This was the main development in the 1,003rd day of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
The situation for Saturday, November 23rd is as follows.
army
- Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday promised further combat test launches of the experimental hypersonic missile Oreshnik launched from Ukraine.
- Ukraine is seeking modern air defense systems from allies to counter the new threat from Russian hypersonic missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
- Experts believe Oreshnik will be able to fly at 10 times the speed of sound and hit targets up to 5,500 kilometers (3,400 miles) away.
- General Sergei Karakayev, commander of Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces, said the Oreshnik could reach targets across Europe and be equipped with nuclear or conventional warheads.
- After Russia confirmed it had launched a new ballistic missile into Ukraine, China’s Foreign Ministry repeatedly called for “calm” and “restraint” in the war.
- Zelenskyy said in his nightly address that Russia’s escalation of the conflict was making a mockery of international calls for a de-escalation of tensions. “In Russia, this is a mockery of the positions of China, the countries of the global South and some leaders who call for restraint at every turn,” he said.
- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk expressed the alarm felt by some about recent developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine. “The war in the East is entering a decisive phase. “We all know this,” he said. “The events of the past few hours show that the threat to global conflict is very serious and real.”
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the use of hypersonic missiles as “an equally terrible escalation of the use of dying North Korean soldiers in battle for President Putin’s imperial dreams.”
- NATO and Ukraine are scheduled to hold emergency talks on Tuesday after Russia launched an attack with an experimental hypersonic ballistic missile.
- Kiev’s parliament canceled its usual Friday questions to the government due to concerns about the attack. Several lawmakers said they were working remotely and Friday’s meeting was canceled.
go for it
- The Russian Defense Ministry said Russian troops had occupied the Novodmitivka settlement in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov recently said that this has accelerated the advance.
- The Ukrainian General Staff said the settlement was one of eight villages where Russian forces were engaging in fighting and trying to advance.
- Ukrainian military sources said Russian troops were advancing at “200 to 300 meters a day” near Kurakhove, the Ukrainian hub in the eastern Donetsk region. The source described the situation as “worse” than around the town of Pokrovsk, Russia’s main prize.
- The United States expects thousands of North Korean troops massed in Russia to soon join the fight against Ukraine, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said. Austin said about 10,000 North Korean troops are believed to be stationed in the Russian border region of Kursk, where they are being “integrated into the Russian military.”
- Authorities in Ukraine’s northeastern Sumy region said two people were killed and 12 injured in a Russian drone attack. This area is a key supply route for the Ukrainian army, which has occupied part of the Kursk region in western Russia.
diplomacy
- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban warned that Russia’s threat to launch further attacks using new weapons must be taken seriously and that “there will be consequences.” Orban said Russia “bases its policies and positions on military power” and values its status as “one of the most powerful militaries in the world, with the most modern and destructive weapons.”
- The White House said in a statement that U.S. President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed Ukraine and the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.
- President-elect Donald Trump is considering appointing former intelligence director Richard Grenell as special envoy for the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to four people familiar with the transition plans. Grenell, who served as President Trump’s ambassador to Germany and acting director of national intelligence from 2017 to 2021, will play a key role in Trump’s efforts to stop the war in Ukraine if he is ultimately appointed, according to reports.
- Pam Bondi, Trump’s nominee for attorney general, was a member of Trump’s legal team during his first impeachment trial and is accused of threatening to withhold military aid from Ukraine unless Ukraine opened a corruption investigation into Trump’s Democratic rival, the current president. was indicted. Joe Biden.
regional security
- The leaders of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania gathered in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Friday to discuss joint defense and security issues and the threat of hybrid warfare from unfriendly countries at a meeting of the Baltic Council of Ministers.
- “Recent damage to the Lithuanian-Swedish and Finnish-German cables in the Baltic Sea has once again emphasized the importance of protecting our critical undersea infrastructure,” Estonian Prime Minister Kristin Michal said after the meeting.
- A Norwegian university student in his 20s who worked as a security guard at the U.S. Embassy in Oslo, Norway, was arrested on charges of spying for Russia and Iran, Norwegian authorities said. The man, who has not been identified, was ordered to be detained for four weeks. He holds dual Norwegian citizenship and runs a security company jointly with an unspecified Eastern European country, according to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.
- The Swiss government said it was banning the export of about 645,000 rounds of Swiss-made small-caliber ammunition to a Polish military equipment supplier after concluding that they had been brought into Ukraine in violation of Swiss law. The Economic Secretariat said exports to Polish companies would be banned “because the risk of diversion to Ukraine is assessed to be too high.” Swiss law prohibits the export of Swiss-owned or Swiss-made military equipment to countries in conflict.
- A man has pleaded guilty in a British court to arson attacks on Ukraine-linked businesses in London. Prosecutors said the incident was carried out on behalf of the Wagner Group, a Russian paramilitary group. Jake Reeves, 23, admitted aggravated arson and receiving cash from a foreign intelligence service when he appeared via video link at Woolwich Crown Court in London. He is one of six people charged over a fire that broke out at an industrial estate in Leyton, east London, in March. It took 60 firefighters to put out the fire.
humanitarian
- Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said his country would soon receive $4.8 billion from the World Bank for social and humanitarian purposes. Ukraine has already received a total of more than $100 billion in foreign funding since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
- Dozens of residents from the Russian border region of Kursk have been extradited from Ukraine to Russia after rare and “arduous” talks between Moscow and Kiev. It was unclear why the residents were taken to Ukraine and Kiev had no immediate comment. Russian human rights ombudsman Tatiana Moskalkova said, “Today, 46 residents of the Kursk region returned to Russia from Ukraine as a result of negotiations with the Ukrainian side.”
