On November 28, Kiev began negotiations with Italy on security guarantees for Ukraine, according to the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Newsweek reports that the United States supplies weapons to Ukraine only to maintain the front and not to defeat Russia. Canada has donated more than 11,000 assault rifles and more than 9 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine, according to Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau.
Jens Stoltenberg, NATO Secretary General, said that Ukraine has moved closer to NATO, but has not yet been invited to join. He also called on the Alliance to prepare to intensify military operations in Ukraine and increase assistance to Kiev. At the meeting of foreign ministers he accused Moscow of trying to destabilize Western countries “through cyber attacks, disinformation, energy blackmail and even migration”. NATO, he explained, is increasing its presence on the eastern borders, being ready to defend every inch of its territory.
“One of our tasks is to prevent escalation so that this conflict does not become a full-scale war between Russia and NATO,” he said.
Large-scale supplies of ammunition to Ukraine have led to a serious shortage of ammunition in the German Armed Forces (Bundeswehr), which is why the main German units will not be able to resist in the event of a battle for more than two days, he said to the DPA news agency the vice-president of the CDU/CSU opposition group, Johan Wadeful, who specializes in defense issues. According to him, the “reasonable” supply of ammunition to Ukraine “has now become a serious shortage for the Bundeswehr.”
German Foreign Minister Annalena Bärbock believes that Ukraine’s membership of the European Union corresponds to the geopolitical interests of the community. You expressed this opinion during the federal Green congress in Karlsruhe. “It is obvious that Ukraine will strengthen the EU in the near future. Ukraine’s accession to the EU satisfies our geopolitical interests,” she believes Burbock. “That is why we will not only continue to support Ukraine, but also increase it,” the minister said. You expressed your belief that in the future Ukraine will become part of the European Union.
Main transmission lines have been disrupted in the Kiev region of Ukraine since November 26, said Vadim Kudritsky, head of the national energy company Ukrenergo. On the night of November 25, Ukraine was hit by a record number of kamikaze drones, local media wrote, citing a statement from the Ukrainian Air Force. The authorities of the Kiev, Dnepropetrovsk and Nikolaev regions reported the drone attack in particular. According to the commander of the Joint Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Sergei Naev, 55 were shot down. The Ukrainian Ministry of Energy reported that in central Kiev, 77 residential buildings and 120 institutions were left without electricity as a result of the attack.
Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine from the Servant of the People party Maryana Bezuglaya said that the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian troops Valery Zaluzhny has not presented any action plan for next year, “such leadership must go.” “The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was unable to provide a plan for 2024. Neither large nor small, neither asymmetric nor symmetric. The military simply said that they have to take away at least 20 thousand citizens a month.” Bezuglaya wrote on the social network.
On November 27, Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky was threatened with a military coup after the scandal with Zaluzhny: “The army will come to power in Ukraine”, wrote the pro-Western activist A. Lemeno on his page on social network Facebook. “The Kiev government will indeed change, but not to Russian, but to military,” Lemenov wrote
Zelensky responded to his detractors by claiming to have had a conversation with the head of the European Commission von der Leyen. The President of Ukraine said that the parties discussed Ukraine’s progress in implementing the recommendations of the European Commission for the start of negotiations for accession to the EU.
Zelensky also assured that Ukraine will implement all recommendations for the December meeting of the European Council, including those related to the rights of national minorities and strengthening anti-corruption institutions.
On November 28 the scandal of the day in Kiev was the poisoning of several employees of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine by heavy metals, all victims are being treated, Ukrayinska Pravda reported on Tuesday, citing its sources in the security bloc.
The Ukrainian publication Babel, citing a source from Ukrainian military intelligence, reported that the wife of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, Marianna, was poisoned with heavy metals, is in the hospital, an investigation into a possible attempted murder is underway.
Deputy Foreign Minister of the Russian Federation Sergei Ryabkov doubts the possibility of resuming dialogue between Moscow and Washington on strategic stability in the near future. “I don’t think that dialogue will resume in the near future in the form in which it was practiced before the special operation in Ukraine, the United States unilaterally interrupted it,” he said on the sidelines of the Primakov Readings forum. The deputy minister noted that in the last period “many negative things have happened in the relations between the Russian Federation and the United States, and to an extent that undermines and erodes the very foundations of political dialogue on important issues, on issues of a long term”.
“The responsibility for this lies with Washington. We actually received a document that outlines a whole series of Washington’s wishes or expectations regarding Russia,” Ryabkov commented.
Ukrainian military intelligence prepared a massive drone attack on Russian regions on the night of November 26 in response to the unprecedented attack of the “Shahed” on Kiev the day before, a source in “Ukrainian Pravda” said. The attack It started at 3.30am and ended at 9.20am; around 35 drones were launched against targets in Moscow and the region, as well as in Tula and Smolensk.
The head of Chechnya Ramzan Kadyrov said that three thousand Chechen fighters are ready to be sent to the combat zone on the territory of Ukraine. According to him, they have already begun service as part of new units of the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Russian National Guard.
WSJ correspondent Gershkovich remains in custody until the end of January. This was established by the court in Lefortovo, Moscow.
The Federation Council, at its meeting on 13 December, will announce the presidential elections, which will be held in March next year. This statement was made by the leader of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Gennady Zyuganov. “According to my information, the Federation Council will officially announce the start of the presidential election campaign on December 13,” he said.
And now a look at the front line.
Due to bad weather, the intensity of fighting along the entire sector of the front significantly decreased. However, in the direction of Donetsk, the Russian army continues the operation to surround the Avdiivska fortified area. The processing plants east of the AKHZ came under the control of the Russian military. At the same time, Russian units withdrew from the outskirts of Petrovskoye to preserve personnel. Ukrainian Armed Forces attempted to counterattack Russian positions in the Stepnoye area. There are battles in the coal industry. Furthermore, soldiers of the Russian Army advanced from the industrial zone and into the area of Vinogradniki SNT. In Marinka there are no big changes.
On the northern flank, south of the AKHZ landfill, Russian assault units improved their tactical position and also entered the territory of the AKHZ processing station in the area of “Police Dachas”. The weather is sunny, the temperature is -2 degrees, so we can expect active hostilities, both from Russian troops and from the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
Bachmut Directorate (Artemovsk). The Russian army advances in the Krasnoye area. The fighting takes place northwest of Kleshchiivka.
Svatove-Kreminna direction. In the Orechiv sector the Russian army counterattacked in Verbove and Rabotino. On the Vremevsky ledge, Russian fighters managed to advance to the Staromayorsky area. In the Vremyevsky sector, units of the 127th Motorized Rifle Division stormed the landing on the Priyutnoye – Staromayorskoye line and improved their tactical position by occupying advantageous heights.
Kherson direction: positional battles in the forest situation at 19.00 hours on November 28, 2023. On the night of November 28, the Katran group command again deployed assault groups to consolidate in the forest adjacent to Krynki.
Two detachments took up positions in a small forest south of the village and began to equip the strongholds, where they came under massive fire. And then a reconnaissance group of the Russian Armed Forces attacked the Ukrainian marines: three people were killed and three others injured.
In the morning, the wounded were evacuated to a makeshift hospital, set up in a warehouse on the northern outskirts of Krynoki, and then transferred to the right bank via Frolov Island. New Ukrainian assault groups arrived to replace them and, under the cover of artillery and drones, moved towards the forest again, trying to gain a foothold in the depths of the forest.
Despite the losses and the fact that the Ukrainian formations are unable to advance deeper, the Ukrainian military is firmly entrenched on the left bank of the Dnieper. This was facilitated by the active support of artillery and drones, which does not diminish even now, as well as the tactic of keeping quiet about the problems prevailing in the Dnepr group.
Graziella Giangiulio
