Summary: Heavy snowstorms and a cyclone have impacted both Ukraine and Russia this week, but neither side seems to be letting up their fight. But Russia seems to have gained the initiative in the war again and is determined to keep it at heavy losses with over 1000 casualties this week alone. Russia made some tactical advances towards Kupyansk and Avdiivka this week.
Russia 1 – Kupyansk/Svatove Line
Russian troops advanced in the area north of Ivanivka (13 miles E of Kupyansk), west and southwest of Pershotravneve (14 miles E of Kupyansk), and north of Synkivka (6 miles NE of Kupyansk).
Ukraine also made some marginal advances near Yahidne (15 miles SE of Kupyansk).
Russia 2 – Svatove/Kreminna Line
Russian forces made no confirmed or claimed advances in the sector. Ukraine claimed to have made some unspecified advances towards Svatove.
Russia 3 – Avdiivka/Marinka Line (Outskirts of Occupied Donetsk City)
Russian continues its third wave offensive to take the strategic city of Avdiivka, this time mainly with infantry, thus suffering heavy casualties. Ukrainian intelligence intercepted a Russian soldier’s telephone conversation describing the high casualties of Russian troops in the offensive against Avdiivka. “There are a lot of people, and the wounded are being brought here by trucks literally every day”, he can be heard saying. He continues, “A lot of dead as well. I’m in a civilian hospital because the military hospital is overcrowded – three floors packed. Everyone is lying without arms or legs, some without various body parts…guys are lying on the floor in the hallway.” He concludes the conversation by stating, “The assault failed…everyone was killed…the fields are just littered with corpses.”
But the constant waves of infantry assaults have given the Russian forces some marginal gains. Russian forces crossed the northern railway and advanced by one tree line towards Novokalynove (8 miles N of Avdiivka), advanced through a tree line north of Stepove (5 miles NW of Avdiivka) towards the railway, and then along the railway north of Stepove. This cuts off the railway from supplying Ukrainian troops in Avdiivka. Ukrainian troops were also seen retreating west from the southern industrial region of Avdiivka suggesting that Russian troops have captured the region. Russian forces also made marginal advances north of Krasnohorivka (14 miles SW of Avdiivka).
Ukraine 1 – Liberate Bakhmut
Russian forces recaptured most of the previously lost territory east of the railway near Andriivka (7 miles S of Bakhmut). Russian forces also claimed to have captured Khromove (2.5 miles W of Bakhmut).
Ukraine 2 – Drive to Berdyansk from Velyka Novosilka
Neither side made any confirmed advances in the sector.
Ukraine 3 – Drive to Melitopol from Orikhiv
Ukrainian forces recaptured the westernmost trench that lies 0.5 miles southwest of Robotyne (8.5 miles S of Orikhiv) and have made further marginal advances west of that trench.
Russian forces made some marginal advances southwest of Novopokrovka (10 miles SE of Orikhiv) over the Thanksgiving holidays.
Ukraine 4 – Liberate Eastern Kherson
Ukrainian forces continue to hold their positions on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River but made no confirmed or claimed advances. The fighting in Krynky is the most intense with both sides making advances and then retreats.
A group of Russian soldiers defending this sector released a video over last weekend pleading for troop rotations stating that only 50 personnel remain from three Russian companies. They claimed that their commander was planning on sending them to their deaths to cover up the loss. A company can hold up to 150 soldiers, and if they were fully equipped at the beginning of the Ukrainian operation to cross the river, 90% of them have been killed.
By Wednesday, Russian soldiers began refusing to fight claiming that no one has informed them even of where Russian mines have been laid. They have suffered 50 casualties alone this week from their own mines.
Friday, November 24
Ukraine launched a large-scale drone attack against occupied Crimea launching 13 air drones and 12 water drones. All the drones were intercepted by Russian air and sea defense.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that Germany and France will lead a coalition of 20 governments to further develop Ukraine’s air defenses. They will also provide mine-trawling equipment.
Russian law enforcement raided a Wildberries (Russia’s version of Amazon.Com) warehouse in Moscow Oblast and detained 135 migrant workers who had recently acquired Russian citizenship and transferred them to a military registration and enlistment office as part of their “Operation Migrant” shanghai movement.
The Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), the counter to NATO, began their recent council session in Minsk, Belarus with Armenia notably absent. Russian spokesperson Dmitri Peskov voiced his disappointment of Armenia’s absence but claimed that Armenia was still an ally and strategic partner. Belarus stepped down from holding the chairmanship and turned it over to Kazakhstan. Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that an air defense system would be installed in Tajikistan.
Russian state-owned defense company Rostec announced their new “Chistyulya” anti-drone system which can suppress enemy drones within a half-mile radius. They are suspiciously identical to a Chinese anti-drone system.
Finland closed all but one of its border checkpoints with Russia due to a Russian-orchestrated migrant problem of Middle East asylum seekers flooding the border region. Norway and Estonia threatened to close their border with Russia as well if the migrants attempt to flood their borders.
The Russian Strelkov Movement, supporters of the presidential aspirations of jailed Russian nationalist Igor Girkin, have already declared the upcoming Russian elections as illegitimate.
A BBC investigation revealed how Just Russia Party leader Sergei Mironov committed a war crime by kidnapping and adopting one, and maybe two, Ukrainian children from the occupied regions of Ukraine. His wife, Inna, had traveled to occupied Kherson region with a power of attorney to deport two children – a ten-month-old girl and a two-year-old boy. She had falsely introduced herself as the “head of children’s affairs from Moscow” to the orphanage where the two children resided. Both children were subsequently deported to Russia. They changed the girl’s name and birthplace from Kherson, Ukraine to Podolsk, Russia. The current whereabouts of the boy could not be determined. This is the second confirmed war crime of abducting Ukrainian children for adoption. The first confirmed case resulted in the international arrest warrant against Russian Commissioner on Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova.
The BBC also reported that a disproportionate number of Russian casualties are military personnel from Siberia and Far Eastern regions of Russia rather than the more highly occupied regions around Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The Washington Post released a report claiming that China and Russia are planning the construction of an underwater tunnel to connect the Russian mainland with Crimea.
The Russian Ministry of Digital Development unveiled a program to unify all video surveillance systems under government control and equip them with facial recognition programs to further their totalitarian control over their citizens.
Ukrainian military intelligence released a report that they obtained from the Russian Federal Air Transport Agency detailing nearly 350 civil aviation malfunctions and accidents over the last nine months. Because of the international sanctions, Russia is not able to properly maintain their civil fleets of planes.
Russian opposition outlet Mediazona reported that over 4000 criminal cases have been filed against Russian personnel for abandoning their posts in the war against Ukraine.
Russia has increased its cultural genocide against Ukrainian children by mandating that 70% of Ukrainian children starting from the first grade participate in an educational exchange program in Russia.
Saturday, November 25
Russia conducted their largest drone strike against Ukraine since the start of the renewed invasion launching 75 military drones against Kyiv with Ukrainian air defense intercepting an amazing 74 of them. Russia later launched a missile that was also intercepted. Drone debris fell injuring two civilians in Kyiv including an 11-year-old child. An apartment building was damaged, and two women were extracted from the rubble. Several other fires were ignited from the debris and an electrical line was cut leaving a portion of the city without power. The attack was made on the anniversary of the start of the Holodomor, a Soviet genocide against Ukraine that killed millions from starvation in the 1930s.
President Zelensky announced that unspecified Western nations had agreed to provide Ukraine with warships to defend the grain corridor in the Black Sea and “very powerful” air defense systems to defend the ports of Odesa Oblast.
Latvian President Edgars Rinkevics visited the frontline city or Yahidne (Russian Sector 1) and visited the basement where Russian troops confined local residents when they had occupied the city. Rinkevics pledged $16.4 million towards reconstruction of Ukraine.
Swiss President Alain Berset met with President Zelensky in Kyiv to discuss food security and pledged $109 million for demining efforts in Ukraine.
Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan stated that Russia has not fulfilled arms export deals of which Armenia has already made payments. Russia is unable to fulfill the deals because of their war against Ukraine. Armenia suggested that Russia keep the weapons and reduce Armenian debt to Russia by an equivalent amount.
Sunday, November 26
Ukraine launched a large drone attack over Moscow, Tula, Kaluga, Bryansk, and Smolensk Oblasts. Russia claimed to have shot down 24 drones with debris of at least one damaging an apartment building in Tula. Ukraine launched two missiles towards the Kerch Bridge, but both were shot down. Ukraine also conducted a HIMARS and large artillery strike on power distribution targets throughout occupied Donetsk Oblast causing massive power outages throughout the region.
Russia launched nine drones against Ukraine. Ukrainian air defense systems intercepted eight of them.
Jussi Halla-aho, the Speaker of the Finnish Parliament, received a standing ovation from Ukraine’s Parliament after he gave an address entirely in the Ukrainian language. His speech called for a strong response against Russian imperialism and reaffirmed Finland’s support of Ukraine.
Monday, November 27
A cyclone hitting both Ukraine and Russia made this a slow news day.
Ukraine launched a successful drone attack against an aircraft factory in Smolensk, Russia. No other details were released.
Tuesday, November 28
President Putin gave a disturbing speech about unification of all Slavic people under Russia which sounded familiar to Hitler’s speeches about the Aryan race. In his opinion, not only Belarus and Ukraine are part of Russia, but so is Poland, Slovakia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Slovenia, and anywhere else Slavic people reside in number.
Marianna Budanova, the wife of the Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov, was poisoned and is undergoing treatment.
President Putin signed into law the 2024 – 2026 Russian federal budgets significantly increasing the military budget over the next three years. The increase for 2024 alone is a 13% increase.
Wednesday, November 29
Russia launched three missiles and 21 drones at targets in Ukraine. Ukrainian air defense shot down two of the missiles and all the drones. The third missile did not reach its target.
The NATO-Ukraine Council met for the first time and discussed steps to increase weapons and ammunition production. NATO is developing a roadmap to bring Ukraine into the alliance.
Poland is sending a team to help Finland build up their border with Russia after surviving a migrant crisis with thousands of Mideast asylum seekers attempting to enter Finland from Russia. Finland has closed its last remaining open border with Russia.
NATO members gathered in Brussels and issued a statement that they are determined to continue arming Ukraine for its defense against Russia.
Ukrainian partisans in occupied Kherson region targeted a building where Russian officials were gathered which resulted in the death of five officials.
North Macedonia, who currently chairs the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), invited Russia to the international gathering to be held tomorrow in Skopje, North Macedonia. As a result, several countries have joined with Ukraine in boycotting the meeting. These include Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Romania.