Russia continues to attack Ukraine with numerous missiles. In the recently liberated city of Kherson, the first people are being evacuated. According to a new British intelligence report, Russia is firing missiles with detached nuclear warheads.
Saturday, November 26, 8:57 a.m.: Russia is said to be currently using old nuclear missiles on Ukraine that they have removed the nuclear warheads from. This is reported by the British Ministry of Defense and relies on information from the British secret service. According to the report, the Russian inventory of long-term missiles is so exhausted that the Russians are now “disarming” old nuclear missiles in order to fire the missiles at Ukraine. British intelligence has images of a wreckage showing an AS-15 Kent missile fired at Ukraine. This was designed in the 1980s “exclusively as a nuclear carrier system”.
7:48 p.m .: For months, Russian soldiers have been trying to take the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut. Led by the Wagner mercenary group, the Russians are advancing “like zombies” only minimally, Ukrainian soldiers now report from the front.
“With night vision goggles, we can see them coming at us like zombies,” one of them told Finnish portal Iltalehti. He suspects they are under the influence of drugs. “They just come at us in big groups. When we start shooting, they don’t even try to take cover. They just keep walking like in slow motion,” he continues. The soldier, named Jura, is part of the 93rd Motorized Infantry Brigade. Bakhmut is still the only region in Ukraine where the Russians are on the offensive.
4:20 p.m.: Hospitals in the recently liberated city of Kherson are being evacuated due to “continued Russian bombing”. Yaroslav Yanushevich, the head of the region’s military administration, explains this to Telegram. Russian shelling on Kherson killed 7 people and wounded around 20 on Thursday, regional authorities said. Friday marks the 275th day of Ukraine’s defense against invasion.
Under pressure from Ukrainian attacks, Russian troops evacuated Cherson and their bridgehead on the north-west bank of the Dnipro in mid-November. The Russians, however, hold positions on the other bank of the river and use their artillery from there. Russian troops had occupied the city of Cherson for eight months.
9.37 a.m .: After the Russian partial mobilization, British secret services estimate that a large number of reservists who have been drafted have fallen in the Ukraine war. Many of the conscripts would be sent on dangerous missions despite chronic health restrictions, the British Ministry of Defense said in its daily briefing on Friday. There is constant confusion about their respective military experience, training and equipment.
Among other things, in the Donetsk region, around the city of Bakhmut, mobilized reservists had probably fallen in large numbers, the British said. The same applies to soldiers who had to dig trench systems in the Luhansk region while under heavy artillery fire. The Kremlin must be concerned that an increasing number of families of reservists are prepared to protest against the conditions in which their relatives are serving and, if necessary, to be arrested.
The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine at the end of February, citing intelligence information. In doing so, the British government wants to both counter the Russian portrayal and keep allies in line. Moscow accuses London of a disinformation campaign.
Friday, November 25, 12:03 a.m .: Russian shelling on the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson killed seven people and injured around 20 on Thursday, according to regional authorities. The city, which was only recently occupied by Ukrainian troops, had been shelled with artillery and multiple rocket launchers, said regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych. A high-rise caught fire as a result of the shelling. A bullet hit a children’s playground. “Today is another terrible page in the history of our hero city,” the governor wrote on Telegram. The first reports had spoken of four dead.
Under pressure from Ukrainian attacks, Russian troops evacuated Cherson and their bridgehead on the north-west bank of the Dnipro in mid-November. The Russians, however, hold positions on the other bank of the river and use their artillery from there. The situation in the city is considered extremely difficult. Ukrainian authorities have offered civilians temporary leave of Kherson.
8:17 p.m .: At least four people were killed and ten others injured in Russian bombing raids on the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson on Thursday. The Russian attackers opened fire on a residential area with multiple rocket launchers, said the head of the military administration in Kherson, Yaroslav Yanushevich, in the online service Telegram. “A large building caught fire,” he added.
Russian troops had occupied Cherson for eight months. Two weeks ago, they withdrew from the city after Ukrainian troops continued to advance in the area. Kherson was the only regional capital captured by Russian troops.
3:35 p.m .: In the part of the southern Ukrainian region of Cherson liberated by Russian troops, the authorities say they have discovered torture chambers and killed civilians. “The bodies of 432 civilians who were murdered were found,” said Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin on television on Thursday. He did not provide any further details. In addition, nine rooms designated as torture chambers were discovered. A total of twelve investigative teams are active in the heavily mined area.
2:59 p.m .: Almost a day after nationwide Russian rocket attacks, the water supply in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv has been restored. “But it will take a while for the water pipe system to work at full capacity again,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko warned on Thursday on the Telegram news channel. In high-rise buildings in particular, the water pressure is not always sufficient.
Thursday, November 24, 9:58 a.m.: On the morning after the heavy Russian rocket attacks, electricity and water supplies in Kyiv could only be partially restored. “70 percent of the capital has so far been without electricity,” said Mayor Vitali Klitschko on his Telegram channel on Thursday. At least it was possible to supply the districts on the left bank of the Dnipro with water again. Municipal services are working flat out to repair the damage, but Kiev’s electricity supply also depends on the stability of the entire energy system in Ukraine.
According to Kiev, the Russian military shot down around 70 rockets and drones on Ukraine on Wednesday. As in the previous attacks, the targets were primarily objects in the energy sector. After the Ukrainian nuclear power plants were shut down as a result of the attack, there were power outages across the country.
The commander of the Russian troops in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin, had already gained notoriety during his deployment in Syria a few years earlier for attacking civilian targets in order to weaken his opponents. Following his appointment in Ukraine, attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure have become a key part of Russian warfare.
6:25 p.m .: With 71 missiles and combat drones, Russia attacked Ukraine again on Wednesday night. In Kyiv alone, three people died in the attack, including an infant in a hospital. According to Mayor Vitali Klitschko, critical infrastructure was again destroyed in the attack. For some time now, Russia has been targeting Ukraine’s critical infrastructure – driving the population to the brink of a humanitarian catastrophe.
Large-scale blackouts, no water or heat supply are the result of the Russian rocket attacks in Kyiv. The WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, at a press conference in Kyiv, warned that Russia’s tactical destruction of Ukraine’s infrastructure this winter threatens the lives of millions of Ukrainians.
“Put simply: This winter is about survival,” complains Dr. clever. Half of the energy infrastructure in Ukraine alone has been partially or completely destroyed. Hundreds of thousands of houses and apartments, schools and hospitals are without heating. Ten million people are without electricity. With a view to the coming winter and temperatures down to minus 20 degrees Celsius, this poses a dramatic health risk. “Cold weather can be deadly,” said Kluge. Not only is there a threat of respiratory infections such as Covid-19, against which large parts of the population are not sufficiently immune.
In a short video message, President Zelenskyi once again addressed his words to the world: “Russia shelled the power system and “ordinary people” with tragic results.” Experts tried to repair the damage to the power grid. “We will innovate everything and we will survive everything because we are an indomitable people,” he said. However, the repairs will continue to take time due to the severity of the damage, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Energy.
Zelenskyj called for a special session of the UN Security Council in New York because of the attack. The Council then put a meeting on Wednesday on the agenda.
3:23 p.m .: Rocket attacks were again reported from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv and other areas on Wednesday. According to the local military administration, three people were killed and six others injured in Kyiv. In addition, a critical infrastructure object was also damaged by the Russian shelling, Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote in the Telegram news service. It was initially unclear which building it was.
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