Key developments on Nov. 18: * Russian missile attack on Odesa hits residential area, kills 10, injures 55 * US aims to 'provoke further escalation' — Kremlin comments on long-range strikes * Scholz's stance on Taurus unchanged despite US permission on long-range strikes * Turkish president to propose freezing Ukraine front line, Bloomberg reports * Zelensky
Amid rising fears of U.S. aid being cut off under a second Donald Trump presidency, Ukrainians are left wondering whether Europe can rise to the challenge and fill the gap. Trump has promised to swiftly end Russia's war against Ukraine, speaking highly of Russian President Vladimir Putin and making
"The Biden administration has authorized the use of its weapons up to 300 kilometers inside Russian territory," the European Union's top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said. "The American administration said no for a long time, and they ended up saying yes."
The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) confirmed on Nov. 18 that a riot control agent known as CS has been used in Ukraine, as evidence mounts that Russia has scaled up its attacks using chemical weapons in recent months.
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.
"Ukrainians shouldn't have to wait for rockets to cross the border — they should be able to destroy launch sites directly," German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said.
"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.
The biggest weapons makers in the world convened in Washington, D.C. for the 70th meeting of the Association of the United States Army in early October. It was the third year in a row where Ukraine remained at the center of the event's enormous buzz. Synchronized press releases ensued.
Ukrainian forces shot down eight of the 11 drones launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force said. Russian forces also reportedly attacked Sumy Oblast with two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and a Kh-59 aerial guided missile.
"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.
This number includes 1,560 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.
The governments of Norway, Sweden, and Finland have begun the distribution of informative pamphlets to citizens, providing them with advice in case of the outbreak of war or other emergency situations, BBC reported on Nov. 17.
Russian air defense intercepted multiple drones on the outskirts of Moscow, the city's mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, said overnight on Nov. 18.
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.
The permission should initially apply to strikes against Russian and North Korean soldiers in Kursk Oblast but could eventually expand to other areas, undisclosed official sources told the New York Times.
"As we approach 1000 days since the large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russia shows it has no intention of ceasing its aggression," said Dutch Foreign Minister Caspar Veldkamp.
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.
Russia attacked Ukraine with a hypersonic 3M22 Zirkon missile, seven air-launched Kinzhal missiles, 85 Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles, one Iskander-M ballistic missile, four anti-radar Kh-22/31P missiles, five Kh-59/69 aerial guided missiles, and 90 drones.
"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.
Russia targeted thermal power plants during a mass strike on the country's power grid on Nov. 17, dealing "serious damage," said the country's largest private energy company, DTEK.
This number includes 1,640 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the pa
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.
The latest aid package will include an unspecified amount of munitions and equipment, including naval uniforms, observation equipment, sights, and protective equipment, Estonia's Defense Ministry said.
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.
The United States will partner with Ukraine to transition Ukraine's coal-fired plants to small modular nuclear reactors, and to use them to help decarbonize its steel industry, the countries announced on Nov. 16 at the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.
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.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24, 2022, eight years after it annexed the Crimean Peninsula and led an armed aggression in Ukraine’s east.
In February 2014, almost immediately following the end of the EuroMaidan Revolution in Ukraine, Russia swiftly moved to annex and occupy Crimea. Within months, Russian proxy forces took control of parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts.
By the start of 2022, Russia had amassed nearly 200,000 troops on Ukraine’s border. At 4:50 a.m. on Feb. 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in a speech that Russia was to carry out “a special military operation.” Within minutes, missile strikes were launched on Ukrainian cities and the full-scale invasion had begun.
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