Ukraine Daily

Friday, November 4

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Asl Tia, a cargo vessel carrying Ukrainian grain, sails on Bosphorus to Marmara Sea, in Istanbul, on November 2, 2022. (OZAN KOSE/AFP/Getty Images)

Zelensky says he won’t participate in G20 summit if Putin attends. “My personal position, and the position of Ukraine, was that if the leader of Russia participates (in the summit), then Ukraine will not,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 3. Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin were both invited to participate in the summit.

IAEA finds no evidence that proves Russia’s ’dirty bomb’ accusations. The International Atomic Energy Agency experts have finished in-field inspections at three Ukrainian nuclear facilities and found no “indications of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at the locations,” the agency’s chief, Rafael Grossi, said in a written statement. The inspections were carried out at Ukraine’s request after Russia claimed Ukraine was developing a “dirty bomb.”

Energoatom: Russia tries to connect Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to occupied territories. Russian forces at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant will soon try to connect the plant’s communication lines to annexed Crimea, occupied parts of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts, according to state nuclear operator Energoatom.

Ukraine returns 1,138 POWs from Russian captivity since March. The number includes civilians and military personnel, according to Ukraine. On Nov. 3, Ukraine returned 107 soldiers from Russian captivity, including 74 defenders of the Azovstal steel plant, according to President’s Office Head Andriy Yermak. Many of them are seriously wounded, he added.

UK intelligence: Russia faces difficulties in finding artillery ammunition, armored vehicles. Over the last weeks, Russia has acquired at least 100 additional tanks and infantry fighting vehicles from Belarus, while its forces are losing about 40 armored vehicles a day in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported. According to it, Russian troops are disappointed about having to serve in old combat vehicles, which they describe as “aluminum cans.”

US Defense Secretary: ’Ukrainian forces can retake Kherson.’ U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Nov. 3 that he believes Ukraine can liberate Russian-occupied Kherson. “On the issue of whether the Ukrainians can take the remaining territory on the west side of the Dnipro river and Kherson, I certainly believe that they have the capability to do that,” Austin said during a press conference.

Ukrainian intelligence: Russian troops move proxies from Kherson closer to Crimea. Over the past few weeks, Russian-installed proxies and collaborators in Kherson have been resettled to hotels on Arabat Spit, between lake Syvash and the Azov Sea, the Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate reported on Nov. 3. There, the recreation centers’ owners are forced to host them, while the Russian military is searching for even more vacant premises, according to Ukraine’s intelligence.

General Staff: Deployment of Russia’s mobilized troops in Belarus aims to divert Ukraine’s attention. By stationing its mobilized forces in Belarus, Russia is trying to divert Ukraine’s attention and force it to move its soldiers from the east and south to the north, according to General Staff Deputy Chief Oleksii Hromov. Even if Russia decides to attack Ukraine from Belarus, Russian military leadership will have to train the drafted men first, which will take at least 2-3 months, Hromov said.

Zaluzhnyi: Russian troops tripled intensity of hostilities in some areas of Ukraine. Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, told NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, U.S. Army General Christopher Cavoli, that Russian forces carry out up to 80 attacks daily in certain areas on the front line.

Official: Russian troops step up attacks on civilians in occupied Mariupol, arrest locals. The Russian forces continue patrolling the city and conducting ID checks, as well as checking residents’ houses and personal phones for pro-Ukrainian photos, symbols, or posts on social networks, Petro Andriushchenko, adviser to Mariupol mayor, said on Nov. 3.

All civilians have been evacuated from Donetsk Oblast’s Mariinka. Ukraine’s National Police reported that 100% of civilians have been evacuated from the city of Mariinka, located 33 kilometers west of the Russian-occupied Donetsk. All the dwellings in the city, once home to almost 10,000 residents, have been damaged or destroyed, according to police. The evacuation campaign is now underway in the nearby city of Krasnohorivka where about 800 civilians remain. Its pre-war population was roughly 16,000. There is no water, electricity, or gas supply in the city.

Read and listen to our exclusives

Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World: The Resource War. The Kyiv Independent team speaks to Helen Thompson, professor of political economy at the University of Cambridge, to explore the wide-reaching implications of Russia’s war in Ukraine on energy, food security and more.

Photo: The Kyiv Independent

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Ukraine war latest: IAEA finds no evidence that proves Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ accusations. On Nov. 3, the International Atomic Energy Agency experts finished the in-field inspections at three Ukrainian nuclear facilities and found no “indications of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at the locations,” according to the agency’s chief.

Photo: Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Russia’s attacks kill 4 in Donetsk Oblast, 1 in Kharkiv Oblast. In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed four civilians and wounded five in Donetsk Oblast, according to the oblast governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko. Russia has also struck Kharkiv Oblast, killing an 82-year-old woman in Kupiansk, and injuring six people in other settlements, said Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

General Staff: Russia has lost 74,000 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Nov. 3 that Russia had also lost 2,734 tanks, 5,552 armored fighting vehicles, 4,162 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,755 artillery systems, 390 multiple launch rocket systems, 198 air defense systems, 277 airplanes, 258 helicopters, 1,442 drones, and 16 boats.

International response

Reuters: G7 coalition has agreed to set fixed price cap on Russian oil. The sources who spoke on conditions of anonymity told Reuters that the G7 and Australia have agreed to set a fixed price when they finalize a price cap on Russian oil later this month. The price cap, set to begin on Dec. 5 on crude and Feb. 5 on oil products, aims to limit funding to Russia without cutting supply to consumers. Russia has said earlier it won’t ship oil to countries that set price caps.

Switzerland to provide $106 million for Ukraine’s energy infrastructure recovery. Switzerland’s Federal Council has adopted the Winter Aid Action Plan to lighten the impact of the coming winter on Ukrainians; it implies supplying Ukraine with almost $106 million in aid to fund the urgent rehabilitation of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. The country will supply Ukraine with generators, pumps, and water treatment installations.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Denys Krasnikov, Dinara Khalilova, Oleksiy Sorokin, Thaisa Semenova, Brad LaFoy, and Olena Goncharova.

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