The Russian move could be a signal that they are winding down their operations in the Ukraine in preparation for some sort ending of hostilities?
The American midterm results should help keep aid flowing to the Ukraine…..
It will take a long time for Russia to repair the Crimea bombed bridge…….
And peace agreement will probably involve talks about the Crimea…..
Europe joins America in sending financial aid to the Ukraine in the Billions….
New American missle defense systems begin arriving in the Ukraine….
The Russian President will Not go to the G-20 Meeting Summit and have to deal with his actions on the world stage in person…
Here’s what we know:
The strategic city has been the only regional capital to fall to Russian forces since they invaded Ukraine in February. A Russian retreat would be a major victory for Kyiv’s forces.
-
Ukrainians see signs of a Russian retreat from Kherson City but are wary.
-
Brittney Griner’s lawyers say they don’t know where she’s being transferred to.
-
Ukrainians watch the results of the U.S. midterm elections amid questions about military aid.
-
What exactly is a Russian penal colony?
-
Ukraine, running low on missiles to shoot down drones, gets a new air-defense system with launchers.
-
Russia’s repairs of the Crimean bridge damaged by a blast will take months.
-
Europe proposes $18 billion in Ukraine aid for next year…..
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
- Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced the Kherson retreat in a televised exchange with Sergei Surovikin, the commander of Russian forces in Ukraine. Surovikin said the move would “save the lives of our military and combat capability.”
- WNBA star Brittney Griner is being transferred to a Russian penal colony, her lawyers said Wednesday, after a Russian court rejected an appeal of her 9½-year prison sentence. She has been detained in Russia on drug charges since February. Her detention has exacerbated U.S.-Russia tensions, already at a peak over the war in Ukraine.
- Griner’s lawyers say they have no information on her exact whereabouts or final destination since she left a detention center outside Moscow on Friday. Her attorneys Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov said that she was “now on her way to a penal colony” and that the U.S. Embassy should be notified upon her arrival. Here’s what to know about Russian penal colonies, which are known for brutal conditions.
- Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he was committed to bringing Griner home, along with ex-security consultant Paul Whelan, an American serving a 16-year sentence in Russia. The White House also said the United States was seeking to resolve “the unacceptable and wrongful detentions of American citizens” there. Moscow has blamed Washington for the lack of progress on a possible prisoner swap, and U.S. officials have declined to say whether the two could be exchanged for imprisoned Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout.
- About 4 million people in Ukraine, including in the capital, Kyiv, were without electricity as of Tuesday evening because of “stabilization schedules” after Russian attacks on energy facilities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said. He accused Russia of trying to turn “winter into a weapon” against his country and “the whole of Europe.” But while the looming winter will be difficult, Ukraine is prepared, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.
- “Brutal” battles were raging across the front lines, especially in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine, Zelensky said. Russian forces, he said, have suffered “large-scale losses” in the region but remain in control of swaths of territory.
- Britain is sending a package of winter gear to Ukraine’s military as temperatures drop, the government announced. The shipment, scheduled to arrive by mid-December, includes 12,000 sleeping kits, 150 heated tents and 25,000 clothing sets for extremely cold weather.
- The United States delivered two surface-to-air missile systems that will “contribute to Ukraine’s air defense capabilities,” Pentagon press secretary Patrick Ryder said Tuesday. The systems can help protect against attacks, including “those conducted by unmanned aerial vehicles or cruise missiles,” he said….