Here’s what happened on Saturday, November 29th:
finding
Timur Tkachenko, head of Kiev’s military junta, said Russian drones struck six locations in Kiev’s city center and eastern suburbs early Saturday, hitting apartments and other residential buildings and injuring four people. Ukrainian military commander-in-chief Oleksandr Shirskyi said Ukrainian troops were holding positions in the northeastern city of Kupiansk and hunting down subversive groups, despite Kremlin claims that the Ukrainian military had complete control of the region. Russia captured Kupiansk in the first weeks of a full-scale invasion in 2022, but Ukrainian forces recaptured it later that year. Russian President Vladimir Putin then claimed on Thursday that the city was “completely in our hands.” Shirsky quickly denied the claim, saying, “The scale of lies by the Russian leadership regarding the situation in Kupiansk is astonishing.” Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that the Russian military cleared Ukrainian troops from 6,585 buildings in the Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk last week amid heavy fighting. Ukraine said its forces attacked Russia’s Saratov oil refinery and Saki air base in Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukraine’s military said in a statement regarding the refinery bombing that “a series of explosions were recorded, followed by a fire in the target area.” The Russian Ministry of Defense announced that Russian air defense systems intercepted and destroyed 136 Ukrainian drones overnight.
ukrainian politics
Andriy Yermak, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff and ally who led Ukraine’s negotiating team in the difficult US-backed peace talks, resigned hours after his home was searched by anti-corruption officials. Mr. Yermak was leading Ukraine’s efforts to push back against U.S.-proposed peace terms that would meet many of Russia’s territorial and security demands. President Zelenskiy said on Saturday that he would consider replacing his chief of staff. “Russia wants Ukraine to make mistakes. We will not make mistakes,” Zelensky said in a video address, calling for unity. “Our work continues. Our fight continues,” he added. The high-level corruption probe, which comes just weeks after Ukraine’s justice and energy ministers resigned amid a wide-ranging investigation, has sparked public anger and thrown government leadership into crisis at a time when the country is fighting for its survival.
ceasefire negotiations
In a video address to the nation, President Zelensky said senior Ukrainian officials representing the military, intelligence services and foreign ministry would soon take part in talks with Washington officials on how to end the conflict. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia expected to have information on the terms of the peace agreement by the time the U.S. delegation arrives in Moscow next week. Peskov said the Russian government is working on the premise that it is negotiating this plan only with the United States.
sanctions
A European Union spokesperson said “intensive discussions” were underway with Belgium about the use of frozen Russian assets to support Ukraine’s survival. Belgium’s support for the plan is crucial because the assets the EU wants to access are held by Belgian-based financial institution Euroclear. The talks came as Belgian Prime Minister Bad de Weber warned in a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen that the use of assets could derail the Ukraine peace deal. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said he saw the need to use frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine as “increasingly urgent” and hoped for an early agreement. Hungary’s Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto said after a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán that Russia would hand over agreed oil and gas supplies to Hungary in accordance with existing contracts. Two ships of Russia’s Shadow Fleet of sanctions oil tankers were rocked by an explosion in the Black Sea near the Bosphorus in Turkiye. The 274-meter (898-foot) tanker Kairos was en route from Egypt to Russia when it exploded and caught fire in the Black Sea, Turkiye’s Transport Ministry said. An emergency response vessel was immediately dispatched to the scene and the 25 crew members were safely rescued. The Kairos was headed for the Russian port of Novorossiysk when an “external impact” caused a fire 28 nautical miles (51.8 kilometers) off the Turkish coast, Turkey’s Maritime Directorate said. A second Russian tanker, the Virat, was reportedly collided further east in the Black Sea, about 35 nautical miles (64.8 km) off the coast. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear, but ships collided with mines in the Black Sea in recent years. Russia has not received enough votes to return to the UN maritime agency’s governing council in 2023, despite calling on countries to support nominations for the seats it lost. The result is a blow to Russia, which failed to garner enough support to be elected to the United Nations aviation agency’s governing board in September, and its diplomatic rebuke of Russia over its 2022 invasion of Ukraine also failed.
regional security
Reuters reports that US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will skip next week’s NATO foreign ministers’ meeting in Brussels, in a highly unusual situation in which Washington’s top diplomat is absent from a key transatlantic meeting at a critical time in Ukraine peace negotiations. The report cited two anonymous U.S. officials. Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau will represent Washington in his place, one of the officials said. It is unclear why Rubio was scheduled to miss the Dec. 3 meeting. But he is likely to be absent as U.S. and Ukrainian officials scramble to narrow the gap over President Donald Trump’s plan to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Poland has detained two Ukrainians and three Belarusians on suspicion of acting on orders from foreign intelligence services, as Warsaw warns of Russian attempts to destabilize countries supporting Kiev. Poland said it was the target of arson and cyberattacks in what it called a “hybrid war” waged by Russia to undermine aid to Ukraine. Germany recorded a record high number of drone sightings over military bases in October, a senior intelligence official said, raising the profile of naval facilities. In the past, drones have been frequently seen over military and air force bases, including those used for training by the Ukrainian military. Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla, daughter of former South African president Jacob Zuma, has resigned from parliament after being accused of seducing 17 people to fight for Russia in Ukraine. Zuma-Sambudla was a member of the opposition Umkhonto Wisizwe (MK) party led by her father. MK officials said she resigned voluntarily and that her resignation from parliament and all other public roles was effective immediately. According to Russian state news agencies, President Putin is scheduled to visit India from December 4th to 5th at the invitation of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
