A residential building damaged in a Russian missile attack on Kryvyi Rih on November 11, 2024

Tuesday’s Coverage: North Korea Completes Defense Treaty With Russia

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1051 GMT:

Ukraine’s State security service SBU has assassinated a senior officer of the Russian Navy in a car bombing in occupied Crimea.

An SBU official confirmed the killing of Capt. Valery Trankovsky in Sevastopol, soon after Russian authorities in Crimea reported on a military service member dying from a blast.

Trankovsky was chief of staff of the 41st Missile Boat Brigade and a “war criminal who has ordered cruise missile launches from the Black Sea against civilian sites in Ukraine”, said the Ukrainian official.

The officer was allegedly responsible for the Kalibr missile strike against Vinnytsia in western Russia in July 2022. killing 29 people and injuring more than 200. He also oversaw strikes against Odesa and other cities that caused mass fatalities.

UPDATE 1046 GMT:

Ukraine has received a $1.35 billion grant from the US for humanitarian and social programs.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced:

UPDATE 0607 GMT:

Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv this morning, including with Kh-101 cruise missiles fired from TU-195 strategic bombers, four ballistic missiles, and Iran-type drones.

The air raid alarm sounded across Kyiv around 6:37 a.m., with the first explosions reported at around 7:15 a.m. Air defenses were depoloyed across the capital, with sounds of explosions in multiple areas. Authorities urged citizens to remain in shelters until the threat subsides.

A 48-year-old man suffered head injuries as a result of fallen debris in the Kyiv region. A fire also broke out in a warehouse in the Brovary district near the capital.

Air defenses across the country downed two Kh-101 cruise missiles, two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles, and 37 of 90 drones. Another 47 drones were lost to electronic counter-measures, and two flew to Belarus and Russia.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky posted:

UPDATE 0649 GMT:

The European Union’s members should use frozen Russian assets to rebuild Ukraine, says incoming EU foreign policy head Kaja Kallas.

Kallas, the former Prime Minister of Estonia, told a hearing of the European Parliament:

I won’t use the word “confiscation” because we are talking about the legal use of assets.

We recognize that Russia has legitimate claims against us because we have their assets. But Ukraine also has a legal right to these funds because every day Russia destroys Ukraine.

Asked how the EU should finance Ukraine’s reconstruction, Kallas said: “We should not do that. Those who destroy Ukraine should pay for it.”

The EU has rejected the use of the Russian assets, instead authorizing a fund with profits from the estimated €210 billion which is frozen. In July, the bloc made the first payment of €1.5 billion to Ukraine.

Kallas siad Russia may have the opportunity to demand the return of assets as part of an agreement to end the 32 1/2-month invasion.

UPDATE 0638 GMT:

Around 36 small and medium-sized Russian airlines, which provide 26% of passenger transportation within the country, may go bankrupt in 2025, say market sources.

Russian air carriers are facing the revocation of operator certificates because of accumulated debts for leasing foreign aircraft.

Only large airlines such as Aeroflot, Ural Airlines and S7 Airlines are able to buy out leased aircraft using funds from the National Welfare Fund.

After the introduction of sanctions in 2022, many carriers stopped making payments. The government is allowing debts to be written off in 2025, but a 25% income tax will be charged.

UPDATE 0613 GMT:

Russian owners have sold Finland’s Helsinki Arena sports and events complex, after they were threatened with a forced takeover.

The city of Helsinki initiated the takeover from Gennady Timchenko and Roman Rotenberg amid international sanctions on Russian businessmen.

Finland has also begun confiscating Russian State-owned properties under a ruling by the Permanent Arbitration Court in The Hague. The court is ordering Russia to pay around €4.6 billion ($5 billion) to Ukraine State oil and gas company Naftogaz, as compensation for Moscow’s theft of Naftogaz assets during the seizure of Crimea in 2014.

Ukraine War, Day 981: Finland Seizes Russian Properties

The Helsinki Arena has been shut since 2022. All of Timchenko’s holdings in the European Union have been frozen. Rotenberg is the target of US sanctions issued against his father, Boris, and uncle Arkadiy and their families over their close ties with Vladimir Putin.

UPDATE 0603 GMT:

The Ukrainian military is warning of an expansion of Russia’s offensive into southern Ukraine.

Spokesperson Vladyslav Voloshyn said on Tuesday, “The Russians have been preparing for some time, for several weeks, to conduct assault operations in several directions, specifically in the Zaporizhzhia direction.”

He said Russian troops are focusing on the areas around Vremivka, Gulyaipole, and Robotyne. Ukraine has bolstered its defensive lines in the sector.

The spokesperson explained that Russian forces are moving trained assault groups to forward positions, but it is unclear if the Russian military intends to conduct a unified offensive operation or to pursue separate assaults. He said the Russians have carried out preliminary reconnaissance operations in the area and have increased the number of air strikes in southern Ukraine by 30% to 40% in the past two to three weeks.

Russia’s 13-month offensive in eastern Ukraine, mainly in the Donetsk region, has accelerated its advance this autumn with the capture of towns such as Vuhledar and Selydove.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Russia’s forces have killed a mother and her three children in Kryvyi Rih in south-central Ukraine.

The Russians struck a five-story residential building late Monday. The bodies of the children, one of whom was less than a year old, were recovered from the rubble on Tuesday.

Another 14 civilians, including a 10-year-old girl and an 11-year-old boy, were injured.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, a native of Kryvyi Rih, posted:

Every day, every night, Russia unleashes the same terror. More and more civilian objects are being targeted. Russia only wants to continue the war, and each of its strikes negates any claims of diplomacy.