Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,353

Here is however things basal connected Saturday, November 8:

Fighting

• Ukraine’s apical wide Oleksandr Syrskii said Kyiv’s troops were stepping up assaults connected Russian forces astir the eastbound Ukrainian municipality of Dobropillia to easiness unit connected the embattled hub of Pokrovsk.
• Ukrainian forces carried retired a long-range drone onslaught connected a petrochemical works successful Russia’s Bashkortostan region. Kyiv’s subject quality bureau said the onslaught connected the Sterlitamak works sparked a occurrence successful portion of the installation that produces an additive for aviation fuel.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia is massing troops adjacent the metropolis of Vovchansk successful Ukraine’s northeastern Kharkiv region.
• Ukrainian vigor supplier DTEK has returned energy to 170,000 households successful Ukraine’s southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, aft overnight Russian drone strikes connected vigor infrastructure. The institution said 373 settlements had been near without power, but inferior workers had returned energy to each captious infrastructure and astir residential consumers.
• The Russian Ministry of Defence said its forces person taken power of the colony of Uspenivka successful Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhia region.
• More than 1,400 citizens from 3 twelve African countries are warring alongside Russian forces successful Ukraine, Kyiv’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has said. He said Russia was enticing Africans to motion contracts helium described arsenic “equivalent to … a decease sentence”, and urged African governments to pass their citizens.

Sanctions

• The United States has granted Hungary a one-year exemption from sanctions connected to Russian energy, the White House and Hungary person said, aft President Donald Trump heaped praise connected Prime Minister Viktor Orban astatine a White House gathering that glossed implicit differences astir Hungary’s usage of Russian lipid and gas.
• Trump, who has been pushing Europe to debar utilizing Russian vigor successful bid to unit Moscow to extremity its warfare with Ukraine, expressed sympathy with his ally, Orban, earlier the announcement, saying: “We’re looking astatine it [a sanctions exemption], due to the fact that it’s precise antithetic for him to get the lipid and state from different areas.”
• Greece has agreed to import 700 cardinal cubic metres of US liquefied earthy state per twelvemonth starting successful 2030 successful its archetypal semipermanent woody with Washington, arsenic the state seeks to regenerate Russian supplies to Europe.
• Two tankers carrying astir 1.5 cardinal barrels of Russian Urals crude person dropped anchor astatine oversea connected either extremity of the Suez Canal, successful an evident motion of the trouble Moscow is having selling lipid owed to Western sanctions. The vessels Sikar and Monte 1 were some loaded with lipid from Russia’s Baltic larboard of Primorsk successful aboriginal October and person remained anchored adjacent the canal for implicit a week.
• Moldovan Energy Minister Dorin Junghietu said Russian vigor institution Lukoil volition person to halt its operations successful the state arsenic of November 21 due to US sanctions. Junghietu said the company, which owns petrol stations and operates an airdrome substance retention facility, volition not beryllium capable to supply petrol, diesel and kerosene.

Ukrainian affairs

• President Zelenskyy has appointed Yuri Cherevashenko arsenic the caller commandant liable for drone aerial defences, a relation seen arsenic captious successful defending against Russian attacks.
• The president’s website said Cherevashenko had acquisition successful helping make Ukraine’s archetypal radical of absorption forces of aerial defence mobile brigades. He besides played a relation successful processing interceptor drones, which Zelenskyy portrayed arsenic a cardinal portion successful countering intensive Russian drone assaults.
• Ukrainian authorities lipid and state steadfast Naftogaz said it was expanding imports of US liquefied earthy state done Polish steadfast Orlen and US partners to guarantee supplies for the wintertime amid continuing Russian strikes connected the vigor system. In a statement, CEO Serhiy Koretskyi said the imports would full astatine slightest 300 cardinal cubic metres.

Regional security

• The European Union has adopted stricter visa rules for Russian nationals successful airy of what it describes arsenic the “weaponisation of migration, acts of sabotage and imaginable misuse of visas”. Russian nationals volition nary longer beryllium eligible for multiple-entry visas and indispensable use for a caller visa each clip they question to the EU.
• Russia is acceptable to treble its stocks of artillery, missiles and munitions by 2030 compared with 2022, contempt the ongoing warfare successful Ukraine, said the main of Germany’s associated operations command, Lieutenant General Alexander Sollfrank.
• German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius suggested a nexus betwixt caller drone incidents successful Belgium and discussions implicit the usage of frozen Russian assets, which are held by Belgian fiscal instauration Euroclear, to money a elephantine indebtedness to Ukraine.
• Sightings of drones implicit airports and subject bases person go a changeless occupation successful Belgium and person caused large disruptions crossed Europe successful caller months.
• A British antheral who offered the United Kingdom’s then-Defence Minister Grant Shapps’s idiosyncratic accusation to purported Russian spies has been jailed for assisting a overseas quality service.
• Howard Phillips offered Shapps’s location code and telephone fig to 2 radical helium believed were Russian agents, but who were successful information British undercover officers, prosecutors said. The 66-year-old denied 1 number of engaging successful behaviour intended to materially assistance a overseas quality service.

Russian affairs

• A antheral whose lawyer says helium accidentally stumbled connected accusation astir pro-Ukrainian combat units portion browsing the net connected a autobus is the archetypal Russian known to beryllium investigated nether a caller instrumentality banning online searches for worldly Moscow deems “extremist”.
• Russian media quoted Sergei Barsukov, a lawyer successful the Sverdlovsk portion of the Urals, arsenic saying helium was representing 20-year-old Sergei Glukhikh, who had been reported by his net work supplier to the FSB information work for viewing accusation astir units Russia regards arsenic terrorists.