Smoke rises over Lviv in western Ukraine after Russian missile strikes, November 15, 2022 (Pavlo Palamarchuk/Reuters)

Wednesday’s Coverage: Russia’s “Re-Education” of 1000s of Ukrainian Children

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1813 GMT:

An open-source intelligence site says Russia lost 71 units in its ill-fated assault on Vuhledar in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine earlier this month.

UPDATE 1800 GMT:

Ukraine and Russia have exchanged a total of 202 prisoners of war.

Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak said 100 troops and one civilian were returned. Nearly all were involved in the defense of Mariupol in southeast Ukraine, which was overrun by the Russians last May.

The released civilian is Ivan Samoydiuk, the deputy mayor of Enerhodar in southern Ukraine. He was abducted after he refused to cooperate with occupying Russian troops in early March.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said its freed POWs would be brought to Moscow for treatment and rehabilitation.

UPDATE 1748 GMT:

Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen has met Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv on Thursday.

Cohen offered support for Ukraine’s peace initiative at the UN next week. He said Israel would help secure $200 million for healthcare and infrastructure projects and develop an air raid early warning system.

Cohen did not mention Russia but emphasized that Israel remains “firmly in solidarity with the people of Ukraine” and supports Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Israel has publicly balked at provide any military assistance to Ukraine. However, last month the Israeli Ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, indicated that Israel is secretly providing assistance: “We help — albeit behind the scenes and much more than is known.”

The head of the Knesset Commission confirmed that the US had been allowed to move most of the weapons which it keeps in warehouses in Israel.

Kuleba tweeted after the meeting with Cohen:

UPDATE 1426 GMT:

On Tuesday, Yale University published a report documenting how Russian authorities have deported 6,000 Ukrianian children — and probably many more — to 43 “re-education” sites in Russia and Russian-occupied Crimea. Some of those children have then been “adopted” by Russian families or put into foster homes.

See also Ukraine War, Day 357: Russia’s “Re-Education” of 1000s of Ukrainian Children

On Thursday, Russia State TV featured Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for “children’s rights”, eagerly telling Vladmir Putin of her adoption of a teenager from the destroyed city of Mariupol in southeast Ukraine.

UPDATE 1210 GMT:

Ukrainian officials say 16 of 36 Russian missiles were downed on Thursday morning.

The shootdown rate is among the lowest since Russia launched its 15 waves of missile and drone strike on October 10. That is primarily because of the extensive use today of the Kh-22 anti-ship missile, which is able to evade air defenses.

But Energy Minister German Galushchenko and State grid operator Ukrenergo said there was no major effect on power and thus no need for emergency outages.

UPDATE 0911 GMT:

Addressing Norwegian legislators by video, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has thanked them for an aid package of about $7 billion over five years.

Zelenskiy hailed the “historic contribution” of the “sustainable support”: “It makes both our countries stronger. Russia will not overcome our unity, the unity of all those that cherish freedom.”

The package, announced on February 6, is the largest in Norwegian history to a single nation. In 2023, half will be devoted to the military and half to financial assistance.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said, “Ukraine is not alone in this fight. Those who are here today, we are with Ukraine today.”

UPDATE 0809 GMT:

Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Wagner Group mercenaries, has fired another shot in his rivalry with the Russian military and political leadership.

Prigozhin complained on Wednesday about the Russian military taking over the recruitment of convicts, which had been a central part of Wagner efforts as it pursued an offensive in eastern Ukraine: “The number of Wagner units will decrease, and we will also not be able to carry out the scope of tasks that we would like to.”

UPDATE 0802 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says it downed 16 of 32 Russian missiles early this morning (see also 0724 GMT).

The first fatality has been reported, a 79-year-old woman in the city of Pavlohrad in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Two other people were injured.

UPDATE 0749 GMT:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has stepped back from support of Ukraine’s liberation of Crimea, occupied by Russia since 2014.

In a Zoom call with experts on Wednesday, Blinken said any offensive in Crimea would be a red line for Vladimir Putin that could lead to a wider Russian response.

Blinken was asked on the call if the Biden Administration is willing to help Ukraine liberate the peninsula.

According to “four people with knowledge” of the response, Blinken said the Administration is not encouraging Ukraine to retake Crimea, but the decision is Kyiv’s alone.

He said the focus is helping Ukraine advance in the east against the Russians.

Two weeks ago, four senior Defense Department officials told a House committee that Ukrainian forces are unlikely to be able to liberate Crimea in the near-future.

One person on the call said, “Overall the message is that there is a lot of uncertainty on how things will go from here with real questions about capacity of either side to make big gains.”

UPDATE 0732 GMT:

Germany is reportedly blocking Russia’s State nuclear agency Rosatom from purchasing equipment for power plants under construction in Turkey and Hungary.

The Russian outlet Kommersant says the German Federal Office for Economics and Export Control (BAFA) has not issued all the necessary permits to Siemens Energy for the supply of an integrated switchgear to the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in Turkey.

According to a source, the German regulator is concerned that the equipment can be imported to Russia through Turkey. Turkish authorities are negotiating with the German Government for conditions to permit the delivery.

Akkuyu is planned as the first four-reactor nuclear power plant in Turkey. It has been under construction on the Mediterranean coast since 2018, and its first reactor is scheduled to be launched before the end of 2023.

Sources say BAFA is also refusing to issue a permit to Siemens for the supply of a process control system for the Paks-2 nuclear power plant in Hungary. In contrast, France’s Framatome has received permission from the French government to carry out its part of the construction.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó said, “The German government continues to block the delivery of the already contracted control system to the Paks nuclear power plant by Siemens Energy. This can be regarded as an attack on our sovereignty, since the security of energy supply is a matter of sovereignty.”

UPDATE 0724 GMT:

Ukraine officials say eight Russian Kalibr missiles, fired from a warship in the Black Sea, were downed this morning.

Other missiles struck in northern and western Ukraine and the central regions of Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovograd.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia has fired missiles on the city of Lviv in western Ukraine.

Governor Maksym Kozytskyi posted on Telegram early Thursday:

During the air alert, a critical infrastructure object was hit in the Lviv region. There are no victims or victims. The fire was extinguished. Details later. Keep yourselves. Don’t ignore the sirens.

Russia has periodically fired on Lviv, near the Polish border, during its waves of missile and drone strikes across Ukraine since October 10.

The city was attacked in the latest strikes last week. A power substation was hit in the initial wave in October, and 90% of the city was without electricity after a December assault.

Air raid sirens have sounded in other Ukrainian cities and towns this morning.