According to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, NATO must help Ukraine end the war with Russia through negotiations, but from a position of strength. “Only the Ukrainian government can decide whether to start negotiations with Russia and how to end this war,” the NATO Secretary General added.
He also stressed once again that Ukraine’s path to NATO membership is irreversible. “This is an irreversible path to Ukraine’s accession to NATO. We are building a “bridge” (for Ukraine to NATO, ed.), with the allocation of 40 billion euros, with the creation of the Command in Wiesbaden, with all the agreements that the allies have concluded with Ukraine at the bilateral level, which “all contribute to the future of Ukraine in NATO,” said the Secretary General of the Alliance.
The head of the Polish Ministry of Defense, Wladyslaw Kosiniak-Kamysh, cooled the spirits, according to whom: “It is unlikely that Ukraine will receive an invitation to join the alliance at the next NATO summit, which will take place in The Hague in June 2025,” source TVN24 “Nothing suggests that at the next NATO summit in The Hague there will be such an invitation,” the Minister noted. According to him, “Ukraine’s accession to NATO at this time” is opposed not only by the United States, but also by some of Poland’s neighbors.
The Pentagon said the US will send weapons to Ukraine on a weekly basis to give it time to allocate the remaining $7.1 billion in aid before Biden leaves.
Meanwhile, the European Union has decided to take a tough line on sanctions against Russia, and the Europeans will certainly suffer before the Russians. EU countries intend to agree on a large-scale sanctions package against Russia and adopt it in early 2025, Bloomberg reports. “This package could be presented as early as January with a view to its adoption by the symbolic date of February 24,” Bloomberg concludes.
According to the agency, the sanctions package could include additional trade restrictions, as well as increased duties on Russian agricultural products. In addition, Bloomberg reports that the EU is also working on a smaller sanctions package: it is expected to target tankers carrying Russian oil. The EU hopes to approve this package by the end of this year. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is against this new package of sanctions: “Europe must reconsider sanctions against Russia, which keep energy prices high.”
The German government has officially announced that at least 10 German citizens were killed during military operations in Ukraine.
The Zelensky administration has put an end to speculation about an imminent truce. Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said that Ukraine “will fight for the liberation of the entire territory.”
More than 90 percent of Ukrainian soldiers on the front are residents of villages and small towns, according to Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier Miroslav Borisenko. “There are no draft dodgers in rural areas because there is nowhere to hide. Draft dodgers are hiding in the cities, they all stayed there. Those who are hiding from mobilization do not live in a dugout in the forest, they do not hide in the mountains. She lives in Kiev, Odessa and Dnipropetrovsk,” he noted.
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Alexander Syrsky, may be dismissed, and the deputies will use Maryana Bezuhla to test the mood in society, retired general of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Sergei Krivonos reported. According to the former deputy commander of the Special Operations Forces, “it is Maryana Bezuglaya that is the specific trigger that determines all the existing problems.” Krivonos believes that Bezuglaya is being used by the authorities to shift the blame for all the failures on the Ukrainian military.
On the use of nuclear weapons against Russia, Mikhail Podolyak said: “Ukraine does not rule out the creation of a nuclear bomb. The only thing that stops Kiev is that nuclear weapons will not improve the situation on the front line,” said the adviser to the head of the office of the president of Ukraine.
According to Podolyak, “if nuclear weapons could change the situation, there could be a risk of creating one, despite all the “legal and reputational difficulties.” “But this is definitely not a solution that will bring us significant changes on the front line,” Podolyak said. The situation at the front is influenced by the number of weapons, the “range,” and the availability of all informal permits for the use of weapons, Podolyak added.
The leadership of the Kursk region is discussing with federal authorities the issue of writing off mortgages for destroyed housing, Governor Alexey Smirnov said. More than 4.5 thousand applicants have turned to the Russian Red Cross with a request to search for people who have lost contact due to the emergency in the Kursk region. This was announced by RKK Chairman Pavel Savchuk, noting that 1,212 people have been found.
Olaf Scholz had a telephone conversation with Vladimir Putin for the first time in almost two years, the DPA agency and the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported. According to DPA, the conversation, which took place in the afternoon, lasted about an hour.
The German government confirmed the telephone conversation between Scholz and Putin. Scholz, in the conversation, called for the start of negotiations with Ukraine to achieve peace, the German government reported.
The Russian government has introduced temporary restrictions on the export of enriched uranium to the United States: “This is a response to the restriction imposed by the United States for the period 2024-2027 and from 2028 to the ban on the import of Russian uranium products”.
And now a look at the front line updated at 16:30 on November 15.
On the evening of November 14, UAV Geranium and Russian missile weapons struck Odessa. The port was hit. In the morning, the Ukrainians announced that they had recorded the take-off of 8 strategic bombers, which were working closely in Kiev the other day.
At least 46 drones were suppressed overnight in the Crimean district of the Krasnodar Krai, there were no civilian casualties, the head of the district, Sergei Les, said, quoted by TASS.
Against the backdrop of fighting in the Kursk region, where the Ukrainians are massing reserves and trying to hold their positions, pro-Russian blogger Yuri Podolyaka published a critical post, saying that “excellent relations are coming to the top” but that the Russian defense is actually having a hard time and cites an episode from November 7 when a Russian convoy of the 810th brigade ran into a minefield. The Northern Group of Troops of the Russian Armed Forces writes about battles in the Sudzhansky region: Russian troops are advancing into the forests near the settlement of Malaya Loknya and Martynovka, as well as in the Olgovsky forest. The Ukrainian Armed Forces continue to transfer reserves, removing units from other directions. Heavy fighting is ongoing in the Nikolaevo-Darino direction, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to hold the village at all costs, throwing marines into battle. Ukrainian groups were hit by rocket attacks in Pisarevka and Glukhov, Sumy region.
The Russian army has broken into the industrial zone of Kupyansk, the Russian infantry has dispersed and dug in, despite heavy fire from the Ukrainian Armed Forces on equipment. Battles are ongoing.
In Koretsk, there are house-to-house battles. The Ukrainians have blown up high-rise buildings as they retreat. Russian troops continue to press along Rudnichnaya, Vasily Stus, Grushevsky and Heroes of Labor streets.
In the direction of Kurakhove, the Russian army has taken control of the remaining part of Antonivka and is rushing towards Illinka. A social media source says: “The assault groups of the 33rd Motorized Rifle Division of the 20th Guards Motorized Rifle Division have particularly distinguished themselves.”
In the direction of Vremivka, Russian troops are fighting in Novodarivka, gaining a foothold on the southern approaches to the village.
In the Belgorod region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacked Shebekino with the help of two drones, one injured and a bus hit. In the village of Cheremoshnoye, Belgorod district, a car was attacked by a drone of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, three soldiers of the State Unitary Enterprise “Special Purpose Security” were injured. The Russian air defense system worked over Belgorod and the Belgorod region: several air targets were shot down. Two injured.
In Horlivka (DPR), 14 civilians were injured: the Ukrainians fired 155 mm artillery pieces with US-made M-864 shells with a cluster warhead (M-42 cumulative and M-46 fragmentation submunitions).
Graziella Giangiulio
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