Nov 23 Buonasera Mag
Day 273: RU attacks Energoatom Vilyansk RU kidnappers UK EU Vote Georgia Horenka Czech Rep - A&P- Zelensky Kuleba Marin, Gonchrenko Matviichuk MacKinnon RU diamonds Silicon Curtain
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
Zelensky: Ukraine creating 'invincibility centers' if Russian attacks knock power out. If massive Russian strikes continue to take place on energy infrastructure and the electricity supply cannot be restored for hours, Ukrainians will be able to access "invincibility centers" to access all basic services, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily briefing.
Moldova’s Under Secretary for Infrastructure, Andrei Spinu: Gazprom, again, is threatening Moldova to further reduce the flow of gas. They accuse Moldova and Ukraine. To be clear, all allegations are false. Moldova is paying in full all volumes and Ukraine is transiting in full all volumes to Moldova. Gazprom should fulfill its contractual obligations.
A series of explosions were heard in Kyiv a few minutes ago, as Russia has unleashed another wave of rockets across Ukraine. Mayor of Kyiv Vitaliy Klitschko announced that one of the capital's infrastructure facilities had been hit. Explosions heard in Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions. Some impacts have been reported. Ukraine’s air defence took out some of them.
Klitschko: Parts of Kyiv may be evacuated due to power cuts. “This is the worst winter since World War II,” Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko told German newspaper Bild. Klitschko said residents should be prepared for the “worst-case scenario” amid power outages during winter.
Ukraine’s state-run nuclear energy firm, Energoatom, has said power units of three Ukrainian nuclear power plants were switched off after Russian missile strikes across the country. Elelctritiy was restored in Lviv at roughly 6:00pm.
US Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget A Brink: “More cruel missile strikes across the country as Russia tries to punish Ukraine for daring to be free. I have seen the strength of the people of Ukraine, and I know Russia’s attempt to dominate Ukraine by plunging it into the cold and dark will fail. We stand with Ukraine.”
Ukrainian nuclear power plants operator Energoatom: all units at Rivnenska, Pivdennoukrainska and Khmelnitsky nuclear power stations turned off the grid. Lost of external power at Zaporizhzhia NPP.
Deputy Prime-Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration of Moldova, Nico Popescu: “Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure have left Moldova in the dark, again. Massive blackouts across the country, including Chisinau and the MFA Moldova building. I instructed that Russia’s ambassador be summoned for explanations.”
On the night of November 23, the Russians attacked Vilnyansk, Zaporizhzhia region. A two-story building of the maternity ward was destroyed. A woman in labor with a newborn baby and a doctor were found under the rubble. The woman and the doctor survived, but the baby died.
Interior Ministry: Russian forces kidnap Ukrainian mayors in Kherson Oblast. Russian troops have kidnapped the mayors of several communities in Kherson Oblast and brought them to the east bank of the Dnipro River, the Interior Ministry reported on Nov. 22.
UK Defense Ministry: Russia has likely ‘very nearly exhausted’ its stock of Iranian-made drones. Russia has targeted hundreds of its Iranian-made drones at tactical military targets, energy infrastructure, and medical facilities in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry said.
The Russians are building defensive strips on the approaches to the temporarily occupied Crimea and in the north of the peninsula, said Andriy Chernyak, representative of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
General Staff: Russia trains drone operators in occupied Sevastopol. Russian troops in occupied Sevastopol are being trained to use both Russian- and Iranian-made drones, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Nov. 23.
BBC: UK to give Ukraine helicopters for the first time. Three former U.K. military Sea King helicopters are to be sent to Ukraine, reported BBC, citing U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace. Wallace said the U.K. will also supply an additional 1,000 artillery rounds to Ukraine.
Official: EU to seize assets of those evading sanctions against Russia. The European Commission aims to issue a directive within days to enable the confiscation of assets belonging to those trying to evade sanctions against Russia, the Irish Times reported, citing EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders.
President Zelensky: “I welcome the EU Parliament’s decision to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism and as a state which uses means of terrorism. Russia must be isolated at all levels and held accountable in order to end its long-standing policy of terrorism in Ukraine and across the globe.”
Ukrainian FM Dmytro Kuleba: “Russia is a terrorist state: confirmed by the European Parliament. Russia has a history of acts of terror against sovereign states, support for terrorist regimes and organisations including Wagner, war of terror on Ukraine. I thank the EU Parliament and EP President for the clear stance.”
The European Parliament admitted that Russia is carrying out "indiscriminate attacks on residential areas and civilian infrastructure" in Ukraine, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people.
The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, announced the launch of a campaign for the mass supply of electric generators from the EU to Ukraine.
Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell now addressing the EU Parliament on China relations. He says 20th CCP Congress "confirmed what we already knew" Xi's "personal hold on the party, state and people" will continue, along with "growing ideological nature of Chinese political system"
Looking back in time…Georgia.
Gleb Garanich & Yuriy Kovalenko, reporting from the village of Horenka, near Kyiv- Reuters
As they head into a cold winter, residents of a bombed-out Ukrainian village say they appreciate a warm bath in a mural painted by graffiti artist Banksy.
The mural, showing a man scrubbing his back in a bathtub, is on the ground floor of what remains of an apartment block hit in a Russian attack in March in Horenka, northwest of Kyiv, once on the front line where Russia’s assault on the capital was halted.
“For me, it means washing off all the dirt. The dirt of the Russian Federation...,” Tetiana Reznychenko, 43, told Reuters as snow fell around her. “And this drawing makes me feel as if I have cleansed myself of the dirt that descended on us.”
The mural is one of one of seven that Banksy has confirmed painting in Ukraine. Reznychenko said she had given Banksy’s team a mug of instant coffee in her apartment, as it was cold when the artist came to paint the mural.
She has a wood stove in her apartment but no electricity, heating or running water as winter sets in.
“Winter has begun, and we don’t know what will happen next. Firemen brought us non-drinking water ... but it will freeze unless we move it inside,” she said.
Despite the problems, she and her neighbours remain defiant.
“Ukrainians adapt to everything. No light? No problem. There are candles, there are alternative sources of electricity, there are power banks,” said neighbour Olena Kulynovich.
“When the neighbours have electricity, we go to them, charge the phones and the power banks. No water? That’s OK. Even if the government doesn’t help, we managed to organise the delivery of water.”
The Role of Christianity in Russia’s War on Ukraine- Kyle Orton
Since Russia began its attempt to eliminate Ukraine in February, there have been some very strange reactions in the West as people try to map their provincial ideological “priors” onto a landscape where they have little relevance. One aspect that has produced some of the most ironic—and, indeed, most amusing—Western reactions is the role that Christianity plays in the combatant societies.
Amy MacKinnon, All the Kremlin’s Trolls- Foreign Policy
Alexander Malkevich was the latest emissary of Russia’s hopes for poisoning U.S. political discourse, this time using a news site called USA Really, tied to Yevgeny Prigozhin, the wealthy ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin behind the infamous social media “troll factory” and sponsor of the mercenary outfit Wagner Group. Unlike previous Russian influence efforts, Malkevich spoke openly about his plans, which included opening an office a block from the White House. “I want to make this media interesting and very much involved in the everyday life of Americans,” he told Foreign Policy in an interview at the time. “And maybe, in some years I can be a Pulitzer Prize winner.”
Jennifer Rankin, Belgium’s trade in Russian diamonds continues despite moral pressure- The Guardian
In September, EU officials referred to Alrosa’s funding of the submarine as a reason to place the diamond miner under EU sanctions, according to a draft seen by the Guardian. But when the final draft was approved, Alrosa had vanished from the list. It was at least the second time it had disappeared at the last minute. “It was a weird pattern,” said one EU diplomat. “We got it [diamonds] in the proposal of the European Commission and then in the last hours, we received information that it was not in there.”
Poland and the Baltic states are again pressing for diamonds to be included in the EU’s next round of sanctions – the ninth – which senior officials have promised before the end of the year.
