Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 23:01 Zaluzhny said that he took part in a meeting in the Ramstein format for the first time: “He informed our partners in detail about the situation on the battlefield. He noted that the situation at the front is complicated, but controllable. The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to conduct defensive and offensive operations. He reported on Russian actions, threats and their possible plans for the near future." According to the commander-in-chief, the announced aid packages will strengthen the Ukrainian air defense system, artillery, electronic warfare and other important components.
22:55 Defense Minister Rustem Umerov announced five key results of today’s Ramstein meeting. At the same time, he added that “the biggest and most powerful announcements remained confidential.”
A new ground-based air defense coalition has been formed. The leaders are Germany and France. The coalition included 20 countries. Providing Ukrainian cities with additional air defense systems is one of the priorities for this winter.
The Netherlands has prepared 2 billion euros for military assistance to Ukraine.
The leader of the IT coalition, Estonia, is providing funding in the amount of 500 thousand dollars for the activities of the IT coalition in addition to Luxembourg's commitments of 10 million euros.
The UK and Norway, as part of a maritime coalition, will look for ways to further enhance security in the Black Sea.
Together with colleagues in Brussels, work is underway on a Roadmap for intercompatibility with NATO requirements.
22:43 EU states may begin purchasing ammunition for Ukraine in third countries if they fail to meet their obligations to supply 1 million shells to Kiev by March, Politico writes, citing a senior French diplomat.
22:00 The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a missile strike during the award ceremony for the personnel of the Russian marine brigade. For more details, including photos and videos, see Death Live .
21:12 The Russians shelled Kherson, one person died, the prosecutor’s office reported.
21:01 At today’s meeting in the Ramstein format, it was decided to create a coalition for the development of Ukrainian air defense , the leaders of which were Germany and France, Zelensky said in an evening video message. Decisions have also been made to provide new support packages to Ukraine, which relate to shells, missiles, electronic warfare, drones, as well as new air defense capabilities. “Not everything can be said publicly yet, but the Ukrainian air shield is becoming stronger literally every month,” the president added.
20:09 During the day, the Russian Army attacked Chasov Yar, Avdeevka and Toretsk in the Donetsk region, the prosecutor’s office reported. In Avdeevka, as a result of shelling, one person was injured, in the town of Chasov Yar, one person was killed, and another person was killed in the Severnoe village of Toretsk.
19:33 In Selidovo, Donetsk region, the number of deaths as a result of yesterday's missile attack on a hospital increased to three - rescuers pulled out another body from under the rubble. Rescue operations have been completed, the State Emergency Service reports.
19:26 Orban wrote a letter to the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, in which he threatens to block all decisions on financing Ukraine , the opening of negotiations on accession to the EU or further sanctions against Russia if EU leaders do not reconsider the strategy of supporting Kiev during the summit in December, writes Politico. “The European Council must take stock of the implementation and effectiveness of our current policy on Ukraine, as well as hold a frank discussion about the feasibility of the EU’s strategic goals in Ukraine,” the publication quotes the letter from the Hungarian Prime Minister.
18:34 The Bulgarian Parliament finally approved the transfer to Ukraine of 100 BTR-60s produced in the 60-70s. The cars are the property of the Bulgarian Ministry of Internal Affairs, but they have never been used. They will be handed over to the Ukrainian Armed Forces along with weapons and spare parts.
17:50 On November 21, the Ukrainian Armed Forces hit the command post of Russian special forces units near Oleshkovsky Sands with guided bombs, StratCom reported.
17:38 The warning scheme for the take-off of enemy MiG-31Ks will not be changed, said Air Force Speaker Yuri Ignat. He explained that the military does not always have information whether it is a combat mission or a training mission. Therefore, the alarms will sound every time. “As for what level of threat there will be, that is, what color to paint the map, this will be decided at the highest level,” Ignat added.
17:23 The German government announced another package of military assistance to Ukraine. It included, in particular, 20 Marder infantry fighting vehicles, a Wisent armored engineering vehicle, two HX81 tractors and semi-trailers for them, five ambulance all-terrain vehicles and two ambulances, 2380 artillery ammunition.
16:51 Since April 2022, the countries participating in the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine have allocated more than $80 billion for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Pentagon head Lloyd Austin said during an online meeting in the Ramstein format. He called on the group members to strengthen the capabilities of Ukrainian air defense ahead of winter.
16:37 The Russian Ministry of Defense stated that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly launched a drone strike on a group of Russian journalists who were preparing material about shelling in the occupied Zaporozhye region. One of the journalists received shrapnel wounds.
15:44 Putin said at the online summit of G20 leaders that Russia “has never abandoned peace negotiations on Ukraine.” According to him, “we have to think about how to end this.” According to Bloomberg, Biden and Xi Jinping refused to participate in the G20 summit, where Putin will speak for the first time since 2021. At the same time, today Xi is receiving the Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, Vyacheslav Volodin, in Beijing.
15:38 North Macedonia has completed training of the first group of Ukrainian military personnel - information about the exercises has until now been kept secret for security reasons, said Defense Minister Slavyanka Petrovska. According to her, the exercises were carried out at facilities belonging to the country's army. Petrovskaya added that North Macedonia will continue to train the Ukrainian military throughout 2024 and “as long as there is a need for it.”
15:31 Ukraine has received a new aid package from Lithuania - it contains 3 million rounds of 7.62×51 mm caliber, remote detonation systems and winter equipment, the country’s Ministry of Defense reported.
15:07 StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed a strike on a concentration of Russian military personnel from the 810th Marine Brigade of the Russian Federation on the Day of the Russian Artilleryman near Starobeshevo, Donetsk region. However, the details were not specified there.
14:15 In the village of Chernomorskoye this morning, a strike was struck on the pier of a Russian military unit in Uzkaya Bay - the same place where landing boats and personnel were destroyed last time, the Crimean Wind telegram channel reports, citing its sources. The pier is now protected by booms made of barrels tied with cables.
14:06 British intelligence has described the fighting around Krynoki in the Kherson region in the lower Dnieper as “extremely unpleasant” for the Russians, as it is characterized by confused, chaotic infantry clashes and artillery exchanges in difficult wooded terrain. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have been particularly effective in using small attack drones, according to intelligence, while the Russian Air Force has been flying a significant number of sorties in support of front-line troops, primarily launching munitions from beyond the range of Ukrainian air defense systems.
13:20 Canada will allocate $947 thousand for the Ukrainian army over three years, the country's government reported.
12:52 The EU has provided Ukraine with a new tranche of 1.5 billion euros as part of the macro-financial assistance package, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
12:48 The Verkhovna Rada adopted a bill according to which the Ukrainian military will be able to store their reproductive cells in cryobanks for free.
12:36 Weather conditions have complicated the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Limansky, Bakhmutsky, Donetsk and Avdeevsky directions, Zelensky said following a daily conference call. According to him, the Russian army at this stage made prisoners the main source of replenishing losses on the battlefield. The meeting participants also discussed the work of the Black Sea grain corridor. The last few days have been record-breaking for the volume of cargo transported, Zelensky noted.
11:57 The fifth power unit of the occupied Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is being transferred to cold shutdown mode, the IAEA reported. Following the cold shutdown, ZNPP will conduct tests to determine why low levels of boron were detected in the secondary cooling circuit of one of the unit's steam generators. After the fifth power unit is transferred to cold shutdown, only one of the station's six reactors will remain in hot shutdown mode for steam production and heating.
11:20 Zelensky said in an interview with Fox News that he is ready to discuss a peace plan with Donald Trump, but Ukraine “will not give up Donbass and Crimea to Russia.” “Yes, we can stop the war if we give Donbass and Crimea to Russia. I think our country will not be ready for such a peace plan. This is not a peace plan,” the president emphasized.
11:11 Ukrainians who are forced to stay in Europe because of the war can donate DNA samples to search for their relatives who have gone missing under special circumstances, said Interior Minister Igor Klimenko. The service is currently available in Poland and Germany. Experts will hand over the collected samples to Ukrainian investigators to search and identify missing persons.
10:56 The Russian Army has sharply increased the number of assaults and airstrikes in the Tauride direction, said the commander of the operational-strategic group of troops of Tavria, Alexander Tarnavsky. In particular, the enemy is dropping KABs from Su-35 aircraft. At the same time, according to the commander, Russian losses in manpower and armored vehicles have increased. Tarnavsky noted that Ukrainian forces are steadfastly holding their defense in the Avdeevsky direction and continue their offensive in Melitopol.
10:37 The Pentagon denied information that supplies of necessary ammunition to Ukraine fell by 30% with the start of Israel’s war against Hamas. Deputy Speaker of the US Department of Defense Sabrina Singh emphasized that the United States can simultaneously support Israel and Ukraine.
09:58 The European Commission presented member states with a draft decision on providing Ukraine with long-term security obligations, Bloomberg writes. The EU Framework Document provides:
a long-term mechanism for the provision of military equipment to Ukraine, mobilizing the European defense industry;
ensuring training of the Ukrainian armed forces;
deepening cooperation with the Ukrainian defense industry;
strengthening Ukraine’s ability to counter cyber and hybrid threats, as well as disinformation;
supporting Ukraine's efforts to clear mines and combat contamination caused by explosive residues;
assisting Ukraine in implementing the reform program associated with the EU accession process, as well as strengthening its ability to control stocks of firearms, light weapons and ammunition and counter any illicit trafficking;
supporting the country's energy transition and nuclear security efforts;
sharing intelligence and satellite imagery.
09:22 In Selidovo, Donetsk region, as a result of yesterday's missile attack, the number of deaths increased to two - rescuers pulled the body of another person from under the rubble of a partially destroyed hospital, the State Emergency Service reports. Rescue efforts are continuing and one more person may be trapped under the rubble. Eight people were injured.
08:35 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of November 22:
personnel - about 320,670 (+850) people,
tanks - 5446 (+7),
armored combat vehicles - 10,188 (+14),
artillery systems - 7769 (+17),
MLRS - 899 (+0),
air defense systems - 589 (+1),
aircraft - 323 (+0),
helicopters - 324 (+0),
UAV of operational-tactical level - 5784 (+13),
cruise missiles - 1564 (+0),
ships/boats - 22 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 10,159 (+25),
special equipment - 1105 (+7).
08:09 Over the past 24 hours, 48 military clashes took place at the front, the General Staff reported in its morning report . The defense forces repulsed the most enemy attacks - 18 - in the Maryinsky direction (in the Maryinka and Novomikhailovka areas of the Donetsk region). Another 13 attacks were repelled in the Avdeevsky direction - east of Novobakhmutovka, Avdeevka, Severny and Pervomaisky, Donetsk region.
In the Kupyansk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled enemy attacks in the Sinkovka areas and east of Petropavlovka, Kharkov region; on Limansky - near Seversk, Donetsk region; on Bakhmutsky - near Kleshcheevka and east of Pivdenny, Donetsk region; on Shakhtarsky - not far from Staromayorsky, Donetsk region; in Zaporozhye - in the Rabotino and Kamensky districts of the Zaporozhye region.
At the same time, the Defense Forces continue their offensive in the Melitopol direction and south of Bakhmut, Donetsk region. In the Kherson direction, Ukrainian troops hold their positions on the left bank of the Dnieper.
07:32 The Russian Ministry of Defense announced the destruction of three “Ukrainian drones” by air defense means over the territory of Crimea. In addition, in the western part of the Black Sea, four unmanned boats of the Ukrainian Navy were discovered and allegedly destroyed.
07:23 On Wednesday, November 22, the 17th meeting of the Contact Group on Defense of Ukraine will take place in the Ramstein format. According to the head of the Press and Information Department of the Ministry of Defense, Illarion Pavlyuk, the focus of the meeting will be on preparations for winter. In particular, the allies will discuss the need to supply air defense systems, artillery and ammunition. More than 50 countries will take part in the remote meeting.
07:09 In the evening and at night, air defense destroyed all 14 Shahed-type attack UAVs , which Russia attacked from the south-eastern direction (Primorsko-Akhtarsk). Air defense operated within the Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kyiv, Zhytomyr, Vinnitsa and Khmelnytsky regions.
In addition, the enemy used the Kh-22 cruise missile, which was fired from a Tu-22M3 aircraft, also from a south-eastern direction. The missile did not reach its target and fell in the Zaporozhye region in an open area. The blast wave damaged private houses, but no people were injured.
01:11 Washington positively evaluates the use of American weapons by the Ukrainian military, said Pentagon Deputy Speaker Sabrina Singh. In particular, she noted the successful use of HIMARS missile systems in Ukraine, as well as Western-style air defense systems.
Singh also expressed concern that Iran is preparing to supply Russia with ballistic missiles. At the same time, she added that the United States does not yet have evidence that such a transfer occurred.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by David Narmania
[RIA] There is a special charm about the British tabloids - they always have something to satisfy the most bizarre whims of their readers. Following the story of a Welsh British man who killed his own mother, there is a story about the death of a former footballer and porn actor. Then news about changes to the McDonald's menu. Immediately after this shocking news - a note about a TV presenter who published a photo without a bra. And so on in the same way. Having scrolled through the Internet page almost to the very end and casually become acquainted with stories from the daily life of the British yellow press, the most sophisticated perverts will be able to find what they came here for: Zelensky’s interview for The Sun.
For those especially experienced, there is even a video version. True, you will have to wade through the violence against the English language, which the Ukrainian leader enthusiastically studies for 15 minutes. Honestly, we could have treated the sponsors' language more leniently. But a graduate of the Krivoy Rog Economic Institute, who, by the will of fate, found himself in the presidential chair, for almost two years has not coped with this impossible task - the journalist even tells him the phrase “start a fire.”
But in the text version, the British tabloid is generous with epithets. Zelensky himself is called a “lion’s heart” - no more, no less. The short interview is mainly devoted to the person of the Ukrainian leader rather than to affairs in his country. Here he talks about successfully surviving six assassination attempts, about the paratroopers in Kiev sent to kill him, about the barricades in the office on Bankova, and so on. About the needs of the front - short remarks in the spirit of “there is air defense - give it”, about the situation at the front - “there is no deadlock”, about the Ukrainians themselves - “everyone is tired, but they don’t want negotiations.”
But since Mr. Zelensky is so well aware of the desires of Ukrainians, why does he refuse to hold elections? Did the “counter-attacks” fail to inspire the people and support dropped to a minimum? Or do voters not like the initiatives that the Russian SVR learned about on Monday? Let us remind you that we are talking about the mobilization of Ukrainians under 65 years of age into the rank and file and under 70 into the command staff. At the same time, it is also planned to reduce the minimum conscription age to 17 years. Well, against the backdrop of the September initiatives to recruit women to the Armed Forces of Ukraine , such a step would not surprise anyone. Especially against the backdrop of dwindling support from the West.
During the week, both CIA Director William Burns and Pentagon Chief Lloyd Austin visited Kiev . The latter even brought promises of new tranches of military assistance. True, for now, instead of the promised package of $105 billion in aid to Kiev and Tel Aviv, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will receive only $100 million worth of equipment and ammunition. Including one whole HIMARS complex. At this rate, Zelensky will soon meet Western guests on the Kyiv-Pasazhyrsky platform and accept their checkered shuttle bags: “What fits, they brought. Fight.”
But not only Americans came - there was also the head of the European Council , Charles Michel , and German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius , and before them, the newly appointed British Foreign Minister and former British Prime Minister David Cameron . And such a string of high-ranking guests, who, by the standards of previous arms deliveries, arrive almost empty-handed, speaks of alarming changes for Zelensky in the West’s strategy in Ukraine: the sponsors have played enough of the “counter-offensive” with new equipment, the time has come to defend with what they have .
But such changes cannot please Zelensky. First, it means recognizing the impossibility of defeating Russia on the battlefield. But it was he who was assigned the role of the person who had to convince everyone - primarily Ukrainian, European and American citizens - that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were capable of this. That is why he is afraid of the elections - the voter still remembers the promises of the reports about access to the Sea of Azov . But alas, it’s a bit far from Rabotino to the shore of this (now internal Russian) sea. And now, since victory is impossible, why should 65-year-old pensioners along with 17-year-old teenagers go to the front? To delay the inevitable?
Here Zelensky talks about how Russia is trying to organize another Maidan - and this on the tenth anniversary of the start of the “Revolution of Dignity”! This is a paradox: the Zelensky regime—the flesh and blood of a coup for the sake of “lace panties and the EU ”—is afraid of its progenitor like fire. This is people's democracy.
Against this background, it is clear why Zelensky agreed to an interview with the tabloid press: he is settling into the gossip column. There is a place for the former president and actor.
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[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kupyansk direction, units of the Zapad Group of Forces supported by helicopters and artillery repelled an attack of an assault detachment of the AFU 14th Mechanised Brigade close to Sinkovka (Kharkov region).
In addition, losses were inflicted on manpower and hardware of the AFU 25th Airborne Brigade, 57th Motorised Brigade, 30th and 32nd mechanised brigades near Novoselkovskoye (Lugansk People's Republic), Sinkovka and Timkovka (Kharkov region). The enemy lost up to 50 Ukrainian troops and three pickup trucks.
In Krasny Liman direction, units of the Tsentr Group of Forces supported by operational-tactical aircraft, helicopters, and artillery repelled one attack of an assault detachment of the AFU 67th Mechanised Brigade close to Chervonaya Dibrova (Lugansk People's Republic). Manpower of the AFU 12th Special Operations Brigade was struck near Serebryansky forestry. The enemy lost up to 65 Ukrainian troops and two pickup trucks.
In Donetsk direction, units of the Yug Group of Forces supported by aviation and artillery repelled one attack of an assault detachment of the AFU 24th Mechanised Brigade near Leninskoye (Donetsk People's Republic).
In addition, strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of the AFU 22nd, 24th mechanised brigades, 5th Assault Brigade, and 107th Territorial Defence Brigade close to Razdolovka, Kleshcheyevka, Artyomovskoye, Bogdanovka, and Kurdyumovka (Donetsk People's Republic). The enemy losses amounted to up to 115 Ukrainian troops killed and wounded, two armoured personnel carriers, two motor vehicles, and one Msta-B howitzer in this direction.
In South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok Group of Forces utilising results of aviation and artillery strikes repelled an attack of an assault detachment of the AFU 127th Territorial Defence Brigade near Priutnoye (Zaporozhye region), as well as inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the AFU 72nd Mechanised Brigade close to Novomikhailovka (Donetsk People's Republic).The enemy losses amounted to up to 60 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two motor vehicles.
In Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces supported by artillery repelled three attacks of assault detachments of the AFU 33rd Mechanised Brigade and 71st Jaeger Brigade north of Novoprokopovka and west of Verbovoye (Zaporozhye region). In addition, strikes were delivered at manpower and hardware of the AFU 65th Mechanised Brigade near Rabotino (Zaporozhye region). Up to 60 Ukrainian troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two pick-up trucks were eliminated.
In Kherson direction, units of the Russian Group of Forces supported by aviation and artillery inflicted losses on manpower and hardware clusters of the AFU 36th Marines Brigade near Ivanovka and Zmievka (Kherson region). As a result of the strikes, the enemy lost up to 70 Ukrainian troops killed and wounded and five motor vehicles.
Operational-Tactical and Army aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, and Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces eliminated one AFU air-delivered ordnance depot, one S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, and engaged AFU manpower and hardware in 127 areas during the day.
Air defence units intercepted one Ukrainian Air Force MiG-29 close to Vozdvizhenka (Donetsk People's Republic).
Moreover, 45 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were shot down close to Maryinka (Donetsk People's Republic), Verkhnekamenka, Melovatka (Lugansk People's Republic), Pshenichnoye, Mirnoye (Zaporozhye region), Olshana, Dvurechnoye (Kharkov region), Sagi and Zmievka (Kherson region).
In total, 537 airplanes and 254 helicopters, 9,095 unmanned aerial vehicles, 442 air defence missile systems, 13,539 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,185 combat vehicles equipped with MLRS, 7,145 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 15,507 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:59 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 November 22, 2023 to 00:00 November 23, 2023
Over the past 24 hours, the Representative Office reported 72 incidents of firing by the Ukrainian Federal Unitary Forces.
Information was received about the injury of 7 civilians, incl. three children #ChildrenNotTarget, in the Petrovsky and Kirovsky districts of Donetsk, the Central City district of Gorlovka.
Nine residential buildings were damaged in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, the Sovetsky district of Makeyevka, the Nikitovsky and Tsentralno-Gorodsky districts of Gorlovka, as well as 5 civil infrastructure facilities.
Areas of five settlements of the Republic were under enemy fire: Gorlovka (Nikitovsky, Central City districts), Yasinovatsky district, the capital city of Donetsk (Kievsky, Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky, Petrovsky districts), Makeevka (Chervonogvardeysky district), Lipovoe.
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy carried out 31 attacks from MLRS, 155 mm artillery, and attack UAVs.
At Gorlivske there were 33 shellings from 155 mm artillery, incl. with a cassette warhead.
At Yasinovatsky there were 8 shellings from 155 mm artillery.
215 units of various ammunition were produced.
In the previous day, 45 shellings were recorded from the Ukrainian Federal Unitary Forces.
21:10HitThe Armed Forces of Ukraine at the cultural center in the DPR, which resulted in the death of actress Polina Menshikh, hit the roof above the stage. RIA Novosti reports this. The auditorium is practically undamaged, but the roof above the stage is destroyed, the walls are cut by a large number of fragments.
19:49 Kupyansk direction:
Ukrainian Telegram channels report that our army is launching a massive assault on Sinkovka and Petropavlovka. The enemy reports that the PF Armed Forces are using the entire range of weapons.
The videoconferencing system operates and sends FABA-500 every hour, including those with cassette filling. MLRS and heavy artillery are working.
There is progress in promotion. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are retreating, ours advanced 600-700 meters, about 5 oporniks were taken. The offensive and fire raid on enemy positions continues.
18:47 In Donetsk, during the repeated shelling of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, four firefighters of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation were injured, the department reported.
Employees were working at the scene of a fire in the Kirovsky district after a previous strike. At this time, a Ukrainian drone dropped ammunition. The rescuers were hospitalized in moderate condition.
Earlier, the Ukrainian Armed Forces also attacked the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk - two women were injured.
18:27 Zaporozhye direction, Verbovoe:
The Armed Forces of Ukraine tried to carry out several attacks on our positions using up to 5 units of armored vehicles and up to two platoons of personnel, writes Front Bird.
The ATGM hit the side of an enemy tank. There is a hit.
17:42 In the Zaporozhye region, militants of the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched a UAV strike on a group of Russian journalists, there were wounded.
Journalists were preparing material about shelling in the Zaporozhye region.
According to preliminary data, Rossiya 24 correspondent Boris Maksudov received shrapnel wounds, he was evacuated, there is no threat to life.
17:30 As a result of enemy shelling today, three children were wounded in Donetsk. This was announced by the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.
Boy born 2010 received shrapnel wounds to the shoulder. The shelling found him at home in the Petrovsky district of the capital. In the Kirovsky district of Donetsk, two girls born in 2009 were injured as a result of an explosive object being dropped from a UAV near a store. The children were taken to medical institutions and received all the necessary assistance.
In addition, a man born in 1989 was wounded in the Petrovsky district. and a woman born in 1974. In Gorlovka, a woman born in 1964 was injured as a result of shelling.
Four residential buildings were damaged in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk and the Central City district of Gorlovka, as well as four civil infrastructure facilities: a school and three power facilities in the Petrovsky district of Donetsk, the Nikitovsky district of Gorlovka and in Mineralny.
The enemy fired at the territory of the Republic 35 times, 99 rounds of ammunition were fired, rocket artillery with a caliber of 122 mm, cannon artillery with a caliber of 152 and 155 mm, including a cluster type, and an attack UAV were used.
16:30 Battle for Avdiivka on November 22, 2023:
The Russian Armed Forces continue to build on their success in the Avdeevsky sector of the front.
Today, on the southern flank, Russian assault units managed to take the enemy by surprise and storm to occupy five buildings in the industrial zone. The particular value of the advance in this area is due to the fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have been building fortifications here since 2014.
There was no counterattack in response to the surprise attack, since the Ukrainian forces did not have time to request reinforcements, which allowed the Russian attack aircraft to successfully gain a foothold in new positions.
However, it can be expected that in the near future the enemy will concentrate part of its reserves in this direction in order to slow down the advance of the Russian Armed Forces further to the west.
Also on the southern flank, in the area of the Khimik microdistrict, massive air strikes are reported on Ukrainian Armed Forces targets with RBK-500 cluster weapons, the use of which was previously tested in the Staromayorsky area.
15:27 Summary of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation on the progress of the special military operation (as of November 22, 2023)
In the Kupyansk direction, the active actions of units of the “Western” group of forces, with the support of army aviation and artillery fire, repelled an attack by the assault group of the 14th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the village of Sinkovka, Kharkov region.
In addition, the manpower and equipment of the 25th Airborne, 57th Motorized Infantry, 30th and 32nd Mechanized Brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were damaged in the areas of the settlements of Novoselovskoye, Lugansk People's Republic, Sinkovka and Timkovka, Kharkov Region. Enemy losses amounted to up to 50 military personnel and three pickup trucks.
In the Krasnolimansk direction, the coordinated actions of units of the Center group of troops in cooperation with operational-tactical, army aviation and artillery repelled an attack by the assault group of the 67th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the area of the village of Chervonaya Dibrova, Lugansk People's Republic. In the area of Serebryansky forestry, the personnel of the 12th Special Forces Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were hit by fire. The enemy's daily losses amounted to up to 65 military personnel and two pickup trucks.
In the Donetsk direction, units of the “Southern” group of troops, with the support of aviation and artillery, repelled an attack by the assault group of the 24th mechanized brigade in the area of the village of Leninskoye, Donetsk People’s Republic.
In addition, the manpower and equipment of the 22nd, 24th mechanized, 5th assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the 107th territorial defense brigade were defeated in the areas of the settlements of Razdolovka, Kleshcheevka, Artemovskoye, Bogdanovka, Kurdyumovka of the Donetsk People's Republic. The total losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in this direction amounted to up to 115 military personnel killed and wounded, two armored personnel carriers, two vehicles and an MSTA-B howitzer.
In the South Donetsk direction, units of the Vostok group of forces, using the results of air strikes and artillery fire, repelled an attack by the assault group of the 127th territorial defense brigade in the area of the settlement of Priyutnoye, Zaporozhye region, and also defeated the manpower and equipment of the 72nd mechanized brigade Armed Forces of Ukraine in the area of the settlement of Novomikhailovka, Donetsk People's Republic. Enemy losses amounted to up to 60 military personnel, two armored combat vehicles and two cars.
In the Zaporozhye direction, units of the Russian group of troops, supported by artillery fire, repelled three attacks by assault groups of the 33rd mechanized and 71st ranger brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces north of the settlement of Novoprokopovka and west of Verbovoye, Zaporozhye region. In addition, in the area of the settlement of Rabotino, Zaporozhye region, the manpower of the 65th mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was defeated. Up to 60 military personnel, two armored fighting vehicles and two pickup trucks were destroyed.
In the Kherson direction, units of the Russian group of troops, air strikes and artillery fire defeated concentrations of manpower and equipment of the 36th Marine Brigade in the areas of the settlements of Ivanovka and Zmievka, Kherson region. As a result of complex fire damage, the enemy's daily losses amounted to up to 70 military personnel killed and wounded, as well as five vehicles.
Operational-tactical and army aviation, unmanned aerial vehicles, missile forces and artillery of groups of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation destroyed a warehouse of aviation weapons of the Ukrainian air force, the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system, and also damaged manpower and military equipment in 127 regions.
Air defense systems in the area of the village of Vozdvizhenka, Donetsk People's Republic, shot down a MiG-29 aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force.
In addition, 45 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Marinka of the Donetsk People's Republic, Verkhnekamenka, Melovatka of the Lugansk People's Republic, Pshenichne, Mirne of the Zaporozhye region, Olshana, Dvurechnoye of the Kharkov region, Sagi and Zmievka of the Kherson region.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, the following have been destroyed: 537 aircraft, 254 helicopters, 9095 unmanned aerial vehicles, 442 anti-aircraft missile systems, 13539 tanks and other armored combat vehicles, 1185 combat vehicles of multiple launch rocket systems, 7145 field artillery guns and mortars, as well as 15,507 units of special military vehicles.
15:10 Consequences of shelling of the Petrovsky district of Donetsk by Ukrainian militants -photo.
14:31 News from the Ugledar direction and the Vremyevsky ledge from the 105th regiment of the NM DPR:
Due to the fact that the low ambient temperature stabilized the upper layers of the soil, fighting intensified along the entire line of contact.
Since early morning, in the Ugledar and Vremyevsky directions, all types of weapons of our Army have been in operation: MLRS, including 220 mm caliber, heavy artillery, and aviation have been used.
14:00 N.P. Rabotino of the Armed Forces of Ukraine believed in themselves and decided to “navigate”. Russian soldiers set fire to an enemy tank and “filled the infantry with full trousers,” after which the Ukrainian militants retreated.
13:22 Operational situation in the area of the air defense:
In the Kupyansko-Kremenny direction, it was possible to expand the zone of control in the Serebryansky forest area. A regrouping of enemy forces in the Krasny Liman area is recorded.
In the Artemovsk direction, Russian troops managed to expand the zone of control and successfully consolidated their position on the northern outskirts of Kleshcheevka.
In the Avdeevsky sector, active development of the flanks of the fortified area continues. As a result of offensive actions, our attack aircraft managed to gain a foothold in the west of the Vinogradniki gardening society and develop further advances.
In the Orekhovsky sector, the enemy continues to use “containment” tactics - local attacks are carried out in the Rabotino-Verbovoe sector. There is an increase in the concentration of enemy forces and assets in the rear areas of the Zaporozhye region.
In the Kherson direction, Ukrainian formations manage to hold positions in the central part of Krynoki. Thanks to well-established logistics from the right bank, the enemy continues to form a “shock fist” on the existing bridgehead.
In other directions, no significant changes in the operational-combat situation were observed.
13:16 Kharkov direction (area of Kupyansk settlement)
The frontline bird reports that our units have again deployed new attack drones and carried out targeted strikes on enemy positions. The radar and engineering vehicle of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were disabled.
13:05 Airborne anti-aircraft gunnerscoverpositions of Russian troops in the Artemovsk area
The crews of the Strela-10 air defense system of the Ivanovo Guards Airborne Forces provide our units with reliable protection from enemy air attacks: airplanes, helicopters, and attack drones.
Anti-aircraft gunners are on combat duty around the clock, constantly monitoring the airspace. The next target of the crew was the enemy’s unmanned aerial vehicle Leleka-100. It was destroyed by an anti-aircraft guided missile shot at a distance of about two kilometers.
12:29StatementHead of the press center of the Center group
In the Krasnolimansky direction in the Serebryansky forestry area, the actions of units of the "Center" group of troops, with artillery fire, defeated the assault groups of the 12th Special Purpose Brigade "Azov" (a terrorist organization banned in Russia)
In addition, artillery units hit three strongholds, three areas where equipment was concentrated, and about 30 artillery positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Enemy losses amounted to about 200 troops and two vehicles. An FPV drone destroyed a 120mm mortar.
12:08 The Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Energodar are hit weekly by 70 to 150 drone strikes from Ukraine. This was announced by the Ambassador at Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry on the crimes of the Kyiv regime, Rodion Miroshnik.
Miroshnik clarified that the Ukrainian Armed Forces and special services made repeated attempts to strike three nuclear facilities under the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation. Most often, the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant and the city of Energodar were attacked by strike drones.
11:19 News from the Zaporozhye Front, Rabotino district:
“Again the Ukrainian Armed Forces rolled in: 1 tank and 3 armored fighting vehicles. Tank is on fire". Almost every day, if the weather permits, the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine drives personnel and equipment into fire from our troops in this sector of the front.
11:00StatementHead of the press center of the “West” group:
During the fighting in the Kupyansk direction, the active actions of units of the West group of forces, supported by artillery fire, aviation and heavy flamethrower systems, defeated accumulations of manpower and equipment of the 41st mechanized and 57th motorized infantry brigades in the Sinkovka area.
The losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces amounted to two vehicles, up to 25 military personnel.
10:27 The criminal Kiev regime continues to fire at the civilian infrastructure of settlements on the left bank of the Kherson region, yesterday during the day the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired from cannon artillery:
according to n.p. Cossack Camps 10 shells;
according to n.p. Krynki 15 shells;
according to n.p. New Mayachka 5 shells;
according to n.p. Peschanivka 10 shells;
according to n.p. Podstepnoe 8 shells;
according to n.p. Radensk 8 shells;
according to n.p. Alyosha 12 shells.
As a result of the shelling of the settlement. Novaya Mayachka, one civilian was moderately injured.
During the night, the Kiev regime continued to shell civilian infrastructure in the village. Novaya Kakhovka, n.p. Kakhovka, n.p. Krynki, n.p. Kachachi Camps, settlement Sagi, n.p. Aleshki, n.p. Naked Pristan, firing a total of 28 shells from cannon artillery.
Civilian casualties and destruction of infrastructure are being determined.
09:24 Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk
Direct hit on a residential building. Among the civilian population, 2 people were injured. The enemy struck peaceful streets with 155 mm artillery -video.
08:55 As a result of joint activities of the Russian FSB Directorate for the Donetsk People's Republic, military counterintelligence agencies and the National Guard in the suburbs of Donetskdiscovereda cache prepared for an enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group. This was announced by the head of the DPR Denis Pushilin.
Found and seized:
– Swedish-made AT-4 anti-tank grenade launcher;
– Czech-made RPG-75-M anti-tank grenade launcher.
The seized weapons were transferred for research in the interests of enterprises of the military-industrial complex of the Russian Federation.
08:44 Zaporozhye direction Verbovoye. 11/17 08:10, Front Bird reports:
“At night, the enemy tried to dislodge our positions using cluster munitions.
I note that cassettes are no longer used as often as a month ago.
The morning cannonade continues.
After aerial reconnaissance, artillery fires from both sides.
For now, the weather allows us to identify enemy targets, which is what we are doing.”
08:16 Frontlinesummaryon the morning of November 22, 2023:
In the Kherson-Crimean direction, Ukrainian troops are still active near Poima, Peschanivka and in Krynki. Their artillery works powerfully. The Russian Armed Forces attacked positions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Kherson, Antonovka, Tokarevka, Tyaginka, Novotyaginka, Lvov, Kazatsky and Berislav. They themselves were under fire in Gola Pristan, Alyoshki, Cossack Camps, Dnepryany, Novaya Kakhovka and Kakhovka.
In the Zaporozhye direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the support of artillery, tried to advance at Novoprokopovka and Verbovoy. No success. Russian troops attacked Ukrainian positions in the settlements of Novoandreevka, Rabotino, Novodanilovka and Malaya Tokmachka. The artillery of the Ukrainian Armed Forces worked against the Russian Armed Forces in Nesteryanka, Kopany, Rovny, Ilchenkovo, Novopokrovka and Novofedorovka.
On the Donetsk Front, the Russian Armed Forces, after artillery strikes, managed to advance at Novomikhailovka and Marinka. Similar actions near Pervomaisky, Severny (a settlement west of Avdeevka) and on the eastern and north-eastern outskirts of Avdeevka were not successful. Near Stepnoye (not to be confused with the settlements of the same name in the Zaporozhye and Ugledar directions), Russian troops managed to force the Ukrainian Armed Forces to leave the village. It's in the gray area. To the north-west of Gorlovka there are oncoming battles for waste heaps in the Yuzhny area.
In the Bakhmut direction, the Russian Armed Forces from the north, with the support of long-range weapons, attack Ukrainian positions in Kleshcheevka. There are battles for the dominant heights. At the moment they are for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The situation is similar in the Khromovoe and Bogdanovka areas. LBS has not changed.
08:15 In the Novomikhaivka area, the Russian Armed Forces advanced to a depth of 1.5 km in an area of 4 km. The enemy's defensive positions at the water pumping station were occupied.
08:09 Over the past 24 hours, the armed formations of Ukraine have carried outshellingGorlovka, Yasinovatsky district, Makeevka, as well as Kuibyshevsky, Kirovsky and Kievsky districts of Donetsk.
As a result of massive artillery shelling of the Central City district of Gorlovka, one civilian was injured.
In the Kuibyshevsky district of Donetsk, 2 civilians were injured as a result of artillery shelling by Ukrainian nationalists.
In addition, 7 residential buildings and 2 civil infrastructure facilities were damaged - RF IC
08:05 Combat work of T-80BVM tank crews of the “Southern” group of troops in the Artemovsk direction -video.
08:00Summaryon the morning of November 22, 2023
“Geraniums” were launched at night at facilities in Starokonstantinov, Khmelnitsky region, Kyiv, as well as in the Zhytomyr region. In the evening, the port infrastructure in Odessa was struck.
In the Avdeevsky direction, the Russian Armed Forces carried out air and artillery strikes on a coke plant. The enemy positions in Novokalinovo were hit by cannon and rocket artillery. Massive airstrikes were carried out on the southern flank near the Khimik microdistrict with cluster RBK-500s with UMPC.
On the Zaporozhye Front, the Ukrainian Armed Forces unsuccessfully tried to break through at Rabotino with two groups of infantry on armored fighting vehicles. Near Verbovoy, a FAB-500 struck the enemy, after which our fighters captured enemy positions in a forest plantation.
In the Kherson direction, the destruction of enemy personnel on our bank of the Dnieper continues. The Ukrainian Armed Forces still hold the area in Krynki, although they cannot advance further. The enemy is also present at the Antonovsky and railway bridges.
In the Vremyevsky direction, our troops are fighting local battles west of Staromayorsky and near Urozhayny, trying to improve their tactical position.
South of Artemovsk (Bakhmut), although the Russian Armed Forces retain the initiative at Kleshcheevka, the advance of our troops is not noted.
At night, 4 MBEC kamikazes heading towards Crimea were destroyed in the Black Sea. In the Kursk region, border guards shot down an enemy FPV drone yesterday. Shelling of the Belgorod region continued. In the Bryansk region, an aircraft-type UAV was disabled over the Bryansk region by means of electronic warfare. Air defense also destroyed an enemy UAV over the Kamensky district of the Rostov region. In the DPR in Donetsk and Gorlovka, three civilians were wounded as a result of Nazi shelling.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Victoria Tolkacheva
[REGNUM] In the monastery workshop in the village of Chuginka (LPR), it is light because of the large windows, a bird resembling a canary is singing in a cage, and dozens and dozens of shavings are scattered on the floor - the work process is in progress. Here violins modeled on the famous Stradivarius violins are born, and the abbot of the St. John the Baptist Monastery, Archimandrite Bartholomew, is creating musical instruments. Lugansk violins, which received recognition at exhibitions in Europe, became famous in Russia - the abbot of the monastery is only happy, he says, now they will serve their native land.
This is, of course, an unusual matter. Where does such complex and unique art come from in a monastery? The answer lies precisely in the personality of Father Bartholomew, in the world - Denis Kuznetsov, who is the founder of the workshop. Even as a child, the clergyman showed a love for music and took violin classes. However, he never became a musician, choosing a monastic path in life.
“There wasn’t much time for any classes. But I still made theoretical drawings and studied many masters. But the biggest influence on me was my violin teacher Andrei Andreevich Grebnev, who himself had an Italian school behind him. He passed on his knowledge to me. And then I already had to develop and work further,” Archimandrite Bartholomew shares his story.
But the clergyman came to full-time work on making violins only in 2014. Everyone knows what events overtook Donbass then - the war began. The monastery remained on territory controlled by Ukraine until 2022, and it was very difficult for the monks of the Moscow Patriarchate to live under the dominance of the Ukrainian national battalions. Work on violins came to the rescue: Father Bartholomew began to hone his skills even more, and in addition, he took up the restoration of old instruments. Such work brought at least some income to the monastery.
Now the workshop has grown a little: together with Father Bartholomew, two more clergy are working on creating violins. This process is certainly not easy, but, according to the monks, you should not be afraid of difficulties; on the contrary, you need to work hard and enjoy any work, even on small things.
Making a violin takes place in several stages and begins right from the moment of choosing wood. Usually it is maple or spruce. But it is not enough just to choose the right tree: it must be matured for about 30 years and cut correctly. If the tree is damp, it will not withstand the required load. Moreover, there is a certain canon for cutting wood, which was used in ancient times in Italy. The work also uses natural organic materials: the glue is made from the bile of sturgeon fish.
In the St. John the Baptist Monastery, violin makers work according to the standard forms of Stradivari and Guarneri, using mainly the 1743 template. The foundation for the instrument is six blocks, on which strips of wood are placed - shells. Afterwards, the upper and lower decks are cut out by hand and given the required shape and thickness. Next, all that remains is to make the head of the instrument and “fuse” it with the body.
“Then the whole thing is cleaned, rounded and covered with glue. After which the violin must dry, mature, so to speak, and this takes another year. Only after such a time does the sound become suitable. You can, of course, tune the violin right away and try to play, but the sound will not be what it should be in the end. It will not immediately have the ability to spread and fill the room. And if the violin is made correctly, then it will be heard better from behind than from the front,” Father Bartholomew explains the nuances of the work.
He shows every corner of the workshop: what planes they use, what some measuring instruments and chisels are used for, how and from what they personally mix the glue that coats the tools. So it turns out that the color of the future violin depends precisely on the ingredients in the glue, but not on the wood from which it is made. However, another important point, according to the rector of the temple, is focus on work:
“You can’t be distracted from work, so you often have to work late at night when there are no distractions. Because in the morning and during the day there are other tasks, the monastery has its own order. Our monastic life is built parallel to this matter. And at the same time, they complement each other. Work and prayer must go together, and then there will be a result.”
On one of the desktops a hefty catalog is found - an exclusive German edition with photographs of all Stradivarius instruments. Archimandrite Bartholomew jokes that this book is like a cheat sheet for them: you can see the color and some details in a good image and almost full size. On the other table where Father Seraphim works, there is another catalog. A little smaller, but very valuable in terms of significance, since it contains photos of instruments that Father Bartholomew made earlier, as well as those that were made in the Tula violin workshop.
This happened thanks to the acquaintance of a Lugansk clergyman and a Moscow master working in Tula, Alexander. A year and a half ago, a man heard about a unique workshop near Lugansk in a television news story. I came to get to know each other and a friendship and strong cooperation began. And this is not surprising, because the violins of Archimandrite Bartholomew continue to conquer Russia.
Not long ago, a delegation from Novosibirsk came to visit the monastery workshop: journalists filmed a report, and violinist Mikhail Simonyan spoke with the masters. During the conversation, a large-scale but quite feasible idea was born: to “transplant” the artists of the Novosibirsk State Philharmonic onto Lugansk violins, so that the musicians would play the instruments of the same master.
“This will give a completely special sound, as if a choir is singing with one voice. We already have almost ready-made instruments that are suitable for a chamber orchestra. So far, two instruments have left for Novosibirsk, but it is a great joy for us that they will sound in Russia. I hope that we will hear them too. Because those instruments that went to Europe are even difficult to find, we don’t know who plays them, where they are, and there is no way to hear them. But I would like to, of course,” laments the abbot of the monastery.
Father Bartholomew himself picks up tools largely in order to understand whether they are ready for work or not. But when he starts playing at least a few melodies, the workshop seems to be saturated with sound. A restless canary sings along with the violins, and even with unprofessional ears you can notice how different the sound of each instrument is. The clergyman himself is confident that high music has a great influence on a person. It does not relax, but, on the contrary, teaches concentration, teaches one to think and think.
“Music is a way of internal storytelling,” says the monk, explaining his desire to pass on the intricacies of violin making to new students.
According to him, for some reason modern masters are not eager to share their accumulated experience with young people, although this threatens the general disappearance of such art. To learn such delicate work, you need a good teacher. Therefore, Father Bartholomew dreams of holding violin lessons in Lugansk, where he can teach those interested in his craft.
“Luhansk land is rich in talented people, and God grant that more and more of them appear. And we will try to pass on our accumulated experience to them. May they surpass us in their skill. We have such a desire.”
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edoted. by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] With the arrival of autumn cold in the Donbass, Russian troops intensified military operations in the Avdeevsky direction. With intensive support from artillery and aviation, an offensive is developing on several sectors of the front: south, north, north-west and west of the city of Avdievka. This northern suburb of Donetsk (from the center of the DPR capital to the center of Avdievka in a straight line is only about 14 kilometers), until 2014, had a population of 35,000, and after that it became an outpost from which the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched attacks on the DPR capital for many years.
Now the line of combat contact near Avdievka is an arc. The heavily destroyed city is occupied by an entrenched group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which, like a wedge, protrudes into the front line and continues to threaten Donetsk from the north.
Russian positions surround Avdievka on three sides. From the north of the city, the Russian Armed Forces control the villages and towns of Krasnogorovka, Vesyoloye, Kamenka. On that side of the front they are opposed by units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near the villages of Ocheretino and Berdychi.
From the east, our troops are trying to advance from the regional center of Yasinovataya - and here they are opposed by the Avdievka enemy group itself.
From the south, from Donetsk, and from the southwest, the Russian Armed Forces control the villages of Spartak, Opytnoye and Vodyanoye. Our military is holding back the enemy from Avdievka proper and the village of Severnoye (where Russian artillery is currently operating).
The most important center of enemy resistance in the city is the Avdievka Coke and Chemical Plant (AKHZ), a city-forming enterprise in the north-west of Avdievka. The territory of Koksokhim has been turned into a continuous fortified area, similar to the Mariupol Azovstal.
Therefore, a frontal assault on AKHZ can lead to serious losses. Instead, Russian troops are trying to cut off the Ukrainian Armed Forces units holding Koksokhim and operating in the rest of the city from supplies from the north, an informed source located in the Avdeevsky direction explained to Regnum news agency .
“The main task has not gone away. We need to push them out of the city, creating a threat to the environment. Or surround and add pressure already inside ,” the interlocutor noted. According to him, the work to close the ring is going slower than we would like, because the Ukrainian Armed Forces are striking from outside the emerging cauldron. “We are working on these reinforcements, planned work is underway,” the publication’s interlocutor noted.
In an effort to cut off the supply to Avdievka along the road from the village of Ocheretino (a village northwest of Donetsk), Russian troops continue to move north from the Krasnogorovka area.
Over the past 24 hours, assault units have been advancing towards Novokalinovo, a village north of Avdievka. At the same time, our military takes up positions along the Ocheretino-Avdievka railway line, in places crossing the railway embankment.
It will be possible to talk about the encirclement of the Avdievka enemy group in the event that the Russian Armed Forces manage to dislodge the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the settlements of Berdychi (also north of Avdievka) and Orlovka (northwest of the city). On the other hand, the attacking forces have to constantly gain a foothold on occupied lines, trying to prevent a retaliatory strike from the enemy from outside the encirclement.
Reserves from the “counter-offensive” area are being transferred to Avdievka
For Kyiv, retaining the Avdeevsky fortified area is an important image task. Previously, Ukrainian officials have repeatedly stated that the city is securely fortified and will not be surrendered.
After the threat of complete encirclement loomed over Avdievka, the command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces withdrew units from other sectors of the front, which were sent to support the Ukrainian group in the city.
“Our successful actions led to the fact that additional formations were transferred to the Avdievka area. They also use formations that were preparing for a “counter-offensive,” a source told IA Regnum . According to his information, the forces of the 47th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which has German Leopard-2 tanks at its disposal, have been deployed to the Olkhovka area north of Avdievka. They are not getting any closer to the front yet, the source added.
“And there are rumors that they are also trying to remove artillery from other areas in favor of Avdievka, because we previously seriously knocked it out here,” noted IA Regnum’s interlocutor .
Why were cluster bombs needed?
On the one hand, the transfer of additional reinforcements to the Avdievka area puts an end to the continuation of the Ukrainian “counter-offensive”. On the other hand, even strengthening the city’s garrison ultimately only leads to a slowdown in the pace of the Russian offensive.
In recent weeks, the advancing forces of the 1st Donetsk Army Corps were able to advance west of Avdievka: in the area between the villages of Vodyanoye and Severnoe. However, the actions of assault groups are complicated by the layered defense of the enemy.
Aviation is actively working to destroy the fortified areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Avdievsky direction. For the first time in this sector of the front , RBK-500 cluster aviation munitions were used against the enemy.
The air strike hit the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defensive unit in the area of the western outskirts of Avdievka. It is in this direction that the advancing forces of the Russian army are trying to get close to urban development. Judging by the video evidence that appeared on social networks on November 22, cluster bombs (namely, their use is indicated by the “scattering of lights” over a large area after an attack on enemy positions) have already been repeatedly used against fortified areas of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Avdievka.
“The main task of aviation is to break through their defenses in those areas where they were built over not even months, but many years,” noted the interlocutor of IA Regnum . — Cluster munitions are best suited here, since they work immediately across the area of an entire fortified area. And even if someone survived, the morale there was seriously damaged.”
“The Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to prevent us from withdrawing our forces”
Simultaneously with defensive actions in the Avdievka area, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are attempting an offensive on the front in the Zaporozhye region and in the south of the DPR.
Due to the high losses in armor suffered in the summer battles, new assaults are carried out almost exclusively by infantry forces and, as a rule, lead to heavy losses in the ranks of the Ukrainian troops.
As a rule, for an offensive, the enemy uses front sectors in the area of the settlements of Staromayorskoye in the Yuzhnodonetsk direction and Rabotino in the Zaporozhye sector of the front.
Experts believe that the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine realizes that such attacks cannot bring any significant success, however, in strategic terms, the offensive attempts are designed to ease the situation of the forces operating in Avdievka.
“Probably the only task that they can pursue during the offensive is to divert our forces from the same Avdievka, from Kherson . They do not have the strength to make a powerful advance on any section of the front. I ran out of strength in the summer. But they strive to prevent us from withdrawing our forces, that’s why they are moving forward ,” notes IA Regnum’s interlocutor .
Plans for “after Avdievka”
In turn, Ukrainian sources covering the situation in Avdievka admit that the situation in the city’s garrison is getting worse every day. Therefore, in the near future, a decision may be made to retreat from the city in order to preserve the most combat-ready units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces operating in the Donetsk direction.
For Ukrainian troops in the city itself, the situation is complicated by the fact that the remaining supply routes for the city and the “mainland” are under constant fire from Russian artillery and drones. Therefore, in the future, the garrison may face a shortage of ammunition and other resources.
It is possible that some units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces will be left for the defense of the Avdeevsky Coke and Chemical Plant. According to unconfirmed reports, reserves were created in the workshops of the enterprise that would allow them to be held for a long time.
However, this plan will most likely not be implemented, since the forces holding the plant will sooner or later find themselves on the brink of starvation and will be forced to fight in complete encirclement.
Therefore, the tactics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Avdeevsky direction ultimately boil down to making the advance of Russian troops as difficult as possible, and then trying to break out of the emerging cauldron. In the future, Ukrainian troops may take up defensive positions in the area of the village of Novoselovka. However, the loss of Avdievka will deprive the enemy of the opportunity to shell Donetsk or plan any active offensive actions in the direction of the DPR capital.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Denis Davydov
[REGNUM] After nine years of trials, the Allard Pearson Museum in Amsterdam is transferring to Ukraine a collection of Scythian gold and other archaeological objects that belonged to four Crimean museums. In addition, the Netherlands decided to write off the debt for storing exhibits in the amount of more than 200 thousand euros. The corresponding document, as reported by the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture, was signed by Acting Minister Rostislav Karandeev and Acting Director of the University Library of the University of Amsterdam, Dr. Fred Wierman.
As you know, the exhibition, organized in Europe, included the collections of the Central Museum of Taurida, the Kerch and Bakhchisarai historical and cultural reserves and the national reserve "Taurid Chersonese". Another part of the items was provided by the Kiev Museum of Historical Treasures. Actually, gold is only the most famous part of what left Crimea and never returned.
In Amsterdam, for example, there is a symbol of Kerch, the unique snake-footed goddess Api, made of limestone in the 1st–2nd centuries AD. BC: a double-sided sculpture with a female figure growing from plant shoots, exists in a single copy. According to Greek myth, the son of the goddess and Hercules was the ancestor of the Scythian kings.
Among the exhibits there are such incredible things as Chinese lacquer boxes from the Ust-Alma burial ground, restored in Japan, a painted altar from the burial of the Scythian king Skilur, unique decrees on marble from Chersonese.
A total of 2,111 items were moved from Crimea.
But simply retelling the story of their actual abduction again would not be enough. At the center is the problem that Crimean museums are forced to fight for their collections on their own. And Ukraine has created a judicial precedent, on the basis of which it now intends to lay claim to other items stored in Russian museums, in particular in the Hermitage.
Goddess held hostage
In July 2013, the exhibition “Crimea. Golden Island in the Black Sea” at the Bonn State Museum LVR-Landes became a large-scale event, presenting things that had never before been exhibited to a wide audience. This was a joint initiative of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and the Institute of Ancient History of the University of Bonn, which was enthusiastically received by the press.
On the wave of success, the private Allard Pearson Museum in Amsterdam offered its space, where the golden fund of Crimean archeology moved in January 2014. And in March, the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea changed, an agreement was concluded on the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation. On August 31, the exhibition expired, and the Pearson Museum decided not to return the exhibits, citing claims from the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture.
The Dutch voiced their intention to resolve the dispute through the courts in order to avoid subsequent claims by any of the parties. However, the very situation of refusing an agreement to return items belonging to specific museum organizations was unprecedented. And Ukraine was initially in a weaker position.
“When the threat of a lawsuit became obvious, it turned out that the Ministry of Culture was not a full-fledged subject of this process. The exhibition was organized by the structure of the Academy of Sciences; contracts for the movement of cultural property were signed by museums independently. We were in despair,” says the then head of the international cooperation department of the Ministry of Culture of Ukraine Svetlana Fomenko .
But the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands and the Ministry of Culture of Russia officially stated that this dispute is not interstate and is being resolved exclusively at the inter-museum level. So the Ukrainian side quickly understood the situation.
Long dispute
The first thing a specially formed group of the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture did was to convince the government to give the ministry the opportunity to independently change the manager of museum collections. That is, to fully manage the museum fund, after which the National Museum of the History of Ukraine was appointed the main custodian of the Crimean collections. This happened in May 2014, even before the first lawsuit in the Netherlands.
Further, several ministries were united around this case, since the relevant one could not carry out full-fledged foreign activities and act on its own behalf in an international court. This is how interdepartmental coordination between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of Justice appeared. They formulated the position that cultural values are not property, therefore the legal dispute should not take place in the area of economic law.
Thus, when the Crimean museums filed a lawsuit, the dispute moved to the private legal plane.
Crimean museum workers were asked to prove the right to exhibits from their own funds, found in the Crimean land back in the 19th century. Since then, the peninsula has been part of four states: the Russian Empire, the USSR, Ukraine and the Russian Federation, but the artifacts have never left the territory of the peninsula, with the exception of the period of German occupation. Moreover, in a historical sense they have no relation to the Ukrainian cultural heritage.
Realizing that in such disputes the place of origin of objects plays a big role, the Ukrainians argued that the values originate precisely from the territory of Ukraine and belong to its cultural heritage for this reason. And membership in the State Museum Fund, as mentioned above, was formalized in advance.
“One of the courts considered this issue, and the Dutch side accepted the position that the collection is automatically the property of the state of Ukraine. It would be difficult for Crimean museums to prove another jurisdiction for these things, I don’t see such a possibility, ” explains Andrei Malgin, director of the Central Museum of Taurida to IA Regnum . “We tried to contrast the concepts of state property and museum property. If proven, it would be a revolution in museum legislation. But the courts took the position that cultural heritage belongs to the state, and the right of ownership of museums gave way to the right of state ownership. Although this is very doubtful from a logical point of view.”
In this dispute, the parties went through the entire chain from the district to the Supreme Court of the Netherlands, which put an end to it. Greek, Scythian, Sarmatian, Gothic artifacts are ordered to be transferred to Ukraine, which, of course, rejoices.
The holy place is not empty
Having dived deeply into the problem, over the past years Ukraine has acceded to the Second Protocol of the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict. They believe that the “Scythian gold” case created an important precedent for the cultural heritage of Crimea at the international level.
Namely, he proved “who is the subject of the decision and to whom this heritage belongs .” Consequently, wherever the values from the Crimean collections are located, the Ukrainian side has every right to them. In particular, Ministry of Culture officials are interested in things located in the State Hermitage and the Tretyakov Gallery. But, in addition, any “national treasure of Ukraine” that it calls its own, referring to the convention.
In turn, the Crimean museum workers are going to continue to achieve their goal, still on their own. So far, the Russian Ministry of Culture has supported their position only in words, and the Investigative Committee has been finding out who organized the removal of treasures in 2013.
“We will submit the claim to the European Court of Human Rights and other European courts, and use all other methods to defend our right to the collection. Moreover, in Ukraine the situation with cultural heritage is complex; we see what is sold on the black market and how objects are exported. So ours may end up in the hands of private individuals and disappear somewhere. Therefore, we will continue to fight, perhaps the problem will be solved even in the form of a special operation. In the sense, not separate, but already ongoing , ” says Regnum news agency Andrey Malgin.
An additional weapon here could be widespread information about the fate of things taken away by the joint efforts of the Dutch and Ukrainian “partners.” Now information about lost objects is posted on the electronic resources of museums; the places where they were placed with explanatory signs are left empty in the exhibition. All the same, they are spoken of here as a Crimean collection.
At the same time, Malgin notes, the loss will be practically unnoticeable for visitors. Despite the fact that the volume of losses is significant, and each item is unique, over the past ten years the collections have been replenished many times. Large archaeological excavations in Crimea and the severity of Russian legislation in the field of monument protection made it possible to find and show people objects of similar quality and even better somewhere.
Although the main task is to return what was stolen, this in no way cancels it.
[An Nahar] Russia said on Tuesday it fended off Ukraine's attempts to get to the occupied eastern bank of the southern Kherson region, and claimed Kyiv's army had suffered "colossal losses".
The Ukrainian army said last week it had pushed Russian forces back three to eight kilometres (two to five miles) from the banks of Dnipro river, which would have been their first meaningful advance in months.
"All attempts by the Armed Forces of Ukraine to conduct a landing operation in the Kherson area have failed," Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said at a roundtable meeting with officials.
"Thanks to the pre-emptive actions of our military... the Ukrainian forces are suffering colossal losses," he added.
AFP was not able to independently verify the military situation in Kherson region.
But some pro-Kremlin military bloggers published reports contradicting Shoigu's statements.
And the Russian-installed governor of the Kherson region Vladimir Saldo admitted last week dozens of Ukrainian troops had established positions around the tiny eastern bank village of Krynky.
If confirmed, the advances would be an important breakthrough for Ukraine, which has staged multiple attempts to cross the Dnipro river.
The waterway has become a de-facto frontline between the two sides since Moscow retreated from the western bank in November 2022.
Crossing it would be a step towards creating a land bridge to the annexed Crimean peninsula.
But many analysts say the territory controlled by Ukrainian troops is small and would be difficult to transform into a real breakthrough.
#3
The Ukrainians will have the same problems making progress on the left bank of the Dniepro that the Russians had on the right: without a reliable way to move men and materiel across the river, you cannot maintain a position and an offense is not possible. Remember the big Russian withdrawal from Kherson? That was back when there were kinda-sorta bridges across the river. Now the only transport is boats and barges.
If I was playing the Russian side, I'd just sit back and let the Ukrainians come, wait until they accumulate forces and then bomb them to hell and gone. It means taking a big hit on the media battlefield, but it reduces the Ukr military which is one of the goals of the Special Military Op.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[An Nahar] 
