Ukraine Daily

Friday, November 18

Russia’s war against Ukraine

NOVOPETRIVKA, MYKOLAIV OBLAST, UKRAINE, NOVEMBER 17: Ukrainian servicemen take rest near Novopetrivka village, Ukraine, November 17th, 2022. (Photo by Narciso Contreras/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Dutch court qualifies Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014 as ‘international armed conflict.’ The Hague District Court recognized that Russia had control over its proxies in Donetsk Oblast since mid-May 2014. The court is delivering the verdict against 3 Russians and a Ukrainian suspected of shooting down the Boeing 777 of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over eastern Ukraine in July 2014.

Russian troops fire 18 сruise missiles, 6 drones at Ukraine. The attack happened during the morning air alert on Nov. 17, Yury Ihnat, a spokesman for Ukraine’s Air Force, said at a news briefing.

14 people injured by Russian attack in Dnipro. The information was provided by Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko. According to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, Russian troops hit the building of the Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant, Ukraine’s largest aerospace manufacturer.

Kuleba talks to Blinken, asks for Patriot missile systems. “NASAMS have proved their efficiency already. I am also convinced that the time for Patriots has come,” said Kuleba, who was talking to Blinken during Russia’s mass air attack on Ukraine on the morning of Nov. 17.

IAEA board again demands Russians to withdraw from Ukraine’s nuclear facilities. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) passed its third resolution since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, calling on Moscow to “end all actions at Ukrainian nuclear facilities,” Reuters reported. The text called on Russia to immediately withdraw from the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, the report reads.

Zelensky: Over 10 million Ukrainians remain without electricity as of evening of Nov. 17. Most of them are in the Vinnytsia, Odesa, Sumy oblasts, and Kyiv, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address.

Kremlin: ‘Mass missile strikes across Ukraine consequence of Kyiv’s refusal to negotiate.’ Kremlin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia would continue its war against Ukraine, calling it a “special military operation,” because of Ukraine’s “unwillingness to negotiate.”

General Staff: Ukraine repels Russian advances near 9 settlements in east. Over the past 24 hours, Ukraine’s military repelled Russian attacks near Novoselivske and Stelmakhivka in Luhansk Oblast and Bilohorivka, Verkhniokamianske, Spirne, Opytne, Pervomaiske, Vodiane, and Novomykhailivka in Donetsk Oblast, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported. Ukraine’s military hit four command centers, 22 Russian concentrations of military equipment and personnel, six ammunition depots, and “four other strategic sites” of the Russian military over the same period, the General Staff said.

ISW: Russian authorities continue to face discontented mobilized personnel, low morale on the front lines. The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment on Nov. 17 that mobilized soldiers from Novosibirsk Oblast wrote reports stating that they received insufficient training and were therefore refusing to fight. This corroborates Ukrainian military reports. Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Malyar said during a briefing that Russian forces are “experiencing an increase in panic and declining morale” as a result of successful Ukrainian counteroffensive operations.

Ombudsman says he’s ‘shocked’ by scale of torture Russian forces inflicted on Kherson residents. “I haven’t seen such a scale of (human rights violations) before. And I personally visited all (Russian) torture chambers in different Ukrainian oblasts,” Dmytro Lubinets said.

Explosion in Poland

Biden disputes Zelensky’s comments that missiles hitting Poland weren’t Ukrainian. President Volodymyr Zelensky called for Ukrainian specialists to join an international investigation into a missile strike that killed two people in Poland on Nov. 15, stressing he has “no doubt” that the missile wasn’t a Ukrainian air defense rocket, as NATO said. Commenting on Ukraine’s account of the incident, U.S. President Joe Biden told reporters on Nov. 17: “That’s not the evidence.”

Kuleba: Ukrainian experts arrive in Poland to investigate missile blast site. “Ukraine and Poland will cooperate constructively and openly on the incident caused by Russian missile terror against Ukraine. Our experts are already in Poland,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said.

Polish official: There is evidence that Ukrainian air defense missile fell in Przewodow.“There are many indications that one of the (Ukrainian) missiles used to shoot down a Russian missile missed the target. Its self-destruct system did not work, and this missile, unfortunately, led to a tragedy,“ Jakub Kumoch, head of the Polish president’s International Policy Bureau, told Poland’s TVN24 channel.

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Russian-controlled proxies downed MH17, says Dutch court.

The Hague District Court qualified the Russian invasion of eastern Ukraine in 2014 as an “international armed conflict” and recognized that Russia had control over proxies in Donetsk Oblast since mid-May 2014.

Photo: Getty Images

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Tortured Khersonians speak of Russia’s crimes.

In the city of Kherson alone, over 400 crimes have been committed by Russian forces against civilians, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. The authorities expect that number to rise.

Photo: Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Russian forces shell Kherson Oblast, 1 civilian killed. Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command reported on Nov. 17 that Russian forces shell Chornobaivka, Antonivka and Kherson using rocket launchers, mortars and heavy artillery. One civilian was killed by shrapnel. The command also reported that Russia continues to keep seven combat ships in the Black Sea, including one submarine missile carrier equipped with four Kalibr missiles on board.

Russian forces kill 4 in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, 1 in Kharkiv Oblast. Russian troops launched a missile attack on Zaporizhzhia Oblast’s Vilniansk district overnight, hitting a residential building, Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Oleksandr Starukh reported on Nov. 17.

General Staff: Russia has lost 83,110 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Nov. 17 that Russia had also lost 2,878 tanks, 5,804 armored fighting vehicles, 4,362 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,860 artillery systems, 393 multiple launch rocket systems, 209 air defense systems, 278 airplanes, 261 helicopters, 1,531 drones, and 16 boats.

International response

European Parliament to vote on a resolution marking Russia as state sponsor of terrorism. “After four hours of negotiations between the political groups of the EP (European Parliament), the agreement on the text was achieved,” Andrius Kubilius, European Parliament member, said on Nov. 15. The resolution will be up for a vote next week.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Oleg Sukhov, Dinara Khalilova, Olga Rudenko, Toma Istomina, Thaisa Semenova, and Olena Goncharova.

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