November 24, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of?Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Western plans to introduce oil price caps would have “grave consequences” for energy markets, during a telephone conversation with?Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.?

“Putin stressed that such actions go against the principles of market relations and are highly likely to lead to grave consequences for the global energy market,” according to the Kremlin’s readout of the call.?

Putin’s remarks come as energy ministers from the European Union held an extraordinary meeting Thursday aimed at?containing the economic fallout from surging gas prices triggered by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.?

Christine Lambrecht, Federal Minister of Defense, speaks in the Bundestag in Berlin, Germany, on November 23.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has stressed that use of NATO?defense systems outside its territory needs to be agreed by all member states.??

It comes after the Polish defense minister said on Wednesday that Berlin should send Patriot missile air defense systems directly to Ukraine rather than Poland.

”It is important to us that Poland can rely on allies to stand by each other – even in difficult times – and especially Poland in its exposed position,” Lambrecht?told reporters in Berlin on Thursday.

”That is why we have offered to support air policing and Patriots. Patriot systems are part of NATO’s integrated air defense of NATO,?which is why it was possible to make this proposal to Poland,” the minister added.?

”Proposals that deviate from that have to be discussed now with NATO and with our allies,” Lambrecht concluded.?

On Monday, Germany offered Poland assistance in providing anti-missile systems, including the Patriot missile defense system, to Poland to help Warsaw strengthen its air defense capacity following a deadly missile strike on Polish territory near the Ukrainian?border on November 15.?

Released Ukrainian prisoners of war pose after a swap in the Zaporizhzhia region,?Ukraine, on?November 24.

Russia and Ukraine carried out a prisoner exchange Thursday with 100 soldiers in total returning to their respective home countries.?

According to Russian and Ukrainian officials, each side returned 50 captive soldiers following negotiations.

“On November 24, as a result of the negotiation process, 50 Russian servicemen were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime, who were in mortal danger in captivity,” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.?

The soldiers will be taken to Moscow for treatment and provided with the “necessary medical and psychological assistance,” it added.?

According to the office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak, two officers were among 50 returned soldiers who were captured in battles in Mariupol, Azovstal, Chernobyl power plant and Snake Island.??

“We continue to work on the release of all our people from captivity. I am grateful for the work of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.?We will return everyone,” he said in a statement.?

Over the past two days, 86 Ukrainian service members have been returned and a total of 1,269 people have been released over the course of the Russian invasion, he added.

Ukrainian doctors perform surgery by torchlight in Kyiv on November 24.

Ukrainian doctors resorted to performing surgery by torchlight during blackouts caused by the large-scale Russian missile strikes on Wednesday.

Dr. Borys Todurov, head of medical services at the Kyiv Heart Institute, posted a video on Instagram that he said showed doctors wearing headlamps as they performed heart surgery on a child.

The operation had been underway when the power went out, Dr. Todurov said. The hospital had “no water for several hours,” he added.

The director of the Mechnikova Hospital in the central Dnipropetrovsk region said “tens of patients in a critical condition were on surgery tables” when the lights went out. “Anaesthesiologists and surgeons put on headlights to save each of them,” Dr. Sergii Ryzhenko wrote on Facebook.?

Dr. Ryzhenko posted a photo of two doctors he said were operating on a 23-year-old man. “Doctors Yaroslav Medvedyk and Kseniya Denysova, along with their colleagues, were performing a unique surgery when the electricity went down. It happened for the first time in 35 years of Yaroslav’s practice. The nerves were tense, but the patient… has made it,” he said.

The Ukrainian health ministry said on Facebook: “The lack of light will not stop us.”

Electricity was restored to all parts of Ukraine’s power grid Thursday, but individual households are being connected “gradually,” an official in the office of President Volodymr Zelensky said on Telegram.?

“Electricity has been supplied to all regions of Ukraine,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko said. “The first to be supplied were critical infrastructure facilities. As of now, household consumers are gradually being connected to the grid.”

Nearly 3,000 miners have been rescued in Ukraine after power outages caused by Russian strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure left them trapped underground overnight.

One in four houses in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are without power following Wednesday’s shelling, city authorities said on Telegram. Water supply in the city has been now restored, although systems are not working at full capacity.

Here are the latest developments:

Emergency teams on the site where a Russian rocket hit a residential building in Vyshhorod, Kyiv, on November 23.

The death toll from Wednesday afternoon’s Russian missile attacks has risen to 10, Ukraine’s prosecutor general said on national TV.

“Eight energy facilities were hit yesterday. Unfortunately, there is confirmed information about 10 dead and about 50 wounded civilians,” Andrii Kostin said.

Local residents stand in line to fill up bottles with fresh drinking water in?Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 24.

The water supply has been returned to every district in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, mayor Vitalii Klitschko said on Telegram Thursday.

“Water supply has been restored in all districts of the capital,” he said. “But it will take some time for the water supply system to work at full capacity.”?

Water in Kyiv was suspended Wednesday after shelling in the region, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said?in a post on Telegram.

Klitschko asked residents to “stock up on water” while experts tried to “return water to the homes of Kyiv residents.”?

The?Kyiv?regional administration said Wednesday the entire?Kyiv?region – meaning millions of people – was completely without electricity and water was also badly disrupted after Russian missiles targeted critical infrastructure.

Patriot anti-aircraft missile systems of the Bundeswehr's anti-aircraft missile squadron 1 stand on the airfield of Schwesing military airport, Germany, on March 17.

Poland’s defence minister Mariusz Blaszczak said Wednesday the?Patriot missile defense system that Germany offered Poland should go to Ukraine instead.?

“After further missile attacks (from Russia), I turned to (Germany) to have the proposed (Poland) Patriot batteries transferred to (Ukraine) and deployed at the western border,” Blaszczak said on Twitter.

“This will protect (Ukraine) from further victims and blackout and will increase security at our eastern border.”

Ukraine’s ambassador to Warsaw, Vasyl Zvarych, responded by thanking him on Twitter and added: “We need as many modern anti-missile systems as possible to keep the sky above Ukraine safe. Successful defense of (Ukraine) against Russia is a contribution to the security of Poland and the whole of Europe, because Russian terror does not respect borders.”?

Germany’s offer to Poland came?after a missile hit?Polish territory and killed two people near the Ukrainian?border on November 15. The leaders of Poland and NATO said that projectile was likely fired by Ukrainian forces defending their country against Russian strikes, and that the incident appeared to be an accident.

A longtime mainstay of US military operations: The?Patriot air defense missile system?– Patriot stands for “Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept of Target” – is designed to counter and destroy incoming short-range ballistic missiles, advanced aircraft and cruise missiles.

The battery includes missiles and launching stations, a radar set that detects and tracks targets, and an engagement control station, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance.

The Patriot missile system has undergone several improvements and upgrades since it was first deployed in 1982.

Its first combat use was in the?Gulf War, which was also the first time that an air defense system destroyed a hostile tactical ballistic missile.

Read more on Patriot missile defense systems here.

CNN’s Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this post.

Left to right, Prime Minister of Finland Sanna Marin, European Commission President?Ursula?von?der?Leyen, Prime Minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas and Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden Ebba Busch attend a press conference of the Into the Woods event at the Finnish Nature Centre Haltia in Espoo, Finland, on November 24.

The European Union is preparing a ninth package of sanctions against Russia following Moscow’s latest barrage of strikes on Ukraine, President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen said Thursday.??

Von der Leyen added she was “confident that we will very soon approve a global price cap on Russian oil with the G7 and other major partners,” after the West’s biggest economies agreed in September to impose a cap to reduce Moscow’s ability to fund its war.?

“We will not rest until Ukraine has prevailed over Putin and his unlawful and barbaric war,” she continued.?

Western sanctions are taking their toll on Russia, particularly as the cold winter months begin.

“The mood in Moscow and the country is now extremely gloomy, quiet, intimidated, and hopeless,” 34-year-old Lisa, who declined to give her last name and said she was a film producer, told CNN.

“The planning horizon is as low as ever. People have no idea what might happen tomorrow or in a year,” she added.

While the shelves in most stores remain well stocked, Western products are becoming increasingly scarce and very expensive, further driving prices that are already hammering many Russian households.

Western sanctions have also sharply curtailed Russia’s ability to?replenish the munitions?it is using in?Ukraine, according to analysis from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence last month.

Read more on the mood in Moscow here.

CNN’s Frederik Pleitgen, Claudia Otto and Ana Archen contributed to this post.

Lviv city centre without electricity after Ukrainian critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile attacks on November 23.

The barrage of Russian air strikes against Ukraine’s energy infrastructure Wednesday caused a “blackout” in the country’s power system, its energy minister told national television. It was the first time that all four of Ukraine’s nuclear plants were shut down at the same time, he said.?

”We must understand the key thing: yesterday, as a result of shelling, there was a blackout in our power system,” Herman Halushchenko said Thursday.

“The situation is very difficult but, at 4 a.m., we managed to unite the power system. It is now working as a single unit and critical infrastructure facilities throughout the country have been powered.”?

The authorities are now racing to restore electricity across the country.?

“We will increase the volume of power being generated during the day,” Halushchenko said. “We expect that by the evening nuclear power plants will start working and supplying electricity to the grid. This will significantly reduce the deficit.”?

Yesterday was “the first time that all four nuclear power plants were simultaneously shut down,” Halushchenko said.?

Now all nuclear facilities – apart from the besieged plant in Zaporizhzhia, the largest in Ukraine?– have been reconnected to the Ukrainian grid and will start to supply it with electricity today.?

“If there is no new shelling, by the end of the day we will be able to significantly reduce the deficit in the power system due to nuclear generation and, accordingly, this will make it possible to proceed to scheduled outages,” the minister added.

An apartment building without electricity after critical civil infrastructure was hit by Russian missile attacks in?Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 23.

One in four houses in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are without power following Russian shelling in the region, city authorities said on Telegram.

Water supply has been restored on the east bank of the Dnipro river that runs through the city and the administration expects to restore it on the west bank this morning.

Nearly 3,000 miners have been rescued in Ukraine after power outages caused by Russian strikes on the country’s energy infrastructure left them trapped underground overnight.

Rescue efforts at mines in the central Dnipropetrovsk region concluded in the early hours of this morning, Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the Kryvyi Rih city military administration, said in a Telegram post.

Regional head Valentyn Reznichenko said “rescue teams were able to extract nearly 3,000 miners to the surface.” It was a “tense” night in Dnipropetrovsk, he added.

Reznichenko said half of the region’s households have had power restored but “blackouts will continue to minimize the load on the power grid.”

Some context: A series of Russian airstrikes against Ukraine on Wednesday destroyed critical facilities, including energy infrastructure, housing, and a hospital maternity ward, where a newborn baby was killed.?The large-scale assault also led to widespread blackouts in Ukraine and neighboring Moldova.

Two Russian soldiers walked down a street in Kherson on a spring evening in early March, just days after Moscow?captured the city. The temperature that night was still below freezing and the power was out, leaving the city in complete darkness as the soldiers made their way back to camp after a few drinks.

As one stumbled on, the other stopped to relieve himself on the side of the pavement. Suddenly, a knife was thrust deep into the right side of his neck.

He fell to the grass. Moments later, the second Russian soldier, inebriated and unaware, met the same fate.

He says he moved on pure instinct.

“I saw the orcs in uniform and I thought, why not?,” Archie adds, using a derogative term for Russians, as he walks through that same street. “There were no people or light and I seized the moment.”

The 20-year-old is a trained mixed martial arts fighter, with nimble feet and sharp reflexes, who had previously always carried a knife for self-defense, but never killed anyone. CNN is referring to him by his call sign to protect his identity.

Read more here.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech at a reception for the mayors of France in Paris on Wednesday.

French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday denounced Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and said the acts “cannot go unpunished.”?

A series of Russian airstrikes against Ukraine on Wednesday destroyed critical facilities, including energy infrastructure, housing, and a hospital maternity ward, where a newborn baby was killed.?The large-scale assault also led to widespread blackouts in Ukraine and neighboring Moldova.

France plans to hold a donor conference in Paris next month in support of Ukraine and its southwestern neighbor, Macron said.

“With winter approaching, we will mobilize international support for Ukraine on December 13 to help that country remain resilient and to guarantee its energy access. We will not forget Moldova, which was also affected by water and electricity cuts,” Macron tweeted.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Wednesday urged the UN Security Council to support the proposed Ukrainian peace formula following the airstrikes, which he dubbed “the Russian formula of terror.”

Water supplies have been restored to the left bank of Kyiv, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Thursday, adding that engineers had worked through the night to “restore the capital’s life support.”?

The water supply in the Ukrainian capital was suspended Wednesday after Russian shelling of critical infrastructure in the region that killed at least seven people.

Across the Dnipro River, the water supply remains suspended Thursday in Kyiv’s right bank, but plans are in place to restore it in the morning, Klitschko said.?

Power cuts: Meanwhile, 70% of the capital remains without electricity, Klitschko added.?

Emergency power cuts were introduced in Kyiv following Russian strikes on infrastructure facilities, the country’s biggest energy supplier, Yasno, said in a statement Wednesday.

UN Security Council members at the United Nations headquarters in New York on October 27.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday urged the United Nations Security Council to support the Ukrainian peace formula following a wave of missile strikes against the country that he dubbed “the Russian formula of terror.”

Zelensky emphasized the need for “modern and effective air and missile defense systems” after detailing the series of Russian airstrikes that destroyed critical facilities, including energy infrastructure, housing, and a hospital maternity ward, where a newborn baby was killed.?

The large-scale assault on energy infrastructure also led to widespread blackouts in Ukraine and neighboring Moldova, an act Zelensky said was “analogous to using weapons of mass destruction.”

US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield was one of several representatives to reiterate their support for Ukraine, with emphasis on condemning Russian attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.?

“Putin’s motive could not be more clear and more cold-blooded. He is clearly — clearly —weaponizing winter to inflict immense suffering on the Ukrainian people. He has decided that if he can’t seize Ukraine by force, he will try to freeze the country into submission,” Greenfield said.

Zaporizhzhia?nuclear power plant, seen from the town of Nikopol on November 7.

Negotiations with Kyiv and Moscow on the establishment of a safety zone around the?Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continue — but in the meantime the director of the UN nuclear watchdog is warning about potential consequences.

Grossi said negotiations are “moving forward” but “this is an active combat zone, therefore getting to agreed parameters for this is not such an easy thing to do.”

The IAEA director said he met with a Russian delegation in Turkey earlier Wednesday and spoke with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister?Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday.

“I am having consultations with both. I would not agree with the assessment that we are not making any progress, I think we are,” Grossi said. “Of course, we are talking about something which is very difficult. This is war. This is real war and the protection zone that I am proposing is precisely on the front line, on the line where both adversaries are in contact.”

When asked who is “playing with fire,” referencing Grossi’s own remarks from Sunday following powerful explosions that rocked the nuclear power plant Saturday and Sunday, Grossi said?“it is very difficult for us to identify from inside the plant who is doing that,” adding “by the way, our main goal is to get this to stop, not to get into a game of attribution.”?

Later on Wednesday,?the?plant “once again lost access to external electricity” and was instead relying on its emergency diesel generators for the power it needs for?reactor cooling and other essential functions, IAEA said in a statement.?

PREVIEWAn employee walks at Russian gas export monopoly Gazprom's?Sudzha?pumping station on January 13, 2009.

Europe is bracing itself for further cuts to its supply of?Russian natural gas?as Moscow threatens to slash flows to Moldova, Ukraine’s southwestern neighbor.

Russian state gas giant Gazprom said Tuesday it?would reduce shipments to the country starting Monday over disputed claims that Ukraine is withholding some of the gas as it is piped though its territory.

On its official Telegram account, the company said it would?cut gas flows?through the Sudzha transit point equal to the amount it claims Ukraine is preventing from reaching Moldova.

Ukraine has denied that it is withholding gas deliveries to its neighbor. Ukrainian state energy firm Naftogaz said in a Tuesday?tweet?that “Gazprom accused Ukraine of stealing gas. Once again. In short: this is not true.”

The Gas Transmission System Operator of Ukraine (GTSOU) said in a statement that all Russian gas received at the Sudzha entry point for onward transit to Moldova?was being transferred?to exit points along their shared border.

The operator said that Moldova had initiated a “virtual reverse” of some of its Russian gas imports back to Ukraine, though it did not give a reason.

Such a reverse is a common commercial agreement whereby some of the gas destined for a particular location is diverted into storage or sold to a different buyer, analysts said.

Read more here.

The Biden administration on Wednesday condemned Russian strikes on power generating infrastructure across Ukraine.?

National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said in a statement that Russia “is increasingly turning to horrific attacks against the Ukrainian people with punishing strikes damaging energy grid infrastructure, and deliberately doing so as winter approaches.”

Watson said the strikes “do not appear aimed at any military purpose,” but “instead further the goal of the Putin regime to increase the suffering and death” of Ukrainians.?

Watson’s statement touted an additional?$400 million security assistance package?for Ukraine announced earlier Wednesday.?

Power has been restored to almost 90% of the Ukrainian city of Lviv, officials said, following the Russian airstrikes that knocked out power to much of the country.

A 2-day-old baby died in a Russian strike?on a maternity hospital in Vilnyansk in southeastern Ukraine on Wednesday, as Moscow ramped up attacks on civilian infrastructure nationwide.

The newborn child’s mother and a doctor were pulled from the rubble of the destroyed medical facility in Zaporizhzhia, as nearby private houses were also damaged in the devastating S-300 missile assault.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky?condemned the shelling?and accused the Kremlin of trying “to achieve terror and murder,” while first lady Olena Zelenska called the attack “insane.”

The scenes from the attack on Wednesday mirrored those of?a catastrophic strike?on a maternity and children’s hospital in the southern city of Mariupol in March, as part of Russia’s wider campaign targeting health care facilities across Ukraine.

Ukrainian medical facilities have been hit by a wave of missiles in recent months, with the World Health Organization having identified some 703 attacks on medical complexes across the country since February.

Read more here.