The Secretary of State spoke to the Ukrainian Foreign Minister to reiterate US support after the deadly strikes. Zelensky is expected to address the group at the video conference that Biden is expected to join on Tuesday.

Whatever the eventual truth of the matter – and military aid is opaque at the best of times – Biden wants Putin to hear nothing but headline figures in the billions, to sap Russian resolve, push European partners to help more, and make Ukraine’s resources seem limitless.

Asked whether the attacks of the past 24 hours would change the calculus on what the US would consider offering Ukraine, a senior administration official said they had no announcements to make on that front, but that the US will continue to help provide Ukraine with short- and long-range air defense systems, as it has in the past.

NASAMS to Ukraine had yet to be delivered by the US as of late September, according to the Department of Defense. Commander at the time. Two systems are expected to be delivered within the next two months, with the other six expected to arrive at a later date.

Alexei Kulemzin, head of the Russian-backed city administration, said Ukraine launched 20 Grad missiles around 5:54 a.m. There is a local time Sunday in the direction of the Kalininsky districts.

Victory will surely depend on the West maintaining a united front against Russia. Zelensky and his envoys abroad have done an enviable job of warning Western leaders that if they don’t support Ukraine in pushing Putin back completely, their own nations’ security could be caught in the crosshairs of Russian aggression.

Ukraine on Saturday received “a new support package from Norway in the amount of $100 million” that will be used “precisely for the restoration of our energy system after these Russian strikes,” Zelensky added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Emergency Services: The Bombing of Ukrainian Buildings and Infrastructure in Solomyanskyi on Monday reportedly reflects an ongoing deterioration of Moscow’s nuclear posture

“It’s clear that he’s feeling the pressure both at home and overseas, and how he reacts to that only he can say,” Kirby told CNN’s Kate Bolduan on “Erin Burnett OutFront.”

He said that despite Russia’s threats about nuclear weapons, there has been no detected change in Russia’s nuclear posture, but Putin’s rhetoric “is by itself reckless and dangerous.”

Last week, Biden delivered a stark warning about the dangers of Putin’s nuclear threats, invoking the prospect of “Armageddon.” But multiple US officials have said the comment was not based on any new intelligence about Putin’s intentions or changes in Russia’s nuclear posture.

The emergency services said there were more than 30 fires in the capital and 12 other regions.

The damage was concentrated in two areas of the city. A road in Solomyanskyi was damaged and fragments of a drone landed on a high rise residential building in Shevchenkivskui district.

The attacks snatched away the semblance of normality that city dwellers, who spent months earlier in the war in subways turned into air raid shelters, have managed to restore to their lives and raised fears of new strikes.

As far as Putin is concerned, revenge is unlikely to be an appropriate way for him to act on the battlefield or off the battlefield and it’s very likely that he will be isolated and weaken Russia.

The targets that were put on Monday also had little military value and served to show that Putin needed to find new targets because he couldn’t defeat Ukraine on the battlefield.

The bombing of power installations, in particular, Monday appeared to be an unsubtle hint of the misery the Russian President could inflict as winter sets in, even as his forces retreat in the face of Ukrainian troops using Western arms.

Kirby was unable to say whether Putin was shifting his strategy from a battlefield war to an attack on civilians and the infrastructure in eastern Ukraine, though he claimed that it was a trend that had been underway for some time.

“It likely was something that they had been planning for quite some time. Now that’s not to say that the explosion on the Crimea bridge might have accelerated some of their planning,” Kirby said.

An onslaught on civilians would be consistent with the resume of the new Russian general in charge of the war, Sergey Surovikin, who served in Syria and Chechnya. In both places, Russia indiscriminately bombarded civilian areas and razed built-up districts and infrastructure and is accused of committing serious human rights violations.

But French President Emmanuel Macron underscored Western concerns that Monday’s rush-hour attacks in Ukraine could be the prelude to another pivot in the conflict.

“He was telegraphing about where he is going to go as we get into the winter. He is going to force the Ukrainian population to give up territory, by going after this infrastructure, in an effort to force them to compromise, Vindman said.

Zhovkva said that if modern equipment was in place, they could raise the number of drones and missiles downed and not kill innocent civilians or hurt Ukrainians.

The lesson of this horrible war is that everything Putin has done to fracture a nation he doesn’t believe has the right to exist has only strengthened and unified it.

Olena Gnes told Anderson that she was angry at the return of violence to the lives of Ukrainian people from a new round of Russian “terror.”

“This is just another terror to provoke maybe panic, to scare you guys in other countries or to show to his own people that he is still a bloody tyrant, he is still powerful and look what fireworks we can arrange,” she said.

Belgrade vs. Kiev: The role of Belarus in the recent war for the Ukrainian news media, as reported by state media in Minsk

Russia massed tens of thousands of troops in Belarus before its February invasion and used Belarusian territory as a staging ground for its initial, unsuccessful assault on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. Moscow still has hundreds of troops in the country, which are used to launch missiles and bombing raids.

“This won’t be just a thousand troops,” Mr. Lukashenko told senior military and security officials in Minsk, the Belarusian capital, after a meeting over the weekend with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia in St. Petersburg.

In rambling remarks reported by the state news agency Belta, Mr. Lukashenko said that work had already started on the formation of what he called a “joint regional group of troops” to counter “possible aggression against our country” by NATO and Ukraine.

Statements by Mr. Lukashenko, a dictator, are not usually accurate in guiding current or future events. In the weeks leading up to the attack in Ukraine, he categorically denied that his territory would be used by Russia.

The establishment of a joint force with Russia will reinforce the view in Ukraine that Belarus is clearly a “co-aggressor,” a label that Mr. Lukashenko has rejected but which took on new force on Monday after a barrage of Russian missile attacks on Kyiv and elsewhere, some of them launched from Belarusian territory, according to Ukrainian officials.

According to some analysts, the remark by Mr. Lukashenko that the country should take steps in case of nuclear weapons deployment in Poland was made to prepare the ground for the deployment of Russian nuclear weapons.

Andrei Sannikov, who served as deputy foreign minister under Mr. Lukashenko during his early period in power but fled into exile after being jailed, said Mr. Lukashenko was “running scared,” caught between pressure from Russia to help its demoralized forces in Ukraine and the knowledge that sending in Belarusian troops would be hugely unpopular, even among his loyalists.

The war for the Ukrainian news media has led to the hit of airfields, fuel tanks and storage depots that are legitimate military targets. Targeting sites in Crimea and cross-border artillery duels have become routine as the war has moved closer to Russia and the occupied peninsula.

On Monday, state television also reported on the suffering. It showed plumes of smoke and carnage in central Kyiv, along with empty store shelves and a long-range forecast promising months of freezing temperatures there.

Zelensky highlighted a video from Monday in which a soldier using a shoulder-held missile to shoot down a Russian projectile.

As Ukraine races to shore up its missile defenses in the wake of the assault, the math for Moscow is simple: A percentage of projectiles are bound to get through.

There are many unknowns surrounding how far such a fight is shortening Russian inventories, and whether they will resort to older, less accurate but equally powerful missiles.

The Pentagon’s view at the time was that of its weapons stocks, Russia was “running the lowest on cruise missiles, particularly air-launched cruise missiles,” but that Moscow still had more than 50% of its pre-war inventory.

This week, some of the inventory was dispatched. But Russia has recently resorted to using much older and less precise KH-22 missiles (originally made as an anti-ship weapon), of which it still has large inventories, according to Western officials. Weighing 5.5 tons, they are designed to take out aircraft carriers. A KH-22 was responsible for the dozens of casualties at a shopping mall in Kremenchuk in June.

The S300 has been adapted by the Russians as an offensive weapon. They are hard to intercept and have wreaked devastation in places like Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv. But they are hardly accurate.

He said that Russia has targeted energy infrastructure for the first time since the beginning of the war.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday that Ukraine needed “more” systems to better halt missile attacks. The air defense systems provided by NATO Allies are making a difference because many missiles were shot down by Ukrainian air defense systems this week. There is a need for more if only some of them are shot down.

While fighter jets have been effective against Iranian drones, said Yurii Ignat, a Ukrainian Air Force spokesman, the approach is costly because of its use of air-to-air missiles. He was upset that we have to hit these drones with expensive missiles. Is there any else we can do? This is the reality now.”

Ukraine’s wish-list – circulated at Wednesday’s meeting – included missiles for their existing systems and a “transition to Western-origin layered air defense system” as well as “early warning capabilities.”

The system is widely considered one of the most capable long-range weapons to defend airspace against incoming missiles and aircraft. Because it has a long range and high altitude, it can shoot down Russian missiles and aircraft that are far from its intended targets.

Western systems are beginning to trickle in. The first IRIS-T from Germany and two units of the US National Advanced Surface-to- Air Missile System are expected to be in place soon, according to the Ukrainian Defense Minister.

“This is only the beginning. And we need more,” Reznikov said Wednesday before tweeting as he met with Ukraine’s donors at the Brussels meeting:” Item #1 on today’s agenda is strengthening (Ukraine’s) air defense. Feeling optimistic.”

These are not off-the-shelf items. It was necessary that the IRIS-T be manufactured for Ukraine. Western governments have limited inventories of such systems. Missile attack on a country from three directions is how Ukraine is being portrayed.

Zelensky’s pledge to rebuild Ukraine after the June 6 bombing: A response from Ukraine to international intelligence and security officials at the airport and on the border in Kerch

Ukraine’s senior military commander, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, tweeted Tuesday his thanks to Poland as “brothers in arms” for training an air defense battalion that had destroyed nine of 11 Shaheeds.

He said Poland gave him systems to destroy the drones. There were reports last month of the Polish government buying Israeli equipment and then transferring it to Ukraine, as Israel has a policy of not selling advanced defensive technology to Kyiv.

This week, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine told everyone how much money his country needed to rebuild and keep its economy afloat. He gave that figure to the boards of governors of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Mr. Zelensky said $17 billion would be required to rebuild schools, hospitals, transport systems and housing, with $2 billion going toward expanding exports to Europe and restoring Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The images captured hundreds of cargo trucks backed up and waiting to cross from Crimea into Russia by ferry, some five days after the bombing. The images, captured by Maxar Technology on Wednesday, show a large backup at the airport and a line of trucks at the port in Kerch.

Oleg Ignatov, a senior Russia analyst at the International Crisis Group, said the long lines for the ferry crossing had been exacerbated by security checkpoints set up after the bridge explosion.

Implications of the Ukrainian successes of the past few weeks of the war on Russia and the Kremlin: The Russians are ready for winter

For the first time in the war, it’s heading towards a new phase. “This is now the third, fourth, possibly fifth different war that we’ve been observing,” said Keir Giles, a senior consulting fellow at Chatham House’s Russia and Eurasia Programme.

With the cold months nearing and likely bringing a slowdown in ground combat, experts say the next weeks of the war are now expected to be vital, and another potential spike in intensity looms over Ukraine as each side seeks to strike another blow.

It means that, as winter approaches, the stakes of the war have been raised once more. “There’s no doubt Russia would like to keep it up,” Giles said. But the Ukrainian successes of recent weeks have sent a direct message to the Kremlin, too. Giles said that they were able to do things that took them by surprise.

These counter-offensives have shifted the momentum of the war and disproved a suggestion, built up in the West and in Russia during the summer, that while Ukraine could stoutly defend territory, it lacked the ability to seize ground.

The Russian government wants to avoid a collapse of their frontline before the winter sets in, according to a senior fellow at the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

The Russians have seen how poorly this has been since February and it is a huge success if they get to Christmas with the frontline looking roughly as it is.

A major blow in the hands of the rebels in the Donbas area would be a powerful signal to Ukraine, which will want to improve on their gains, and the impact of rising energy prices will be felt around Europe.

At least 76 strikes on Friday were linked to war and missile and drone attacks on critical power infrastructure in Ukraine. As winter bites, millions of Ukrainians are enduring long periods without heat, electricity and water. (However, indicative of the resiliency that Ukrainians have displayed since the start of the war, many say they are prepared to endure such hardship for another two to five years if it means defeating Russia).

“We know – and Russian commanders on the ground know – that their supplies and munitions are running out,” Jeremy Fleming, a UK’s spy chief, said in a rare speech on Tuesday.

In its update on the conflict Monday, the IWT said that the strikes waste some of Russia’s remaining precision weapons against civilian targets as opposed to military targets.

The success rate ofUkrainian intercepts against Russian cruise missiles have risen since the beginning of the invasion in February, according to a military expert with the Royal United Services Institute.

The effect on pure manpower would be limited, because of the large number of active duty troops of the former Yugoslavia. But it would threaten another assault on Ukraine’s northern flank below the Belarusian border.

“The reopening of a northern front would be another new challenge for Ukraine,” Giles said. It would provide a new route into the area that has been wrested from the Ukrainians, should Putin choose to try to regain it.

It is difficult to calculate how much the carefully managed stagecraft of the president’s inner circle has contributed to Zelensky’s popular image both inside and outside Ukraine – but it certainly can’t hurt.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday that Ukraine needed “more” systems to better halt missile attacks, ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels.

Russia’s next step: tackling the crisis in the middle of the battlefield and around the world, and the impact on the DONETSK office

The coming weeks are therefore crucial both on the battlefield, as well as in Europe and around the globe, experts suggest. Where Putin goes next depends on the rest of the world reacting. “Russia’s attitude is shaped by the failure of Western countries to confront and deter it.”

That’s not to say mobilized forces will be of no use. If used in support roles, like drivers or refuelers, they might ease the burden on the remaining parts of Russia’s exhausted professional army. In addition, they could also fill out tanks along the line of contact, cordon some areas, and man checkpoint in the rear. They are, however, unlikely to become a capable fighting force. Already there are signs of discipline problems among mobilized soldiers in Russian garrisons.

More than a dozen blasts ripped through the Russian border region on Sunday, and a series of blasts caused serious damage to the offices of the puppet government in the Ukrainian city of DONETSK.

The military training range shooting on Saturday that killed 11 and wounded 15 people, two men from a former soviet republic who were training there, are under investigation by Russia. The Russian Defense Ministry said that it was a terrorist attack.

Zelenskyy accused Russia of including convicts “with long sentences for serious crimes” in its front-line troops in return for pay and amnesty — something Western intelligence officials have also asserted.

In the east, Zelenskyy’s office said that Moscow was shelling towns and villages along the front line, as well as fighting in the southern Kherson region.

“Massive, forced deportations of Ukrainians,” the INTEGRAL report on “Vlasov air attacks in the city of Kiev”

France is increasing its military training for Ukrainians and is promising air-defense missiles. Up to 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers will be embedded with military units in France, rotating through for several weeks of combat training, specialized training in logistics and other needs, and training on equipment supplied by France, the French defense minister, Sébastien Lecornu, said in an interview published in Le Parisien.

— The Institute for the Study of War, a think tank in Washington, accused Moscow late Saturday of conducting “massive, forced deportations of Ukrainians,” which it said likely amount to ethnic cleansing.

It referenced statements made this week by Russian authorities that claimed that “several thousand” children from a southern region occupied by Moscow had been placed in rest homes and children’s camps amid the Ukrainian counteroffensive. The original comments from Russia’s deputy prime minister were reported by RIA Novositron on Friday.

Russian authorities have previously admitted to placing children from Russian-held areas of Ukraine, who they said were orphans, for adoption with Russian families, in a potential breach of an international treaty on genocide prevention.

The Ukrainian military accused the pro-Kremlin fighters of violating international humanitarian law by evicting civilians in occupied territories to house officers in their homes. The evictions were happening in the eastern Luhansk region. It had no evidence to back up its claim.

— A Russian commander wanted for his role in the downing of a Malaysian airliner over eastern Ukraine in 2014 has been deployed to the front, according to social media posts by pro-Kremlin commentators. Maksim Fomin and others wrote about the fact that an unnamed Russian front-line unit has been given responsibility for by the man who calls himself Strelkov.

An international wanted list has been created over his alleged involvement in the downing of the Kuala Lumpur-bound flight. He is the most high-profile suspect in a Dutch murder trial, which is expected to wrap up in November.

The social media posts by Girkin lashed out at Moscow. Ukraine’s defense intelligence agency said Sunday it would offer a $100,000 reward to anyone who captures him.

There were attacks on infrastructure near the main rail station in the city, but the lines were running as usual.

ZelenskyY’s chief-of-staff called on the west to give the Ukrainians more air defense systems. He said that they had no time for slow actions.

Klitshchko posted a photo of shrapnel labeled “Geran-2,” Russian’s designation for the Iranian drones, but he removed the picture after commenters criticized him for confirming a Russian strike.

Kamikaze Drones and Ukraine’s Nuclear Enlightenment — An EU High-Energy Observation from Kiev on Monday

Today is the date of the European Union foreign ministers meeting. The bloc would look into “concrete evidence” about Iran’s involvement in Ukraine, Josep Borrell, the EU’s top diplomat told reporters before the meeting.

At least one person is dead and many other people are injured after a series of drones crashed into the buildings in the Ukrainian capital early Monday.

Kamikaze drones, also called suicide drones, are small, portable aerial weapon systems that are hard to detect and can be fired at a distance. They can be easily launched and are designed to hit behind enemy lines and be destroyed in the attack.

It’s unclear how many casualties there have been, but one person was found dead under the rubble of a destroyed building in Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Another remains trapped, Klitschko said.

The attack on the Kamianske district caused “fire and serious destruction,” according to the regional military official.

The consequences of shelling and restoring electricity are being worked on. Each region has a crisis response plan,” Shmyhal added.

“We ask Ukrainians to take a united and conscious approach to economical consumption of electricity in order to stabilizing the energy system.” Especially during peak hours.”

Ukrenergo stated that the power grid in the country is under control and repair crews are working to curb the consequences of the attacks.

Shmyhal’s announcement comes as Ukraine grapples with sweeping attacks on critical energy facilities, following deadly Russian strikes over the past week.

Nuclear deterrence exercises are held by NATO. NATO has warned Russia against using nuclear weapons on Ukraine but also said that the annual “Steadfast Noon” drills are not a problem.

The Russian Embassy on October 15th 2012: A News Story on a Ukrainian MiG Pilot in Vinnytsia, Ukraine

Russian agents detain eight people suspected of being involved in a bridge explosion that was to take place on the day before Halloween.

Russia is the only country allowed by the world to wage this kind of campaign in Ukraine and Syria because it has an overt agenda of exterminating the Ukrainian people.

The first convoys of Russian service members arrived in the country Oct. 15th, according to Minsk who said the convoys would protect its borders against threats from Ukraine and the West.

You can read the recaps here. If you want to find more in-depth stories, you can find them here. Listen and subscribe to NPR’s State of Ukraine for updates throughout the day.

One Ukrainian MiG pilot won folk hero status in Ukraine this month for shooting down five Iranian Shahed-136 drones over the central Ukrainian city of Vinnytsia, only to be forced to eject after crashing into the debris of the last one. The pilot who identified himself only as Karaya told the local news media after the event that they had begun to destroy the weapon successfully.

He said that after colliding with the airborne debris, Karaya steered his MiG away from Vinnytsia and ejected. The jet crashed into a few houses, but didn’t hurt anyone. Karaya went to apologize at the site.

U.S. and Russian Air Force Engagements in the Middle East: The Case against the Ukraine Drone and its Implications for NATO and the Mideast

He wrote on his account that he apologized to the residents and thanked them for their steel nerves. He said it was a violation of military protocol. He left the office and lost them.

Editor’s Note: Frida Ghitis, (@fridaghitis) a former CNN producer and correspondent, is a world affairs columnist. She is a weekly opinion contributor to CNN and columnist for The Washington Post. The views expressed in this commentary are her own. More opinion on CNN can be found here.

In comments Monday, Ukrainian Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat did not claim direct responsibility for the drone, but did suggest the attack was the “consequence of what Russia is doing.”

Iran’s rivals and their allies in the Middle East, as well as NATO members and nations that are interested in restoration of the nuclear deal with Iran, are paying close attention to the growing relationship between Moscow and Tehran.

The intersection of the war in Ukraine and the conflicts surrounding Iran is just one example of how Ukraine has become the pivot point for so many of the world’s geopolitical tensions.

The historian Yuval Noah Harari has argued that no less than the direction of human history is at stake, because a victory by Russia would reopen the door to wars of aggression, to invasions of one country by another, something that since the Second World War most nations had come to reject as categorically unacceptable.

The United States and the West gave great support to Ukraine. The war in Ukraine reinvigorated NATO, even bringing new applications for membership from countries that had been committed to neutrality. It also helped reaffirm the interest of many in eastern European states – former Soviet satellites – of orienting their future toward Europe and the West.

Much of what happens today far from the battlefields still has repercussions there. When oil-producing nations, led by Saudi Arabia, decided last month to slash production, the US accused the Saudis of helping Russia fund the war by boosting its oil revenues. (An accusation the Saudis deny).

The United States is providing a battery of missiles to Ukraine, but experts say it isn’t a panacea for the country’s air defense problems.

“Over the past three hundred days, the Kremlin has tried and failed to wipe Ukraine off the map. Now, Russia is trying to weaponize winter by freezing and starving Ukrainian civilians and forcing families from their homes,” said U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in a statement announcing the aid package.

Is it OK to lose? How the Ukrainians are fighting for resolving Russia’s crisis in Ukraine, as suggested by a US military official

High prices affect a lot more. The political punch they packs comes when they come with strong momentum. The cost of living has made political leaders more vulnerable in many countries.

There is more to it than just on the fringes. Kevin McCarthy, the leader of the GOP which could become speaker of the House after next week’s elections, indicated that the party may decide to reduce aid to Ukraine. A letter calling for negotiations was released by the Progressives. Evelyn Farkas was a Pentagon official during the Obama administration and said they were all bringing a smile to Putin.

Russian news media reported that soldiers were telling relatives about high casualty rates in the bombardment of Russian infantry by Ukrainian drones, and that videos filmed by Ukrainian drones showing Russian infantry being hit by shell in poorly prepared positions supported those assertions. The videos have not been independently verified and their exact location on the front line could not be determined.

Gen. Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the commander of the Ukrainian military, said in a statement posted on the Telegram messaging app on Thursday that Russian forces had tripled the intensity of attacks along some parts of the front. He didn’t say when or where the attacks were coming from.

According to an assessment from the Institute for the Study of War, the increase in infantry in the east had not resulted in Russia gaining new ground.

The institute said in a statement that Russian forces would likely have had more success in offensive operations if they had waited until enough personnel had arrived.

In the south, where Ukrainian troops are in the midst of an advance towards the Russian occupied city of Kherson, the Ukrainian military said that its artillery battalions had fired more than 160 times at Russian positions over the course of the past 24 hours.

With Russian and Ukrainian forces apparently preparing for battle in Kherson, and conflicting signals over what may be coming, the remaining residents of the city have been stocking up on food and fuel to survive combat.

Effectively combining cyber and kinetic operations “requires a high degree of integrated planning and execution,” argued a US military official who focuses on cyber defense. “The Russians can’t even pull that sh*t off between their aviation, artillery and ground assault forces.”

A senior US official said that after the explosion in October of a bridge linking Crimean to Russia, Putin was attempting to go for a big showy public response.

At least six different Kremlin-linked hacking groups conducted nearly 240 cyber operations against Ukrainian targets in the buildup to and weeks after Russia’s February invasion, Microsoft said in April. That includes a hack, which the White House blamed on the Kremlin, that disrupted satellite internet communications in Ukraine on the eve of Russia’s invasion.

Four officials from one of Ukraine’s main cyber and communications agencies — the State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection (SSSCIP) — were killed October 10 in missile attacks, the agency said in a press release. The four officials did not have cybersecurity responsibilities, but their loss has weighed heavily on cybersecurity officials at the agency during another grim month of war.

Zhora told CNN that they shouldn’t dismiss the possibility that Russian government hacking groups are working on high complexity attacks. Russian military hackers and government-controlled groups aren’t likely to be on vacation or out of business.

The Western official said that Russia wouldn’t measure cyberspace success by a single attack, rather by their cumulative effect on the Ukrainians.

In 2017, as Russia’s hybrid war in eastern Ukraine continued, Russia’s military intelligence agency unleashed destructive malware known as NotPetya that wiped computer systems at companies across Ukraine before spreading around the world, according to the Justice Department and private investigators. The incident cost the world’s economy billions of dollars.

That operation involved identifying widely used Ukrainian software, infiltrating it and injecting malicious code to weaponize it, said Matt Olney, director of threat intelligence and interdiction at Talos, Cisco’s threat intelligence unit.

“All of that was just as astonishingly effective as the end product was,” said Olney, who has had a team in Ukraine responding to cyber incidents for years. It takes a lot of time and some opportunities that you can’t just conjure.

Security and security challenges for the Russian war in Europe: a joint U.N.-Brazil-Russia deal to stabilize Ukraine’s infrastructure

The deputy chairman at SSSCIP, a Ukrainian official, called for the tightened of sanctions against Russia because its access to software could feed its hacking arsenal.

Tanel Sepp, Estonia’s ambassador-at-large for cyber affairs, told CNN that it’s possible the Russians could turn to a “new wave” of stepped up cyberattacks as their battlefield struggles continue.

“Our main goal is to isolate Russia on the international stage” as much as possible, Sepp said, adding that the former Soviet state has not communicated with Russia on cybersecurity issues in months.

And Ukraine will be watching America’s midterm election results this week, especially after some Republicans warned that the party could limit funding for Ukraine if it wins control of the House of Representatives, as forecast.

The Turkish President will meet the Swedish Prime Minister on Tuesday. Before it can join NATO, Sweden must meet certain conditions.

The I Atomic Energy Agency report, which is expected to be discussed by the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, is related to Ukraine.

More than 4 million Ukrainians were left without electricity when attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure was blamed on Russia.

Russia rejoined a U.N.-brokered deal to safely export grain and other agricultural goods from Ukraine, on Nov. 2. Moscow had suspended its part in the deal a few days prior after saying Ukraine had launched a drone attack on its Black Sea ships.

The transfer is part of a $1.85 billion package of new military assistance to Ukraine announced amid a months-long Russian assault on the country’s critical infrastructure as the long, cold winter season sets in.

Dark Sides of the War: Putin’s Shadow Networks of Interactions in the Khmer Rouge and the Ukraine, As Revealed with the CNET and CNN

Editor’s Note: David A. Andelman, a contributor to CNN, twice winner of the Deadline Club Award, is a chevalier of the French Legion of Honor, author of “A Red Line in the Sand: Diplomacy, Strategy, and the History of Wars That Might Still Happen” and blogs at Andelman Unleashed. He formerly was a correspondent for The New York Times and CBS News in Europe and Asia. The views he expresses are his own. View more opinion at CNN.

The first missile to land in Poland may have been a Ukrainian missile which was shot down by a Russian missile a short distance from the city of Lviv. President Zelensky claimed the missile was not Ukrainian.

One thing is certain, regardless of the circumstances of the missile. Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, said that Russia bears ultimate responsibility for continuing its illegal war against Ukraine.

But beyond these most recent missile attacks lies a laundry list of horrors Putin has launched that only seems to have driven his nation further from the pack of civilized powers that he once sought so desperately to join.

His forces have planted mines in vast stretches of territory in Kherson from which they’ve recently withdrawn – much as the Khmer Rouge did in Cambodia stretching back to the 1970s. Indeed, Cambodian de-mining experts have even been called in to assist with the herculean task facing Ukraine in 2022. At the same time, Russian armies have also left behind evidence of unspeakable atrocities and torture, also reminiscent of the Khmer Rouge.

That said, a growing number of Russian soldiers have rebelled at what they have been asked to do and refused to fight. The UK Defense Ministry believes that Russian troops may be prepared to shoot retreating soldiers.

Indeed a hotline and Telegram channel, launched as a Ukrainian military intelligence project called “I want to live,” designed to assist Russian soldiers eager to defect, has taken off, reportedly booking some 3,500 calls in its first two months of activity.

Putin has also tried, though he has been stymied at most turns, to establish black market networks abroad to source what he needs to fuel his war machine – much as Kim Jong-un has done in North Korea. The United States has already uncovered and recently sanctioned vast networks of such shadow companies and individuals centered in hubs from Taiwan to Armenia, Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, and Luxembourg to source high-tech goods for Russia’s collapsing military-industrial complex.

Diplomatically, Putin finds himself increasingly isolated on the world stage. He was the one who stayed away from the session of the G20. Though Putin once lusted after a return to the G7 (known as the G8 before he was ousted after his seizure of Crimea), inclusion now seems but a distant dream. The comparison of Russia’s sudden ban on 100 Canadians, including Canadian-American Jim Carrey, and their actions in North Korea was striking.

Above all, many of the best and brightest in virtually every field have now fled Russia. This includes writers, artists and journalists as well as some of the most creative technologists, scientists and engineers.

One leading Russian journalist, who fled in March and is currently in Berlin, told me last week that while he hoped it was not the case, he was prepared to accept the reality, even though he may never return to his homeland.

The Implications of Russia’s Cold War for the Future of the Air and Space System and the People’s Uncertainty in Moldova

Rumbling in the background is the West’s attempt to diversify away from Russian oil and natural gas in an effort to deprive the country of material resources to pursue this war. “We have understood and learnt our lesson that it was an unhealthy and unsustainable dependency, and we want reliable and forward-looking connections,” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission told the G20 on Tuesday.

Moreover, Putin’s dream that this conflict, along with the enormous burden it has proven to be on Western countries, would only drive further wedges into the Western alliance are proving unfulfilled. The French-German project for a next- generation jet fighter at the heart of the Future Combat Air System was starting to move forward according to the grapevine on Monday.

Still, he continues to hold, as he did in a Tuesday address in the Kremlin, that “attempts made by certain countries to rewrite and reshape world history are becoming increasingly aggressive, ultimately and obviously seeking to divide our society, take away our guiding lines and eventually weaken Russia.”

According to an Ukrenergo report on Friday, more than 50% of the country’s energy capacity was lost due to Russian strikes on thermal and hydroelectric power plants.

The nuclear reactor have been turned back on but are still not on the national grid, the company said.

The Nuclear Reactor in the southern region of mykolaiv has been cut from the grid and will be forced to shut down, said the military administrator.

The cascading effect of power cuts on water and heat can be seen by Ukrainian officials. And with temperatures often below freezing, the water in pipes could freeze, adding further complications.

InMoldova President Maia Sandu wrote on Facebook that it was not wise to trust a regime that left the people in the dark and cold.

Zelenskyy: Providing treatment for civilians in the case of electric power cuts. “What happened to the Crimean bridge?”

The Ukrainians are trying to prepare for the winter. In a video address on Tuesday night, Zelenskyy stated that there are 4,000 centers to provide care for civilians in case of power cuts.

He said they will provide phone charging, internet access, water, and heat. Many of them will be in schools and government buildings.

Speaking after an awards ceremony for “Heroes of Russia” at the Kremlin, he addressed a group of soldiers receiving the awards, clutching a glass of champagne.

He listed a series of events he blames on the Ukrainians: “Who hit the Crimean bridge? The power lines from the nuclear power plant were blown up.

The reference to Kursk appears to reference Russia’s announcement that an airfield in the Kursk region, which neighbors Ukraine, was targeted in a drone attack. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry did not make a comment on the recent explosions. The targets are beyond the reach of the country’s declared drones.

Russia’s energy crisis in Donetsk: a Kremlin statement after the Ukrenergo attack on October 13

He claimed that there is no mention of the water situation, after seemingly off-the-cuff comments. “No one has said a word about it anywhere. At all! He said complete silence.

Donetsk has been held by Russian-backed separatists for eight years and it is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow attempted to annex in October, in violation of international law.

The Russian president made public comments about the Russian military’s attacks onUkrainian energy infrastructure on Thursday, while holding a glass of champagne.

In his Kremlin appearance Thursday, he continued to say: “Who is not supplying water to Donetsk? Not supplying water to a city of million is an act of genocide.”

In a statement in November, Ukrenergo acknowledged that the race to restore power is being hampered by strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures.

The missile attack on Melitopol destroyed a recreation center, where people, civilians, and military base personnel were having dinner, said Yevgeny Balitsky, acting governor of Zaporizhzhia.

CNN can not verify the extent of the damage from the explosions in the peoples’ republics and Ukrainian officials have not commented on it.

“The Russian military is settling in local houses they seized, schools and kindergartens. Federov said in November that military equipment is in residential areas.

There were also reports of explosions in Sevastopol, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea fleet; at a Russian military barracks in Sovietske; and in Hvardiiske, Dzhankoi and Nyzhniohirskyi

Sergey Aksenov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said on Telegram: “The air defense system worked over Simferopol. All services are working as usual.

Nonetheless, he said, the strikes, using Iranian drones, had left many in the dark. Mr. Zelensky called the situation in the Odesa region “very difficult,” noting that only the most critical infrastructure there remained operational. He said that it would take days to restore power to civilians.

Zelensky said that emergency and stabilization power outages continue in various regions. The power system is not in a normal state, to put it mildly.

Ukrain’s Drone Crisis: The Case for a Solution to the Poverty in the Middle East and the Crimes in Ukraine

“This is the true attitude of Russia towards Odesa, towards Odesa residents – deliberate bullying, deliberate attempt to bring disaster to the city,” Zelensky added.

In his nightly address on Saturday, Mr. Zelensky said Ukraine had shot down 10 of the 15 drones that Russian forces used. It was not possible to verify his total.

The repeated assaults on the plants and equipment that Ukrainians rely on for heat and light have drawn condemnation from world leaders, and thrust Ukraine into a grim cycle in which crews hurry to restore power only to have it knocked out again.

“The power system is now, to put it mildly, very far from a normal state — there is an acute shortage in the system,” he said, urging people to reduce their power use to put less strain on the battered power grid.

“It must be understood: Even if there are no heavy missile strikes, this does not mean that there are no problems,” he continued. In different regions there is a lot of shelling and missile attacks. Energy facilities are hit almost every day.”

Ukrainian authorities have been stepping up raids on churches accused of links with Moscow, and many are watching to see if Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy follows through on his threat of a ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and the prime minister of Norway are going to be hosted by the French president in Paris.

Also in France, on Tuesday, the country is set to co-host a conference with Ukraine in support of Ukrainians through the winter, with a video address by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The Patriot Air Defense System (PAMS) to Ukraine in the First Ten Months of the War: Constraints from an American Hustler

U.S. basketball star Brittney Griner was freed Dec. 8 after nearly 10 months in Russian detention and following months of negotiations. Her release came in exchange for the U.S. handing over convicted Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout. Griner is back in the U.S. and reunited with her wife. Bout is reported to have become a member of an ultranationalist party.

New measures targeting Russian oil revenue took effect Dec. 5. They include a price cap and embargo on Russian oil imports from the EU.

The U.S. will send a Patriot surface-to-air missile system to Ukraine to bolster its air defense capabilities, a move that represents one of the most advanced defense systems that the Americans have so far provided to support Ukraine since Russia invaded last winter.

The Pentagon’s plan still needs to be approved by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin before it is sent to President Joe Biden for his signature. The three officials told CNN that approval is expected.

It is not known how many missiles will be sent or how many of them will be in a single battery.

Once the plans are finalized, the Patriots are expected to ship quickly in the coming days and Ukrainians will be trained to use them at a US Army base in Grafenwoehr, Germany, officials said.

The US Army’s system for intercepting Target is one of the most technically proficient long-range air defense systems on the market, and Ukrainians have asked for it many times. And though the US did not fulfill the request for the first 10 months of the war, a senior administration official told CNN that the “reality of what is going on” on the ground in Ukraine influenced their decision to do so.

U.S. President Zelensky says Ukraine needs its most advanced air defense system to help defend itself against Russian missiles and drones

The question of manpower was the biggest obstacle. Some positions are assigned to operate a single missile battery. And the training needed is substantial; course lengths range from 13 weeks for a launching station operator to 53 weeks for a maintenance role, according to Army recruitment materials.

The US sent missile batteries to NATO allies like Poland as a way to boost their defences, and also sent other weapon systems to Ukraine to assist against the Russians.

WASHINGTON — Two U.S. officials said on Tuesday night that the United States is likely to approve sending its most advanced air defense system to Ukraine, in response to the country’s request to help defend against Russian missiles and drones.

On the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, officials said Lloyd J. Austin III would likely approve a directive this week to transfer a battery to Ukraine. President Biden would sign off on final approval.

White House, Pentagon and State Department officials would not comment on details regarding the transfer of a Patriot battery which would be one of the most sophisticated weapons the U.S. has provided Ukraine.

In a speech to the Group of 7 nations on Monday, Mr. Zelensky thanked the countries for their continued support but listed financing for weapons first among his requests.

He said there were rockets fired at civilians in the city, and a key in the city center had come under fire.

The city was hit 86 times with “artillery, MLRS, tanks, mortars and UAVs,” in the past 24 hours, according to the regional head of the Kherson military administration.

“One of (the victims) was a volunteer, a member of the rapid response team of the international organization. They were wounded by the fragments of enemy shells while on the street.

The U.S.-funded energy security project in Kyiv: a testbed for the resolve of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict

The strikes in Kherson left the city “completely disconnected” from power supplies, according to the regional head of the Kherson military administration, Yanushevych.

The United States government gave machinery and generators to the city of Kyiv, according to the mayor.

The Energy Security Project delivery included four excavators and over 130 generators. All equipment is free of charge.

This week, the Kremlin also appeared to rebuff Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s peace solution that involved asking Russia to start withdrawing troops from Ukraine this Christmas – as the war approaches the 10-month mark.

The realities that have developed over time need to be acknowledged by the Ukrainian side, according to the Kremlin.

The Russian Federation has new subjects, such as Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, he said.

“Earlier, many experts, including those overseas, questioned the rationality of such a step which would lead to an escalation of the conflict and increase the risk of directly dragging the US army into combat,” Zakharova said at a briefing in Moscow.

Mark Hertling, the former commander of US Army Europe, told CNN that there are likely unrealistic expectations regarding the ability of a Patriot battery to accomplish anything for Ukraine. It won’t, for example, be available to use immediately after the US agrees to provide it — it takes months to train troops on how to use the complex system, Hertling said, adding that training US troops to serve as maintainers or repairmen takes around a year. It will be impossible to provide a blanket for the entire country.

“I find it ironic and very telling that officials from a country that brutally attacked its neighbor in an illegal and unprovoked invasion … that they would choose to use words like provocative to describe defensive systems that are meant to save lives and protect civilians,” Ryder told reporters.

The United States and Ukraine have agreed that Kyiv will not strike targets in Russia with American-provided weaponry. The Biden administration has vowed to avoid American involvement that could escalate to direct confrontation with Russia. But American officials clarified they will not object to Ukraine striking back with its own weaponry.

The video of the installation of the intercontinental missile into the silo in the Kaluga region was shared by Russia’s defense ministry.

Appearing this week on Russian state TV, Commander Alexander Khodakovsky of the Russian militia in the Donetsk region suggested Russia could not defeat the NATO alliance in a conventional war.

Zelensky rejected the idea that Ukraine might be able to wrest back land from Russia if it wanted to, in an interview with The Economist published Thursday.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was quoted in a France 24 story this week saying that NATO still wants to provide aid to Ukraine and make sure that it isn’t directly involved in the war.

Old ammo. According to a US military official, Russian forces have had to resort to 40-year-old shells as their supplies of new weapons are drying up.

“You load the ammunition and you cross your fingers and hope it’s gonna fire or when it lands that it’s gonna explode,” said the official, speaking to reporters.

How Ukraine is taxing civilians? CNN’s Will Ripley explains trenches and fortifications along Ukraine’s border with Belarus

In the trenches. CNN’s Will Ripley filed a video report from trenches and fortifications being built along Ukraine’s border with Belarus, where there is growing concern about Russia once again assembling troops. Ripley talks to a sewing machine repairman turned tank driver.

It is the second time Engels has been targeted by Ukrainian drones; on Dec. 5, unprecedented drone strikes on Engels and the Dyagilevo base in the Ryazan region in western Russia killed a total of three servicemen and wounded four more. Following the strikes on the airbases there was a huge missile barrage that devastated Ukrainian homes and killed civilians.

During the air attacks on Friday in Ukraine there was an aircraft in the sky that was capable of carrying a Kinzal hypersonic missile. It was not clear if a Kinzal was used in the attacks.

“We know that their defense industrial base is being taxed,” Kirby said of Russia. They are having trouble with that fast pace. We know that he’s (Russian President Vladimir Putin’s) having trouble replenishing specifically precision guided munitions.”

All residents of the capital have access to water. The mayor of the city of Kiev said in a post on Telegram that they are working on restoring heating to everyone in the city.

The Zelensky Brand at the Llysée Palace in Dniprotetrovsk: From Vogue to Military Commanders

In the central city of Kryvyi Rih, rescuers have pulled the body of an 18-month-old boy from the rubble of an apartment block which was destroyed by a Russian missile on Friday, Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said Saturday on Telegram.

A total of 16 people have been killed, according to the official, including three emergency workers killed in the process of demining the Berislav district of the region. Yanushevich said that 64 more have been wounded.

Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih city military administration, said that more than 100 people lived in the apartment block that was struck. They are being looked after in a temporary shelter, along with the residents of neighboring homes which have also suffered damage.

Sections of the Ukrainian railway system in Kharkiv, Kirovohrad, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk region were out of power following the missile strikes, and back-up diesel locomotives were replacing some services.

Ukraine’s energy minister, Herman Halushchenko, said that nine power-generating facitilites were damaged in Friday’s attacks, and warned of more emergency blackouts.

It is perhaps easy to forget that Zelensky honed his political muscles earlier in his career standing up to another bully in 2019 – then-US President Donald Trump, who tried to bamboozle the novice politician in the quid pro quo scandal.

I watched as Zelensky pulled up to lysée Palace in a modest car, while Putin was in a limo. The host, the French President, shook hands with Zelensky even though he hugged Putin.

Beyond the man himself, there is Zelensky the brand. It’s almost impossible to remove the Ukrainian leader’s olive green t-shirts when meeting everyone from Vogue journalists to military commanders.

Zelensky: When Russia launched a full-scale invasion, it was a nightclub in Kyiv, Ukraine: Solace in the aftermath of the invasion

Failure to demonstrate further progress on the battlefield with billion of dollars in military kit could cause unease among western backers. But capitulation to Russia would be a political death sentence.

Zelensky is described in a new book as an ordinary man thrust into extraordinary circumstances by the Eastern European editor of the Economist.

“After the full-scale invasion, once he got into a position of being bullied by someone like Vladimir Putin he knew exactly what he needed to do because it was just his gut feeling,” Yevhen Hlibovytsky, former political journalist and founder of the Kyiv-based think tank and consultancy, pro.mova, told me.

As Russia launched a full-scale invasion, the leader of the US joked: “I need armor, not a ride.”

It’s long been since the heady campaign celebration in a renovated nightclub where Zelensky thanked his supporters for a resounding victory. Standing on stage among the fluttering confetti, he looked in a state of disbelief at having defeated incumbent veteran politician Petro Poroshenko.

His ratings appear to have been affected by the war. Just days after the invasion, Zelensky’s ratings approval surged to 90%, and remain high to this day. Zelensky was seen as the better handle of international affairs by Americans early in the war than US President Joe Biden.

His bubble includes many people from his previous professional life as a TV comedian in the theatrical group Kvartal 95. Even in the midst of the war, a press conference held on the platform of a Kyiv metro station in April featured perfect lighting and curated camera angles to emphasize a wartime setting.

I remember well the solace his nightly addresses brought in the midst of air raid sirens and blasts in the city, as he was comforter in chief.

Zelensky: How the World Meets Itself: A Conversation with King Charles at the Holy Family Cathedral, London, Dec. 1-3

Zelensky’s use of hoodies and T-shirts is to project confidence and competence in a modern way, to a younger, global crowd that recognizes it as such.

She says that he is more comfortable than Putin in front of a camera. “I believe both of them want to come across as relatable, not aloof or untouchable, although Zelensky is definitely doing a better job balancing authority with accessibility.”

Journeying to where her husband can’t, Zelenska has shown herself to be an effective communicator in international fora – projecting empathy, style and smarts. She met King Charles during a visit to a refugee assistance center at the Holy Family Cathedral in London. (Curiously, TIME magazine did not include Zelenska on the cover montage and gave only a passing reference in the supporting text).

Despite the strong tailwinds at Zelensky’s back, there are subtle signs that his international influence could be dwindling. For example, last week, in what analysts called a pivotal moment in geopolitics, the G7 imposed a $60 a barrel price cap on Russian crude – despite pleas from Zelensky that it should have been set at $30 in order to inflict more pain on the Kremlin.

Zelensky said in a recent video address that when the world is truly unified, it’s the world that determines how events develop.

The Shahed-136 and Shahed-131 drones were launched from the coast of the Sea of Azov, according to the Air Force.

Do Ukrainians Count Christmas Trees? Vladimir Zelensky tries to beat Russia, but does not want to do so if he does

Zelensky thanked everyone who carries out repairs in any weather and around the clock. “It is not easy, it is difficult, but I am sure: we will pull through together, and Russia’s aggression will fail.”

Ukrainians are far from the eastern and southern frontlines of the ground war, which is why they seek for a semblance of normal in the run up to Christmas.

A Christmas tree in the center of Ukrainian capital will be illuminated with energy-saving garlands, and will be powered by a generator at certain times.

Roughly 1,000 blue and yellow balls and white doves will decorate the tree in Sophia Square, with a trident placed at the tree’s summit. There are flags of countries supportingUkraine at the bottom.

“Ukrainian children in their letters to St. Nicholas are asking for air defense, for weapons, for victory – a victory for them, a victory for all Ukrainians,” he said.

Sanctions have not been enough to shake Russia’s determination to restore its empire at the cost of peaceful neighboring states. The US and other Western funders should change the terms of the conflict to allow for more flexibility in dealing with Russia. The international community must do more than simply tolerate Russia’s naked aggression and the savagery with which it is pursuing its war of colonial reconquest. It is long past time for more direct intervention.

Russia will continue to do this because it works. The US President and other Western leaders reassured Russia by referring to the fear of escalation, which Russia wants to stoke.

Russia has a free pass to act as it pleases without fear of being interfered with because of its UN Security Council veto and fear of nuclear propaganda.

That shows a bad example to other aggressive powers around the world. Nuclear weapons allow you to wage wars of destruction against your neighbors because other nations won’t intervene.

If that’s not the message the US and the West want other aggressor states around the world to receive, then supply of Patriot should be followed by far more direct and assertive means of dissuading Moscow.

The key deliverables are first, the patra missile systems. They have been described as the US’s “gold standard” of air defense. NATO preciously guards them, and they require the personnel who operate them – almost 100 in a battalion for each weapon – to be properly trained.

The second are precision-guided munitions for Ukrainian jets. Ukraine, and Russia, largely are equipped with munitions that are “dumb” – fired roughly towards a target. Ukraine has been provided with more and more Western standard precision artillery and missiles, like Howitzers and HIMARS respectively.

But Moscow is struggling to equip and rally its conventional forces, and, with the exception of its nuclear forces, appears to be running out of new cards to play. The use of nuclear force is not likely now that China and India have joined the West in opposing it.

Russia has complained about the deliveries a lot, but it’s been relatively mild in reacting to the crossing of what might have been considered red lines.

The Patriot is a system of defensive, anti-ballistic and anti-aircraft elements, and neither does the US send any money to Ukraine

It’s difficult. Kevin McCarthy, expected to become Speaker of the Congress, warned the Biden administration that they cannot expect a blank cheque from the GOP-led House.

Some elements of the Trump party think that the US may not be sending enough aid to eastern Europe.

Realistically, the bill for the slow defeat of Russia in this dark and lengthy conflict is relatively light for Washington, given its near trillion-dollar annual defense budget.

He says that the system won’t go after drones or small missiles. Can it do that? Absolutely. But when you’re talking about knocking down a $20,000 drone, or a $100,000 ballistic missile that Russia buys, with a $3-5 million rocket, that doesn’t give you much of a return on the investment. What it can do it free up the low and medium systems to go after those kind of targets.”

The Center for Strategic International Studies (CSIS), which studied air defense systems, states that the Patriot hassurveillance, tracking, and engagement functions in one unit. The system’s engagements with incoming aerial threats are “nearly autonomous” aside from needing a “final launch decision” from the humans operating it.

Hertling said that the systems don’t pick up and move around the battlefield. They are put in place in a city that is able to defend your most strategic target. If someone thinks this is a system spread across a 500-mile border between Russia and Ukraine, they don’t know how it works.

According to a recent report from CSIS, the missile rounds for the Patriot can be had for $4 million each. Rounds that expensive likely won’t be used to shoot down every missile Russia launches toward Ukraine, Hertling said.

Hertling said offensive operations were more important in Ukraine than the system. CNN first reported last month that the US was considering a dramatic increase in the training provided to Ukrainian forces by instructing as many as 2,500 troops a month at a US base in Germany. The Defense Department said this month that infantry maneuvers and live fire will be included in the combined training of battalion-sized elements.

“The Patriots are a defensive, anti-ballistic and anti-aircraft weapon system, with the emphasis on defensive,” Hertling said. You don’t win wars with defensive capabilities. You have the offensive capabilities to win wars.

The U.S. Air Defense Mission Against Ukraine: The Zelensky-Disruption Plan Compared to the Russian Airstrike Barrages

The announcement was made on a day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was in Washington, D.C. — his first trip outside of Ukraine since the war began — to plead for additional air defense capabilities as Russian strikes have repeatedly disrupted power and water supply across his country.

“It becomes a real humanitarian issue when you’re trying to deprive an entire country of its electrical grid and water and everything else,” said Jeffrey Edmonds, a 22-year Army veteran who now works as a Russia analyst at the Center for a New American Security. I believe that it’s a necessary step to help the Ukrainians in the fight.

“That will do a good job of defending maybe a single city, like Kyiv, against some threats. But it’s not putting a bubble over Ukraine,” said Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Even on a compressed schedule, the training requirements mean that the system won’t be up and running until later in the year.

Cancian said that the push to get the system up and running as soon as possible could be a disaster; in a worst-case scenario, Ukrainians might not be able to prevent Russians from destroying it. That in turn could damage the political will to send future assistance to Ukraine, he said.

The Ukrainians would not need to worry about that if they had a year or two to learn the system. The problem is they don’t have a year or two. They want to do this in a couple weeks,” Cancian said.

The recent Russian airstrike barrages and ongoing assault on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure have turned up pressure on the U.S. and its allies to do more.

More weapons are included in the new aid package, including tens of thousands of GRAD rockets and tank bullets.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/21/1144662505/us-ukraine-patriot-missile-system

U.S. Air Security and Security Threats to Ukraine: The Case of Zelensky, the Kremlin, and the American Embassy

Kelly Greico, a defense analyst at the Stimson Center, said that the announcement was a sign of concern among U.S. officials about Ukraine’s air defense capability.

Before October, Ukrainian air defenses had focused on protecting frontline troops in the east and south, along with key government buildings and military sites in Kyiv and a handful of regional hubs.

“That’s a terrible choice to face, between the natural urge to protect your civilians from these brutal attacks and trying to ensure that you have the long-term military wherewithal to continue to resist the Russian war effort,” Greico said.

Her comments came after Zelensky delivered a historic speech from the US Capitol, expressing gratitude for American aid in fighting Russian aggression since the war began – and asking for more.

It was a speech that connected the struggle of Ukrainian people to our own revolution, as well as to our own feelings that we want to be warm in our homes to celebrate Christmas, and to get us to think about all the families inUkraine that will be huddled in the cold.

Clinton, who held the post of US secretary of state, said it was impossible to make predictions about the leader of Russia as the war in Ukraine turned in the country’s favor.

Clinton said they will be bodies of Russian conscripts in the fight in Ukraine.

Russia’s foreign ministry condemned what it called the “monstrous crimes” of the “regime in Kyiv,” after US President Joe Biden promised more military support to Ukraine during Zelensky’s summit at the White House on Wednesday.

Maria Zakharova said that no matter how much military support the West gives to the Ukrainian government, they will not achieve anything.

Zakharova said that the tasks set by the Russian leadership will be fulfilled taking into account the situation on the ground and the actual realities.

Peskov added that “there were no real calls for peace.” Zelensky reiterated the 10-point plan devised by Ukraine during his address to the US Congress on Wednesday.

Peskov told journalists on Wednesday that the US is in a proxy war against Russia, with the aim of getting the last Ukrainian.

The Kremlin has also been selling that line to the Russian public, who is largely buying it, says Sergey Radchenko, a Russian history professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.

“You could say that the majority of Russian people, although they are weary of the conflict, they still see this as an existential struggle between Russia and the West in which Ukraine is being played for a pawn,” he tells NPR’s Morning Edition.

Dismissing accusations of a proxy war, Sloat says Zelenskyy and Ukraine have made clear that they want a “just peace,” and all the U.S. has been doing is help the country defend itself against Russian aggression.

A South of Ukraine security anddefense forces spokesman warned on Monday of a possible Russian strike, mentioning a similar incident earlier this month.

President Volodymyr Zelensky called on Ukrainians to have “patience and faith” in a defiant Christmas address after a deadly wave of Russian strikes pounded the southern city of Kherson.

The nation was urged to stand firm in the face of the threat of Russian attacks and the absence of loved ones.

There are empty chairs around it. And our houses and streets can’t be so bright. And Christmas bells can ring not so loudly and inspiringly. Through air raid sirens, gunshots or explosions.

Addressing the Ukrainian people directly, he said the country would sing Christmas carols louder than the sound of a power generator and hear the voices and greetings of relatives “in our hearts” even if communication services and the internet are down.

We will find each other, hug each other tightly, even in total darkness. And if there is no heat, we will give a big hug to warm each other.”

Zelensky concluded: “We will celebrate our holidays! As always. We will smile and be happy. As always. The difference is one. We won’t wait for a miracle. We create it ourselves.

Orthodox Christian customs say that Christmas should be celebrated on January 7 because of the birth of Jesus according to theJulian calendar.

Russian Defence Forces in Saratov Oblast: The Response to an Explosion of the Alexander Zel’dovich Airfield in Engels

He wrote on Telegram that they were not military facilities. This is not a war according to the rules. It is terror, it is killing for the sake of intimidation and pleasure.”

Putin said in a state television interview, excerpts of which were released on Sunday afternoon that Russia is “prepared to negotiate some acceptable outcomes with all the participants of this process.”

The Kremlin has consistently said that it is the people who refuse talks, something he said wasn’t true.

“Russian forces’ rate of advance in the Bakhmut area has likely slowed in recent days, although it is too early to assess whether the Russian offensive to capture Bakhmut has culminated,” the Institute for the Study of War wrote in its recent update.

The three Russian servicemen were killed Monday when their helicopter was shot down by the air defense systems of Russian territory, according to the state news agencies.

Law enforcement agencies are now investigating the incident at the airfield, said Saratov Oblast Governor Roman Busargin on Monday. The comments posted on his official Telegram channel were in response to the reports of an explosion.

There were no emergencies in the city’s residential areas, and no damage to civilian infrastructure. The government will provide assistance to the families of the servicemen, he said.

There is a chance of another missile strike by the Russians after this, since the events of December 5 reminded them. “Therefore, we should be prepared for this, take it into account in our plans and do not forget to proceed to the shelter.”

Earlier this month, CCTV footage appeared to show an explosion lighting up the sky in Engels. Busargin reassured the residents that no civilian infrastructure had been damaged and that information about incidents at military facilities was being checked by law enforcement.

Shelling violation in the Dnipropetrovsk area of Ukraine’s northern outskirts and the threat of a UN peace summit

There was a quiet night in Ukraine from Sunday to Monday. The Russian forces did not shell the Dnipropetrovsk region for the first time in weeks, it was reported by the governor.

The areas around the city of Nikopol have not been affected by shelling since the Russians started in June. Nikopol is located across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under control of the Russian forces.

Ukrainian-controlled areas of the neighbouring Kherson region were shelled 33 times over the past 24 hours, according to Kherson’s Ukrainian Gov. Yaroslav Yanushevich. There were no casualties.

The missiles on the ground in Russia could be destroyed before they are deployed by the strikes, because they are launched from the airfields that were hit.

“You cannot believe that this person will attack you because you are fighting back” added Mr. Zagodianyuk, clarifying that he did not speak for the government or confirm the strikes. There is absolutely no strategic reason not to try to do this.”

The Kinzhal, the most advanced missile in Russia’s arsenal, is in a shorter supply, according to Mr. Budanov.

KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s foreign minister on Monday said that his government is aiming to have a peace summit by the end of February, preferably at the United Nations with Secretary-General António Guterres as a possible mediator, around the anniversary of Russia’s war.

But Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Associated Press that Russia could only be invited to such a summit if the country faced a war crimes tribunal first.

The U.S. Mission to Ukraine during the Cold War II: Zelenskyy’s First Foreign-Mistress Trip to the United States

Kuleba said he was satisfied with the result of Zelenskyy’s trip to the U.S., and that the U.S. government had created a special plan to get the missile battery up and running. Training can take a year.

Kuleba said during the interview at the Foreign Ministry that Ukraine will do whatever it can to win the war in 2023, adding that diplomacy always plays an important role.

“The United Nations could be the best venue for holding this summit, because this is not about making a favor to a certain country,” he said. “This is really about bringing everyone on board.”

In November, Zelenskyy presented a 10-point peace formula that included the pullout of Russian troops, the release of prisoners, a tribunal for those responsible for the aggression and security guarantees for Ukraine.

About Guterres’ role, Kuleba said: “He has proven himself to be an efficient mediator and an efficient negotiator, and most importantly, as a man of principle and integrity. So we would welcome his active participation.”

“They regularly say that they are ready for negotiations, which is not true, because everything they do on the battlefield proves the opposite,” he said.

Zelenskyy was in the U.S. on his first foreign trip since the war started. Washington was praised by Kuleba and underscored the significance of the visit.

“This shows how both the United States are important for Ukraine, but also how Ukraine is important for the United States,” said Kuleba, who was part of the delegation to the U.S.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2022/12/26/1145539638/ukraine-russia-peace-summit-foreign-minister

U.S. can’t train a missile at the C-USA Security Council without destroying it on the battlefield: Kuleba’s comments on the mission in Ukraine

He said that the U.S. government was able to speed up the training of the missile battery by creating a program that would not damage the weapon’s quality on the battlefield.

While Kuleba didn’t mention a specific time frame, he said only that it will be “very much less than six months.” He said that the training won’t be done in Ukraine.

During Russia’s ground and air war in Ukraine, Kuleba has been second only to Zelenskyy in carrying Ukraine’s message and needs to an international audience, whether through Twitter posts or meetings with friendly foreign officials.

The Foreign Ministry says that Russian never went through the legal procedure for acquiring membership and taking the place of the USSR at the U.N. Security Council after the collapse of the Soviet Union.