Ukraine struggle: Zelensky warns Russia ramping up assaults on key cities

Following the German defence minister’s declare that the aim to produce Ukraine with a million rounds of ammunition is not going to be reached, the EU commissioner for trade insisted they might.

At a summit of defence in Brussels, Thierry Breton informed reporters that the goal could be reached,

“I’m responsible for ammunition production capacity so I can confirm that the target of producing more than a million rounds of ammunition a year, which we set ourselves and which they hope to achieve from spring onwards, will be met,” he mentioned.

European Union nations acknowledged on Tuesday that they threat failing to supply Ukraine with the ammunition they pledged to assist Kyiv stave off the Russian invasion and win again its territory.

Early this 12 months, EU leaders promised to supply 1 million rounds of ammunition to Ukraine’s entrance line by spring subsequent 12 months in what would have amounted to a critical ramp-up of manufacturing.

But the 27-nation bloc, for over half a century steeped in a “peace, not war” message and sheltering underneath a U.S. army umbrella, is discovering it robust to give you the products.

A Russian court docket on Tuesday fined Google for failing to retailer private information on its Russian customers, the latest in a sequence of fines on the tech big amid tensions between Russia and the West over the struggle in Ukraine.

A Justice of the Peace at Moscow‘s Tagansky district court fined Google 15 million rubles (around $164,200) after the IT company repeatedly refused to store personal data on Russian citizens in Russia.

Google was previously fined over the same charges in August 2021 and June 2022 under a Russian law that obliges foreign entities to localize the personal data of their Russian users.

However, Russia can do little to collect the fine, as Google’s Russia business was successfully shut down final 12 months after Moscow despatched troops into Ukraine.

The authorities in Finland is contemplating whether or not to shut some crossing factors on the nation’s lengthy border with Russia to stop folks from making an attempt to enter with out correct documentation, the prime minister mentioned Tuesday. Interior Minister Mari Rantanen mentioned the variety of migrants at Finland’s southeastern border crossings has risen considerably since August attributable to what the federal government suspects is a change in Russia’s border coverage and enforcement. Finnish and Russian border authorities have for years cooperated in stopping folks with out the mandatory visas or passports earlier than they’ll try to enter both of the 2 international locations.

But Russia has began permitting undocumented vacationers to access the border zone and enter crossing stations the place they’ll request asylum in Finland, Rantanen mentioned. “It is clear that these people get help to get to the border. This seems like a very conscious decision,” Prime Minister Petteri Orpo informed reporters. “The government’s message is clear: We must take this seriously and safeguard the security of our border.”

Ukraine and Britain have agreed a particular mechanism for reductions on struggle threat insurance coverage for Ukrainian items exports, together with via the Black Sea hall, the Ukrainian Prime Minister mentioned on Tuesday.

“It will make it possible to make a discount on the cost of insurance against military risks for exporters of all products from Ukraine. This will make the Black Sea corridor more accessible to a wider range of exporters,” Denys Shmyhal mentioned on Telegram messenger.

He mentioned the mechanism concerned a pool of British insurance coverage corporations.

The fog of misinformation across the struggle in Ukraine thickened on Monday after Russia’s state information businesses claimed Vladimir Putin was withdrawing troops from the Dnipro river frontline – after which instantly retracted the update.

The probably vital bulletins have been available for about 10 minutes, after which two state information shops withdrew them with none follow-up.

You can learn extra about this right here:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg participated in a gathering of the Foreign Affairs Council of the European Union with EU Defence Ministers in Brussels on Tuesday,

On the state of affairs in Ukraine, Mr Stoltenberg highlighted that intense preventing continues. “The situation on the battlefield is difficult. And that just makes it even more important that we sustain and step up our support for Ukraine because we cannot allow President Putin to win,” mentioned the Secretary General.

“Ukraine must prevail as a sovereign independent nation in Europe and it’s in our interest to support Ukraine,” he mentioned.

Ukrainian and Russian sources have noted that weather conditions are impacting the battlespace, according to a war-monitoring think-tank.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said that factors such as falling leaves have complicated efforts but not halted operations.

They reported that the Ukrainian ground forces spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Volodymyr Fityo noted on November 13 that rain and mud in Donbas impede the speed of ground maneuver advances.

Ukrainian 14th Mechanized Brigade Spokesperson Nadiya Zamryha stated on November 12 that fog and rain complicate both Russian and Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance efforts and lead to reduced numbers of attacks.

Meanwhile, Russian milbloggers claimed that recent heavy rains led to reduced shelling and that strong winds and rain interfere with Russian drone operations and complicate offensive operations in western Zaporizhia Oblast

Russian sources also circulated footage purporting to show mud and rain filled Ukrainian trenches.

One person has died and a 72-year-old man has been hospitalised after a Russian drone attack in Nikopol.

The governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lyask, posted on Telegram: “A 72-year-old man was injured. He is in the hospital in a moderate condition. Unfortunately, there is also a dead person. Condolences to the relatives… Shame on the occupiers who are fighting with the civilians.”

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said there has been an increase in attacks from Russia in the Avdiivka, Kup’yansk, Donetsk areas.

He wrote in a Telegram publish: “The enemy continues to take revenge on the free Kherson: shelling the city center without any military necessity.”

It comes after Ukrainian forces mentioned that they repelled a complete of eight assaults on the battered, strategic metropolis of Avdiivka.

It was earlier reported that Mr Putin was going to make a 3rd try at capturing the town identified for its massive coking plant after failing twice earlier than.

Vitaliy Barabash mentioned Putin’s troops “need” Avdiivka.

“Quite simply, Avdiivka and its strategic position is geographically located on heights and you can see Donetsk… from here,” he mentioned, referring to the Ukrainian space occupied by Russia