Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy greets US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan in Kyiv, November 4, 2022

Thursday’s Coverage: No Invitation to Kyiv From NATO Summit

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 2016 GMT:

Nine civilians have been killed and 17 injured in a Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia city in southern Ukraine.

Explosions were reported around 6 p.m., soon after an air raid alert over possible strikes with guided bombs.

The attack damaged a service station and some areas in the region experienced power outages.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy commented:

Thousands of such strikes Russia has carried out during this war make it absolutely clear: Putin does not seek real peace—he seeks the ability to treat any country this way, with bombs, missiles, and all other forms of violence. Only through strength can we resist this. And only through strength can real peace be established.

UPDATE 1650 GMT:

The UK Ministry of Defense assesses that Russia sustained a record high of 1,523 casualties per day in November.

British analysts noted that the Russians suffered more than 2,000 casualties in a single day for the first time on November 28. They had an estimated total of 45,690 throughout the month.

The Russians gained about 839 square km (324 square miles) in Ukraine and in the Kursk region of western Russia in November. Its estimated 125,810 casualties from September to November, in return for about 2,356 square km (910 square miles) of occupied territory, equals 53 casualties per square km seized.

US officials estimated in late October that Russia’s current recruitment rate was between 25,000 and 30,000 new soldiers per month — far below the recent monthly toll of casualties.

UPDATE 1641 GMT:

Two civilians have been killed and 16 injured, including a 6-year-old boy, by a Russia missile strike on Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region in south-central Ukraine.

The strike at around 5 p.m. targeted an administrative building.

Five civilians, including the boy, were hospitalized in moderate-to-severe condition.

UPDATE 1632 GMT:

Russia’s foreign currency reserves are at their lowest level since 2008.

The National Welfare Fund has declined to $53.8 billion from a pre-invasion level of around $140 billion in liquid assets.

To stem the fall, Russia sold 50 tons of gold between June and early December, leaving 279 tons in reserve.

UPDATE 0936 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr ZelGmtensky has asked the UN and Red Cross to do more for the return of Ukrainians held captive by Russia.

Zelensky told a human rights conference in Kyiv:

Do we currently receive much assistance from organisations such as the UN or the International Committee of the Red Cross in protecting and securing the return of Ukrainian prisoners held in Russia? In fact, we do not.

We all see, in particular, how weak the world’s response is to what Russia is doing to Ukrainian prisoners.

Ukrainian officials have noted the deaths in detention of the mayor of Dniprorudne in southern Ukraine, Yevgen Matveyev, and journalist Victoria Roshchyna.

Earlier this week a Yale University study documented the “systematic policy” of Vladimir Putin and senior Kremlin officials to deport tens of thousands of Ukrainian children.

See also Ukraine War, Day 1,015: Putin’s Aircraft and Funds Used in Deportations of Children

UPDATE 0921 GMT:

The international community has challenged Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov over Moscow’s 33-month invasion of Ukraine.

At the annual meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, held in Malta, Poland’s Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski addressed Lavrov:

We are not taken in by your lies. We know what you’re doing. You’re trying to rebuild the Russian empire and we will not let you. We will resist you every inch of the way.

Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha emphasized, “The Russian war criminal at this table must know: Ukraine will win this right and justice will prevail.”

Sybiha, Sikorksi, and others left the room during Lavrov’s speech. The Russia asserted that NATO and the European Union had politicized the OSCE and made it irrelevant.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Biden Administration is planning more weapons for Ukraine and widespread sanctions against Russia before Donald Trump enters the White House on January 20, says National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.

Sullivan made the commitment in a meeting on Thursday with Ukraine Presidential Chief of Staff Andrii Yermak.

The assistance will include hundreds of thousands of artillery rounds, thousands of rockets, and hundreds of armored vehicles by mid-January. The US is also proposing the training of soldiers at sites beyond Ukrainian territory.

The support will be accompanied by $20 billion in loans backed by frozen Russian assets.

The Pentagon committed this week to sending $725 million in military assistance, the largest shipment since April.

Trump and his inner circle, including future Vice President J.D. Vance, have indicated that they will limit or even cut aid to Ukraine’s resistance against the 33-month Russian invasion.

Yermak met this week with Vance, incoming National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, and Trump’s proposed Russia and Ukraine envoy Keith Kellogg.

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson blocked a vote on $24 billion in future aid to Ukraine.