Wednesday, November 27

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A firefighter removes debris after a Russian missile attack on Nov. 26, 2024 in Sumy, Ukraine. According to the acting mayor of Sumy, Artem Kobzar, the Russian army attacked the city with a missile. As a result of the strike, a residential multi-storey building was damaged and a parking lot was destroyed. (Pavlo Zarva/Kordon.Media/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

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Russia launches record 188 drones against Ukraine overnight, Air Force says. Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down 76 drones across 17 oblasts.

Ukraine pushes back Russian troops from Kupiansk, military says. The crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState also reported on Nov. 26 that Ukrainian forces had completed clearing Kupiansk of Russian soldiers.

Russian Defense Ministry admits that Ukraine hit airbase in Kursk Oblast with ATACMS. The Russian Defense Ministry’s statement is the first public confirmation of the attacks by Moscow, following multiple reports of strikes after Washington permitted Ukraine to use its ATACMS missiles to strike against targets on Russian soil.

Russia’s advance in Ukraine fastest since early 2022, analysts claim. Ukraine has also lost more territory since the start of November than in the entire October, which previously set the record since early 2022, Agentstvo wrote, citing DeepState’s data.

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Russian soldiers suspected of executing 5 Ukrainian POWs near Pokrovsk. Russian forces apparently shot five unarmed Ukrainian prisoners of war (POW) in Donetsk Oblast earlier this November, the Prosecutor General’s Office said on Nov. 26, launching a war crime investigation.

Kuleba calls out Joe Rogan over ‘freaking at Ukrainians,’ asks for ‘real conversation.’“If you ever feel like having a real conversation, let’s sit down and chat about anything Ukraine-related – dragons included. You know your stuff, I know mine. Cigars on me,” Dmytro Kuleba said.

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry investigating faulty mortar shells following complaints. The statement comes amid mounting complaints and videos shared on social media that show the mortar shells not exploding or failing to hit their targets.

Russia confirms capture of UK national fighting for Ukraine. The Russian Investigative Committee charged James Scott Rhys Anderson with “terrorism” and “mercenarism,” following its long-standing practice of persecuting foreign volunteers that end up in Russian captivity.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Russia launches record 188 drones against Ukraine overnight, Air Force says

Ukrainian air defenses reportedly shot down 76 drones across 17 oblasts, while 95 were “lost,” presumably thanks to electronic warfare means. Five drones flew to Belarus, according to the Air Force.

Photo: Roman Petushkov / Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

Kupiansk braces for worst as Russian troops approach, and future Western support looks uncertain

Russian troops ramped up efforts near Kupiansk in September and approached the city’s industrial outskirts in the northeast. Earlier in November, Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attempts to break into the city.

Photo: Fermin Torrano/Anadolu via Getty Images

Ukraine’s drones have a reputation for low cost. Buntar Aerospace wants to make them boutique

Over the past year, Buntar Aerospace company has armed itself with nearly $3 million in investment from Ukraine, the EU, and the U.S. and is building what its founder hopes will be the Cadillac of Ukrainian surveillance drones.

Photo: Kollen Post / The Kyiv Independent

Despite popular uprising, Kremlin’s grip on occupied Abkhazia runs supreme

Many of Russia’s goals in Abkhazia are firmly geopolitical. Although small, a Russian-controlled Abkhazia can be used to reinforce Moscow’s influence in the South Caucasus and to pressure Russia’s southern neighbor, Georgia.

Photo: STR/AFP via Getty Images

‘Honestly, go fk yourself’ — Ukrainians react to Joe Rogan’s rant on Ukraine**

Joe Rogan, one of the world’s most popular podcasters, has sparked outrage in Ukraine, after claiming that Kyiv and its Western allies, rather than Russia, “are about to start World War III.” On Nov. 26, the Kyiv Independent went out on the streets of Kyiv to see what people thought about it.

Photo: James Gilbert/Getty Images

Human cost of war

Russian attack on residential building, kindergarten in Sumy kills 2. A Russian missile attack on Nov. 26 struck a residential building and kindergarten in the city of Sumy, leaving at least two people dead, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported.

International response

NATO Parliamentary Assembly calls for Ukraine’s accession ‘as soon as possible.’ The assembly urged member states “to step up political and practical efforts to help Ukraine receive an invitation and become the 33rd member of NATO as soon as possible,” the resolution read.

51% of Americans oppose military aid for Ukraine, poll shows. U.S. citizens remain split on whether to continue sending military support to Ukraine, with a razor-thin majority voicing opposition, according to a CBS/YouGov poll published on Nov. 25.

UK not planning to send its soldiers to Ukraine, foreign secretary says.

“We are not committing U.K. troops on the ground to Ukraine, but we continue to support Ukraine with training and military assistance, and we have been absolutely clear that we will continue to do that for as long as is required and is needed,” U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy said.

Biden shifts policies to strengthen Ukraine ahead of potential peace talks, WP reports. Many U.S. officials now acknowledge that Ukraine could be pushed into talks within months and might be forced to cede territory to end the war, the Washington Post (WP) reported on Nov. 26.

EU’s upcoming Russia sanctions to target North Korean officials, Chinese, Indian companies, Ukrainian official says. The EU’s 15th sanctions package will include 30 legal entities from eight countries and 50 individuals, the Ukrainian president’s commissioner for sanctions, Vladyslav Vlasiuk, said on Nov. 26.

Norway may increase aid to Ukraine to $2.7 billion in 2025. After the Norwegian government met with parliament leaders, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said there is a proposal to increase support for Ukraine to at least 30 billion kroner ($2.7 billion) next year.

Opinions and insights

Kuleba: Joe Rogan, let’s talk and set the record straight on Ukraine

“While [Joe Rogan] paints himself as a fearless truth-teller, it’s striking how one-sided the conversation becomes when he tackles something as complex as Ukraine,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s former foreign minister, writes in his op-ed.

Photo: Jeff Bottari / Zuffa LLC / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Opinion: Russia is leveraging gold and working with China to bypass Western sanctions

“Understanding the role of Russia’s new patron, China — could help ensure that pressure on Russia’s war economy is applied most effectively,” Francesca Ghiretti, John Kennedy, Maxime Sommerfeld Antoniou write in their op-ed.

Photo: Valery Shatifulin / POOL / AFP via Getty Images

In other news

Gazprom plans for end of gas transit via Ukraine after 2024, Reuters reports. Kyiv has indicated it will not extend the transit deal, ending over 50 years of gas flows from Siberia to central Europe — a vital revenue stream for Russia since the Soviet era.

Supreme Court puts an end to oligarch Kolomoisky’s appeal for restoring Privatbank ownership. Ukraine’s Supreme Court on Nov. 26 upheld earlier rulings on nationalizing Ukraine’s largest bank and dismissed an appeal of its former owner Ihor Kolomoisky, ending a years-long case.

Ukrainian energy giant says it’s ‘disappointed’ by report on EBRD’s refusal to fund it. The statement is a response to an article published by the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The newspaper reported on Nov. 24 that Odile Renaud-Basso, the president of the EBRD, had said the bank would not provide funds to DTEK due to its ownership by oligarch Rinat Akhmetov.

Ukrainian MP from Zelensky’s party nominates Trump for Nobel Peace Prize. “It is my belief that Trump has made considerable contributions to world peace, and that he can make more in the future,” Merezhko, an MP from Zelensky’s Servant of the People party and chairman of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, wrote in his letter.

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