Russia expects attack on Cherson: confusion about curfew - Putin calls on residents to flee

Created: 05/11/2022, 04:50

By: Patrick Freiwah, Bedrettin Bölükbasi

Russia has allegedly launched heavy attacks on Ukrainian regions.

At the same time, the Kremlin expects an attack on Cherson.

The news ticker.

• Russia

  expects attack on

  Cherson

  : The occupation administration has ordered the introduction of a curfew.

• Putin

  is apparently relocating planes to

  Belarus

  – to blame Lukashenko for the

  war

  ?

• "Dirty Bomb"

  ?

  IAEA gives update from

  Ukraine

  : The observers of the International Atomic Energy Agency have not been able to find any indication of such a weapon.

• This

  news ticker on military developments in the Ukraine war

  is constantly updated.

Update from November 4, 7:15 p.m .:

There was confusion in the Russian-occupied metropolis of Cherson on Friday after announcements by the crew administrators.

While the occupiers ordered a curfew for the next 24 hours (see last update), President Putin, among others, called on the city's residents to flee.

The deputy chief of the occupation administration, Kirill Stremoussow, has therefore now corrected his statements.

The curfew applies around the clock for "Nazis and helpers of fascism," said Stremoussow in a video message on his Telegram channel on Friday evening.

The Russian state news agency Tass had previously reported on a video message from Stremoussov, according to which the curfew applied to all residents.

He then apparently deleted the video.

There would therefore be no restrictions for the citizens themselves in the city.

At the same time, Stremusov repeatedly urged the residents of Kherson to leave the city.

Russia expects attack on Cherson: curfew introduced – Putin calls on residents to flee

Update from November 4, 6:20 p.m .:

The Deputy Chief of the Occupation Administration of Cherson, Kirill Stremoussov, employed by Russia, has ordered a 24-hour curfew for the metropolis of the same name.

"A curfew has been imposed in the city of Kherson, it lasts 24 hours - just so that we can defend our city," Stemousov said in a video message on Friday.

In addition, he again called on residents to evacuate the city.

He cited an impending attack by Ukrainian troops as the reason for the measures.

According to the Russian occupiers, who want to prevent the city from being recaptured by Ukrainian troops, the danger is growing in the contested region.

"Terrorist attacks and provocations are possible," said Stremoussow.

"Therefore, we ask once again the residents of Kherson to leave the city (...) and give the military the opportunity to do their thing without civilians."

Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin also said in Moscow that the evacuation of the city was necessary so that people would not be endangered by hostilities.

"Of course, now those living in Kherson should leave the zone of dangerous actions," Putin said at a meeting with volunteers helping refugees from Ukraine.

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Members of the Ukrainian artillery operate in the Kherson region.

© BULENT KILIC/AFP

Ukraine-News: Heavy fighting in Donbass - rockets on Zaporizhia

Update from November 4, 4:10 p.m.:

The Ukrainian army reports heavy fighting with Russian troops in the Donbass.

The main areas are the cities of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, said Serhiy Tscherevatyj, spokesman for the army group in the east of the country, on Ukrainian television.

"The enemy continues to charge and fire with all kinds of barrel artillery, multiple rocket launchers, tanks and mortars," the officer explained.

The military information in the Ukraine war cannot be checked independently.

Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zalushnyi reported to NATO Commander-in-Chief Christopher Cavoli on the phone that Russia had tripled its attacks.

The situation at the front was "tense but under control," Zalushnyj said on Telegram.

According to the regional administration, the city of Zaporizhia was fired at night with Russian missiles from the S-300 air defense system.

According to the Ukrainians, they shot down eight Iranian-made Russian drones over the Dnipropetrovsk region.

One such drone was also intercepted over the Lviv region in the west of the country.

Putin has planes relocated to Belarus - to blame Lukashenko for the war?

Update from November 4, 1:10 p.m.:

Russia has allegedly stationed two MiG-31K supersonic interceptors at the Belarusian airfield Machulishchy.

As the British MoD explains, the jets are likely to be capable of carrying Kinzhal air-launched ballistic missiles.

The stationing of the planes in the neighboring country has no immediate effect, but Russia is pursuing a specific goal, according to London sources: to portray Belarus as "increasingly complicit in the war".

Already on October 16, three of the MiG-31K jets and three Ilyushin IL-76 aircraft were brought to Belarus.

Even apart from the jet shift from Russia there, the allied countries are working together militarily:

At the end of October, Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree for a training and combat center for military personnel from friendly nations.

An agreement on combat training centers had already been launched in 2021.

The joint military command in Belarus has been in action for a few weeks.

According to the report, up to 9,000 Russian troops are expected to arrive in Belarus.

Although there is currently no evidence of an impending attack by Belarus, Ukraine has deployed more troops on the border with Belarus, said Oleksiy Hromov, deputy chief of the Kiev General Staff.

Ukraine gets 60 armored transporters - via a million-euro fundraiser

Update from November 4, 11:09 a.m .:

Thanks to an international fundraiser, the Ukrainian army is getting 60 armored personnel carriers from old British stocks.

This was announced by the foundation of the prominent Ukrainian TV presenter Serhiy Prytula.

The aim of the campaign since Wednesday was to collect the equivalent of 5.4 million euros for 50 FV103 Spartan tracked vehicles.

On Thursday evening, Prytula reported on Twitter that the goal had been exceeded.

"No one will defeat our nation because we are Ukrainians!" the man wrote.

The Ukrainian military continues to receive support from the West, including through fundraisers.

© IMAGO/Stian Lysberg Solum

The small tanks are intended to help the Ukrainian infantry to move protected on the battlefields in Donbass and in the south near Cherson.

The transporters were retired from the British Army.

They should arrive in the affected regions by the end of the year.

The foundation has already organized several fundraisers for the Ukrainian army.

Turkish Bayraktar combat drones were purchased and the use of a radar satellite was organized.

Violent Russian attacks on Ukraine: "Up to 80 attacks a day" - Zelenskyj condemns "energy terror"

Update from November 4th, 6:50 a.m.:

The Ukrainian army has reported violent Russian attacks in some regions.

"The enemy has tripled the intensity of fighting on individual sectors of the front - up to 80 attacks a day," said the supreme commander of the Ukrainian armed forces, Valeriy Zalushny, on his Telegram channel on Thursday, without giving details.

During a phone call with NATO Commander-in-Chief Christopher Cavoli, he discussed the situation at the front.

"The situation is tense, but under control," said Zalushnyj.

The Ukrainian army maintains the defense "through courage and skill".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the population to hold out in the face of massive Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure.

"Enduring the Russian energy terror is now our national task," Zelenskyy said in his evening video address on Thursday.

He spoke of around 4.5 million people who were repeatedly affected by emergency shutdowns, especially in Kyiv and ten other areas.

The fact that Russia has recently been increasingly attacking thermal power stations and power plants is "a sign of weakness," said Zelenskyj.

Unable to achieve success on the battlefield, the Russian army is now trying to “break” the Ukrainians on this path.

But this will not succeed.

Update from November 3, 9:00 p.m .:

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin has expressed confidence that the Ukrainians can still recapture areas occupied by Russian troops on the west side of the Dnipro River and around the city of Kherson.

"I think they're capable of that," Austin said in Washington.

"Most importantly, Ukrainians themselves believe they can do it," he added.

Western security circles announced on Thursday that Russia was preparing to withdraw from Cherson in southern Ukraine.

The strategically important city was one of the first to be occupied by Russian troops and is one of the four areas that Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin recently declared part of Russia, in violation of international law. 

Ukraine war: Putin's troops are probably planning a withdrawal from Cherson

Update from November 3, 4:40 p.m .:

According to Western circles, the Russian military leadership is currently preparing a withdrawal of troops from the city of Cherson.

The Russians may have decided that "the city is not worth the fight," a senior Western government official said in a background briefing to journalists on Thursday.

However, it is always possible that the military leadership will change its mind at short notice, even if everything currently points to a withdrawal, he said.

The metropolis on the banks of the Dnieper River is considered a strategically important hub.

The region of the same name was declared annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of September.

Not long ago, Ukrainian officials still expected a bitter battle for the city.

"Dirty Bomb"?

IAEA gives update from Ukraine - after inspection at three locations

Update from November 3, 3:45 p.m .:

The observers of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have so far been unable to find any evidence of the production of a so-called “dirty bomb” in their investigations in Ukraine.

That said IAEA director Rafael Grossi on Thursday.

The delegation had previously carried out inspections at three locations in Ukraine.

"Our previous technical and scientific evaluation of the results did not show any evidence of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at these three sites."

The IAEA experts have been able to carry out all planned activities in the past few days and have received unrestricted access, the organization said.

The reason for this was the repeated assertion by Russian politicians that Kyiv was planning to build and use a "dirty bomb" in the Ukraine war.

Such a weapon is a conventional explosive device which, when detonated, also releases radioactive material.

However, unlike an atomic bomb, there is no nuclear chain reaction.

Observers from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) examine the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in early September (archive photo).

© D. Candano Laris/dpa

Ukraine-News: Zaporizhia nuclear power plant again without external power supply

Update from November 3, 11:10 a.m

.: According to the power plant operator, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russia, is again without external electricity.

The last two high-voltage lines that connect the nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian power grid failed due to Russian fire.

Reactors five and six were shut down completely.

For power supply and cooling, the plant relies on its 20 diesel generators, which have enough fuel for about 15 days.

Enerhoatom saw the destruction of the lines as another attempt by Moscow to disconnect the nuclear power plant from the Ukrainian grid and connect it to the Russian-controlled power grid in Donbass and Crimea.

A representative of the Russian nuclear company Rosenergoatom, on the other hand, accused Ukraine of destroying the two lines and thus posing a threat to the plant.

Zaporizhia in southern Ukraine is the largest nuclear facility in Europe.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been trying for months to set up a protection zone for the plant.

Russia with “aluminum cans” on the road in Ukraine?

Putin is apparently looking for a remedy in Belarus

Update from November 3, 9.45 a.m

.: Putin's troops lack modern combat vehicles in the Ukraine war, British secret services report.

They had already lost many in the fighting.

Now the soldiers are probably frustrated that they have to use old infantry vehicles called "aluminum cans," according to the latest short report on the Ukraine war by the Ministry of Defense in London.

By mid-October, Russian units were losing more than 40 vehicles a day, which the British say is about the equipment of an entire battalion.

In the past week, Moscow has bought at least 100 additional tanks and infantry fighting vehicles from Belarusian stocks.

Presumably, however, it is difficult for the Russian units to procure sufficient suitable replacements for the damaged material, which causes problems for the offensive.

A Russian tank damaged in recent fighting.

© Efrem Lukatsky/dpa

UN agency: Putin's war against Ukraine has forced 14 million people to flee

Update from November 3, 7.35 a.m

.: According to the UN refugee agency UNHCR, Russia's invasion of Ukraine has led to the largest displacement of people in decades.

"Some 14 million people have been displaced from their homes since February 24," UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in New York on the previous day.

The situation does not improve before a presumably harsh winter.

Humanitarian aid must be expanded further, the "senseless" war must be ended.

Because of the war damage to electricity and heat supply, the Ukrainian government recently asked those who had fled abroad not to return until next spring.

According to the UNHCR, more than seven million people from Ukraine have sought protection abroad - around one million of them in Germany.

Kyiv reports success: Ukraine repels “dozens of attacks” in Donbass

Update from November 2, 9:48 p.m.:

Ukraine has reported intense fighting with Russian units in the Donbass, especially around the cities of Bakhmut and Soledar.

"Dozens of attacks in one day" were repelled, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said on Ukrainian television on Wednesday.

If the Russian army advances, Ukraine will immediately respond with a counterattack.

According to the Ukrainian general staff, Russia continued to attack infrastructure in several regions of the country with missiles and Iranian drones.

According to the authorities in the Kharkiv area, five women and two men were injured in the attacks.

The attackers damaged four private houses, two high-rise buildings and a shop with artillery fire, it said.

For its part, Ukraine reported the destruction of an ammunition depot, among other things.

The information from the combat area could not be independently confirmed.

Ukraine: Government assumes around 7,000 missing in war against Russia

Update from November 2, 9:11 p.m .:

According to estimates by the Ukrainian government, the number of missing people in the war against Russia is almost 7,000. Because of the ongoing hostilities, precise information is impossible, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar, according to the Unian

.

Accordingly, the numbers are usually transmitted late and inaccurately.

Maljar also called on the population not to publish any personal information about missing relatives on the Internet.

Especially not when it comes to soldiers.

“The enemy uses this information.

Do not post a photo of a missing person in uniform with personal information.

This person could be hiding in civilian clothes in the temporarily occupied areas and that could expose him.

It could also make the exchange of prisoners more difficult.” The Deputy Defense Minister appealed to contact special coordination offices if necessary.

Ukrainian military leadership discusses air defense situation with President Zelenskyy

Update from November 2nd, 4:25 p.m .:

In view of Russian airstrikes with rockets, drones and cruise missiles, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discussed the air defense situation with the military leadership.

The president stressed the need to quickly build an effective air defense system, the presidential office said on Wednesday.

However, successes in air defense were also noted, such as the shooting down of several combat drones the night before.

In addition to the situation at the front, the reconstruction of the energy infrastructure destroyed by Russia was also discussed.

The Ukrainian Air Force announced that 12 of 13 Iranian-made Shahed-136 combat drones were intercepted during the night.

According to the Ukrainians, Russia has been using more such drones for several weeks.

The city administration announced on Wednesday that six drones had been shot down while approaching Kyiv.

According to regional reports, the six other drones were intercepted over the Dnipropetrovsk region.

According to the authorities, three Ch-59 cruise missiles launched by Russian planes over the Black Sea were shot down over the Odessa region in the south.

The Ukrainian information could not be independently verified. 

Russians flee due to partial mobilization - 400,000 people have left the country

Update from November 2, 3 p.m.:

According to Western government sources, an estimated 400,000 Russians have fled their homeland as a result of the partial mobilization.

The number does not include those who had already left the country because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

In addition to fleeing abroad, many Russians have also gone underground in their own country to avoid being drafted into the armed forces, government officials said in an interview with journalists on Wednesday.

When you add that to the number of people who were actually conscripted, the decline in the working population "places a significant additional burden on Russia's economy and public finances," they said.

Ukraine War: Partisans fight against Russia in occupied territories

First report from November 2nd:

Munich - In the course of the Ukraine war, Russian soldiers are not only struggling with problems at the front.

Ukrainian partisans are also causing difficulties for the troops of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin in areas that are already occupied.

According to the US think tank Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Ukrainian rebels are conducting “effective attacks” in occupied Ukrainian territories.

Partisan attacks weigh on Russian army — Ukrainians collect intelligence undisturbed

These attacks would force the Kremlin to divert resources intended for the front lines to secure the occupied regions.

This in turn has a negative impact on Russia's ability to defend itself against Ukrainian counter-offensives and conduct offensive operations of its own.

The low level of operational security of the Russian military makes these attacks possible, according to the ISW.

For example, Moscow did not cover up the identities of pro-Russian officials in occupied territories well enough.

Visits to Ukraine during the war - Politics shows solidarity

View photo gallery

Moscow has so far not been able to resist the partisan attacks and it is also unlikely that this will be the case in the future, according to another assessment by the US think tank.

Uninterrupted, Ukrainian partisans would collect information about the Russian military and possible targets, and would send this information to other partisans as well as to the Ukrainian army.

Russian state media ignored the partisan attacks, while military bloggers like Alexander Kots criticized pro-Russian authorities for the lack of security.