Firefighters battle a blaze from a Russian strike on Ternopil in western Ukraine, November 26, 2024
Monday’s Coverage: 23+ Injured in Kharkiv as Russia Fires Missiles and 145 Attack Drones
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1909 GMT:
The Foreign Ministers of the G7 — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US — have criticized Russia’s firing of an experimental intermediate-range ballistic missile on south-central Ukraine as evidence of Moscow’s “reckless and escalatory behavior”.
Trying to intimidate Kyiv’s partners as well as Ukraine, Vladimir Putin launched the Oreshnik on the city of Dnipro last week. It was Russia’s first use of an IRBM.
The G7 condemned “in the strongest possible terms Russia’s irresponsible and threatening nuclear rhetoric as well as its posture of strategic intimidation”. They assured that “support for Ukraine’s territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence will remain unwavering”.
UPDATE 1438 GMT:
The Ukraine Defense Ministry says an interdepartmental commission will investigate the supply of faulty domestic-made mortar shells.
Complaints and videos on social media show the mortar shells not exploding or failing to hit their targets. The Dzerkalo Tyzhnia outlet said 100,000 shells, a supply for six months, are involved.
The Ministry said it has withdrawn the ammunition in question and will replace it with imported shells.
Artillery and mortar shells are crucial items on the front as Ukraine already struggles to match up with the better-stocked Russian forces.
According to Dzerkalo Tyzhnia, the supply of the shells in question was a result of a deal between the defence ministry and the strategic industries ministry to purchase ammunition from a domestic producer and thus decrease dependence on foreign supplies.
UPDATE 1309 GMT:
Russia is expelling a British diplomat.
The State security service FSB declared that Wilkes Edward Prior, the second secretary of the political department of the British Embassy, provided false information about himself when obtaining permission to enter Russia.
The FSB asserted that Prior replaced one of six “British intelligence officers” expelled from Russia in August.
UK Ambassador Nigel Casey was summoned to the Foreign Ministry.
UPDATE 1301 GMT:
Former Russian Deputy Minister of Defense Dmitry Kurakin has been sentenced to 17 years on bribery charges.
His deputy Vladislav Kholodkov and the former head of the Maltinsky Military Forestry Enterprise”, Maxim An, were given 14 years.
The men were accused of receiving at least 180 million rubles from businessmen for enabling illegal deforestation on military forestry lands in the Irkutsk region in eastern Russia.
UPDATE 1233 GMT:
At least two people have been killed and at least 45 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past day.
The fatalities were in the Kherson region in the south and the Donetsk region in the east.
In Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv, a Russian S-400 missile injured 26 people and damaged more than 40 buildings and five cars.
UPDATE 1212 GMT:
The UK government has sent dozens more Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, sources have told Bloomberg.
Last week London lifted its ban on the use of the Storm Shadows inside Russia, following a similar reversal by the Biden Administration on the deployment of US-made ATACMS missiles.
In the first Storm Shadow attack inside Russia, a command headquarters in the Kursk region was reportedly hit, wounding Russian and North Korean personnel.
The Storm Shadows have a range of about 250 km (155 miles).
A UK Ministry of Defence spokesperson said, “We do not comment on operational detail, to do so would only benefit Putin.”
UPDATE 1201 GMT:
The European Union is preparing sanctions on seven Chinese technology firms for their assistance to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Draft documents also reveal measures against firms based in Russia, Serbia, Iran, Thailand, and the UAE for “supporting Russia’s military industrial complex”.
Another 54 individuals would be sanctioned. They included Russian military personnel responsible for a missile attack on the Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital in Kyiv in July, which killed at least 44 civilians and injured almost 200.
See also Ukraine War, Day 886: A Visit to A Children’s Hospital Bombed by Russia
If agreed by EU member states, the sanctions would be the EU’s 15th package during Russia’s full-scale invasion.
UPDATE 1154 GMT:
Turkey is seeking a sanctions waiver from the US so it can continue payment for natural gas imports from Russia.
Energy minister Alparslan Bayraktar said, “These sanctions will affect Turkey. We cannot pay, if we cannot pay we cannot buy the goods. The Foreign Ministry is in talks.”
Bayraktar referred to similar waivers when the US sanctioned: “If such an exemption is not granted to Turkey it will directly impact us. At this point Russia is not the target, Turkey is the direct target.”
Russia supplies more than 50% of Turkey’s pipeline imports.
Last week, the US sanctioned Russia’s Gazprombank, banning any transactions which might be linked to the American financial network.
UPDATE 1142 GMT:
A Russian court has ordered the detention of British national James Scott Rhys Anderson, claiming he was fighting for Ukraine when seized in the Kursk region in western Russia.
According to Russian State media, Anderson said he served as a signalman in the British army for four years. He joined the International Legion of Ukraine after Russia’s full-scale invasion, reportedly serving as an instructor for Kyiv’s troops.
TASS posted a video of Anderson saying in English that he did not want to be “here” in Kursk.
ORIGNAL ENTRY: Russia has fired a record number of attack drones in its 33-month invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s military said air defenses downed 76 of 188 drones early Tuesday. Another 96 were lost to electronic counter-measures, and five headed towards Belarus.
A strike on critical infrastructure in the Ternopil region caused “substantial damage”, cutting power to 70% of consumers, said Governor Vyacheslav Nehoda. He cautioned that supply could be affected “for a long time”.
Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko posted, “The UAV attack on the capital continues. Air defense forces are operating in different areas of the city. [Drones] are entering the capital from different directions.”
