“Those who live in Kherson should be removed from the zone of the most dangerous actions, because the civilian population should not suffer,” Putin told pro-Kremlin activists as he marked Russia’s National Unity Day. Moscow has already evacuated people from an area it controls in Kherson, on the west bank of the Dnipro river, and this week announced that the evacuation zone would also include a 15km neutral zone on the east bank. The Russian Defense Ministry said on Friday that more than 5,000 civilians have fled their homes every day since evacuations resumed in the Kherson region on Tuesday. Moscow says it has moved residents to safety from the path of a Ukrainian advance, citing the threat of increased shelling. Kyiv says the measures include the “forced mass displacement” of thousands of civilians out of Russian-held territory and constitute a war crime, which Moscow denies. “The Russian occupation administration has started forced evictions of residents” of the Kherson region, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Friday evening, claiming that “similar evictions are also being carried out by Russia in Zaporizhzhia, Lugansk and Donetsk regions.” as in the Crimea. Russian occupation authorities also assured on Friday that there would be no curfew imposed on Kherson, minutes after it was announced. Signs have emerged that Russia could be preparing to abandon its military stronghold on the west bank of the Dnipro River, including the regional capital of Kherson – possibly one of the biggest Russian retreats of the war. The government in Kiev and its Western allies remained cautious, suggesting that Russia could set a trap to advance Ukrainian troops. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Thursday that Kyiv was “capable” of recapturing Kherson.
2. Putin ‘waiting for General Winter’ to save Russian military — Borel
Vladimir Putin is waiting for “General Winter” to come and support Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the EU’s foreign affairs chief claimed on Friday. Josep Borrell was speaking as top diplomats from the G7 – which brings together France, Germany, Italy, the UK, Canada, the US, Japan and the EU – met in Münster, Germany to pledge support to help Kyiv during the coming colder months. The G7 group agreed to create a “coordination mechanism” to help Ukraine repair and defend its vital electricity and water infrastructure, which has been hit by Russia in recent weeks. “[Russia] is systematically destroying the country,” Borel said, adding: “Millions of Ukrainians no longer have access to electricity. And what Putin is willing to do is put the country in the dark in the winter, which is a war crime.” Putin was “waiting for General Winter to arrive to support the Russian military,” Borrell added. Despite advances by Ukrainian troops on the northeastern and southeastern fronts, a harsh winter is expected for soldiers and civilians. G7 foreign ministers expressed concern over food shortages and the energy crisis as Russia continues its attacks on civilian infrastructure and said they were committed to helping Ukraine prepare for winter. “We reiterate our unwavering commitment to continue to provide the economic, humanitarian, defense, political, technical and legal support Ukraine needs to alleviate the suffering of its people and maintain its sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders of,” the G7 said. statement of foreign ministers issued on Friday. “We will not allow the brutality of this war to lead to the mass death of the elderly and children, young people or families in the coming winter months,” said German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.
3. Russia is ‘trying to terrorize’ Ukrainian civilians, says G7
The G7 statement condemned Russia’s “attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, especially energy and water facilities” using missiles and Iranian drones. “Russia is trying to terrorize the civilian population. Indiscriminate attacks against the civilian population and infrastructure constitute war crimes, and we reiterate our determination to ensure full accountability for these and crimes against humanity,” the foreign ministers’ statement said. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of “energy terrorism” on Thursday night, saying the strikes temporarily left more than 4.5 million people without access to electricity. Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said 450,000 apartments in the capital alone were without power on Friday and urged residents to conserve electricity. “The very fact that Russia is resorting to energy terrorism shows the weakness of our enemy,” Zelensky said in his Thursday night speech. “They cannot defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, so they are trying to break our people in this way.” G7 ministers also said on Friday that any use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons by Russia would be met with “severe consequences” and renewed their call for Moscow to end the war in Ukraine. “Russia’s irresponsible nuclear rhetoric is unacceptable,” the ministers said in their joint statement.
4. Erdogan and Putin agree to send “free” grain to Africa
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russia had promised to deliver “free” grain to African countries at risk of famine. Erdogan said on Friday he had reached an agreement with his Russian counterpart on the UN-brokered Black Sea export deal. “Putin told me that we should deliver free grain to these countries, such as Djibouti, Somalia and Sudan — and we agreed,” Erdogan said on Friday. Moscow announced a similar intention on Saturday. Russia resumed its participation in the Ukrainian grain deal only on Wednesday in a sharp U-turn after accusing Kyiv of violating the agreement by shelling its fleet in the Black Sea. Putin said Russia would replace free of charge from its own reserves the entire volume of grain intended for the “poorest countries”, even if it again withdraws from the UN agreement. The July agreement allowed the export of about 10 million tons of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine starting August 1. Grain exports from Ukrainian Black Sea ports resumed Thursday after Moscow resumed its involvement. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called on Moscow to extend the deal, which expires on November 19. “I call on the Russian president not to refuse the extension of the grain agreement,” he said during an official trip to China. “Hunger must not become another weapon.”
5. Russia fights a holy battle against “Satan” in Ukraine — Medvedev
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Friday described the war in Ukraine as a holy conflict with Satan, warning that Moscow could send all its enemies to the eternal fires of hell.
Russia has previously tried to portray its aggression as an act of self-defense – Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov claimed its war in Ukraine was not an “invasion” – as well as an effort to root out “Nazis” from power and protect persecuted Russian speakers .
Now Medvedev, who was also Russia’s prime minister and is now deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, described his country’s mission in overtly religious tones.
In a message to mark Russia’s National Unity Day, Medvedev said the country’s duty was “to stop the supreme ruler of Hell, whatever name he uses – Satan, Lucifer or Iblis.”
Medvedev said Russia had different weapons, including the ability to “send all our enemies to the fiery Gehenna,” using a Hebrew term often translated as Hell.
Moscow was fighting “crazy Nazi drug addicts” in Ukraine backed by Westerners whom it said were “drooling with degeneracy,” said Medvedev, who once described himself as a liberal modernizer.
Since the war began, his rhetoric has grown increasingly harsh, although his published views are sometimes in line with thinking at the highest levels of the Kremlin elite.
Satan’s weapons, Medvedev said, were “sophisticated lies. And our weapon is the truth. Therefore our cause is right. Therefore victory will be ours! Happy Holidays!”
Russia’s invasion and war in Ukraine — characterized by Ukraine and the West as a brutal land grab — has killed tens of thousands, injured many more and displaced millions.
