World Briefing: Nov 28, 2024
The overnight Russian missile attacks on Ukraine, especially western regions, are being described as "massive,” with millions experiencing power cuts at the moment as a preventative measure. Civilians in some Kyiv buildings say they currently have no access to water. Just after dawn, Telegram channel videos showed the platforms of Kyiv metro stations congested as civilians sought shelter and tried to commute to work. Officials said the attack included 97 drones and 91 missiles “of various types.” Some incoming projectiles had cluster munitions which makes repairs to civilian infrastructure complex. For today, most regions in Ukraine will record temperatures hardly above zero Celsius. In Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine, the situation appears extremely dire, with the temperature below freezing and no heating or power since just after 6am local time.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia struck Ukraine with 90 missiles and 100 drones overnight in response to Ukraine's attacks with UK and US weapons last week. He said Russia is selecting targets in Ukraine that could include decision-making centres in Kyiv. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky gave the same figures in a statement he made earlier, saying cluster munitions were used specifically against civilian infrastructure. Ukraine used UK and US weapons to strike Russian territory for the first time last week, which prompted retaliatory strikes from Russia - BBC
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, said a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon was the “first ray of hope” in the regional conflict after the “darkness of the past months”. It is essential that those who signed the ceasefire commitment respect it in full,” Guterres said on Wednesday, Reuters reported. He said the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon was ready to monitor the ceasefire, and reiterated his call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza - The Guardian
Investigators are looking into whether a Chinese ship that dragged its anchor for over 100 miles, severing critical data undersea data cables, did so on purpose and at the behest of Kremlin saboteurs. The 225-meter-long Yi Peng 3 bulk carrier was loaded with Russian fertilizer and, in recent months, dramatically altered its usual routes to take in ports in Vladimir Putin’s country, the Wall Street Journal reported. The hulking vessel departed the Russian Baltic port of Ust-Luga on November 15 and, last week, ripped two data cables in the Baltic Sea in Swedish waters. The country, which joined NATO after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, opened a probe but a Kremlin spokesperson blasted the suggestion of Russian involvement as “absurd, unsubstantiated accusations”. NATO ships belonging to Denmark, Germany and Sweden now flank the vessel. “The fundamental change in the ship’s operating region to Russian ports after years operating solely in Chinese waters should be a key area of investigation,” Benjamin L. Schmitt, senior fellow at the University of Pennsylvania’s Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, said - Daily Beast
Meanwhile, Poland is pushing Nordic and Baltic states to patrol their waters jointly against any Russian sabotage attempts, following the suspicious severing of two data cables last week. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Wednesday he was seeking to convince Baltic Sea countries that they share “the same sense of threat when it comes to Russia” to set up a “navy policing” force that would mirror Nato’s Baltic air patrols. His comments came as he arrived in Sweden for a summit of Nordic and Baltic leaders who were set to discuss the security challenges stemming from two incidents last week in which two fibre optic cables connecting Germany and Finland, as well as Sweden and Lithuania, were severed within 24 hours. Nordic and Baltic leaders including Tusk later on Wednesday pledged to strengthen their deterrence and defence against “conventional as well as hybrid attacks”. “We will work together to constrain, contest and counter Russia’s aggressive and highly confrontational actions as well as to ensure its full international accountability for the crime of aggression,” they said. Europe is on heightened alert for potential sabotage of crucial infrastructure after a series of events including damaged gas pipelines, data cables, parcel bombs and arson attacks across the continent - FT
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on November 27 tapped Keith Kellogg, a retired army lieutenant general who has long served as a top adviser to Trump on defense issues, as his nominee to be special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. “Keith has led a distinguished Military and Business career, including serving in highly sensitive National Security roles in my first Administration," Trump said on social media. Kellogg "was with me right from the beginning," Trump said on Truth Social. "Together, we will secure PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH, and Make America, and the World, SAFE AGAIN!" Kellogg's nomination comes after Trump's criticism during the 2024 presidential campaign of the billions of dollars that the United States has poured into Ukraine since Russia launched its full-scale invasion in February 2022 - RFE/RL
Russia’s rouble has plunged to its lowest rate against the dollar since the early weeks of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in the wake of new western sanctions and growing geopolitical tensions. The rouble on Wednesday hit 110 against the dollar for the first time since 16 March 2022. Before launching its war on Ukraine in February 2022, the Russian currency traded at around 75-80 against the US dollar. The latest drop came just days after the US introduced sanctions against Gazprombank, Russia’s third-largest bank, which played a key role in processing payments for the remaining Russian natural gas exports to Europe. Earlier rounds of sanctions had spared Russian gas because Europe’s economy was so dependent on it, but it is now far less reliant on Russian supplies. The Gazprombank sanctions raise the prospect of a further decrease in gas revenues and foreign currency for Moscow. The rouble’s weakening threatens to erode Russians’ purchasing power by increasing the cost of imported goods and could further increase inflation - The Guardian
