#UKRAINERUSSIAWAR. Blackout in Ukraine, war continues failed dialogue in Bali

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At 11.00 a.m. Italian time on the social sphere Volodymyr Zelensky’s demands to Russia on the ceasefire, aired at the G20, are broadcast in his video message. The Ukrainian president to end the war demanded: management of nuclear power; food security; energy security; release of all prisoners and deportees; implementation of the UN Charter and restoration of territorial integrity and world order; withdrawal of Russian troops and cessation of hostilities; return of justice; fight against ecocide; avoid escalation; setting of the date for the end of the war. He also explained that there will be no Minsk-3 because ‘Russia would immediately violate the agreement after signing it’. Furthermore, the Ukrainian premier referred to the summit as the G19 and not the G20 as not including Russia.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov’s response to Zelensky was immediate: ‘Ukraine makes unrealistic and inappropriate demands on Russia’. And again the Russian president’s spokesman Vladimir Peskov said: ‘Ukraine cannot and will not negotiate, the special operation will continue’. He added that Kherson remains the capital of the region as part of Russia. According to the Russian president’s spokesman, no decision has been made to stop considering Kherson the administrative centre of the Kherson region after the troop withdrawal, the city is still a regional centre within the Russian Federation.

At 13:33 Italian time, an air alert was triggered in many regions of Ukraine, missile launches are reported from 7 Tu-95MS. Kalibr’ launches were also reported. The launches reportedly lasted two or three minutes. At 15:31 the mayors of Kharkiv, Rivne, Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Lviv reported strikes on critical infrastructure in the cities: the lights went out and the power supply was interrupted. Entire areas of cities were left without electricity after the arrival of rockets. In Kharkiv, for example, the metro was shut down and in other cities, local residents report power surges. The Odessa region and the Sumy area were also affected.

According to the social sphere this is the largest missile attack since 10 October.The 15 November attacks are to be understood as retaliation for the failed G20 negotiations and the statements made by Zelensky.

As a result of the airstrikes fragments of a downed Ukrainian air defence missile fell on a residential building in the Druzhby Narodiv area. According to the advisor to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, Anton Gerashchenko, the air defence shot down a cruise missile over Kiev, which was aimed at one of the critical infrastructures. There are casualties.

Emergency power cuts are introduced in Kiev. Previously announced schedules are no longer valid. It is possible that the situation will continue for a long time. Air defence is functioning in the Ternopil and Ivano-Frankivsk regions.

Eyewitnesses report explosions in the regions of Ternopil, Zhytomyr, Vinnitsa, Chernovtsy and Mykolaiv, and there is also information about explosions in Krivoy Rog. Local residents also report missiles flying over some of these areas.

At 16:00, it was reported that in several settlements in Moldova, after the attacks on Ukraine, the lights had also gone out.

In the meantime the on the front line Russian armed forces are actively attacking the Belogorov-Soledar-Bachmut-Mayorsk and Avdeevka-Oprosnoye-Vodyanoye-Sands-Marinka-Pavlivka lines. This was announced by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny to the Chief of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States, General Mark Milley, in a telephone conversation, stating that they are succeeding. Zaluzhny also stated that in the Kherson region the Ukrainian Armed Forces are strengthening their defence and in the Kharkiv region they are continuing the offensive. Furthermore, he stated that “the Ukrainian army will not accept any negotiations, agreements or compromise solutions”. “There is only one condition for negotiations: Russia must leave all occupied territories,” Zaluzhny Milley said. Earlier, the New York Times reported that Mark Milley is in favour of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

The Russian Defence Ministry’s version is different, according to which Russian troops conduct offensive operations after taking control of Pavlivka in the DPR.

Graziella Giangiulio