‘Must Make Russian Step to Expand the War a Failure’ – Ukraine at War Update for Nov. 6

Former President Donald Trump is leading the electoral count with 230 votes to Harris’ 192 votes hours after most polls closed on Tuesday. With several states are still considered “too close to call” – including six of the seven battleground states – it’s still anyone’s guess who will take the White House. Pennsylvania is the biggest state still realistically up for grabs.

There have been no major upsets in the race so far. North Carolina, worth 16 votes, is the only swing state that has been called after a Trump majority passed the margin of error. Pennsylvania will award the winner with a whopping 19 electoral votes, which is why both candidates campaigned so heavily across the state in the last few weeks.

According to AP, over 80% of the vote in PA has been counted but state officials said they don’t expect a verdict until tomorrow at the earliest. Trump is winning the state by about 3 percentage points at the time of writing. If the convicted felon turns Pennsylvania red, it could be the final vote the former president needs to secure another term in office. The state voted for current President Joe Biden in 2020 and Trump in 2016.

The Vice President’s path to victory has narrowed since she lost North Carolina, but there are still several ways Harris can still win.

Harris’s camp said the race was now “razor-thin” and that her “clearest path” to victory was through the so-called Blue Wall swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin.

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Harris’s campaign director Jen O’Malley Dillon insisted in an email to campaign staff, obtained by AFP, that “we feel good about what we’re seeing” in the Blue Wall.

Trump spokesperson Jason Miller said the mood in the Republican’s camp in Florida was “positive.”

Russians tried to disrupt US Elections with fake bomb threats in addition to their usual mischief

Hoax bomb threats, many of which appeared to originate from Russian email domains, were directed at polling locations in three battleground states - Georgia, Michigan, and Wisconsin, the FBI said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. These are three of the seven swing states that are the battleground locales in this year’s election.

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger announced in a press conference Tuesday a bomb threat was made against polling stations that affected up to seven precincts in multiple counties in the state. Still, he said it was of Russian origin and not credible, reported the Savannah Morning News.

“They’re up to mischief it seems,” Raffensperger said, referring to Russians interfering in the swing state voting process. “They don’t want us to have a smooth, fair, and accurate election.”

“Anything that can get us to fight amongst ourselves, they can count that as a victory,” Raffensperger added.

The bomb threats caused two of the 177 polling stations in Fulton County, Georgia, to close their doors and request extended hours to make up for the interruptions.

The polling stations at the Etris Community Center and Gullatt Elementary in Union City had to close as a result temporarily. Both of the polling districts just outside Atlanta are 90 percent Black, and historically have voted Democratic in recent elections. Georgia is one of seven swing states in this election.

US intelligence agencies stated that Russia is the most active source of fake articles and videos regarding the presidential elections.

The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), released a joint statement on Nov. 4 warning about the growing threat of foreign interference in the ongoing US elections.

“Since our statement on Friday, the intelligence community has observed foreign adversaries, particularly Russia, conducting additional influence operations intended to undermine public confidence in the integrity of US elections and stoke divisions among Americans,” the report states.

The intelligence community anticipated that these activities would escalate and continue in the following weeks, with narratives primarily targeting swing states.

“Russia is the most active threat,” the report said. 

Russian-affiliated actors are reportedly creating fake videos and articles designed to cast doubt on the legitimacy of the elections and instill fear in voters, the statement reads.

Zelensky seeks more external engagement now that AFU is fighting North Korean troops alongside Russians

In his nightly address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) first engagements with North Korean troops “opened a new page of instability in the world” and lamented that the world is not taking enough notice, let alone action.

“Terror, unfortunately, can spread like a virus when it does not meet sufficient counteraction,” Zelensky said. “Now, our counteraction must be sufficient. Strong enough.

“The first battles with North Korean soldiers open a new page of instability in the world. Together with the world, we must do everything to make this Russian step to expand the war – to really escalate it – to make this step a failure. Both for them, and for North Korea.”