Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 11-14-2024

Ukraine can expect billions more in aid along with increased sanctions targeting sea vessels carrying oil and gas originating in Russia.

The European Commission has approved the disbursement of EUR 4.1 billion to Ukraine under the bloc’s Ukraine Facility. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced the funding in a post on Telegram on Wednesday, according to Ukrinform.

"The European Commission approved the disbursement of EUR 4.1 billion to Ukraine under the Ukraine Facility. The EC provided a positive assessment of the reforms and noted that the government has fulfilled the necessary indicators to receive this tranche. We expect the quick approval of the decision by the Council of the EU. With this, total support within the Ukraine Facility this year will reach EUR 16.1 billion," he wrote.

The nomination of Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz just days before a congressional report was expected about his alleged involvement in sex trafficking with a minor has raised some eyebrows in Washington.

Among US President-elect Donald Trump's totally unexpected cabinet choices, none has been greeted with more shock and bafflement – from Republicans as well as Democrats – than the announcement of right-wing firebrand Matt Gaetz’s nomination on Wednesday to head the Justice Department. 

Gaetz, a 42-year-old veteran with scant legal credentials, has been tapped to lead the very same law enforcement agency that was slated to issue a report about his alleged ties to sex trafficking – on Friday.

Seoul’s potential shift to supplying arms to Ukraine may be reversed as US President-elect Trump signals peace negotiations he hopes will end the war.

South Korea, which had recently signaled a potential shift toward providing arms to Ukraine, may now hold back as US President-elect Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House with plans to negotiate an end to the Ukraine conflict, South Korean officials told Bloomberg.

Historically, South Korea has maintained a strict ban on sending lethal weapons to active conflict zones. This stance began to soften in response to reports of North Korean troops supporting Russia, with President Yoon Suk-yeol expressing a willingness to reconsider arms support for Ukraine.

Will Trump manage to achieve a just peace for Ukraine? Or will he aim to appease Russian leader Vladimir Putin?

The head of the Kupiansk military administration said the Russian assaults one day earlier as "very difficult" but said the Russian troops retreated and the situation was again under control.

Russian infantry managed briefly to re-enter the formerly occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Kupiansk before being beaten back by Kyiv's army, local authorities told AFP on Thursday.

The advances on the town in the eastern Kharkiv region that had a pre-war population of around 27,000 people, come as Ukrainian forces are steadily losing territory across the sprawling front.

Kyiv has long refused to cede any occupied land for peace, but with Donald Trump urging talks with an appointed peace envoy, Ukraine is increasingly focused on security.

Kyiv has long maintained that it will not give up any territory occupied by Russia in exchange for peace. However, with newly US President-elect Donald Trump pushing for faster negotiations, Ukrainian authorities are increasingly emphasizing the need for reliable security guarantees, writes The New York Times (NYT) on Wednesday, Nov. 13.

NYT notes that due to the constant loss of positions by Ukrainian forces in the east, two senior Ukrainian officials believe that defending the country’s interests in potential negotiations will depend less on borders, likely defined by the fighting, and more on the reliability of guarantees to uphold a ceasefire.

Donald Trump announced he would appoint Tulsi Gabbard – considered one of the most vocal and visible Putin apologists in the country – as US intelligence tsar.

US President-elect Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he intends to appoint Tulsi Gabbard, former congresswoman from Hawaii, as the US national director of intelligence

Gabbard, a former Democrat who campaigned across the country with Trump, has long taken positions in which she has accused Washington insiders and the military-industrial complex of starting wars for its own benefit.

Kyiv Post CEO Luc Chénier sat down with Etsy CEO Josh Silverman for an in-depth interview about the company’s support and operations during wartime Ukraine that transcend ordinary business.

While some businesses were hesitant to continue operations in Ukraine in 2022, online marketplace Etsy saw a need beyond mere numbers.

“At a time when it’s never been more important, people from all over the world can find ways to come together instead of being torn apart,” Etsy CEO Josh Silverman told Kyiv Post CEO Luc Chénier on the sidelines of Web Summit 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal.

In this second article Kyiv Post examines the electronic and technical miracles Ukraine’s air defense forces have performed but will only continue if they receive more practical and financial support.

Russia continues to flood Ukrainian skies with Shahed unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV-drones). In the first article on this subject we considered how Russia managed to ramp up production and the steps it was taking to decisively modernize its drones in earlier parts of this material, which you can read here.

Now, we focus on the means and methods Ukraine is using to combat the torrent of UAVs it faces based on interviews with aviation and technical experts and members of Kyiv’s air defense units. We also explore how increased international pressure could help diminish production of Shahed drones and Russia’s strike capabilities.

The closure was officially attributed to alleged violations of fire safety, but comes amid an intense Kremlin campaign against those who question the state’s interpretation of history.

Russian authorities ordered the closure from Thursday of Moscow's award-winning Gulag History Museum, dedicated to the victims of Soviet-era repression.

The closure was officially put down to alleged violations of fire safety regulations, but comes amid an intense campaign being waged by the Kremlin against independent civil society and those who question the state's interpretation of history.

The British newspaper claimed that Ukraine could quickly build a basic nuclear device similar to the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine refuted a recent article by The Times, which suggested that Ukraine could potentially develop nuclear weapons if US military aid were reduced.

The British newspaper claimed that Ukraine could quickly build a basic nuclear device similar to the "Fat Man" bomb dropped on Nagasaki in 1945, based on a report prepared for the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense.

Ukrainian military analysts suggest that the Russians likely see Donald Trump’s potential return to the White House as a game-changer and will escalate in the Zaporizhzhia sector to apply pressure.

Russian forces are likely to launch ground assaults in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region within days, Southern Defense Forces spokesman Vladyslav Voloshyn told Reuters.

These attacks could add pressure to Kyiv’s already overstretched defenders in the east. However, it remains unclear whether Russia plans a single offensive or multiple separate assaults, Voloshyn said.

Trump tapped Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as his future National Security Adviser. Both are seen as relative hawks on Russia.

President Trump tapped Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and Mike Waltz as his future National Security Adviser. Both are seen as relative hawks on Russia - or at least much less enamoured of President Putin than some of their GOP brethren. It could be a lot worse for Ukraine.

That said the reality is that both Rubio and Waltz will likely follow the orders of their boss, Trump. And with Trump’s foreign and national security team being released focus is shifting to Trump’s promise to bring peace in Ukraine within days of taking office.

The “axis of evil” is counting on its quantity of cannon fodder and weaponry to crush its enemies. The West must dispel fears of the “end of history” and respond with superior technological force.

Sending soldiers from North Korea to the frontline of Russia’s war in Ukraine serves several apparent purposes. The first is economics. Put simply, the Kremlin's financial situation is nowhere near as rosy as Russian propagandists might show. Inflation in Russia is growing beyond the controlling power of the Russian Central Bank. In its efforts to curb the spiral, on Oct. 25 it raised the key rate to 21 percent per annum – the highest in 20 years.

A major driver of galloping inflation has been insane payoffs for participants in Moscow's war crimes in Ukraine. Those who agree to go to war, as well as their families, stand to receive considerable sums. For example, if a Russian soldier dies, then along with insurance money, the payouts can be as high as $130,000.

The US president and president-elect shook hands in the Oval Office, with Biden restoring a tradition that Trump broke when he refused to recognize his 2020 defeat by Biden.

Donald Trump made a triumphant return to the White House on Wednesday, where outgoing president Joe Biden offered a show of civility to the bitter rival who denied him the same courtesy four years ago.

Trump's visit came as Republicans were declared the majority party in the House of Representatives to give him complete control of Congress -- and as he announced a string of hardline picks for his top team including firebrand Matt Gaetz as attorney general.

Roman Ivanyshyn, a Russian serviceman who surrendered to Ukraine, faces up to 35 years in prison for surrendering and desertion.

Roman Ivanyshyn, a Russian soldier accused of voluntarily surrendering to the Ukrainian military, is soon to be tried by the Moscow military court in the first-ever criminal case of its kind. 

The investigation found that Ivanyshyn attempted to surrender twice: the first time unsuccessfully, and the second time successfully, where Ivanyshyn was charged with both “attempted voluntary surrender” and “surrender” under Russia’s criminal code. The investigation also found that he deserted his unit. 

Kyiv’s plans to draft an additional 160,000 troops by February are underway, though experts doubt they will hit the target, expecting closer to 100,000.

Ukraine’s front line is expected to shift 30-35 kilometers (19-22 miles) westward by December as Ukraine prepares to call up 160,000 additional troops between November and February.

As reported by Financial Times (FT), the next few months could be a critical phase in the war, with Ukraine aiming to reinforce its defenses and improve its negotiating position with Moscow ahead of US President-elect Donald Trump’s presidency, which might influence talks. 

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• The Kremlin is attempting to dictate the terms of any potential "peace" negotiations with Ukraine in advance of US President-elect Donald Trump's inauguration. The manner in which the Kremlin is trying to set its terms for negotiations strongly signals that Russia's objectives remain unchanged and still amount to full Ukrainian capitulation. The Kremlin does not appear any more willing to make concessions to the incoming Trump administration than it was to the current administration.
• Lavrov's pre-emptive rejection of the potential suggestion to freeze the current frontline further indicates that Russia is not interested in softening its approach or demands in negotiations and maintains its objective of total Ukrainian capitulation, which Russian President Vladimir Putin explicitly outlined in June 2024.
• Ukrainian security services reportedly assassinated a Russian Black Sea Fleet (BSF) official in occupied Crimea on November 13.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian oil executives reportedly rejected a proposal to merge Russia's three largest oil companies. Contradictory reporting on the proposed Russian oil merger highlights a possible factional struggle between close affiliates of Putin and Russian energy executives.
• South Korean and US intelligence separately confirmed that North Korean troops have deployed into combat alongside Russian forces in Kursk Oblast.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Toretsk, Kurakhove, and Vuhledar and in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area, and Ukrainian forces recently regained positions near Chasiv Yar.
• Russian forces continue to heavily rely on refurbished tanks and armored vehicles pulled from storage to replace vehicle losses during ongoing combat operations, but likely will not be able to sustain these losses in the long term.