Security Communications Advisor John Kirby reported: “Currently, the Ukrainian military is able to use long-range ground-based tactical missile systems (ATACMS) to protect itself in case of urgent need, and this is understandably happening in the Kursk region.” Kirby confirmed on Monday that Ukraine has permission to use American ATACMS long-range missiles to strike the Kursk region and “near it,” explaining this by the need for self-defense.
The US administration has given instructions to the Ukrainian military on the selection of targets for attacks with American ATACMS missiles, Kirby, coordinator for strategic communications at the White House National Security Service, said at a briefing. “Of course, we changed the guidelines and gave them instructions so that they could use them to hit specific types of targets,” he said.
The NATO Parliamentary Assembly called for the supply of medium-range missiles to Ukraine: “We call on the governments and parliaments of the member countries of the North Atlantic Alliance to tighten the sanctions regime against the Russian Federation and the DPRK in order to increase the price of their cooperation in the aggression against Ukraine. And also to provide Ukraine with all means, including medium-range missiles, for self-defense and to deter further aggression,” the resolution reads after the 70th annual session in Montreal. In addition, the document calls for assistance in accelerating Ukraine’s accession to the Alliance.
NATO, according to the chairman of the bloc’s Military Committee, Admiral Rob Bauer, is also discussing the launch of “preventive high-precision strikes” on Russian territory in the event of an armed conflict with the countries of the Alliance, he said.
He called it a positive thing that NATO has changed its attitude to its essence as a defense alliance. It also changed the perception that it is necessary to “sit and wait until you are attacked” and only then react. “It is smarter not to wait, but to hit the launchers in Russia in case Russia attacks us. You need a combination of precision strikes to disable the systems used to attack us, and we have to strike first.”
The UK has supplied Ukraine with dozens more long-range Storm Shadow missiles, the first under the Labour government of Keir Starmer, in an unannounced deal, Bloomberg reports. “The war in Ukraine has entered a critical stage and it is time for Europe to start doing more to ensure its collective security and defense. We are jointly strengthening NATO’s eastern borders, strengthening cooperation in the development of air defense and long-term defense systems. We are also working to step up joint industrial programs of our military-industrial complex enterprises,” said John Healy, the UK’s defense secretary. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy clarifies: “We will not send troops to Ukraine”.
The European Commission said the EU had already spent €124 billion on Ukraine, but this was not enough. EU Justice Commissioner Reynders said EU countries had supplied Ukraine with “all possible types of weapons from their stockpiles, including F-16 aircraft, but this was not enough to change the situation on the battlefield.”
German Defense Minister Pistorius said European partners would increase military support for Ukraine after Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential election. Germany will transfer two IRIS-T air defense systems to Ukraine by the end of the year, said Christian Freuding, head of the Bundeswehr’s special staff for Ukraine. He also said that in recent days Germany had supplied Ukraine with artillery howitzers, tanks and Marder infantry fighting vehicles and had also launched an attack drone program.
The risks of sending Western troops to Ukraine outweigh the benefits, Estonian Defense Minister Pevkur said. He believes that the Ukrainians will be able to cope on their own if they receive everything they need to fight Russia. “Ukraine needs money invested in its own military production, not in foreign troops,” the minister believes.
Italy will not send its soldiers to fight in Ukraine, Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said. “We must avoid an escalation, Russia is taking a serious responsibility by involving North Korean soldiers in the war and recruiting the Houthis and Iranian proxies,” Tajani said at a meeting of G7 foreign ministers.
Ukraine will not fulfill its obligation to destroy the stockpile of about 6 million anti-personnel mines left over from the times of the Soviet Union “due to the Russian invasion,” a spokesman for the country’s Defense Ministry said on Tuesday
The commander of the UAV attack company of the 68th separate Jaeger brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Andrei Onistrat (a former banker) reported the losses of his brigade in the Kursk region: 500 people in 10 days, after changing positions to the 95th separate airborne assault brigade.
According to online rumors, there is an intention to dismiss Kyrylo Budanov and appoint the deputy head of the SBU Alexander Poklad in his place. Budanov’s fate seems to be sealed by statements about special operations in Africa, statements about “coffee in Crimea” or defense purchases in other countries. The news has been denied for now.
Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Alexander Syrsky said that for Ukraine: “Victory is impossible if the Ukrainian Armed Forces work only on defense. They must take the initiative and fight back. We must do it and we will do it.”
Vladimir Putin, in a decree of November 24, granted the Russian Guard a one-time payment of 400 thousand rubles upon conclusion of a contract for participation in a special military operation. There are numerous economic measures taken by Putin in favor of the military of the operation in Ukraine.
While the vice-president of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev remains on the issue of nuclear weapons to Ukraine. “The very threat of transferring nuclear weapons to the Kiev regime can be considered as preparation for a nuclear conflict with Russia.” “The actual transfer of such weapons can be equated to an act of attack carried out against our country under Clause 19 of the Fundamentals of State Policy in the Field of Nuclear Deterrence. The consequences are obvious,” Medvedev said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov also entered the political arena on the issue of medium- and long-range weapons to Ukraine: “The head of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer, announced the true intentions of the North Atlantic Alliance, declaring the need to launch preventive strikes against Russia in the event of a possible conflict.” “I think there is nothing to comment on here, it’s just that all decency has been abandoned and the real intentions have already been publicly announced,” Lavrov stressed.
The closing statement was Sergei Naryshkin, the head of Russian intelligence: “Russia categorically rejects any “freezing” of the Ukrainian conflict.”
General Alexander Sanchik has been appointed acting commander of the Southern Group of Troops, RBC sources reported. He replaces the former commander of the Southern Group of Troops, General Gennady Anashkin, who was removed from his post.
And now a look at the front line as of 17:00 on November 26.
At night in the Rostov region, 24 UAVs were destroyed and suppressed by electronic warfare means, including those in the Novoshakhtinsk area, Taganrog, Kamensk and Zernograd. At least 4 drones were shot down in the Bryansk region, one in the outskirts of Voronezh. During the day, missiles and guided aerial bombs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were destroyed in the Kursk region.
Since the evening, the Russian Armed Forces have carried out attacks with “geran”, explosions have been reported in Kiev and the region, in Starokostyantyniv, Zhytomyr, Rivne, Cherkasy, Ternopil, as well as in the Cherkasy region. In Ternopil, the power grid was seriously damaged. In the afternoon of the 26th, Kryvyi Rih was hit by a ballistic missile.
In the Kursk region, the Sever group of troops advanced in the area of the Novoivanovka settlement and adjacent forests. There are ongoing battles, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to counterattack. Russian troops are advancing 4.2 km to the west, entering Zelenyi Gai. Clashes reported on the outskirts of the village.
Russian troops took Borova in the Kharkiv region, from where the Ukrainian garrison hastily retreated. Late in the morning, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the Russian army took control of Kopanky in the Kharkiv region. According to preliminary data, battles for Dvorichne in the direction of Kupyansk have begun. The Russian army expanded its bridgehead on the opposite side of Oskil, conducting several landing operations over the weekend. There are reports that Russian soldiers have begun to enter the first houses of Dvorichne.
In Torets’k, Russian forces are storming the central part of the city, heavy fighting is going on.
In the Pokrovs’k direction, Russian troops are expanding their presence in the settlement: in Zhovte, Yuriivka, n.p. Zorya, and south of Voznesenka. Russian forces are eroding Ukrainian defenses by forming ledges, maintaining the tactic of cutting Ukrainian defenses in sectors cut off from supplies.
In the north of the Kurachove direction, progress is being made in the forests from Berestky to Novoselydivka. South of the Kurachove reservoir, Illinka has been taken by the Russians, successes are reported in Yelyzavetivka. Fighting is taking place in the central part of Kurachove. Russian forces have brought armored vehicles into the city and are consolidating in the area of the intersection of Prokofiev and Pobeda streets. At the same time, the Russian control zone south of the city is expanding, relying on troop positions in the village of Dal’nje. According to Ukrainian sources, Kurachove is 70% surrounded, the only escape route for the military is the Kurakhovo – Pokrovs’k road.
In the Belgorod region, Ukrainian drones and artillery struck targets in the village. Lozovoye, Belgorod district, Novaya Tavolzhanka, Shebekinsky municipal district, Gruzskoye village, Borisov district and Murom. In Shebekino, a civilian was killed as a result of an explosive device launched from a UAV.
Graziella Giangiulio
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