After withdrawing from Kherson, Putin is concentrating his forces in eastern Ukraine. Since the beginning of the war, Russia is said to have fired 4,700 missiles at Ukraine. The news ticker.
- Zaporizhia NPP: According to the IAEA, the nuclear power plant is mostly intact. Russia had previously warned of a nuclear accident.
- WHO warns of winter in the Ukraine: Health facilities are no longer fully functional and other dangers are lurking.
- torture sites in Kherson: Ukrainian investigators are said to have discovered “pseudo law enforcement centers” with torture tools.
- This news ticker on the military situation in the Ukraine war is continuously updated.
Update from November 22, 6:40 a.m: The badly damaged Ukrainian power grid is likely to remain extremely prone to disruption for months to come: The power technicians are trying their best to repair the damage to the grid before it gets even more wintry, the head of the electricity supplier Yasno, Serhiy Kovalenko, wrote on Facebook.
“Even if there are fewer dropouts now, I want everyone to understand: Ukrainians will probably have to live with dropouts at least until the end of March,” he wrote. Grid operator Ukrenergo announced scheduled shutdowns across the country for Tuesday (November 22). President Volodymyr Zelenskyj called the Citizens to save electricity on.
Ukraine-News: Selenskyj calls on Ukrainians to save electricity
Update from November 21, 10:50 p.m: According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, Ukraine’s power grid, which was damaged by Russian attacks, remains unstable. On Monday, the country had to contend not only with planned shutdowns but also with unplanned power outages, he said in his evening video address. Consumption exceeds electricity production.
“Tonight the situation in Kyiv and its environs, as well as in Vinnytsia, Sumy, Ternopil, Cherkasy, Odessa and some other cities and regions is particularly difficult,” Zelenskyi said. He called on regional and municipal administrations to continue to encourage citizens to save electricity. Electricity must also be saved in public spaces. “The system damage caused to our energy sector by the Russian terrorist attacks is so great that all our citizens and businesses should be very economical and spread consumption over the hours of the day,” he said.
IAEA describes Zaporizhia NPP as “largely intact”
Update from November 21, 8:59 p.m: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) describes the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia as “largely intact”. Despite the intense shelling over the weekend, there are no immediate concerns about nuclear safety, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said on Monday evening after a team of experts visited the site. The four IAEA experts took a close look at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. The status of the six reactor units is stable and the integrity of the spent fuel, fresh fuel and low, intermediate and high level radioactive waste in their respective storage facilities has been confirmed.
Nevertheless, Grossi was very concerned. IAEA experts had found widespread damage on the site. “This is of great concern as it highlights the sheer intensity of the attack on one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants,” Grossi said.
Ukraine: Rosatom warns of nuclear accident at Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
Updated November 21, 6:48 p.m: The Russian nuclear company Rosatom warns of a nuclear accident at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. He was in contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) all night in connection with the shelling of the plant, said Rosatom Director General Alexei Lichatschow at an international nuclear energy forum in Sochi, southern Russia, according to the Interfax agency.
The largest nuclear power plant in Europe was shaken by dozens of shells on Saturday and Sunday. The facility had come under fire several times in the previous months. Ukraine and Russia blame each other for this. According to Moscow, the IAEA examined the system for damage on Monday. There was initially no IAEA statement on this.
WHO: Winter will be ‘life-threatening’ for millions of Ukrainians
Update from November 21, 6:33 p.m: According to the WHO, hundreds of hospitals and health facilities in Ukraine are no longer fully functional. There is a lack of fuel, water and electricity, WHO Regional Director Hans Kluge said on Monday in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. More than 700 attacks on the health infrastructure have been registered since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression. “This is the biggest attack on health care on European soil since the Second World War,” emphasized Kluge, especially with regard to the Russian attacks on the Ukrainian energy system. “This is a violation of international humanitarian law and the rules of war,”
A “life-threatening winter” is ahead of the Ukrainians, Kluge said. Hundreds of thousands of houses and apartments, schools and hospitals are without heating. Ten million people are without electricity. With a view to the coming winter and temperatures down to minus 20 degrees Celsius, this poses a dramatic health risk. “Cold weather can be deadly,” said Kluge. Not only is there a threat of respiratory infections such as Covid-19, against which large parts of the population are not sufficiently immune.
Ukraine-News: WHO delivers medicines and generators to Kherson
There is also a health risk as “desperate families try to keep warm” and resort to alternative heating methods such as coal or wood or the use of generators. “This poses health risks from toxic substances harmful to children, the elderly and people with respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, as well as burns and injuries from accidents,” said the WHO Regional Director.
His colleague Jarno Habicht reported that WHO staff had gained access to the recently liberated southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. Drugs, medical equipment and generators have been delivered to the area. In total, more than 2,000 tons of medical supplies have been shipped to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February. As of November, 400 generators were among them to bridge the power outages in hospitals that affected large parts of the country.
Ukrainian investigators are said to have discovered torture sites around Cherson
Update from November 21, 3:05 p.m: Ukrainian investigators from Cherson are now reporting on newly discovered torture sites. They had identified four buildings in the city in which the “Russian occupiers had illegally detained and brutally tortured people,” said the General Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv. The information could not be checked independently.
Ukraine-News: Ukrainian investigators report newly discovered torture sites
Accordingly, the Russian armed forces set up “pseudo-law enforcement agencies” during the occupation in previous detention centers and police stations. There, “parts of rubber truncheons, a wooden bat, a device for generating electric shocks as well as a light bulb and bullets were seized”. The Russian authorities also left behind documents on the administration of these prison camps.
Investigations into other torture sites and unlawful detentions are ongoing, it said. The aim is also to “identify all victims”. Moscow has so far not responded to the allegations.
Ukraine-News: Lithuania changes plan to supply arms to Kyiv, report says
Update from November 21, 12:51 p.m: In Lithuania, considerations of supplying Ukraine with its own Panzerhaubitz 2000 and air defense systems seem to have fizzled out. This is reported by the Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, citing Defense Minister Arvydas Anušauskas. Instead, ammunition for the howitzer should be made available.
Anušauskas gave no reasons for the decision, which was made after the State Defense Council (VGT) session. “The meeting took place in a closed format, so I will not go into details,” the minister said. Neighboring country Latvia has handed over six self-propelled howitzers 2000 to Ukraine.
According to Anušauskas, Vilnius’ aid to Kyiv currently amounts to over 640 million euros. An estimated 232 million euros of this went to military aid.
Assessment of the British Ministry of Defense: Russia is expanding defense positions in eastern Ukraine
First report from November 21: Kyiv/Moscow/London – After withdrawing across the Dnieper River in southern Ukraine, Russian forces are to concentrate on defending the city of Svatove in the east of the country. This emerges from the daily assessment of the British Ministry of Defense on the Ukraine war.
The reason for this is that Vladimir Putin’s troops are most vulnerable there. “As a major population center in the Luhansk region, the Russian leadership will most likely see maintaining control of Svatove as a political priority,” a source in London said.
There have been heavy artillery battles in the area in recent weeks. As in other parts of the front, Russia is expanding its defensive positions there, although these are primarily manned by poorly trained reservists.
“However, commanders are likely struggling with the military reality of maintaining a credible defense while attempting to resource offensive operations further south in Donetsk,” the ministry said. “Both the defensive and offensive capabilities of Russian troops continue to be hampered by a serious shortage of ammunition and qualified personnel.”
Ukraine War: Russia has launched 4,700 missiles since the war began
Ukraine, meanwhile, continues to suffer severely from Russian missile and drone fire. Since the beginning of the war, Russia has fired almost 4,700 rockets at Ukraine, leaving large parts of the country in ruins. “Hundreds of our cities have practically burned down, thousands of people have been killed, hundreds of thousands have been deported to Russia,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday (November 20).
Both the head of state and the general staff in Kyiv also reported that heavy fighting continued, especially in the Donbass region in the east of the country. Unfortunately, although there are fewer attacks due to the worsening of the weather, the number of Russian artillery raids remains high.” At Luhansk, several Russian advances were fended off, it said. The information could not be independently verified.
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