November 25, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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A residential building is seen in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 24. More than 6 million customers still without power, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Friday address.?

More than 6 million customers are still without power in Ukraine, though that is half the number initially cut off by Russian air strikes Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a Friday address.?

The capital, as well as the regions of Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Vinnytsia and Dnipro face the greatest problems with power supply as of Friday, according to Zelensky.?

About 600,000 consumers in Kyiv alone are still cut off, he added. Many residents of the capital have been without electricity for more than 20 or even 30 hours.

One of Ukraine’s largest state hospitals was on the verge of evacuating some patients Wednesday after it lost water supply due to a Russian missile barrage, a local official told CNN.

The Kyiv Regional Clinical Hospital was about to move patients undergoing dialysis treatment, which requires an uninterrupted water supply, the deputy head of the region’s military administration said in a phone interview.

“Without water, it is difficult to run the hospital. First of all, sterilization rooms suffer and (dialysis) is impossible to conduct,” he said. “On Wednesday, the Kyiv Regional Clinical Hospital was on the edge of evacuating patients who require (dialysis) to other facilities, but in the afternoon the water supply was restored and everyone received the procedures vital for them.”

Some background: Ukraine was hit by a barrage of Russian missiles Wednesday afternoon, which damaged critical infrastructure and resulted in a temporary loss of power to the national grid.?

Hospitals have generators that kick in when the power is cut, but these have limited capacity, Vlasiuk said. Medical chiefs try to conserve power by using them only for essential activities.?

How Ukraine’s hospitals survive outages: Power from generators allows surgeons to continue operations during a blackout, but non-urgent surgery does not take place, according to Vlasiuk.

Hospital staff may wear headlamps so that the generator can last longer, he continued.

But he insisted that wards would be “fully lit” – despite photos that have shown doctors in the capital and other regions wearing the lights.

Orest Chemerys, the head of Lviv’s regional health department, said that critical equipment like incubators and the intensive care wards were switched to generator power within seconds of a blackout. Almost all the region’s health care facilities temporarily survived on generators after Wednesday’s airstrikes.

Ukraine’s minister of health, Viktor Liashko, told national TV on Friday that each hospital with an ICU and operating room had a generator and the government was bringing in additional generators to further increase capacity.

President Vladimir Putin said Friday that?Russia used to live by someone else’s rules – without saying who that was – and that “those who tried to control us” pushed?Moscow to invade Ukraine.?

Moscow describes the February invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation.”

Without specifying who was trying to control Russia, Putin said the country made a mistake by following a different path in the nineties and the 2000s, a reference to the period following the breakup of the Soviet Union.

“And in the end, those who tried to control us, by and large, thanks to their efforts, we ended up in this situation, including in the zone of a special military operation. After all, they pushed the situation to this,” he said.?

In other remarks to the mothers of those serving in Ukraine, Putin said:

Russia is not fighting Ukrainians, but those who use them “as cannon fodder,” an apparent reference to Western nations who are supporting the Kyiv government following the invasion in February.

“We have to fight not with them (Ukrainians), but with those who supply everything to them and finance them,” Putin said.

Some context: The war in Ukraine combined with Western sanctions are taking a toll on Russians. 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.

Some economists believe the population will grow increasingly critical of the “special military operation” amid mounting defeats, like in the southern city of Kherson, where a determined Ukrainian offensive forced a Russian withdrawal.

French President Emmanuel Macron delivers a speech as he hosts a reception for the mayors of France at the Elysee Palace in Paris on November 23.

French President Emmanuel Macron will discuss a range of political issues with US President Joe Biden next week including the war in Ukraine, trade issues and climate change, according to a French government official.?

Beginning Wednesday?the White House will host Macron and his wife, Brigitte Macron, for the first full-scale state visit of Biden’s administration.?

The visit will be a multi-day affair with formal ceremonies, meetings and a black-tie?dinner on Thursday.?

Macron is the first French president to be offered two state visits, a?gesture that “underscores the alliance between the two countries,” according to the official.?

“It will be a different visit to the one with Trump as the dynamic won’t be the same,”?the official said.

Macron, now in his second term,?has emerged as the leading voice?to advocate for the European Union. He is expected to raise concerns over Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, a US climate and tax law seen as a major threat to European companies.?

“We cannot risk a shock on European industry,” the official said.?

Macron is also expected to tackle energy issues, and he will emphasize that the sanctions on Russia aren’t having the same consequences on Europe and the US.

“The U.S is self-sufficient, but the EU does not produce gas or petrol, so we are very impacted by energy prices, and once again it’s another problem for European industry,” he said.?

The relationship between the leaders hasn’t always been smooth?sailing.

A failed deal for France to produce nuclear-powered submarines for Australia caused a major international rift, with the?French ambassador to Washington, Philippe Etienne, being?recalled for what was believed to be?the first time in the nearly 250-year-old history of the alliance

Speaking to CNN’s Melissa Bell on Thursday, the ambassador said trust had since been “restored.”

A woman walks past a recently damaged building due to a Russian strike in Kherson, southern Ukraine, on November 25.

Voluntary evacuations for residents from the recently liberated port city of Kherson are underway, with the first train carrying away 100 people, the Ukrainian government said.

The train is bound for the western city of Khmelnytskyi, according to the country’s Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine. Among residents who “took advantage of the free evacuation” are 26 children, seven bedridden hospital patients and six people with limited mobility, it said in a statement.

Authorities in Kherson are urging residents to leave the city, which is still mainly without power, before temperatures plunge further. Kherson has also come under renewed shelling since Russian troops were forced to leave the west bank of the Dnipro River.?

Evacuees will receive financial support, accommodations and humanitarian aid once they reach Khmelnytskyi, according to city officials.

Authorities say there are also buses running from the Kherson region to the cities of Odesa, Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih, where people will be “accommodated in specially equipped shelters and then evacuated to safer regions of Ukraine by car.”

Allies of Ukraine want to put a?price limit on Russian oil. But there’s a problem: They can’t agree on a number that would actually pile pressure on the Kremlin.

The West’s biggest economies agreed earlier this year to cap the price of Russia’s most valuable export and vowed to hash out the details by early December. The move is aimed at reducing inflows to President Vladimir Putin’s war chest without adding to stress on the global economy by further reducing the supply of energy.

But as the deadline approaches, countries are still haggling over where the cap should be set.

A delicate balance: Media reports this week?from a gathering of European diplomats indicated that Russian oil could be capped at between $65 and $70 per barrel. Yet this range is controversial since it’s close to the current market price of Russian crude.

That would mean limited disruption to supply, but also limited pain for Russia.

Setting the price lower would be more punishing to Moscow, but could exacerbate the global energy crisis — particularly if Russia retaliates. If it were to slash production by more than expected, it would drive up fuel prices just as countries like the United States, Germany and Japan are eager to get inflation under control.

Putin said Thursday that Western plans to introduce oil price caps would have “grave consequences” for energy markets.

Disruption is inevitable: The price level isn’t the only issue at hand. Setting a static range for the price cap — as opposed to establishing a floating discount for Russian crude pegged to where Brent is trading — could pose logistical problems since it would need to be frequently adjusted.

There’s also skepticism among oil traders that the measure can be enforced, according to Giovanni Staunovo, an analyst at UBS. He expects parties to transactions will hunt for loopholes.

Some analysts think the price cap will ultimately be less important than Europe’s oil embargo. The bloc has been buying about 2.4 million barrels per day of Russian crude, and Moscow will soon be forced to hunt for new customers.

To limit spare barrels, it’s likely to reduce output. That could push oil prices higher no matter what.

Read more here.

The map below reflects the current front lines in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

A number of European Union countries said they will donate power generators to Ukraine to help the country have heating for the winter.?

“Reminder: strikes against civilian infrastructures are?war?crimes,” she added.?

Prague Mayor Zdeněk H?ib announced?that the Czech Republic?will also donate power generators to Ukraine.

H?ib said the package would include 626 heaters, with 400 for Kyiv and 226 for Mykolaiv, along with other equipment.

“Plus 22 million CZK (approximately $939,000 USD) worth of medical supplies for the Public Health Centre of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine,” he added.

Latvia’s ambassador to Ukraine, Oleksandr Mishchenko, announced on Facebook that the capital city of Riga had partnered with a charity to donate 84 power generators and 100 heat guns for Kyiv.

Some background: The new pledges come after the EU launched its “Generators of Hope” initiative Wednesday, whereby a network of more than 200 large European cities aim to provide energy to essential facilities in Ukraine.

A Russian missile strike dealt another significant blow to Kyiv’s electricity infrastructure earlier this week, though an energy official voiced optimism Friday that normal power levels would be restored soon.

CNN’s Radina Gigova?contributed to this report.

German Chancellor?Olaf?Scholz?and French Prime Minister Elisabeth Borne attend a news conference as they sign a joint declaration in Berlin, Germany, on November 25.

Germany and France have signed a joint declaration to strengthen energy solidarity, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French Prime Minister élisabeth Borne?announced Friday at a press conference in Berlin.??

“Friends stand by each other in times of need,”?Scholz told reporters during Borne’s inaugural visit to the German capital. “Germany and France exemplify common European solidarity,” he added.?

“It is an important text that will have concrete effects and protect citizens in both countries,” Borne said.?“Our two countries need each other to get through the energy crisis next winter.”

Relations between the two countries have been strained in recent months due to differing positions on key issues, such as energy, defense and industrial policies. Borne’s trip to Berlin on Friday is seen as an attempt to rekindle relations.?

Scholz said Germany and France support Ukraine against Russia’s invasion and called on Russia to?stop bombing Ukraine’s critical infrastructure.

Some context: Europe appears to be moving toward?breaking its energy dependence?on Moscow, with Russian exports of coal, oil and natural gas falling sharply since the invasion of Ukraine. But European imports of a key type of Russian natural gas have risen and remain critical to meeting energy needs, as CNN has previously reported.

Power outages have led to blackouts in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 24.

Power supply to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv will near normal levels by Saturday, according to an adviser to the country’s energy ministry.

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director of the Energy Industry Research Center, said at a briefing that the “key factor” in restoring power in Kyiv and across Ukraine was the operation of the country’s three functional nuclear plants. He said he expected them to be working at normal capacity by Friday night.

“Now the key factor is nuclear power plants. … There is currently a lack of power generation,” Kharchenko said. “Judging by the situation, our nuclear power plants will reach their normal planned capacity by tonight. This will mean that we will return to the planned outage schedules and people will receive electricity for at least 16 to 18 hours a day.”

Kharchenko did not say when he expected the power supply to the rest of the country to improve.?

Ukraine is heavily dependent on nuclear energy, according to the World Nuclear Association. Before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February, the 15 reactors at its four plants generated about half of the nation’s electricity.?

Kharchenko went into detail about the impact of Wednesday’s large-scale Russian missile assault on the energy grid, which he said “returned to its integrity and ability to operate as a single system within 10 to 11 hours” of the blackout.?

In addition to reconnecting the power plants, increasing their generation capacity and managing the balance of the grid, engineers needed to repair equipment and “step by step” reconnect consumers who had been disconnected, he said.?

The attacks damaged or destroyed more than half of the “key equipment” of the high voltage electricity transmission network, he added.

“The world will not produce the quantity enough to cover Ukrainian needs even within a year. We are now in discussion with all producers of such equipment,” he said.?

Kharchenko appealed for generators to mitigate the impact of further strikes.

The head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, has?called?on cities to donate generators and transformers to help Ukrainians get through the winter.

The US ambassador in Kyiv said on Friday that USAID had delivered 80 generators to Ukraine “to help keep the power on.”

Ambassador Bridget Brink?tweeted “this support is just one part of the U.S. response to Russia’s cruel, sustained attack on critical infrastructure as we continue to #StandWithUkraine.”?

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that all soldiers fighting for Russia in Ukraine are “equal,” as activists and Ukrainian officials raise concerns that minorities were disproportionately targeted for conscription in?the war.

“I know that the guys there do not divide themselves into any separate, that means castes, nationalities. Everyone is equal, everyone helps each other and understands that their lives depend on this mutual assistance and support,” Putin said Friday, during a?meeting with the mothers of servicemen deployed to Ukraine.

Putin added that it is “innate for Russian soldiers to perform their duty with dignity, and even more so for soldiers from the Caucasus, from Dagestan, where people are of a special temperament.”

In September, Putin’s mobilization orders sparked protests in some ethnic minority regions of Russia. Several videos posted to social media, which CNN geolocated to the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan, showed women in the capital Makhachkala pleading with police outside a theater.

Pope Francis leads his weekly general audience at St.Peter's square in the Vatican on November 23.

Pope Francis has written a letter to the Ukrainian people that was published on Friday by the Vatican.

“Not a day goes by that I am not close to you and hold you in my heart and prayers,” the Pope said in the letter, which was originally written in Italian.

Francis did not mention Russia, but asked: “How is it possible that men can treat other men this way?”?

The Pope mentioned the suffering of young Ukrainian children killed and displaced people who have had to flee the war.

“In each one of them is the defeat of the whole of humanity,” he said.

The letter expressed sympathy for young people “who have had to take up weapons to courageously defend their country,” mothers who have lost husbands, the elderly and volunteers.

The 1932-1933 Holodomor, or Terror Famine, was artificially engineered by the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, who removed food stocks from Ukrainian peasants, leading to the deaths of millions of people.

“The world has recognized a bold and strong people, a people who suffer and pray, weep and fight, resist and hope, a noble and martyred people,” the Pope added.

Angela Merkel, former Federal German Chancellor in her office on June 15, in Berlin, Germany.

Former German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she wanted to set up a European format for talks involving French President Emmanuel Macron and Russian President Vladimir Putin in a bid to find a solution to tensions between Russia and Ukraine before she left office last year, but said she lacked authority.

The former chancellor had indicated for a long time she would leave office after the September 2021 national elections in Germany. Merkel officially left office in December 2021.?

In August that year, she traveled to Moscow on her last official visit. Describing the meeting between herself and the Russian president, Merkel told Der Spiegel: “The feeling was entirely clear. ‘As far as power politics is concerned, you’re finished.’ For Putin, only power counts.”?

Vladimir Putin, Russia's president, right, gestures to Angela Merkel, Germany's chancellor, left, while Emmanuel Macron, France's president, looks on as they depart a news conference following a 4-way summit on Ukraine at Elysee Palace in Paris, France, on December 9, 2019.

Merkel initiated the Normandy Format, which was set up in 2014 between Germany, France, Russia and Ukraine following the Russian annexation of Crimea and its incursion into eastern Ukraine in February 2014.?

“After Russia’s annexation of Crimea, we tried everything to prevent further incursions by Russia into Ukraine and coordinated our sanctions in detail,” Merkel said.

Since Merkel left office, she and her old government have come under fire for allowing the country to become too dependent on Russian oil and gas.?

The Russian Ministry of Justice has added Meta — the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp — to its registry of “extremist” organizations, according to the ministry’s website.

The list now includes over 100 companies and organizations, including “American multinational holding company Meta Platforms Inc. selling the following products: social networks Facebook and Instagram,”?according to the website.

The Russian communications regulator Roskomnadzor?blocked access to Facebook?and Instagram in March after the Tverskoy District Court of Moscow found Meta guilty of “extremist activity.” The court’s decision did not include Meta’s WhatsApp messenger.?

In response, Meta president of global affairs?Nick Clegg said?at the time the company was doing “everything we can to restore our services” but that “millions of ordinary Russians” will soon “find themselves cut off from reliable information.”

The governor of Kherson said patients being treated in hospitals in the regional capital are being evacuated “due to constant Russian shelling.”?

Children being treated at the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital have been sent west to Mykolaiv and patients at the Kherson Regional Psychiatric Hospital have been sent to Odesa, regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said on Telegram.?

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with the mothers of Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine Friday, marking national Mother’s Day.

Speaking to the women?in?Novo-Ogaryovo,?at his official residence on the outskirts of Moscow,?Putin said he shared the pain of loss with those who had lost a child and urged them against trusting?so-called?“fake news” and “lies.”

“Life is more complicated and diverse than what is shown on TV screens or on the Internet. You can’t trust anything there at all. There are a lot of fake [news], deceit, lies. There are a lot of information attacks,” he?claimed.

Putin went on to say that he had personally spoken over the phone to some of servicemen, calling those on the frontline “heroes.”

“This gives me every reason to say that they are heroes,” Putin added.

Exactly how many?Russian?soldiers have been killed or wounded in Ukraine remains unknown to all but a few inside the Kremlin, and US and NATO estimates have been significantly higher than Russian defense ministry projections. The Pentagon said in August that it believed as many as?80,000 Russians were dead or wounded.

The Council of Mothers and Wives [of Russian soldiers], one of the most well-known groups advocating for soldiers, said?in a Telegram post Friday that they had not been invited to the?meeting.

A greyscale?satellite?image indicating the night radiance of Europe from space on November 23.

These satellite images illustrate just how much Russia’s war has affected infrastructure in Ukraine.

Above, while surrounding parts of Europe and Russia are illuminated in light, much of Ukraine is dark.

And below, a composite image from NASA shows Ukraine’s network lit up before Russia invaded, and how much it has changed until this month.

Satellite photos show the difference in illumination from Ukraine from January, on the left, to November, on the right.

Right now in the capital of Kyiv, about 50% of customers remain without power in near-freezing temperatures, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The UN also estimates that more than 7.2 million Ukrainian refugees have been recorded across Europe, while more than 6.9 million have been internally displaced.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg addresses a press conference ahead of a foreign ministers' meeting at the NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on November 25.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told CNN that he’s “confident” that both Hungary and Turkey will ratify the accession of Finland and Sweden to the alliance, following Hungary’s announcement that it would support membership for both countries next year.

“I can’t tell you exactly when,” he said, but added on “CNN This Morning” that it was “one of fastest ever accession processes in history.”

He commended the United States in particular “for providing unprecedented support to Ukraine.”

Stoltenberg told CNN that supporting Ukraine was important, “because our own security interest is to ensure that President Putin does not win in Ukraine.”

When asked about comments from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley that there may be a window for negotiations to end the war, Stoltenberg replied, “what happens around the negotiating table is dependent on what happens on the battlefield.”

Local residents charge their devices, use internet connection and warm up inside Centre of Invincibility in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 24.

Schools in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv have opened their doors to residents who don’t have power at home.

Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said the city had set up hundreds of power supply points in educational and other facilities, where people can get warm, drink tea and recharge telephones and flashlights.

“Kyiv has launched more than 400 heating points. These points will work every day,” Klitschko said in a post on Telegram. “The majority of them are located in schools and other social facilities. In case there is no electricity supply in your house for more than a day, you will be able to come to the heating point to recharge gadgets or flashlights, drink tea and find out information about the nearest water pumps, shops and pharmacies.”

Here’s why: Half of the city’s households were still without power on Friday morning after a large-scale Russian missile assault two days earlier hit power generation facilities across the country.

British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs?James?Cleverly?and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba meet in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 25.

UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv to ensure support for the country as winter sets in.

Cleverly announced another 3 million pounds (about $3.6 million) of support to the Partnership Fund for a Resilient Ukraine, and he and Environment Secretary Thérèse Coffey also announced 5 million pounds for a Ukraine-led initiative to ship grain to countries facing famine.

“The UK stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine. I have today announced a package of hands-on support for our Ukrainian friends in their fight, from ambulances to crucial support for survivors of the sexual violence carried out by the Russian military,” Cleverly said.

New funding will be targeted to areas recently taken back from Russian control in southern Ukraine, including Kherson region, according to the release.

After Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure this week, the country is hurrying to restore power to citizens’ homes, but adverse weather in the form of sub-zero temperatures, rain and wind are hampering efforts, officials say.

Millions of Ukrainians are being “plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life” due to this, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk warned Friday.

Here are more of the headlines:

Half of Kyiv remains without power: Some 50% of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was without power on Friday morning following the Russian strikes, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Water has been fully restored and emergency crews are working fast to restore heat to the city, the Kyiv city military administration said.

Electricity deficit: Although power has been restored to critical infrastructure across Ukraine’s regions, efforts to restore electricity to household consumers have been slowed, according to national energy supply company?Ukrenergo. There is still a deficit of electricity, and consumers will lose access to power at times under “planned and emergency consumption restriction schedules,” the company said Friday.

Russian shelling reported near Zaporizhzhia and Nikopol: Russia struck the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight into Friday, Oleksandr Starukh, head of the local regional military administration, said on Telegram Friday, while the Dnipropetrovsk region, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, also reported shelling.?

UN watchdog providing support to four more Ukraine nuclear plants: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started providing onsite support to four more Ukrainian nuclear power plants – Rivne, Khmelnytskyi, South Ukraine, and Chornobyl – in response to a request from the country, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a video statement on Thursday.

Following the strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the operational nuclear power plants of Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, South Ukraine and Khmelnytskyi were disconnected from the grid and “forced to rely on emergency diesel generators for the electricity they needed to ensure their continued safety and security,” Grossi said.

NATO “will not back down” on support for Ukraine: NATO will not reduce its support for Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Friday.

Stoltenberg said foreign ministers are providing “unprecedented military support” and he expects they will agree to step up “non-lethal support,” at the Bucharest meeting.?

High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk speaks to the press at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on November 24.

Millions of Ukrainians are being “plunged into extreme hardship and appalling conditions of life” because of repeated Russian missile strikes on the country’s critical energy infrastructure, UN Human Rights Chief Volker Turk said in a statement on Friday.

The UN?Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine?has confirmed the deaths of 77 civilians since it says Russian “began its ongoing barrage of missile strikes and loitering munition attacks” on Ukraine on October 10.

Some background: Attacks from Russia this week targeted critical energy infrastructure across the country, resulting in the temporary shutdown of most of its power plants and leaving the “vast majority” of people without electricity.

Germany is in discussion with allies over Poland’s request to send German Patriot air missile systems directly to Ukraine, federal government spokeswoman Christiane Hoffmann said Friday.

“We are following very closely how discussions in Poland continue,” she said.

Hoffman said Germany does not want to “speculate” if Poland would change its mind on accepting its support, adding, “I don’t want to interpret what has been said.”

Blaszcak’s comments came after Germany offered Poland assistance in providing anti-missile systems, including the Patriot system, to Poland to help Warsaw strengthen its air defense capacity following a missile that landed on Polish territory near the Ukrainian border on Nov. 15.?

The leaders of Poland and NATO have said the missile, which killed two people, was likely fired by Ukrainian forces defending their country against a barrage of Russian strikes, and that the incident appeared to be an accident.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will be meeting twice in Berlin in the coming week, Hoffmann said. She added that Germany’s proposal to Poland on Patriot systems will be “an issue for the chancellor.”

NATO Secretary General Jens?Stoltenberg?speaks during a news conference at the Alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on November 25.

NATO will not reduce its support for Ukraine, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a press conference on Friday.

“So NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will not back down,” Stoltenberg stated.

Increase in “non-lethal support”: Stoltenberg said foreign ministers are providing “unprecedented military support” and he expects they will agree to step up “non-lethal support,” at the Bucharest meeting.?

NATO has been delivering fuel, medical supplies, winter equipment and drone jammers, according to Stoltenberg.

Stoltenberg thanked allies for their contributions and said he will call for further contribution at the Bucharest meeting to help Ukraine transition from Soviet-era equipment to those of modern NATO standards, as well as support military training.

He said decisions over sending US-made Patriot air defense systems to Ukraine are “national decisions” for specific nations, when asked about Warsaw’s request for Germany to send Patriot units to Ukraine rather than Poland. Germany’s offer to Poland came following a deadly missile strike on Polish territory near the Ukrainian border on November 15.

Stoltenberg said that in the past, with the advanced NASAMS air defense system, training was conducted in NATO ally countries by NATO personnel. However, no NATO personnel has conducted work inside Ukraine, as this would mean NATO was a party to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

“There are ways for us to ensure that [Ukraine] can operate modern advanced systems without deploying NATO personnel inside the Ukraine. But … the specific decisions on the specific systems are national decisions,” he said.

He added that sometimes end user agreements, and other arrangements, meant that consultation with other allies were required, but ultimately the decision must be taken by national governments.

People cross a street in the dark in Kyiv, Ukraine, on November 24, after Russian air strikes caused power outages.

The race to restore power to homes in Ukraine is being slowed by “strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures,”?national energy supply company?Ukrenergo warned Friday.

“The pace of restoration [to household consumers] is slowed down by difficult weather conditions: due to strong winds, rain and sub-zero temperatures at night, ice and gusts of wind in distribution networks add to the damage caused by Russian missiles,” it said, adding that repair teams were “working around the clock to repair the damage.”

“More than 70% of the country’s consumption needs” were now covered, the statement read, and the power has been restored to “critical infrastructure facilities in all regions: boiler houses, gas distribution stations, water utilities, sewage treatment plants.”

However, it said that there was still a deficit of electricity in the system, and therefore consumers would lose access to electricity at times under “planned and emergency consumption restriction schedules”.

Infrastructure under attack: Russia’s targeting of critical infrastructure on Wednesday resulted in the temporary shutdown of most of Ukraine’s power plants and left the majority of people without electricity. The Ukrainian armed forces said 70 Russian missiles were launched on Wednesday afternoon and 51 shot down, along with five attack drones.

Russia has turned its attention to destroying energy infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the bitter winter season, and successive waves of strikes have left much of the country facing rolling blackouts.

Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky says there is “no schism” among Europeans when it came to facing Russia’s assault on his country.?

In a virtual address to “The Idea of Europe” conference in Lithuania, Zelensky said Friday: “Russia can still employ different forms of terror. They still have enough missiles, rockets and bombs to kill people every day and provoke new difficulties for Ukraine and all of Europe. But we can say that they will never have something that they have a key stake on.”

The Ukrainian leader gave Europe’s diversification from Russian gas as an example of Europe’s united stance,?saying that Russia “cannot weaponize energy anymore.”

He said he wanted accession talks on Ukraine’s bid to become part of the European Union to take place with the “same speed as we gained our candidacy.”

Some 50% of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv is without power on Friday morning following Russian strikes on critical infrastructure that led to widespread power cuts, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Kyiv experiences a blackout on Wednesday after a Russian missile attack hit energy infrastructure.

Some 50% of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv is without power on Friday morning following Russian strikes on critical infrastructure that led to widespread power cuts, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The?Kyiv city military administration said on Telegram that water has been fully restored and emergency crews are working fast to restore heat to the city.?

Remember: Russia’s targeting of critical infrastructure on Wednesday resulted in the temporary shutdown of most of Ukraine’s power plants and left the majority of people without electricity. The Ukrainian armed forces said 70 Russian missiles were launched on Wednesday afternoon and 51 shot down, along with five attack drones.

Russia struck the outskirts of the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia overnight into Friday, Oleksandr Starukh, head of the local regional military administration, said on Telegram Friday.?

“Details of the incident are being investigated. Take care of yourselves!” he wrote.?

The Dnipropetrovsk region, across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, also reported shelling.?

He said there are no casualties, but details of the shelling are still being clarified.?

Some context: The strikes come after a barrage of Russian missiles targeted Ukraine’s critical infrastructure on Wednesday, causing a “blackout” in the country’s power system, its energy minister told national television earlier. The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog said Thursday it was providing onsite support to four more nuclear plants in Ukraine after power cuts disconnected them from the grid.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban in Zalaegerszeg,?Hungary, on October 23.

Hungary’s Parliament will ratify Sweden and Finland’s NATO membership in its first session in 2023, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Thursday, bringing an end to several weeks of speculation that he would further delay the move.

Orban made the announcement in the Slovak city of Kosice after a meeting with leaders of the Visegrad Group of central European nations, known as the V4. The group includes Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

Some context: Sweden and Finland are set formally to end decades of neutrality and join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in a historic breakthrough for the alliance that deals a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin.?

While all 30 NATO members formally invited Sweden and Finland to join the alliance after approving their applications back in the summer, Turkey and Hungary have yet to ratify the accession protocol.?

Orban, an authoritarian and longtime Russian ally, won a fourth consecutive term in power in April, following a landslide election win that he touted as a rebuke of liberalism, the European Union and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has started providing onsite support to four more nuclear power plants in Ukraine in response to a request from the country, IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a video statement on Thursday.

The four additional plants are Rivne,?Khmelnytskyi, South Ukraine, and Chornobyl. Since September, IAEA experts have been providing onsite support to Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian forces.

Following Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s operational nuclear power plants of Zaporizhzhia, Rivne, South Ukraine, and Khmelnytskyi were disconnected from the grid and “forced to rely on emergency diesel generators for the electricity they needed to ensure their continued safety and security,” Grossi said.

“We must do everything to prevent a nuclear accident at any of these nuclear facilities, which would only add to the terrible suffering we are already witnessing in Ukraine. The time to act is now.”

Some context: Wednesday was the first time that Ukraine’s four operational?nuclear power plants?were simultaneously shut down in 40 years, the head of state nuclear energy company Energoatom said in a statement. Petro Kotin said it was a precautionary measure and that he expected they would be reconnected by Thursday evening. The three fully functioning plants in Ukrainian hands would help supply electricity to the national grid, he said.

Ukraine is heavily dependent on nuclear energy, according to the World Nuclear Association. It has 15 reactors at four plants that, before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February, generated about half of its electricity.

Russia has turned its attention to destroying energy infrastructure in Ukraine ahead of the bitter winter season, and successive waves of strikes have left much of the country facing rolling blackouts.

At least seven people were killed on Thursday and another 21 injured, after Russian forces shelled the southern Ukrainian port city of Kherson, Ukraine’s top official in the region said on Telegram.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky earlier on Thursday said the Russian artillery attacks on Kherson city and the surrounding area “began immediately after the Russian army was forced to flee from the Kherson region” early in November.

Zelensky said Thursday’s deadly shelling was an act of revenge for those defeated Russian forces. The Russians do not know how to fight he said, “The only thing they can do is terrorize.”

Some context: With temperatures dropping, Ukraine began?voluntary evacuations?from parts of Kherson this week as damage to infrastructure from Russian strikes has made it perilous for residents to survive winter, according to authorities.

Ukraine raced to restore power across the country on Thursday, a day after?Russia?sent a?new barrage?of missiles to?target critical infrastructure, resulting in the temporary shutdown of most of its power plants and leaving the “vast majority” of people without electricity.

The national energy company Ukrenergo said work was “taking longer than after previous attacks” because Wednesday’s assault targeted power generation facilities and caused a “systemic incident.”

By Thursday afternoon, electricity had been restored to “all regions” but individual households were still “gradually being connected to the grid,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, an official in President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said on Telegram.

The Ukrainian armed forces said 70 Russian missiles were launched on Wednesday afternoon and 51 shot down, along with five attack drones.

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

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.?

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.

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

According to the head of the Ukrainian President’s office, 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.