Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, known for echoing Moscow's talking points, claimed that U.S. President Joe Biden has authorized the use of ATACMS against targets in Russia "to disrupt or delay peace talks completely."
Russian manufacturers use components from the U.S., China, the Netherlands, and Switzerland to produce the Gerbera drone, a cheaper and less deadly equivalent of Iran's Shahed, at a plant in Yelabuga, in the Republic of Tatarstan, central Russia.
"The option of freezing the line of military conflict is unacceptable for the Russian side," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said in comments reported by Interfax.
"You know, with the reports in Western media, it is obvious that the outgoing administration in Washington intends to take steps... to add fuel to the fire and continue to provoke further escalation of tensions," Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the media.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will propose his own peace plan for Ukraine during the G20 talks commencing on Nov. 18, Bloomberg reported, citing undisclosed sources.
"This is a very big step towards the start of World War III," lawmaker Vladimir Dzhabarov said, according to Russia’s state-owned TASS state news agency.
"We strongly condemn the violation of Moldova’s airspace by Russia’s missiles and drones targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure today," Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mihai Popsoi said.
Russian air defense intercepted multiple drones on the outskirts of Moscow, the city's mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, said overnight on Nov. 18.
While reposting a news item of the policy change on X, Trump Jr. referred to the Biden administration as "imbeciles" for allowing the decision to go forward.
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen urged Western leaders to refrain from making additional phone calls to Russian President Vladimir Putin following German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's recent call, Valtonen said on German TV on Nov. 17.
Russian attacks on various regions of Ukraine in October led to the deaths of 183 civilians and injured a further 903 people, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine reported.
Key developments on Nov. 16-17: * Russia launches one of the largest aerial strikes on Ukraine, targets energy grid * EU has 'convincing' evidence of reported Chinese attack drone production for Russia, media reports * Russia producing thermobaric drones, capable of causing 'terrifying' civilian harm, AP reports * Ukrainian partisans say they sabotaged railway
The factory produces air defense systems and radars for the Russian military, said Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the counter-disinformation department at Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council.
"This is war criminal Putin’s true response to all those who called and visited him recently. We need peace through strength, not appeasement," Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on Nov. 17.
"President Biden condemned the deployment of thousands of (North Korean) troops to Russia, a dangerous expansion of Russia’s unlawful war against Ukraine with serious consequences for both European and Indo-Pacific peace and security," the White House statement read.
Two people were killed and seven injured, including two children, in the city of Mykolaiv amid Russia’s mass drone and missile attack, regional governor Vitalii Kim reported on Nov. 17.
Russia targeted "power generation and transmission facilities throughout Ukraine," according to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko.
The Atesh partisan group sabotaged a key railway in occupied Zaporizhzhia Oblast, disabling electrical equipment and causing disruptions to Russia's military supply chain, the group claimed on Nov. 16.
North Korea has provided Russia with 50 domestically produced self-propelled howitzers and 20 multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS), the Financial Times (FT) reported on Nov. 16, citing a Ukrainian intelligence assessment.
Thermobaric warheads create a wave of high pressure and heat that is capable of penetrating thick walls, AP reported. The damage caused by thermobaric attack drones would cause damage that would be "simply terrifying" for civilian populations to endure, including collapsed lungs, crushed eyeballs, and brain damage, according to a source familiar with Russian drone production.
A day after videos showed Russian troops planting their flag in a grey zone near the border in Ukraine's Chernihiv Oblast, Ukraine's State Border Guard Service released a video showing a drone destroying the flag on Nov. 16.
Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) released a statement reaffirming their "unwavering support for Ukraine for as long as it takes" and commitment to "severe costs" for Russia on Nov. 16.
Russia's Gazprom Export announced that its supply of natural gas to Austria is ending on Nov. 16, according to OMV, Austria's largest gas supply company.
A drone unit in the National Guard's 27th Pechersk Brigade destroyed a Russian anti-aircraft missile BUK-M1 system worth $10 million, Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko reported on Nov 16.
Ukraine must do everything possible to end the war through diplomatic means, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a wide-ranging interview with Suspilne broadcast on Nov. 16.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan discuss the war in Ukraine and involvement of North Korean troops in the fighting during the upcoming G20 Summit in Brazil next week, German media reported on Nov. 15.
Russia has lost 719,240 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Nov. 15.
The European Union is preparing to implement additional sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities involved in propping up Russia's war machine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) reported on Nov. 15, citing a top EU official.
Several companies in Kazakhstan are playing a significant role in helping Russia circumvent Western sanctions by supplying equipment for the development of electronic warfare (EW) systems, according to The Insider, the Russian independent investigative outlet.
In a letter seen by Reuters on Nov. 15, two senior Democratic senators argued that Musk’s involvement in SpaceX programs should be reviewed for potential debarment and exclusion due to his communications with Russian officials.
In a statement released on Nov. 15, governor Oleksandr Prokudin said the children who returned home from Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast include four boys, aged between 1.7 and 17. According to the Ukrainian government’s database, Russia has illegally abducted over 19,500 children since February 2022.
Key developments on Nov. 15: * Scholz condemns war, urges Russia to negotiate with Ukraine in first call with Putin in nearly 2 years * Drone attack reported in Russia's Krasnodar region, explosions heard near military airfield * Russian troops plant flag at border in Chernihiv Oblast, Border Guard says no major offensive
