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News about the Russia-Ukraine war: This happened on Friday night (November 25)

2022-11-25T04:07:45.600Z


Ukraine needs more money for reconstruction. President Selenskyj praises the people's spirit of resistance. And: Belarus does not want to intervene directly in the war. The most important developments.


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Ukrainian soldiers in Kherson

Photo: Bernat Armangue / dpa

What has happened in the past few hours

The number of victims of the Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian city of Cherson has been revised upwards again.

According to regional authorities, seven people were killed and around 20 injured on Thursday.

The city, which was only recently liberated by Ukrainian troops, was shelled with artillery and multiple rocket launchers, regional governor Yaroslav Yanushevych said.

A high-rise caught fire as a result of the shelling, and a projectile hit a children's playground.

"Today is another terrible page in the history of our hero city," the governor wrote on Telegram.

The first reports had spoken of four dead.

Under pressure from Ukrainian attacks, Russian troops evacuated Cherson and their bridgehead on the north-west bank of the Dnipro in mid-November.

The Russians, however, hold positions on the other bank of the river and use their artillery from there.

The situation in the city is considered extremely difficult.

Ukrainian authorities have offered civilians temporary leave of Kherson.

According to Ukrainian Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko, Ukraine will need more financial support to rebuild the country.

"Unfortunately, the number is growing every day and, in the worst case, will increase significantly," Marchenko said in an email.

The current budget provides little for reconstruction and needs to be increased.

The support of our international partners is of crucial importance for us,” said the minister, referring to the 18 billion euros already pledged by the EU.

In August, the World Bank estimated the cost of repairing Ukraine's infrastructure at $105 billion.

That says Kyiv

Nine months after Russia's war of aggression began, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has invoked his country's spirit of resistance.

“We have endured a full-scale war for nine months, and Russia has not found a way to break us.

And it won't find anyone," said Zelenskyj in his evening video address.

"We must carry on as we are right now, in unity and mutual aid."

Zelenskyi said how difficult it was to restore electricity and water supplies after Wednesday's heavy rocket attack.

"Russia doesn't just want the Ukrainians to be without electricity and heat," he said in Kyiv.

"The terrorists want to isolate us from each other and make sure we don't feel each other."

The attacks on civilian targets are "the revenge of those who lost," said the president.

“They don't know how to fight.

The only thing they can do is terrorize.

Whether it's energy terrorism, artillery terrorism or rocket terrorism – that's how low Russia has sunk under its current leadership.« Only the liberation of the entire country and reliable security guarantees could protect the Ukrainians from the threat posed by Russia in the long term.

Despite Western skepticism, Zelenskyy is sticking to the liberation of the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014, as a war goal.

He told the British newspaper "Financial Times" according to information on Thursday.

"I can understand that everyone is confused about this situation and what will become of Crimea," he was quoted as saying.

"If someone shows us a way to end the occupation of Crimea by non-military means, then I will be very much in favor of it," Zelenskyi told the newspaper.

But if a proposal meant that Crimea would be occupied and remain part of Russia, “no one should waste their time on that.

That's a waste of time."

Western supporters of Ukraine assume that Ukraine will eventually be able to recapture the areas occupied by Russia since February 24 and the Donbass.

But they are more cautious about Crimea: The peninsula is strategically and symbolically so important for Moscow that there is a risk of an escalation of the war.

During negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv in the spring, at the beginning of the war, there was talk of postponing the question of Crimea's membership for a few years.

Strengthened by their military successes, however, the Kiev leadership is now pursuing the goal of recapturing all detached areas of Ukraine.

Moscow says so

Russia denied any responsibility for the destruction in Kyiv.

"Not a single blow" had taken place inside Kiev, the Russian Foreign Ministry claimed on Thursday.

Any destruction was the result of missiles fired from "foreign and Ukrainian air defense systems" from populated areas of the Ukrainian capital.

However, the ministry spoke of "massive blows" to the "military leadership of Ukraine" and "related energy facilities".

Energy supply in Ukraine

After the Russian attacks, parts of the capital Kyiv and other regions of the country initially remain without access to electricity and running water.

More than two thirds of Kiev are still cut off from the electricity supply, explained Mayor Vitali Klitschko.

There are problems with the electricity and water supply in around 15 regions, said President Selenskyj.

"Power supply remains difficult in almost all regions," he explained.

However, more households could be supplied with electricity every hour.

According to the local regional governor, there were also electricity problems and “emergency power shutdowns” in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the east of the country.

After "very difficult" work, the power supply was restored on Thursday, said Mayor Igor Terekhov.

About half of the Dnipropetrovsk region, which is also in the center, has electricity, said its governor Valentin Resnichenko.

He warned that there would be shutdowns to relieve the power grid.

Repair work was also carried out in other parts of the country, including the Rivne, Cherkasy, Kirovograd and Zhytomir regions.

International reactions

The authoritarian Belarusian head of state Alexander Lukashenko has ruled out direct deployment of his army in the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.

"If we get directly involved in this conflict with the armed forces, with soldiers, we're not contributing anything, we're only making it worse," Lukashenko said in response to questions from Russian journalists in Minsk, according to a report by the Belta agency on Thursday.

According to him, the Belarusian army, which is 35,000 to 40,000 strong, will not solve the problem of this campaign for Russia.

"We don't interfere, we don't kill anyone, we don't send soldiers there because it's not necessary," Lukashenko said.

Belarus supports Russia, but its role is different.

Lukashenko has made his country available as a deployment area for Russian troops.

Russian airstrikes on Ukraine are flown from there.

After material losses by the Russian army, Belarus provides tanks and other weapons.

Ukraine therefore regards the neighboring country as a warring party and also keeps troops in reserve in case it has to fend off a direct attack from Belarus.

Lukashenko advocated peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv.

However, he claimed that Poland and the US were preventing Ukraine from negotiating.

British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly has announced that he will continue to pledge millions of pounds of support for his planned visit to Ukraine.

The funds are intended to ensure the country gets the practical help it needs over the winter, according to a statement from his office released early Friday.

“Britain stands with Ukraine.

Our support will continue until this remarkable country recovers,” Cleverly said.

During his trip, the minister will also meet President Zelenskyy and Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Cleverly's visit comes just days after Britain's new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was in Kyiv.

Sunak has already pledged to continue his country's firm support for Ukraine.

jok/dpa/Reuters

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-11-25

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