Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 11-22-2024

A day after Moscow fired its new Oreshnik missile at Dnipro as an alleged response to Ukraine’s use of US-made long-range weapons in Russia, Putin said more strikes were coming soon.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday promised more combat test-firing of an experimental hypersonic missile fired at Ukraine, as Volodymyr Zelensky appealed for updated air-defense systems to meet the new threat.

The latest statements from the leaders came hours after Ukraine's parliament shut down over heightened fears of a missile attack.

GSC Game World’s first-person shooter (FPS) survival horror video game came 15 years after their last release and could earn $1 billion, a new record for a Ukrainian developed game.

GSC Game World’s new S.T.A.L.K.E.R. online video game, that leads players into the Chornobyl exclusion zone, was released on Wednesday, Nov. 20 to much excitement for gamers who had waited so long to get their hand-held controllers onto the fourth instalment of the franchise.

GSC Game World, the Ukrainian developers of the STALKER 2 game, who are now based in Prague, Czechia celebrated the release with a love letter to their fans and Ukraine. 

The men allegedly targeted a property “owned by a Ukrainian” on behalf of the infamous Wagner mercenary corps, according to court documents.

A man on Friday pleaded guilty in a UK court to an arson attack on a Ukrainian-linked business in London, which prosecutors say was carried out on behalf of Russia’s paramilitary Wagner group.

Jake Reeves, 23, admitted aggravated arson and accepting cash from a foreign intelligence service as he appeared via video-link at London’s Woolwich Crown Court.

The Swedish Defense Minister said that Ukraine is free to use Swedish weapons as it sees fit, including on Russian territory.

Sweden has announced plans Friday to allocate significant funds for the mass production of long-range missiles and drones for Ukraine. This decision was revealed by Swedish Defense Minister Pal Jonson during a meeting with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov at Stockholm’s Karlberg Castle.

Reports suggest Russia has launched an ICBM at Ukraine for the first time, hitting the city of Dnipro. Analysts view it as a political tactic.

Kyiv Post exclusive interview with one of the Maidan’s defenders

21 November is the Day of Dignity and Freedom, a Ukrainian holiday that marks the anniversary of two revolutions that began on this day almost 10 years apart – the Orange Revolution in 2004 and the Euromaidan in 2013.

Both ended in victory. In the first case, it was a powerful protest by supporters of the opposition forces against electoral fraud. The second was an uprising against the domination of the corrupt, pro-Russian government of President Viktor Yanukovych, which discredited itself by fueling corruption, illegally persecuting opposition figures and enabling rampant violence by law enforcement agencies.

A conversation with global affairs analyst Michael Bociurkiw and Analisa Bottani about the new international political scenario after the American elections.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Gaza Strip. The court's decision followed allegations leveled in May by the ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan. Those allegations, which underpinned the warrants, focused on the period between Oct. 8, 2023 and May 20, 2024, and encompassed the alleged use of "starvation as a method of warfare" and "intentionally directing an attack against the civilian population," as well as what the prosecutor's team said was the deliberate targeting of medical facilities and restrictions on medical and humanitarian supplies. Israel, whose earlier attempts to challenge the ICC's jurisdiction were denied by the court, rejects the charges against Netanyahu and Gallant. The country's President Isaac Herzog called the decision to issue arrest warrants "outrageous" and said the court had turned the concept of universal justice into a "universal laughing stock." Netanyahu's office said it "utterly rejects the false and absurd charges" and called the decision "antisemitic." The ICC also issued a warrant Thursday for the arrest of Muhammad Deif, Hamas' military chief, for crimes against humanity and war crimes. Israel said in August that it had killed Deif but Hamas has not confirmed Deif's death and the ICC said the prosecution was not yet in a position to determine his status. Khan, the chief prosecutor, had previously sought arrest warrants for two other Hamas leaders, Yahya Sinwar and Ismail Haniyeh, but withdrew these requests as both men have since been confirmed dead - NPR

Russian President Vladimir Putin said his military fired a new intermediate-range missile into Ukraine following accusations by Kyiv that it was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). In a video statement to the nation, Putin said the use of the new weapon was a response to the United States and United Kingdom giving permission to Kyiv to fire their long-range missiles into Russia. “In combat conditions, one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems was tested," Putin said, adding that it was a hypersonic missile capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Earlier in the day, Kyiv said Russia had fired what appeared to be an ICBM into Ukraine as part of a massive missile attack on Dnipropetrovsk, home to important military-industrial plants. ICBMs, which are designed to deliver long-distance nuclear strikes, have never been used in war before - RFE/RL

The statement came hours after Russian President Putin announced the “experimental hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile” launch.

Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov claimed, without evidence, on Friday, Nov. 22, that Moscow’s forces have “ground down” Kyiv’s best military units and “derailed” Ukraine’s military objectives for 2025.

The claim came hours after Russian President Putin announced that he’d launched Russia’s “experimental hypersonic medium-range ballistic missile” named Oreshnik at Ukraine in an address late on Thursday, Nov. 21.

Putin said it had been deployed "in a non-nuclear hypersonic configuration" and said that the "test" had been successful and had hit its target.

The new intermediate-range ballistic missile called Oreshnik used by Russia in a strike on Ukraine is a nuclear-capable weapon that has not been previously mentioned in public.

In an unscheduled television appearance on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the strike on the city of Dnipro had tested in combat conditions "one of the newest Russian mid-range missile systems".

Members of Ukraine’s Armed Forces and Security Service have completed a specialist forensics training course in the United States on collecting debris following a nuclear detonation.

The US military website Defense One published a report on Wednesday of the attendance of ten Ukrainian armed forces personnel along with ten members of the Security Services of Ukraine (SBU) at a week-long training course to learn and practice methods for the forensic collection of debris following a nuclear detonation at the Idaho National Laboratory (INL).

Ukraine has experience in some aspects of nuclear forensics as part of its ongoing efforts to prevent the smuggling of nuclear material. After Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion and the threats voiced by President Vladimir Putin, Kyiv has decided to prepare itself to be able to conduct the forensic examination following a nuclear attack.

Atesh operators were directed to a Russian UAV unit in the Donetsk region by an agent who had spent six months inside the Russian army, leaking plans and key locations.

The Atesh partisan movement destroyed a Russian army unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) unit in the Donetsk region, having selected the date to mark the Day of Dignity and Freedom, celebrated in Ukraine on Thursday, Nov. 21. As a result of the special operation, two Russian servicemen were killed and three others wounded.

According to the partisans, six months ago, an Atesh agent infiltrated the Russian army by signing a contract and joining its drone operator training center. After completing the training, he was assigned to a brigade and deployed to the combat unit in the Donetsk region.

Vladimir Putin said on Thursday Moscow had hit Ukraine using a new-generation intermediate-range missile -- which he hinted was capable of unleashing a nuclear payload.

NATO and Ukraine will hold talks next week in Brussels over Russia's firing of an experimental hypersonic intermediate-range missile, diplomats said on Friday.

Ambassadors from countries in the NATO-Ukraine Council will meet on Tuesday to discuss the strike on the city of Dnipro, officials told AFP.

Just because two opposing parties arrive at a table does not mean that the ensuing events will necessarily qualify as “negotiations.”

President Elect Donald Trump has repeatedly declared he would end the war that Russia has inflicted on Ukraine. He would supposedly do a deal (?!) and force Ukraine and Russia to a “negotiated” settlement at a table he would set. The upcoming “negotiation” participants, and the whole world, are wondering what the results might look like.

If Trump is successful at even arranging such negotiations (both sides have a list of mutually exclusive non-negotiable positions) and IF those negotiations achieve a result that Ukraine considers just and acceptable, while Russia is unable to claim any form of victory for its ill-conceived war of belligerent conquest, replete with war crimes and vast loss of life, then the applause should be reminiscent of the average New York City ticker tape parade. 

Advertised as providing cutting-edge defense against FPV drones, analysis of the Russian PARS-S ‘Stepashka,’ anti-drone rifle after it was taken apart tells a different story.

The military issues website Defense Blog reported on the technical analysis of the captured Russian-made anti-drone rifle, the PARS-S “Stepashka,” by the Ukrainian electronic technology specialist Serhii Beskrestnov, best known under the pseudonym “Serhii Flash.”

While from the outside the PARS-S looks the business, once Beskrestnov took it apart the equipment seemed somewhat less of a state-of-the art technology  than its Russian manufacturers claimed.

The United States and South Korea have accused North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine, with experts saying Kim Jong Un was eager to gain advanced technology.

Russia provided North Korea with oil, anti-air missiles and economic help in exchange for troops to support Moscow's war on Ukraine, government officials and a research group said Friday.

The United States and South Korea have accused the nuclear-armed North of sending more than 10,000 soldiers to help Russia fight Ukraine, with experts saying Kim Jong Un was eager to gain advanced technology, and battle experience for his troops, in return.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• Before the invasion of Ukraine, Russia had attempted to build a modern, professional force capable of carrying out complex operations. After 1,000 days of the conflict Russia's land forces are radically different to the force that originally invaded Ukraine.
• Russia's personnel losses of over 700,000 killed and wounded have drastically undermined Russia's force quality.Most personnel currently serving in the Russian military have received minimal training, and Russian commanders use basic tactics to make advances, despite the associated high casualty rates.
• Russia has lost at least 3,500 main battle tanks and 7,500 armored vehicles. Large stockpiles of tanks and armoured vehicles, a legacy of the Soviet Union, have been the only means for Russia to be able to replenish these major losses.
• Despite the costs imposed on its land forces, Russian territorial advances in Ukraine have accelerated through2024. This has been underpinned by the Russian leadership's tolerance for casualties, and Russia's land forces quantitative overmatch relative to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The frontline is now less stable than at any point since the opening stages of the conflict.

Warnings in the media about the possible rise of the far-right in Sunday’s presidential election in Romania

Romanian voters are called to the polls to elect a new head of state this Sunday. Pollsters believe the right-wing populist AUR candidate George Simion could make it to a runoff vote on December 8 against the Social Democratic Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu. Commentators zero in on Simion's chances of winning.

A candidate for the disgruntled

Ukrainian lawmakers were advised to limit their presence in the area and were urged to ensure the safety of their families.

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has canceled its scheduled Nov.22 meeting due to security concerns, Ukraine's lawmaker Oleksiy Goncharenko reported. The session was expected to include a government Q&A hour but was called off following a warning about a potential Russian strike on Kyiv’s government quarter.

Ukrainska Pravda reported that people's deputies were advised to limit their presence in the area and were urged to ensure the safety of their families. Goncharenko stated that the next parliamentary meeting is planned for December.

Domestic policy prevents Seoul from sending weapons to conflict zones. However, since its spy agency accused North Korea of sending soldiers to aid Moscow, South Korea warned it may change its stance.

At the outskirts of a South Korean industrial city, workers at a sprawling weapons factory were conducting final-stage testing for a newly built surface-to-air defence system that could, eventually, head to Ukraine.

Longstanding domestic policy bars Seoul from sending weapons into active conflict zones, but ever since its spy agency accused the nuclear-armed North last month of sending thousands of soldiers to help Moscow fight Kyiv, South Korea has warned it might change course.

Europe’s press analyses the operation and its potential consequences.

The Ukrainian military has carried out its first attack on Russian territory using US-made Atacms missiles, as confirmed by both Moscow and Washington. Kyiv has not provided details on the type or number of missiles used, but said that an ammunitions depot in the Bryansk region had been hit. Europe's press analyses the operation and its potential consequences.

A symbol of Ukrainian resistance

A Nov. 19 video posted on the Telegram channel of “Serhii Flash” showed a re-engineered Dovbush T10 drone carrying and launching FPV drones from underwing positions.

A video posted on the “All things Communication” Telegram channel belonging to the Ukrainian electronic technology specialist Serhii Beskrestnov, best known under the pseudonym “Serhii Flash,” showed how the Ukrainian designed and manufactured Dovbush T10 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has been modified to carry and launch up to six first-person view (FPV) kamikaze drones.

In another example of how Ukraine has embraced drones and drone technology, the changes on show here have enhanced the value of the Dovbush, which was previously used as a reconnaissance platform, to act as a precision strike tool in the war against Russia.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian President Vladimir Putin intensified his reflexive control campaign aimed at Ukraine and its Western partners by conducting an ostentatious ballistic missile strike against Ukraine that used multiple reentry vehicles on November 21.
• Putin explicitly threatened that Russia may attack Western countries that support Ukrainian deep strikes in Russia and rhetorically connected the November 21 ballistic missile strike to Russian nuclear capabilities - a marked intensification of an existing Russian information operation that aims to use explicit threats and nuclear saber-rattling to discourage continued Western military support for Ukraine.
• Putin’s November 21 statement demonstrates that Moscow’s constant saber-rattling largely remains rhetorical.
• Neither the Oreshnik ballistic missile strike nor Putin's November 21 statement represent a significant inflection in Russian strike capabilities or likeliness to use a nuclear weapon.
• The Kremlin continues to demonstrate its full commitment to use the prospect of "negotiations" with Ukraine and the West to pursue nothing short of the total destruction of the Ukrainian state despite Russian President Vladimir Putin's efforts to posture himself as amenable to peace negotiations.
• North Korean troops are reportedly training alongside Russian naval infantry and airborne (VDV) units.
• North Korea's ability to learn and integrate lessons from fighting alongside Russia is likely to be significantly degraded if the Russian military command uses North Korean troops in the same highly attritional infantry-led assaults that it uses most Russian personnel.
• Russian forces recently marginally advanced in the main Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast southeast of Sudzha.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced north of Vuhledar. Russian forces recently advanced northwest of Kreminna, southeast of Chasiv Yar, in Toretsk, southeast of Kurakhove, northeast of Vuhledar, and likely advanced northeast of Velyka Novosilka.
• The Russian State Duma adopted a three-year federal budget with record defense expenditures from 2025-2027.

Kremlin warns of global war, touts new hypersonic missile that hit Dnipro; White House speeds deliveries as a result; Trump’s Defense pick answers to sexual assault reports, new DOJ selection named.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that, as a result of the West’s allowing Ukraine to use long-range missiles well within Russia, the war there will spread beyond its current borders, and hinted that European targets could be next.

He highlighted Moscow’s newest hypersonic missile which he said was used in an early morning attack on Dnipro.