Russian invasion of Ukraine: Day 623

Summary for Wednesday, 8th November 2023 - DAY 623

• Ukraine’s military said its troops had repelled Russian assaults in widely separated sectors of the war and were braced for a fresh attempt to capture the key frontline eastern town of Avdiivka.
  
  
• Russia is engaged in a slow-moving campaign in eastern areas of the 1,000km frontline. Ukraine has registered limited progress in a counteroffensive launched in the east and south in June.
  
  
• Ukraine’s general staff, in its Tuesday evening report, said its forces had beaten back 15 attacks near Kupiansk in the north-east and 18 attacks near Maryinka. Nine attacks were repelled in and near Avdiivka, where Moscow launched the latest of several drives in mid-October.
  
  
• “The third wave [attack on Avdiivka] will definitely happen. The enemy is regrouping after a second wave of unsuccessful attacks,” said Vitaliy Barabash, head of the Avdiivka military administration.
  
  
• There was a powerful explosion on Tuesday at Taganrog airport in Russia’s Rostov oblast which houses military aircraft, Ukrainian news sources, Russian officials and online observers said.
  
  
• Shelling killed six people and wounded nearly a dozen in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, the Kremlin-backed head of the region, said on Tuesday. Donetsk has been controlled by Russian forces since 2014 and authorities routinely accuse Ukraine of attacks – claims that cannot be independently verified.
  
  
• The heads of the US treasury, defence and state departments have called on Congress to fund $11.8bn in Ukraine aid as part of President Joe Biden’s supplemental spending request, according to a letter released on Tuesday. Senate Democrats blocked a Republican effort to win quick approval for a bill providing emergency aid to Israel that passed the US House of Representatives last week but provides no assistance for Ukraine.
  
  
• The EU is expected to fire the starting gun on the process of Ukraine becoming a member state, with a report expected to recommend formal negotiations on accession on Wednesday. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that his country was “preparing our next steps” to join the bloc, including by strengthening its institutions, although he acknowledged that this would require work by Kyiv to “adapt to EU standards”.
  
  
• A newly built Russian naval corvette was “almost certainly” damaged after being struck in Crimea, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update. The Ukrainian attack on 4 November hit the Askold cruise missile ship, which had not yet entered service. “Ukraine’s capability to hit Crimean shipbuilding infrastructure will likely cause Russia to consider relocating farther from the frontline, delaying the delivery of new vessels,” the update said.
  
  
• The Netherlands sent its first five F-16 fighter jets to Romania on Tuesday for use in the training of Ukrainian pilots, Reuters reported.
  
  
• Russia formally withdrew from a security treaty that limited key categories of conventional armed forces, blaming the US for undermining post-cold war security with the enlargement of the Nato military alliance. Nato allies said that as a consequence, they intended to suspend the operation of the treaty as long as necessary.
  
  
• The US army needs Congress to approve $3.1bn to buy 155mm artillery rounds and expand production to quickly replace stocks depleted by shipments to Ukraine and now Israel, an army official said.
  
  
• The US has accused Russia of financing a Latin America-wide disinformation campaign that feeds media contacts with propaganda aimed at weakening support for Ukraine and boosting anti-American and anti-Nato sentiments, Reuters reported.
  
  
• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was quoted as saying that Ukraine has deployed more western air defence systems, as it braces for a second full winter of Russian attacks on energy facilities.
  
  
• G7 support for Ukraine in its war with Russia will not be affected by the intensifying Middle East conflict, Japan said as the group’s foreign ministers prepared to hold virtual talks with Kyiv during a meeting in Tokyo.
  
  
• Ukrainian drones attacked over the Black Sea and the annexed Crimean peninsula on Tuesday, Moscow’s defence ministry said.
  

Ukraine's armored vehicles have reached Dnieper east bank in Kherson: ISW

Ukraine's armored vehicles have reached the Russian-controlled east bank of the Dnieper river in southern Ukraine, a think tank has said, citing military sources.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a U.S.-based think tank, said in its latest analysis of the conflict in Ukraine on Tuesday that Ukraine's expanding bridgehead on the Russian-controlled bank is now likely being reinforced by its armored infantry vehicles.
Kyiv's troops reached the occupied side of the Dnieper in mid-October after extensive cross-river operations. That followed Ukraine's successful liberation of the city of Kherson and the west bank of the river toward the end of 2022.
Russian military blogger Rybar reported last week that more teams of marines had crossed the river to support fellow Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine's 46th brigade told the BBC late last month that troops held a position on the east bank, and that intense fighting was underway to recapture the village of Krynky.
The brigade said doing so would enable troops to establish a base to further an offensive that seeks to divide Russian troops and cut off their supply lines.
On Tuesday, the ISW said Russian milbloggers have claimed that more than 300 Ukrainian personnel are operating on the east bank in the Krynky area and continue to claim that Ukrainian forces maintain positions in central Krynky and nearby environs.
Ukraine is "continuing larger-than-usual ground operations on the east bank with a light infantry grouping of roughly battalion size," the think tank said.
"The reported battalion-size Ukrainian force grouping on the east bank suggests that heavy Russian interdiction efforts along the Dnieper River have not prevented Ukrainian forces from transferring additional personnel and materiel to positions on the east bank," it added.
It isn't clear how many armored infantry vehicles have crossed the Dnieper to the east bank, but the ISW cited Russian milbloggers as saying they had seen an amphibious transport vehicle carrying an infantry fighting vehicle, a Ukrainian amphibious infantry fighting vehicle, and a destroyed Western amphibious armored personnel carrier.
Newsweek was unable to independently verify the reports and has contacted the defense ministries of Russia and Ukraine by email for comment.
"Russian milbloggers claimed that combat engagements continued near Krynky, as well as near Poyma (12 kilometers [7.5 miles] east of Kherson City and 4 kilometers from the Dnieper River), Pishchanivka (13 kilometers east of Kherson City and 3 kilometers from the Dnieper River), and Pidstepne (17 kilometers east of Kherson City and 4 kilometers from the Dnieper River), but did not claim that Ukrainian attempts to advance on November 6 and 7 were particularly larger than in previous days," the think tank said.

New Russian naval corvette damaged in Ukraine cruise missile attack on Crimea base

Russia may have to consider relocating its shipbuilding infrastructure farther away from the front line

A newly built Russian naval corvette was “almost certainly damaged” after being struck in occupied Crimea, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its intelligence update.
The Karakurt-class Askold warship was launched in 2021 and had not been yet commissioned into the Russian navy, the MoD said, citing Ukrainian and Russian sources. The Russian word “Karakurt” means “Black Widow spider”.
Russian officials claimed Ukrainian cruise missiles were aimed at the Zaliv shipyard in Kerch on 4 November. The officials confirmed the attacks had struck one of its small warships. Askold is one of Russia’s Kalibr cruise missile carriers.
The Commander of Ukraine’s air force, Lt Gen Mykola Oleshchuk, had earlier said he believed a vessel carrying the Kalibr missiles was struck, and suggested Kyiv used long-range French Scalp cruise missiles.
Andriy Ryzhenko, a captain in the Ukrainian naval reserve, also said he believed the vessel struck by the missile was one belonging to the Karakurt Project 22800 – a new class of Russian corvettes.

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1721829091853074660?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1721829091853074660%7Ctwgr%5Ec69101db2db3dbaa896817bbac2a1014c0b336ad%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-24119057492531430052.ampproject.net%2F2310271806000%2Fframe.html

The damage to the Russian Black Sea fleet ship was significant, according to The Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
“Russian and Ukrainian sources posted photos on November 7 showing significant damage to the Askold Project 22800 Karakurt-class Kalibr missile carrier corvette that will likely render it inoperable for the foreseeable future,” it said on Tuesday in its assessment, referring to the ship’s full name.

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1721599831989268632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1721599831989268632%7Ctwgr%5E540d899862b47721054d33b1df616948499c920b%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-24119057492531430052.ampproject.net%2F2310271806000%2Fframe.html

These attacks by Ukrainian forces are part of a campaign against Russian military infrastructure, especially Black Sea Fleet assets, in occupied Crimea to “degrade the Russian military’s ability to use Crimea as a staging and rear area for Russian operations in southern Ukraine”, the ISW said.
The UK MoD also said the strikes were “farther to the east in Crimea than most previous Ukrainian-claimed long-range strikes”.
It said the attack could mean Russia may have to consider relocating its shipbuilding infrastructure farther away from the front line, something that could further delay the delivery of new ships.
Earlier this week, satellite photos appeared to show damage to the Russian corvette and a firefighting vessel along with booms – or temporary floating barriers – in the water to stop oil leaks from the damaged ship.
Photos showed the still-afloat vessel had some burn marks. The measurements of the vessel and its shape corresponded to those of a Karakurt-class corvette.
This class of ships are designed to carry around eight Kalibr cruise missiles at a time.
Kyiv has been gearing up to launch a major winter drone offensive against Russia’s ongoing invasion once harsh winter conditions hamper ground attacks, a top military official had told The Independent recently.
Brigadier General Serhiy Baranov, the chief of the military unit overseeing drone operations, had warned Crimea, that was illegally annexed by Russia in 2014, and border areas within Russia would be subject to renewed aerial bombardment.

UK sanctions have been imposed on Russian oligarchs and businesses, as well as international networks propping up the country’s oil and gold industries.

Russian attacks killed three people in an eastern Ukrainian village on Wednesday, Kyiv said.

Russia attacks Ukrainian energy system 60 times ahead of winter, Kyiv says

Ukraine spy agency says it killed Russia-installed lawmaker with car bomb

Russian authorities have demanded an eight-year prison term for an artist and musician who was jailed after speaking out against Moscow’s war in Ukraine

Exports of Ukrainian food by road declined slightly in the first six days of November amid difficulties on the Ukrainian-Polish border caused by a drivers’ strike

A Russian missile damaged a civilian vessel under a Liberian flag entering the Black Sea port of Odesa, killing one and injuring four people

Russia targets a civilian ship flying flag of Liberia in Black Sea

“Continuing the terror of civilian shipping, the enemy insidiously fired a Kh-31P anti-radar missile in the direction of one of the ports of Odesa Oblast from tactical aircraft in the Black Sea.
The missile hit the structure of a civilian vessel flying the Liberian flag as it was entering the port,” the Ukrainian Army said.

Closing summary

• The US has gone through 96% of the funds that it allocated for Ukraine, national security council spokesperson John Kirby has told reporters.
  
  
• Slovakia’s new government has rejected a previously drafted plan to donate rockets and ammunition to Ukraine, following through on a pledge by incoming prime minister Robert Fico to halt military aid to Kyiv as it fights a Russian invasion.
  
  
• Ukraine’s military spy agency claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Russia-backed lawmaker with a car bomb in the occupied eastern city of Luhansk, an operation it said it conducted with local resistance forces.
  
  
• Leaders of the G7 group of countries have insisted that their support for Ukraine will “never waver”.
  
  
• Military cooperation between Russia and China is becoming increasingly important, but the two countries do not intend to build a cold war-style military alliance, Vladimir Putin said as he hosted a top Chinese general.
  
  
• The EU’s executive recommended that the bloc starts membership negotiations with Ukraine once it fulfils outstanding conditions. “The Commission recommends that the [EU] council opens accession negotiations with Ukraine,” the Brussels-based European Commission said.
  
  
• Ukraine’s energy ministry said that Russia had attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure with different weapons 60 times in recent weeks.
  
  
• The Russian security council secretary, Nikolai Patrushev, said that the “destructive” policies of the US and its allies were increasing the risk that nuclear, chemical or biological weapons would be used, Reuters reported.