Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 620

Summary for Sunday, 5th November 2023 - DAY 620

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, reaffirmed his stance that this is not the time to negotiate with Russia, and he also denied that any western leaders were pressuring him to do so. Zelenskiy also rejected remarks by his own commander-in-chief that the war had reached a stalemate.
  
  
• Talks are under way to outline what Ukraine might have to give up to secure a peace deal with Russia, US news channel NBC reported earlier, citing a senior US official and another former senior official who briefed the network about the tentative plans.
  
  
• The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Kyiv on Saturday ahead of a report the EU is expected to present next week about Ukraine’s progress in its membership bid. She said the EU would stand by Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and that the country had made “excellent progress” towards EU accession.
  
  
• Russian forces are now focused on capturing Avdiivka’s coking plant, according to the town’s mayor, Vitaliy Barabash. He said audio transmission intercepts had revealed that Moscow was seeking to secure it. UK intelligence suggests Russia has incurred heavy losses in its assault on the Donbas town.
  
  
• Ukraine said it has filed criminal charges against Patriarch Kirill, the leader of the Russian Orthodox church, in absentia, for “justifying” Russia’s invasion. Moscow’s most influential spiritual leader, a fervent supporter of President Vladimir Putin, has called the war a historic battle against the “forces of evil”.
  
  
• Zelenskiy appointed a new commander of the country’s special forces, a unit known for conducting military operations in Moscow-held territories, but the officer replaced in the shuffle said he had not been told why.
  
  
• Ukraine’s newly appointed head of the defence industry says he is working tirelessly to increase local arms production and wants to turn the country into a weapons production hub for the west.
  

Russia said on Sunday it had test-launched an intercontinental ballistic missile capable of carrying nuclear warheads from one of its submarines

Tragedy of 128th Brigade: Three days of mourning announced in Zakarpattia Oblast

Three days of mourning have been announced in Zakarpattia Oblast due to the mass deaths of soldiers from the 128th Mountain Assault Brigade, who have been struck by Russia, likely during a festive award ceremony.

In Ukraine’s neighbour Moldova, voters go to polls today for mayoral elections – with the Moldovan president, Maia Sandu, accusing Russia of election meddling.

Pro-European president Maia Sandu has denounced Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and accused Moscow of plotting to oust her in a coup. This week, she accused Russia of “buying” voters by funneling $5m to “criminal groups” led by fugitive businessman Ilan Shor in the last two months.
The election to pick 12,000 officials pits dozens of parties against each other, including Sandu’s ruling Party of Action and Solidarity (PAS) and the pro-Russian Revival party linked to Shor, who has been convicted in absentia for fraud.
On Friday, the Chance party, also associated with Shor, was barred from the vote on security grounds.
The national security service has accused Shor of helping funnel 1bn Moldovan lei ($55.60m) into Moldova to stage anti-government protests during the war in Ukraine and to “buy” voters.

Dozens of Ukrainian troops killed in Russian ballistic missile attack

Media reports, citing sources and social media, suggest that Ukrainian soldiers in the frontline village in Zaporizhzhia Oblast were assembled for an awards ceremony when a Russian Iskander ballistic missile hit them.

“The enemy struck the personnel of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade with an Iskander-M missile, resulting in the deaths of servicemen. Locals also suffered injuries of varying severity from the attack,” the AFU Stratcom stated on Telegram.

“On Day of Rocket Artillery and Engineering Forces of Ukraine, personnel from the 128th Brigade gathered for an awards ceremony in a frontline area. They lined up in formation. The Russians struck, resulting in a pile of dead officers and soldiers,” wrote Ruslan Kaganets on Facebook.

Russian forces this weekend attacked Ukraine in both Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia Oblasts

Zelensky invites Trump to Ukraine: ‘he can’t manage this war’

Russians bombard Kherson once again, 5 people hospitalised

Five civilians were injured as a result of a Russian attack on the city of Kherson on Sunday, 5 November. 

Explosions heard in Odesa

Explosions were heard in Odesa in the afternoon on 5 November.

Closing Summary

• Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the cost of letting Russia win the war would be further conflict involving ground troops from Nato countries, as he urged US lawmakers on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ to increase war funding.
  
  
• Zelenskiy also urged former US president Donald Trump to visit Ukraine, where he said it would take minutes to show war-sceptic Trump his errors about the conflict.
  
  
• Tensions simmered between the civilian and military wings of Ukraine’s leadership, as the president’s office publicly rebuked top military commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi for his comments the war was a stalemate.
  
  
• The office of Zelenskiy said Zaluzhnyi’s words were helpful to Russia, and stirred panic.
  
  
• Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the war in Gaza was distracting focus from Ukraine’s war against Russia, as humanitarian, diplomatic and media attention shifts to the middle east.
  
  
• Russian casualties climbed to over 305,000 dead or injured, Ukraine says, with an estimated 120,000 Russian forces killed and 180,000 injured in the invasion.
  
  
• Ukraine’s Colonel Oleksandr Shtupun said Russian forces were following “cannon fodder” tactics, referring to fighting in the Tavria region.
  
  
• Fake Russian propaganda linking the Gaza and Ukraine wars is spreading online, with a fabricated Israeli promotional video claiming to show Ukrainians fighting in Israel exposed by newsroom Ukrinform.
  
  
• Russia and Saudi Arabia confirmed they would both be restricting the supply of crude oil until the end of 2023, in efforts to raise the price of oil worldwide.
  
  
• European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said on Saturday that Ukraine has “made excellent progress” towards EU accession, as she visited Kyiv and affirmed EU support for Ukraine “for as long as it takes.”