WAR IN UKRAINE: November 9, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: 259
Russia is to withdraw troops from the Ukrainian city of Kherson, the only regional centre they had captured since the full scale invasion of Ukraine began. The withdrawal happens as Ukrainian forces close in and after massive forced deportations and torture of civilians in the oblast capital. Media reports suggests the announcement of the humiliating withdrawal was made public in Russia by senior military officials.
UK intelligence: Russia builds 'dragon's teeth' anti-tank structures in occupied Mariupol. Russia has started constructing defensive pyramidal anti-tank structures known as dragon's teeth around the occupied southern city of Mariupol, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry. Moscow "is making a significant effort to prepare defenses in depth behind their current front line" to try to forestall any rapid Ukrainian advances, the ministry wrote.
Russia has launched multiple suicide drones on Ukraine's southeastern Dnipropetrovsk region, wounding people and damaging civilian facilities.
The Russian-installed deputy governor of Ukraine's Kherson region, one of the highest profile occupation figures, has died in a traffic accident.
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has denied that the Republicans' advance in U.S. midterm elections would undermine Western military backing for Ukraine.