Saturday, November 25

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics (L) and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (R) on the former’s official visit to Ukraine on Nov. 24, 2023. (Latvian Presidential Office/X)

Russia launches extensive drone attack in Kyiv. Russian forces launched an extensive three-hour drone attack in Kyiv on Nov. 25, injuring at least two people and damaging several residential and non-residential buildings.

SBU: Russian commander who ordered killing of civilians in Bucha identified.

Lieutenant Colonel Dosyagaev, a commander of the 2nd Battalion of the 104th Regiment of the 76th Airborne Assault Division of the Russian Airborne Forces, was deployed in Bucha at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

BBC: Putin ally linked to missing Ukrainian child. A Russian lawmaker is accused of adopting a two-year-old child who was allegedly removed from a children’s home in Ukraine, a BBC investigation revealed on Nov. 23.

Zelensky dismisses 4 National Guard deputy commanders. President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a series of executive orders on Friday, announcing the dismissal of four deputy commanders within the National Guard, New Voice reported on Nov. 24.

Sales of Ukrainian-made goods skyrocket during retailer Rozetka’s Black Friday sale. Ukrainian customers brought 70% more goods manufactured in Ukraine from the online retailer giant Rozetka in the first days of the company’s Black Friday sale compared to the previous week, Interfax Ukraine reported on Nov. 24.

Ukraine prepared to evacuate Ukrainian truckers stuck in Polish border blockade. Conditions have continued to worsen for the truckers as the weather gets colder, and “we have run out of time to compromise,” said Deputy Infrastructure Minister Serhii Derkach.

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Defense Ministry: $4.8 billion to be allocated for shells, missiles in 2024. Deputy Defense Minister Yurii Dzhyhyr said that another Hr 80 billion ($2.2 billion) will go towards the purchase of military equipment.

NGO: Lawmaker Odarchenko, Special Communications Service ex-head released on bail. Odarchenko, elected for President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Servant of the People party, was arrested on Nov. 22 on suspicions he attempted to bribe State Agency for Restoration and Infrastructure Development’s head Mustafa Nayyem with cryptocurrency.

Reuters: Ukraine faces LPG shortages over Polish border blockade. Around a million Ukrainian cars use LPG, a third of which is delivered to Ukraine via the Polish border.

SBU: Ukrainian man sentenced to 12 years in prison for spying for Russian military. A Ukrainian man was sentenced to 12 years in prison following an investigation by the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) for spying for the Russian military in Donetsk Oblast, the SBU announced on Nov. 24.

Zelensky asks military to present new mobilization plan. Speaking at a joint press conference with Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics, President Volodymyr Zelensky said he listened to reports on challenges in the field of mobilization and options for their solution at today’s meeting of the Staff of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief.

Media: Russian conscript sentenced to 5 years in prison after buying fake death certificate. The soldier, Zorigto Arabzhaev, was mobilized in November 2022 and deployed to Ukraine, and when spring came, he was granted leave and obtained a fake death certificate.

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Ukraine war latest: Defense Ministry says $4.8 billion to be allocated for shells, missiles in 2024

The Ukrainian government will earmark Hr 175 billion ($4.8 billion) for the purchase of shells and missiles as part of the country’s 2024 defense budget.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics arrived in Ukraine on Nov. 24, visiting Kyiv and the site of Russian atrocities in Chernihiv Oblast.

Photo: Diego Herrera Carcedo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

‘It takes bravery to recognize mistakes:’ Ukrainian architects learn from Rotterdam to rebuild their own cities

When the Russian invasion of Ukraine forced urbanists Oleksandra Naryzhna and Anastasiia Palii to leave Kharkiv in March 2022, the Dutch city of Rotterdam was an obvious choice for a temporary home.

Photo: Planet One Images/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Russian shelling of Kherson Oblast kills 1, injures 1. A Russian artillery strike on the village of Dniprovske in Kherson Oblast on Nov. 24 killed a 50-year-old man and injured a 44-year-old woman, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported.

Russian attacks in Kherson Oblast kill 3, injure 11, including 3 children. The children’s library in Kherson also received a direct hit, damaging the front of the building, but there were no casualties.

International response

Dutch minister: Far-right electoral win ‘has me worried’ about support for Ukraine. Wilders, whose PVV party won 37 of 150 seats in the Dutch Parliament, has long been vocally anti-immigration but has also made a number of statements in favor of Russia and against the Netherlands continuing to provide support to Ukraine.

Lithuanian PM Simonyte visits Kyiv. On her first stop, Ingrida Simonyte visited a memorial for fallen Ukrainian soldiers and paid her respects.

German ambassador: New Patriot air defense system to arrive in Ukraine this winter. The system was originally pledged by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Oct. 5, but he did not give a timeline for when it would be delivered.

Washington Post: Russian, Chinese companies discuss possible underwater Crimean tunnel project. Russian and Chinese state-connected business executives have reportedly begun discussing the possibility of constructing an underwater tunnel across the Crimean Strait amidst fears that Ukrainian forces will continue striking the Kerch Bridge, The Washington Post reported on Nov. 24, citing unnamed sources from Ukraine’s intelligence service.

NATO official wants ‘military Schengen’ in Europe, sparking threats from Kremlin. The Kremlin criticized on Nov. 24 a NATO official’s proposition for a military analog for the Schengen Area in Europe, issuing threats in response, the Russian state news agency TASS reported.

Bild: US, Germany quietly seek to prod Ukraine to negotiate. The U.S. and Germany allegedly hope to nudge Ukraine to negotiate with Russia through a carefully targeted scope of arms deliveries, the German tabloid Bild reported on Nov. 24, citing an anonymous government source.

UN declaration commemorating Holodomor anniversary signed by 55 nations.

“The horrors of the Holodomor should serve as a clear reminder to current and future generations of the need to prevent such atrocities and attempts to weaponize food, which are one of the key components of Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine,” said Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba.

Latvian president arrives in Ukraine on official visit. President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed his Latvian counterpart in Ukraine’s capital, thanking Rinkevics’ homeland for “taking a principled stance in favor of Ukraine’s full-fledged EU membership.”

Official: Ukraine asks Poland to open additional checkpoints for empty cargo vehicles. Ukraine asked Poland to open additional checkpoints for the passage of empty cargo vehicles to alleviate Ukrainian and Polish truckers during the border blockade, Interfax-Ukraine reported on Nov. 24, citing Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi.

Trudeau: Conservative rival abandoning Ukraine under Trump’s influence. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, elected for Liberal Party, criticized Canadian Conservatives for voting against a bill to implement a free-trade agreement with Ukraine.

Zelensky names ‘3 important victories’ Ukraine needs on international stage.

Three victories Ukraine needs on the international stage are the support of the U.S. Congress, of the EU, and Ukraine’s accession to the European bloc, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 24, New Voice reported.

Slovak PM calls war in Ukraine a frozen conflict. During a state visit to Prague on Nov. 24, Slovakia’s new Prime Minister, Robert Fico, called the war in Ukraine a frozen conflict that cannot be solved by sending arms to Ukraine.

Zelensky and Dutch PM discuss future support for Ukraine following elections.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte discussed the future of Dutch support for Ukraine following the outcome of the Dutch general elections which resulted in a surprise victory for far-right candidate Geert Wilders and his Party for Freedom (PVV).

In other news

Pashinyan: Russia fails to deliver weapons Armenia purchased. One possible solution could be a deduction of Armenia’s debt to Russia in the amount of the paid sum, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan suggested.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Nate Ostiller, Francis Farrell, Martin Fornusek, Lili Bivings, Alexander Khrebet, Dinara Khalilova, Rachel Amran, and Dmytro Basmat.

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