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Ukraine news LIVE — Vladimir Putin FORCING troops 'with major health issues' to fight war as Russia takes a battering | The Sun
RUSSIAN troops are fighting in Ukraine with "serious" health issues while its army sustains "heavy casualties", new intelligence has stated.
A number of "common themes" are emerging in the experience of Vladimir Putin's mobilised conscripts sent to the Ukraine war – with deployment underpinned by "inadequate" training and equipment.
The Ministry of Defence's latest intelligence update suggests the Kremlin will likely be concerned that an increasing number of families are prepared to risk arrest by protesting against the conditions their relatives face at war.
Most mobilised reservists have previously served, it says, with "numerous examples" suggesting it is highly probably they are not having their medical status "adequately reviewed".
"Many are being compelled to serve with serious, chronic health conditions," the update states.
Read our Ukraine-Russia live blog below for the latest updates…
- Joseph Gamp
EU leaders flock to Ukraine to commemorate victims of famine
Several European leaders were in Kyiv on Saturday to commemorate the victims of the 1932-33 Holodomor — Ukrainian for "death by starvation" — which is regarded by Kyiv as a deliberate act of genocide by Stalin's regime.
According to Polish and Lithuanian media, the prime ministers of these two EU countries were in Ukraine for talks that could in particular focus on a possible new wave of migration from Ukraine this winter.
Ukraine's Border Guard Service said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki was in Kyiv and "honoured the memory of the Holodomor victims" at a memorial in the Ukrainian capital.
Belgium's Prime Minister Alexander De Croo was also in Kyiv on his first visit since Russia invaded.
"Arrived in Kyiv. After the heavy bombing of recent days, we stand with the people of Ukraine. More than ever before," he said on Twitter, posting photos of him shaking hands with Zelensky.
- Joseph Gamp
EU leaders pledge support to Ukraine on anniversary of Stalin famine
European leaders renewed pledges of support to Ukraine on Saturday on the 90th anniversary of the start of the Holodomor famine that affected millions of Ukrainians under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country will continue to resist Russian attacks that have systematically targeted Ukraine's energy grid, causing power cuts as temperatures plunge with the onset of winter.
"Ukrainians went through very terrible things… Once they wanted to destroy us with hunger, now — with darkness and cold," Zelensky said in a video posted on social media.
"We cannot be broken," he added.
- Joseph Gamp
Half of Kyiv residents STILL without electricity after strikes says mayor
Nearly half of Kyiv residents were still without electricity on Friday as engineers battled to restore services two days after Russian strikes hammered the country's energy grid.
Systematic and targeted Russian attacks for weeks have brought Ukraine's energy infrastructure to its knees as the country careens towards a freezing winter, spurring fears of a health crisis and a further exodus, nine months into war.
Municipal workers struggled Friday to reconnect essential services such as heat and water as temperatures in Kyiv approached freezing and UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly visited to announce a new aid package.
"Half of consumers are still without electricity," Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. "A third of houses in Kyiv already have heating and specialists continue to restore it."
"During the day, energy companies plan to reconnect electricity for all consumers on an alternating basis," he wrote on Telegram.
- Joseph Gamp
In pictures: Ukraine's Zelensky holds food security summit in Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hosted an international summit in Kyiv on Saturday to discuss food security and agricultural exports with the prime ministers of Belgium, Poland and Lithuania and the president of Hungary.
The hero leader opened the summit speaking at a panel flanked by his chief of staff and prime minister.
French President Emmanuel Macron and European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen delivered speeches that were shown by video.
Credit: Rex - Joseph Gamp
Russia claims 9 POWs freed in prisoner exchange with Ukraine
Nine Russian prisoners of war were released as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine on Saturday, Russian news agencies reported, citing Moscow's defence ministry.
The ministry said in a statement: "On Nov. 26, as a result of the negotiation process, nine Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime."
- Joseph Gamp
Russian shelling kills 15 in Kherson as Ukraine scrambles to restore power
Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson killed 15 civilians Friday, officials said, as engineers across the country sought to restore heat, water and power to major cities.
Throughout the country, Russian air strikes in recent weeks have brought Ukraine's energy infrastructure to its knees as winter approaches and temperatures near freezing, spurring fears of a health crisis and a further exodus.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said more than six million households in the country were still affected by power cuts, two days after targeted Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy infrastructure.
The country's national energy company, Ukrenergo, said late Friday that the grid was still facing a 30 percent deficit, with its technicians working "around the clock" to restore power. But it said it expected to increase coverage over the weekend, boosted by additional nuclear power.
The attack on Kherson, a key southeastern city recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces, marked the deadliest Russian bombardment in recent days.
A total of "15 residents were killed and 35 injured, including one child, as a result of enemy shelling", city official Galyna Lugova said. Several "private houses and high-rise buildings" had been damaged, she added.
- Joseph Gamp
Ukraine presidents chief of staff says Russia 'will pay' for Soviet-era famine
Russia will pay for a Soviet-era famine that left millions of Ukrainians dead during the winter of 1932-33 and for its actions in the current war in Ukraine, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration said on Saturday.
"The Russians will pay for all of the victims of the Holodomor and answer for today's crimes," Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram, using the Ukrainian name for the disaster.
Ukraine's annual memorial day for the victims of Holodomor takes place this year on Saturday.
In November 1932, Soviet leader Joseph Stalin dispatched police to seize all grain and livestock from newly collectivised Ukrainian farms, including the seed needed to plant the next crop.
Millions of Ukrainian peasants starved to death in the following months from what Yale University historian Timothy Snyder calls "clearly premeditated mass murder".
- Joseph Gamp
'Depleted' Russia removing nuclear warheads from old soviet-era missiles, says MoD
Russia is firing ageing cruise missiles stripped of their nuclear warheads at Ukrainian targets because Vladimir Putin's stocks are so depleted, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has suggested.
An intelligence update from the MoD on Saturday said the desperate improvisation by the Russian President's struggling forces are "unlikely to achieve reliable effects".
The evidence cited are pictures of apparently shot down AS-15 Kent air launched cruise missiles, which were said to have been designed in the 1980s as a nuclear delivery system.
The MoD said the nuclear warheads had probably been substituted for ballast, with the Kremlin's hope likely that the missiles will distract Ukrainian air defences.
"Although such an inert system will still produce some damage through the missile's kinetic energy and any unspent fuel, it is unlikely to achieve reliable effects against intended targets," a statement said.
"Whatever Russia's intent, this improvisation highlights the level of depletion in Russia's stock of long-range missiles."
- Henry Moore
Russian reservists plagued with ‘confusion’ and ‘inadequate training’
The British Ministry of Defence has reported that the 300,000 reservists recruited in Putin’s partial mobilisation plan have been plagued by “confusion’ and “inadequate training.”
The MoD statement read: “Two months after President Putin announced a ‘partial mobilisation’, common themes are emerging in the experience of mobilised Russian reservists.
“Their deployment is often characterised by confusion over eligibility for service, inadequate training and personal equipment, and commitment to highly attritional combat missions.
“Most – though not all – mobilised reservists have previously served and numerous examples suggest that reservists are highly likely not having their medical status adequately reviewed and many are being compelled to serve with serious, chronic health conditions.
“Mobilised reservists have highly likely experienced particularly heavy casualties after being committed to dig ambitious trench systems while under artillery fire around the Luhansk Oblast town of Svatove.
“In Donetsk Oblast, reservists have been killed in large numbers in frontal assaults into well-established Ukrainian defensive zones around the town of Bakhmut.
“The Kremlin will likely be concerned that an increasing number of reservists’ families are prepared to risk arrest by protesting against the conditions their relatives are serving under.”
- Henry Moore
EU chief brands Russian missile strikes 'deliberate and barbaric'
Following her conversation with President Zelensky yesterday, Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the EU Commission, shared a statement revealing some details of their call.
She said: "I expressed to President Zelenskyy the EU's full solidarity with Ukraine as it suffers at the hands of Putin's deliberate and barbaric bombing of the country's civilian infrastructure.
"I strongly condemn these attacks. Russia must be held accountable for what constitute war crimes."
The EU chief went on to reveal its latest aid package for Ukraine, which consists of:
- 200 medium-sized transformers and a large autotransformer from Lithuania.
- a medium-sized autotransformer from Latvia.
- 40 heavy generators from the rescEU reserve located in Romania. Each of these generators can provide uninterrupted power to a small to medium sized hospital
Russia will not 'break' Ukraine, claims defiant Zelensky
Speaking in his nightly address, Ukraine's President Zelensky defiantly said his people would not be broken despite constant missile strikes and rolling blackouts.
“Together we endured nine months of full-scale war and Russia has not found a way to break us, and will not find one,” he said.
This comes as the Kremlin bombards Ukraine with missile strikes, targeting key infrastructure as Putin looks to break the will of the Ukrainian people ahead of a freezing winter.
United States donates 22,500 blankets to Ukraine as blackouts continue
The US has announced it donated 22,500 blankets to Ukraine this winter, as civilians across the country face the cold months without electricity.
Bridget A. Brink, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine, announced this new initiative on Twitter.
She said: "Russia’s cruel attacks against civilians make it all the more important that we all work around the clock to help Ukraine weather the cold this winter in every way we can."
10 dead, 54 injured in Kherson shelling
Russian shelling of Kherson this week has reportedly left 10 dead and a further 54 people injured.
Sharing the details via Telegram, regional official Yaroslav Yanushevych said: “The Russians targeted private and apartment buildings, a shipyard, a building on the school grounds, and gas pipes.
"The enemy also shelled the following settlements in the district: Zelenivka, Chornobayivka, and Stepanivka.
“Unfortunately, we have victims among the civilian population. The Russians killed 10 residents of the Kherson region, and another 54 people were injured of varying degrees of severity."
Kherson hospitals evacuated amid Russian shelling
Hospitals across the liberated city of Kherson have reportedly been evacuated amid constant Russian shelling.
Regional Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych announced via Telegram, that children being treated at the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital are being moved to Mykolaiv.
On Thursday, the British Ministry of Defence reported the Kremlin is specifically targeting medical facilities with its bombing campaign.
Zelensky calls for the liberation of Crimea
President Zelensky has called the liberation of Ukraine without Crimea a "waste of time."
Speaking to the Financial Times, the steadfast leader said: “We must return all lands… because I believe that the battlefield is the way when there is no diplomacy.
“If you can’t get your land back entirely, the war is simply frozen. It’s a question of time before it resumes.”
- Henry Moore
Zelensky calls on European unity in video address
President Zelensky called on Europeans to unite on Friday, as he addressed a conference in Lithuania.
"There is no split, there is no schism among Europeans and we have to preserve this. This is our mission number one this year," he said.
- Henry Moore
NATO will defend Ukraine for 'as long as it takes'
NATO's Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, has vowed to aid Ukraine "for as long as it takes".
“NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will not back down,” the NATO chief said.
“Allies are providing unprecedented military support, and I expect foreign ministers will also agree to step up non-lethal support.”
- Henry Moore
Almost 5,600 Ukrainian civilians killed since invasion began, report claims
Almost 5,600 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia’s brutal invasion began, according to a report by the Kyiv Independent.
Specifically, Putin’s bloodthirsty invasion has reportedly left 5,595 non-combatants dead.
440 of these casualties are children, the piece claims.
- Henry Moore
Russian reservists plagued with 'confusion' and 'inadequate training'
The British Ministry of Defence has reported that the 300,000 reservists recruited in Putin's partial mobilisation plan have been plagued by "confusion' and "inadequate training."
The MoD statement read: "Two months after President Putin announced a ‘partial mobilisation’, common themes are emerging in the experience of mobilised Russian reservists.
"Their deployment is often characterised by confusion over eligibility for service, inadequate training and personal equipment, and commitment to highly attritional combat missions.
"Most – though not all – mobilised reservists have previously served and numerous examples suggest that reservists are highly likely not having their medical status adequately reviewed and many are being compelled to serve with serious, chronic health conditions.
"Mobilised reservists have highly likely experienced particularly heavy casualties after being committed to dig ambitious trench systems while under artillery fire around the Luhansk Oblast town of Svatove.
"In Donetsk Oblast, reservists have been killed in large numbers in frontal assaults into well-established Ukrainian defensive zones around the town of Bakhmut.
"The Kremlin will likely be concerned that an increasing number of reservists’ families are prepared to risk arrest by protesting against the conditions their relatives are serving under."
- Henry Moore
Citizens flee Kyiv amid Russian bombardment
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has reported that Ukrainians are fleeing Kyiv amid constant Russian shelling.
“We expect an increase of population movement in the next few months. We are already seeing in Kyiv the city is emptying,” IFRC official Violaine des Rosier told reporters in Geneva.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian capital was left in complete darkness, following a mass missile strike by the Kremlin.
- Henry Moore
Zelensky slams Russia following mass missile strikes
Speaking to the Financial Times on Thursday, Ukraine’s President Zelensky spoke of the crippling missile strikes his country has faced in recent weeks.
On Thursday alone, Ukraine was left in total darkness following Russia’s strategic attack on energy infrastructure.
“It was the kind of incident that hasn’t happened for I don’t know how many years, maybe 80, 90 years: a country on the European continent where there was totally no light,” he told the FT.
“The state superbly fought back. Energy workers, the state emergencies’ ministry, deminers, everyone worked to fix and restore power and provide at least a bit of water.
“This is a war about strength, about resilience, it is about who stands stronger.”
- Henry Moore
Putin meets with the mothers of Russian soldiers
Vladimir Putin has met with the mothers of Russian soldiers who have been sent to Ukraine, at Novo-Ogaryovo – one of his residences on the outskirts of Moscow.
Speaking to women surrounding him, Putin said: “I would like you to know that I personally, and the whole leadership of the country, share your pain.
“We understand that nothing can replace the loss of a son, especially for a mother.''
In a video released by the Kremlin, the Russian women sat with Putin in a formal boardroom.
In front of each mother sits a microphone, a cup of tea, and a traditional Russian slice of lemon, and a small plate of pastries.
- Henry Moore
Who controls what in Ukraine?
The Ministry of Defence has once again shared a look at the battlefield in Ukraine.
Russian troops were driven from Kherson in recent weeks, and the Kremlin has since moved much of its forces to Luhansk.
Take a look at the current situation below.
- Henry Moore
In pictures: James Cleverly meets President Zelensky
Today, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv.
During the visit, the UK official announced a new aid package for Ukraine, and reaffirmed Britain’s commitment to defending the under-siege nation.
- Henry Moore
Ukraine pays tribute to famed ballet dancer who lost his life fighting Russia
This week, Ukrainians paid tribute to Vadym Khlupyanets, a ballet dancer who died resisting Putin’s brutal invasion.
Taking to Twitter, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence penned a touching tribute.
The tweet read: “Vadym Khlupyanets, a ballet dancer of the Kyiv Operetta Theater, died in the battle for freedom and independence of Ukraine.
“He traded the stage for trenches so that millions of people would never lose their free lives to authoritarianism. Eternal glory!
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