Ukraine updates: Putin says 50,000 Russian reservists deployed
Ukraine news from November 7: Russian leader says rest of 300,000 reservists called up are still being trained.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin discloses 50,000 reservists called up under Moscow’s partial mobilisation drive are now involved in active fighting in Ukraine.
- A spokesperson for Germany’s government says Ukraine should decide when to hold peace talks with Russia, after reports suggested the United States had encouraged Kyiv to signal openness to discussions.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin discloses 50,000 reservists called up under Moscow’s partial mobilisation drive are now involved in active fighting in Ukraine.
- A spokesperson for Germany’s government says Ukraine should decide when to hold peace talks with Russia, after reports suggested the United States had encouraged Kyiv to signal openness to discussions.
- Ukraine’s government seizes stakes in strategic companies under wartime laws.
- Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin, the founder of the mercenary Wagner Group, has admitted to meddling in US elections.
This blog is now closed, thanks for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Monday, November 7:
US reserves right to talk with Russia about Ukraine war: White House
The United States reserves the right to hold talks with Russia at the senior level on risk reduction, the White House has said.
This was in reference to a media report that national security adviser Jake Sullivan has been talking to Moscow.
The Kremlin on Monday declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that Washington held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials about avoiding further escalation in the Ukraine war.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that Sullivan spoke with senior Russian officials in the hope of reducing the risk the war in Ukraine spills over or escalates into a nuclear conflict.
Majority of Ukrainians expect prosperous future in the EU, poll shows
The majority of Ukrainians (88 percent) have said they believe their country will be a prosperous member of the European Union in a decade, according to a poll published by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology on Monday.
Ukraine applied for membership in the EU shortly after Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February, and Kyiv was granted candidate status in June.
The invasion has killed thousands of civilians and devastated vast tracts of territory and infrastructure.
The poll surveyed 1,000 respondents across Ukraine with the exception of the annexed peninsula of Crimea and other areas that were occupied by Russian proxies before February 24, when Moscow launched its invasion.
Ukrainians were optimistic about their chances of joining the EU even in the east of the country, which has seen particularly heavy fighting, the poll found.
Seventy-six percent of respondents there saw the future of their country in the EU. Only five percent said they believed the war would ultimately leave the country with a destroyed economy and provoke a large exodus of Ukrainians.
Zelenskyy’s adviser: Kyiv never refused to negotiate with Moscow
Kyiv has never refused to negotiate with Moscow and it is ready for talks with Russia’s future leader, but not with Vladimir Putin, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president has said.
The comments on Twitter by Mykhailo Podolyak followed a Washington Post report on Saturday that said the administration of US President Joe Biden was privately encouraging Ukrainian leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Moscow.
“Ukraine has never refused to negotiate. Our negotiating position is known and open,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter, saying that Russia should first withdraw its troops from Ukraine.
“Is Putin ready? Obviously not. Therefore, we are constructive in our assessment: we will talk with the next leader of [Russia].”
Important: Ukraine has never refused to negotiate. Our negotiating position is known and open.
1. First, RF withdraws troops from 🇺🇦
2.After everything elseIs Putin ready? Obviously not. Therefore, we are constructive in our assessment: we will talk with the next leader of RF.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) November 7, 2022
Zelenskyy says seizure of stakes in strategic companies will aid defence sector
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that a move by Ukraine’s government to take control of stakes in a top engine maker and four other strategic companies was needed to meet the country’s urgent wartime needs.
“Such steps, which are necessary for our country in conditions of war, are carried out in accordance with current laws and will help meet the urgent needs of our defence sector,” Zelenskyy said in a Telegram post.
“In these difficult times, we must direct all our forces to liberate our land and people, [and] support the Ukrainian army,” he added.
Ukraine seizes stakes in strategic companies under wartime laws
Ukraine’s government has invoked wartime laws to take control of stakes in a top engine maker and four other strategic companies, according to officials, signalling its most dramatic wartime intervention into big businesses.
The companies included engine maker Motor Sich, energy companies Ukrnafta and Ukrtatnafta, vehicle maker AvtoKrAZ and transformer maker Zaporizhtransformator.
The decision was taken at a meeting of top security officials chaired by Zelenskyy on Saturday and went into effect on Sunday, placing the privately held stakes under the control of the defence ministry, three top officials said. The officials did not elaborate on the size of the stakes that had been taken over.
“At the end of the military state [martial law] … the assets can be returned to their owners or appropriately compensated at their value,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, told a news conference called to announce the move.
Danilov was joined at the news conference by Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, and Denys Shmyhal, the country’s prime minister.
Russian, Indian foreign ministers to discuss prospective energy projects: Moscow
Prospective energy projects on the Arctic shelf and in the Russian Far East will be among the main topics of discussion between the foreign ministers of Russia and India when they meet on Tuesday, Russia’s foreign ministry has said.
Subrahmanyam Jaishankar will hold talks with his Russian counterpart Sergey Lavrov in Moscow tomorrow, with the pair also expected to discuss a range of other topics, ranging from trade to using national currencies in mutual settlements, the ministry said in a statement.
India and Russia have had deep relations for decades. New Delhi has steered clear of publically condemning Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine while importing billions of dollars’ worth of cheap Russian energy sources during the conflict.
Putin says 50,000 mobilised Russian reservists serving with combat units: Report
Putin has said that 50,000 reservists called up as part of his “partial mobilisation” drive are now involved in active fighting within combat units in Ukraine, according to a report by Russia’s Interfax news agency.
The Russian leader reportedly said a total of 80,000 of the reservists were “in the zone of the special military operation” – the term Moscow uses for its invasion – with the remainder of the more than 300,000 called up since late September still in training camps.
“We now have 50,000 in their combat units … the rest are not taking part in the fighting yet,” Interfax quoted Putin as saying during a visit to the Tver region, outside Moscow.
Russia ended its self-described “partial mobilisation” drive at the end of October.
Ukrainian church leader meets with Pope Francis
The head of Ukraine’s Byzantine-rite Catholic Church has met with Pope Francis during his first trip outside Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in late February.
Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk said after the meeting that there can be no dialogue with Russia as long as Moscow considers Ukraine a colony to be subjugated.
“The war in Ukraine is a colonial war and peace proposals by Russia are proposals of colonial pacification,” he said after meeting Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Shevchuk, who has several times urged the pope to visit Kyiv, gave the head of the Catholic Church a piece of shrapnel from a Russian mine that destroyed the facade of a church in Irpin in March.
Ukrainian official accuses Russian troops of looting, posing as civilians
A Ukrainian official accuses Russian forces of looting empty homes in the southern city of Kherson and occupying them with soldiers wearing civilian clothes to prepare for street fighting in what both sides predict will be one of the war’s most important battles.
“While Kherson residents are being forcibly deported from their homes, talking about ‘evacuation’, ru-military and FSB officers are doing what they love most – robbing their houses,” Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, tweeted.
“Robbery of those whom they came to ‘protect’ — the best ‘Russian world’ illustration,” he said.
Russia has ordered civilians out of Kherson in anticipation of a Ukrainian offensive to recapture the city, the only regional capital Moscow has seized since its invasion in February.
Russia issues rare denial of ‘pointless losses’ by brigade in Ukraine
Moscow has taken the unusual step of denying reports by Russian military bloggers that a naval infantry unit had lost hundreds of men in a fruitless offensive in eastern Ukraine, according to a report by the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.
RIA reported the defence ministry had rejected the bloggers’ assertions that the 155th marine brigade of the Pacific Fleet had suffered “high, pointless losses in people and equipment”.
On the contrary, in the course of 10 days the unit had advanced 5km (more than 3 miles) into Ukrainian defensive positions southwest of Donetsk, RIA quoted the ministry as saying. It specifically denied that the brigade’s commanders had shown incompetence.
Russian military bloggers, some of whom command audiences of half a million or more on social media, have become increasingly critical of the army’s failings since Ukraine recaptured large parts of the northeast of the country in September.
Russia’s Prigozhin admits to meddling in US elections
Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin has admitted to interfering in United States elections and said he would continue doing so in the future, the first such admission from a figure who has been formally implicated by Washington in efforts to influence US politics.
In comments posted by the press service of his Concord catering firm on Russia’s Facebook equivalent VKontakte, Prigozhin said: “We have interfered (in US elections), we are interfering and we will continue to interfere. Carefully, accurately, surgically and in our own way, as we know how to do.”
The remark was posted on the eve of the US midterm elections in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site.
“During our pinpoint operations, we will remove both kidneys and the liver at once,” Prigozhin said. He did not elaborate on the cryptic comment.
Prigozhin, who is often referred to as “Putin’s chef” because his catering company operates Kremlin contracts, has been formally accused of sponsoring Russia-based “troll farms” that seek to influence US politics. In September he admitted to founding the Kremlin-aligned, mercenary Wagner Group, which is active in Ukraine, Syria and several African countries.
Austria stress test shows little risk of blackouts this winter: Environment minister
Austria is not expected to suffer electricity shortages or blackouts this winter, the country’s environment minister has said, citing the results of a recent stress test.
The stress test, conducted by national grid operator APG, found that the most realistic scenario did not present a single hour of so-called load shortfall in Austria, during which supply would not be able to cover demand, Leonore Gewessler said.
“The electricity stress test shows us two things: Austria has a good and secure energy supply, and we are facing a challenging winter that we can nevertheless manage well in a realistic scenario,” he said.
In a “very critical scenario”, Austrians could be asked to curb usage due to insufficient power supply, but a high risk of blackouts was not present in any of the scenarios, the minister added.
Ukraine receives first delivery of NASAMS air defence systems
Ukraine has received its first delivery of NASAMS and Apside air defence systems from Norway, Spain and the United States, the country’s defence minister has said.
“We will continue to shoot down the enemy targets attacking us. Thank you to our partners: Norway, Spain and the US,” Oleksii Reznikov tweeted.
Look who’s here!
NASAMS and Aspide air defence systems arrived in Ukraine!
These weapons will significantly strengthen #UAarmy and will make our skies safer.
We will continue to shoot down the enemy targets attacking us.
Thank you to our partners: Norway, Spain and the US. pic.twitter.com/ozP4eXhgOg— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) November 7, 2022
Germany says Ukraine should decide when to hold peace talks
A German government spokesperson has said it is up to Ukraine to decide when to hold peace talks with Russia, adding that Moscow has also been reluctant to participate in them.
The spokesperson’s remarks came after The Washington Post reported on Sunday that the United States has been privately encouraging Ukraine to signal it is open to talks with Russia.
Ukraine’s president has ruled out negotiations with Moscow while Russian President Vladimir Putin is in power.
Ukraine grain exports down more than 30 percent: Agriculture ministry
Ukraine has exported almost 14.3 million tonnes of grain so far in the 2022-23 season, down 30.7 percent from the 20.6 million tonnes exported by the same stage of the previous season, data collated by the country’s agriculture ministry shows.
The data showed that exports so far in the July 2022 to June 2023 season included 5.4 million tonnes of wheat, 7.7 million tonnes of corn and 1.2 million tonnes of barley.
The government has said Ukraine’s farmers could harvest 50-52 million tonnes of grain this year, down from the record 86 million tonnes in 2021, because of the loss of land to Russian forces and lower yields.
Chinese exports to Russia surged in October: Report
China’s exports to Russia grew at a faster pace in October despite the ongoing war in Russia, according to calculations made by the Reuters news agency based on Chinese customs data.
Shipments of Chinese goods to Russia rose 34.6 percent from a year earlier in dollar terms, quickening from a 21.2 percent gain in September and marking the fourth monthly double-digit growth in a row, Reuters reported.
That is in contrast to the falling demand for Chinese goods in Europe and the United States as surging inflation, sweeping increases in interest rates worldwide and a global economic slowdown dented demand from major trading partners.
Moscow and Beijing signed a no-limits partnership just days before the invasion of Ukraine in late February, and Russia has sought to forge closer political and economic ties with China in the face of Western sanctions over the war.
Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 257
Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 257 of the war in Ukraine.
KEEP READING
- Russian-occupied Kherson loses power after alleged ‘sabotage’
- Is the Ukraine war speeding Europe’s transition to renewable energy?
- Dozens of ships carrying LNG linger around Europe’s coast
- Iran confirms drones to Russia but ‘months’ before Ukraine war
Kremlin declines to comment on reported talks with US
The Kremlin has declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that Washington held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials about avoiding further escalation in the Ukraine war.
“We have nothing to say about this publication,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
“Once again I repeat that there are some truthful reports, but for the most part there are reports that are pure speculation,” he added, saying that while Russia remains “open” to talks, it is unable to negotiate with Kyiv due to its refusal to hold talks with Moscow.
The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that US NSA Jake Sullivan held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials in the hope of reducing the risk the war in Ukraine spills over or escalates into a nuclear conflict.
Russia’s Sberbank suing Glencore over oil supplies
Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, is suing global commodities trader Glencore for about 117 million euros ($116m) over unpaid oil supplies, according to a report by the Reuters news agency.
Reuters cited the database of Moscow’s Arbitration Court as showing on Monday that Sberbank was seeking to recover debt and penalties from Glencore Energy UK Ltd over two agreements worth roughly 58 million euros ($57.9m) each.
One related to oil blend supplies to the border of Ukraine and Hungary in March, and the other to supplies to the border of Ukraine and Slovakia in the same month.
The database gave no further details on the agreements or the lawsuit. Hearings are scheduled to start in Moscow on December 6.
Is the war in Ukraine speeding Europe’s transition to renewable energy?
Renewable energy production in Europe reached record levels following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, leading some energy analysts to predict that Europe is poised to surge forward in creating clean energy.
Other analysts, however, forecast a cut in European emissions through a widely expected recession, energy austerity and de-industrialisation next year.
Read more here.
Grid operator says Ukrainians need to brace for more blackouts
Ukraine’s state-owned grid operator has told consumers to brace for more blackouts in Kyiv and other regions as it seeks to reduce the strain on energy infrastructure damaged by Russian missile and drone attacks.
“The country’s power grid still cannot resume full operation after the Russian terrorist attacks. In some regions, we have to introduce blackouts to avoid overloading the high-voltage infrastructure,” Ukrenergo said in a statement posted on Telegram.
Scheduled shutdowns from 6am local time to the end of the day will affect Kyiv and the regions of Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr, Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava, it said in a statement.
Russia suffering ‘serious’ losses in the east: Zelenskyy
Russia is suffering heavy losses in continuing “fierce” attacks in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and is preparing new assaults on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Ukraine’s president has said.
“Very fierce Russian attacks on Donetsk region are continuing. The enemy is suffering serious losses there,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Sunday.
The Ukrainian leader also said he believed Russia was “concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure, energy in the first instance”.
Zelenskyy accuses Iran of helping Russia ‘prolong’ war
Zelenskyy has accused Iran of helping Russia “prolong the war” by supplying it with arms.
“Iran supports Russia’s terrorist regime and helps prolong the war and therefore prolongs the threats to the world created by Russia’s war of aggression,” Zelenskyy said in his daily video address.
Without Tehran’s support for Moscow, Ukraine “would already be closer to peace”, the Ukrainian leader said.
On Saturday, for the first time, Iran confirmed it sold drones to Russia but said it was “months” before the start of the war in Ukraine.
Zelenskyy warns of more Russian attacks on infrastructure
Ukraine’s president has warned against more potential Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, while the mayor of Kyiv urged residents to consider preparing to leave temporarily if the capital lost water and power supplies.
Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address on Sunday that Russia was “concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure. First of all, energy.”
More than 4.5 million consumers were already without power, he added, amid concerns that support for Ukraine could waver as the war’s effect on energy and food prices persists into winter.
Russian media say Ukraine shelled dam near Kherson
Russian news agencies have claimed that Ukraine’s vast Russian-held Nova Kakhovka dam, upstream of Kherson on the Dnieper River, was damaged in shelling by Ukrainian forces. The reports provided no evidence to support the allegation.
State-owned TASS quoted an emergency services representative as saying that a rocket launched by a US-made HIMARS missile system had hit the dam’s lock and caused damage. The official quoted said it was an “attempt to create the conditions for a humanitarian catastrophe” by breaching the dam.