by Summary for Friday, 17th November 2023: DAY 632
Key developments over the past 24 hours:
- More than 2,400 children from Ukraine aged between six and 17 years old have been taken to 13 facilities across Belarus since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to research published by Yale University.
- British foreign secretary David Cameron vowed to maintain military support for Ukraine during a surprise visit to Kyiv on Thursday. The visit by Cameron, a former prime minister, came as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the flow of vital artillery ammunition from western allies had dropped off since the start of the Israel-Hamas war last month. “Our deliveries have decreased,” Zelensky told reporters, referring specifically to 155mm shells that are widely used on the eastern and southern frontlines in Ukraine, saying “they really slowed down”.
- Cameron also visited the southern port city of Odesa on his first trip abroad as foreign minister of the UK, which has been a staunch ally of Ukraine since Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. “We will continue to give you the moral support, diplomatic support, the economic support, but above all, the military support, that you need not just this year, and next year, but for however long it takes,” Cameron said during a meeting with Zelenskiy.
- Separately, Zelenskiy told reporters that Russian forces were likely stockpiling missiles for strikes on his country’s energy facilities over the coming winter months. “My estimation is that they are accumulating [missiles], but that they don’t have many more missiles compared to what they previously had,” Zelenskiy said, referring to attacks last year on critical infrastructure.
- A Russian court sentenced a St Petersburg artist to seven years in prison in a closely watched trial that has highlighted the severe punishments meted out to ordinary Russians for even small acts of civil protest against the invasion of Ukraine. Aleksandra “Sasha” Skochilenko, an artist, musician and activist, was found guilty on Thursday of “knowingly spreading false information about the Russian army” in March 2022. The artist replaced five price tags in a local supermarket with pieces of paper urging shoppers to stop the war and resist propaganda on television.
- Russian shelling killed two people and injured at least 12 on Thursday in different areas of southern Ukraine’s Kherson region, local officials said.
- Northrop Grumman is exploring producing 120mm tank ammunition in Poland as the US ally surges defence production capacity, the company’s chief told Reuters. Countries geographically close to Russia such as Poland, Finland and Germany have been exploring deals to build US weapons in Europe, negotiating new deals to buy arms and looking to speed up existing contracts as the war in Ukraine reshaped thinking on the volume of munitions needed in future conflicts.
- The European Commission has proposed a 12th round of sanctions against Moscow, including restrictions on scores of individuals apparently including the son of the former president Dmitry Medvedev and a relative of Vladimir Putin. Among the 47 individuals the commission wants added to existing sanctions lists are Putin’s cousin Anna Tsivileva, who chairs the “defenders of the fatherland” foundation that supports Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine, and Ilya Medvedev, whose name and date of birth match those of the former president’s only son.
- The US has imposed sanctions on maritime companies and vessels for shipping Russian oil sold above the G7’s price cap, as Washington seeks to close loopholes in the mechanism designed to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine. The US Treasury in a statement said it slapped sanctions on three UAE-based companies and three vessels owned by them in the action, accusing the vessels of engaging in the export of Russian crude oil priced above the $60 a barrel cap.
- Turkey’s parliament opened a long-delayed debate on Sweden’s Nato aspirations that could strengthen Ankara’s ties with western allies despite its fury over Israel’s war with Hamas. Sweden and Finland dropped decades of military non-alignment and sought the nuclear protection afforded by the US-led defence organisation in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
- Polish trucking representatives said they would expand a border protest against Ukraine by blocking another crossing for cargo vehicles over what they call unfair competition from the war-torn country. Kyiv had said earlier Thursday that it failed to reach an agreement in new talks with Polish transport companies that have been blocking cargo at three major border points for almost two weeks.
- A grandson of French war hero and former president Charles de Gaulle said he wanted Russian citizenship, saying Russia offered “great possibilities”. Pierre de Gaulle is little known in France, but Russian state media have heralded his pro-Kremlin statements as proof that leading western voices support Moscow’s assault in Ukraine. “It would be an honour for me to acquire Russian citizenship,” he told a journalist at the St Petersburg cultural forum, Russian agencies said.
by 
61-BLUES
