“The Russian occupation administration has begun the forced relocation of residents” of the Kherson region, particularly Skandovsk and Kakhovka, to Crimea or Russia, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry announced on Thursday.
Ukrainian officials and Western analysts remained wary of signs that Russia might leave the region.
A Russian occupation official in southern Ukraine said on Thursday that Moscow is likely to withdraw its troops from the west bank of the Dnipro River, marking a massive retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war.
Kyiv said it was still fighting in the region and was wary that Moscow could set a trap by pretending to withdraw.
The capital of the Kherson region is the only major city Russia has captured intact since its invasion in February. It also includes one side of a massive dam across the Dnipro, which controls the supply of water for irrigation to Russian-held Crimea.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces could retake Kherson from Russian troops, which would be a major defeat for Moscow.
“In terms of whether the Ukrainians can take the rest of the territory on the west side of the Dnipro River and in the Kherson, I certainly think they have the ability to do that,” Austin said at a Pentagon news conference.
“More importantly, the Ukrainians believe they have the ability to do it. We’ve seen them engage in a very methodical but effective effort to take back their sovereign territory.”
2. “No sign of undeclared nuclear activity,” says the guard
The United Nations nuclear watchdog says it has found no signs of undeclared activities at sites in Ukraine that Russia claims were used to prepare the so-called “dirty bomb.” The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its inspectors were “given unrestricted access” to the sites in Kyiv, Zhovti Kodi and Dnipro. “Based on the assessment of the results available to date and the information provided by Ukraine, the Agency found no evidence of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at the sites,” the IAEA said in a statement. Inspectors also collected environmental samples for analysis that may shed light on past and current activities related to the handling of nuclear materials, the statement said. “Our technical and scientific assessment of the results we have so far has shown no signs of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at these three sites,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi. His team will report the results of the sampling as soon as possible, he added, saying the IAEA is ready to carry out further verifications. Inspectors were dispatched quickly despite the “difficult conditions” created by the collision, Grossi said. Vladimir Putin and other senior officials in Russia have claimed – without providing evidence – that Ukraine is building an explosive device capable of scattering radioactive material over a large area. Western countries have called Moscow’s claims “clearly false”, while Ukrainian officials say Russia is looking for an excuse to escalate hostilities.
3. Russian top brass met to discuss use of tactical nukes in Ukraine, US claims
Top Russian military officials have held talks about when and how the Kremlin might use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, multiple US media outlets have reported, unnerving Kiev’s Western allies. It is unclear whether Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in the discussions. Washington is “increasingly concerned” about a possible Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine, the White House said. “We have yet to see any indication that the Russians are preparing for such a use … but all of this is deeply troubling to us,” John Kirby, a spokesman for the National Security Council, said Wednesday. “We are increasingly concerned about the potential as these months go by,” Kirby added. Putin has recently denied that he had any intentions of using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but has described the conflict as part of the West’s alleged efforts to assert its global dominance. Speaking in late October, Putin said it made no sense for Russia to strike Ukraine with nuclear weapons. Putin said an earlier warning that he was ready to use “all available means to protect Russia” did not amount to a nuclear strike, but was merely a response to Western statements about the possible use of nuclear weapons. “We have maintained, I believe, an appropriate level of concern about the potential use of weapons of mass destruction in Ukraine to include nuclear weapons,” Kirby told reporters. In recent weeks, Moscow has stepped up its claims that Kyiv is preparing a “dirty bomb” nuclear attack, with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said to have called his Western counterparts to discuss the matter. The move was widely seen by analysts as a potential distraction while the Kremlin prepared its own false flag operation. Claims that Russian troops were carrying out “secret construction” at the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine — Europe’s largest nuclear power plant — further heightened fears of nuclear mistakes.
4. Moscow and Washington continue to trade barbarically for alleged bioweapons
Meanwhile, the UN Security Council overwhelmingly rejected Russia’s bid to set up a panel to investigate its baseless claims that Ukraine and the US are conducting “military biological” activities that violate the convention banning biological weapons. Russia only received support from China in Wednesday’s vote on its resolution, with France, the United Kingdom and the United States voting “no” and the other 10 council states abstaining. The 2-3-10 vote reflected the council’s continued opposition and skepticism about Russia’s actions since its February 24 full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The council has been paralyzed from taking any action against Russia’s military aggression because of Moscow’s veto power. Russia’s ambassador to the UN, Vassily Nebenzya, accused Washington of carrying out work in Ukraine with deadly pathogens – such as cholera, plague, anthrax and influenza. He said documents and evidence recovered by Russian authorities indicated a military application. His American counterpart Linda Thomas-Greenfield responded that Russia’s claims are “absurd for many reasons, not least because such species, even if they could be weaponized, would pose as great a threat to the European continent and Ukraine itself as to any other country. .” Russia’s initial claim of secret US biological warfare labs in Ukraine in March was disputed by independent scientists, Ukrainian leaders and White House and Pentagon officials. Ukraine has a network of biological laboratories that have received US funding and research support. They are owned and operated out of Ukraine and are part of an initiative called the Biothreat Reduction Program that aims to reduce the likelihood of deadly outbreaks, natural or man-made. US efforts date back to the 1990s to dismantle the former Soviet Union’s weapons of mass destruction program. However, the Kremlin’s unsubstantiated claims of biological weapons being developed in Ukraine — used as a pretext for the invasion — have taken root online with various conspiracy theory groups, including QAnon.
5. Many grain ships leave Ukrainian Black Sea ports
Kyiv confirmed that seven ships carrying grain and agricultural products left Black Sea ports on Thursday. The ships were loaded with 290,000 tons of food and headed for European and Asian countries, the infrastructure ministry said. It comes after Russia continued its participation in a deal brokered by Turkey and the UN aimed at delivering Ukrainian products to global markets. Moscow urged the United Nations to help fulfill its parts of the deal and “remove obstacles” to facilitate Russia’s food and fertilizer exports. “We once again called on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to ensure that he fulfills the obligations he agreed to on his own initiative,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday. Moscow suspended its participation in the grain deal on Saturday after a drone attack on its fleet based in the port of Sevastopol in annexed Crimea. But Russia made a U-turn on the deal after it said it had received “written guarantees” from Kyiv that the safe humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea would be demilitarized. Kyiv has said it has offered “no new commitments” to Russia beyond the agreed deal. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the sharp move showed “both the failure of Russian aggression and how strong we are when we stand together.” Some 9.7 million tons of agricultural products have already been exported from Ukraine under the July deal. Russia has not yet decided whether or not to approve the extension of the Ukrainian grain deal that expires in just over two weeks. “Before we decide to proceed, it will be necessary to make an assessment,” warned Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
6. The war has displaced more than 14 million Ukrainians, the UN says
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has driven an estimated 14 million Ukrainians from their homes, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday. Filippo Grandi told the UN Security Council that the displacement of civilians was the “fastest, biggest […] witnesses in decades”. Aid organizations have “dramatically stepped up their response,” he said, “but much more needs to be done, starting with ending this senseless war.” Ukrainians are set to face “one of the harshest winters in the world in extremely…
