Prepared by Anna Dovha, Sofia Oliynyk, Maryana Zaviyska
Photo: Zelenckyi Offical telegram channel
Foreign policy.
Valdis Dombrovskis, EU Commission Executive Vice-President and Trade Commissioner visited Kyiv on November 18. Together with Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal they discussed emergency financial support for Ukraine and further support for Ukraine and mechanisms for the confiscation of frozen Russian assets. Since the beginning of Russia’s full scale-invasion of Ukraine, EU Member States and European financial institutions have provided a combined total of €19.7 billion to strengthen Ukraine’s economic, social, and financial resilience. However, the Vice-President indicated that financial support will come with certain conditions, undertaken steps to strengthen the rule of law, enhancing good governance, fighting fraud and corruption.
Ukraine, together with its allies, has started the development of a joint declaration on the Ukrainian air shield, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andriy Yermak, announced. In addition, the Ukroboronprom State Concern reported that Ukraine is integrating into NATO’s defense-industrial complex and will jointly produce weapons and military equipment with 6 member countries of the Alliance.
On November 19, Prime Minister of Great Britain Rishi Sunak visited Kyiv and met with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. He confirmed that the UK will provide a major new package of air defense to help protect Ukrainian civilians and critical national infrastructure from an intense barrage of Russian strikes. The £50 million package of defense aid comprises 125 anti-aircraft guns and technology to counter deadly Iranian-supplied drones, including dozens of radars and anti-drone electronic warfare capability.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands is summoning the Russian ambassador due to the ‘unacceptable’ response to the verdict in the case of the downing of the Malaysia Airlines flight, which was handed down by the court in The Hague on November 17, 2022. Earlier, the Russian Foreign Ministry said it regretted that the court ‘ignored the principles of impartiality in the MH17 case.’
The Deputy Minister of Culture and National Heritage of Poland, JarosÅ‚aw Sellin, stated that Poland should replace Russia in the G20. ‘In economic rankings, Poland ranks about 20th in the world, while Poland’s geopolitical importance has grown significantly thanks to the aid given to Ukraine,’ he said.
Cities under attack.
Dnipropetrovsk region. On November 18, the Russian military attacked the city of Nikopol. As a result, several private and high rise buildings and a power line were damaged. The explosion damaged the solar substation and the garage cooperative in the city. The next day on November 19, the Russian invaders continued shelling the city. As a result, houses, household buildings and cars were damaged. On November 20, the shelling continued. One person was injured, 20 high rise and private houses, household buildings, cars, a vocational school dormitory, gas pipelines and power lines were damaged. Zaporizhzhia region. In the evening of November 18, the Russian occupiers launched a missile attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia. As a result, an industrial infrastructure facility was damaged. At night on November 19, the Russian military continued shelling the city. Due to the attacks, the missile explosions damaged the central heating pipelines and stopped the supply of coolant to 123 high-rise buildings, where more than 17,000 people live. For this reason, there is a disruption of the heating supply in one of the city’s districts. Kharkiv region. On November 19, the Russian invaders shelled Kupiansk. As a result of the shelling, 2 people were injured and private houses and household buildings were damaged. Donetsk region. On November 19, the city of Kramatorsk was under Russian attack. As a result, 14 private houses were damaged. During the day, due to the military actions conducted by the Russian military, 2 people were injured in Bakhmut and Vuhledar.
Human rights.
Deputy Minister of Economy of Ukraine Tetiana Berezhna reported that due to the full-scale military invasion, at least 5 million people in Ukraine lost their jobs. Another 7 million Ukrainians became refugees. Also, according to Prosecutor General of Ukraine Andrii Kostin, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 8311 civilians were killed, including 437 children, and more than 11000 civilians were injured.
According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the number of Ukrainian citizens deported to Russia is more than 2.5 million, however, the exact number is not known. Also, according to the State Service for Emergency Situations, as of mid-November, about 30% of the territory of Ukraine was mined.
Energy security.
According to the resolution of the Board of Governors of the IAEA, Russia’s accusations regarding the alleged creation of a ‘dirty bomb’ by Ukraine are unfounded. ‘The agency has found no indications of undeclared nuclear activities or materials related to the development of radiological dispersal devices (‘dirty bombs’) at three locations in Ukraine, following complementary accesses conducted at the request of Ukraine.’ Also, the resolution calls on Russia to immediately cease all actions against and at nuclear facilities in Ukraine.
IAEA reported that on November 19 and 20, powerful explosions shook the area of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. As a result of the explosions, some buildings, systems and equipment had been damaged on the territory of the station. The Director General of IAEA Rafael Grossi called again on the creation of a nuclear safety and security zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible.
Turkey warned the world’s oil shippers they will need to prove they’re insured to cross the country’s vital straits, a move that could restrict flows of Russian oil as new European sanctions kick in, Bloomberg reported. The new rule comes into force on December 1, a few days ahead of the EU and the UK imposing additional curbs on Russian trade. Turkey explains its decision with a need to comply with EU sanctions even though Turkey is not part of them.
The detonations that damaged the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines are gross sabotage, Mats Ljungqvist, the Swedish prosecutor leading the preliminary investigation reported.
Food security.
In the frame of the Grain Initiative, In 2 days 9 vessels with 162 thousand tonnes of agricultural products left the ports of Greater Odesa. The vessels carry the agriculture products for the countries of Africa, Asia and Europe. Overall, since August 1, 475 vessels have left the ports of Greater Odesa, exporting 11.2 million tonnes of Ukrainian food to Asia, Europe and Africa.
Sanctions.
The EU has frozen a total of €68 billion in Russian assets – most of which are in Belgium, according to an internal Commission document seen by POLITICO.
Economic security.
Ukraine has received more than $23 billion in international financial aid since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Denys Shmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, reported.
Awards.
The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) awarded Sevgil Musaieva, editor-in-chief of ‘Ukrainska Pravda’ with the International Award for Freedom of the Press.
UNICEF awarded Patron, a detection dog who works for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, the title of the world’s first Dog of Goodwill.
Statistics.
- General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced the total estimated losses of the Russian military as of 10 a.m., November 21, 2022: personnel – around 84 600, tanks ‒ 2892, APV ‒ 5822, artillery systems – 1870, MLRS – 393, anti-aircraft warfare systems – 209, fixed-wing aircraft – 278, helicopters – 261, operational-tactical level UAV – 1537, cruise missiles – 480, boats and light speed boats – 16, soft-skinned vehicles and fuel tankers – 4378, special equipment – 161.
Every action counts, no contribution is too small!
- Support NGO Sylni providing support to victims of sexual violence during the war.
- Support SharetheTruth project becoming one of the volunteers translating it into your local language.
- Subscribe to our daily updates on Twitter and our website.
