Day 649: According to information from Washington, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj wants to personally address the US Senate. All information in the news blog.
The most important things at a glance
Relatives of Russian soldiers write an incendiary letter to Putin
6:01 p.m.: Members of Russian military unit 95411 write an incendiary letter to President Vladimir Putin. In it they denounce that the soldiers have been spending more than ten months in trenches just a few hundred meters from the embattled city of Avdiivka. Their relatives would describe terrible things from the front to them. This is reported by the “Important Stories” platform.
Addressing Putin directly, the letter’s 100 signatories wrote: “Count the personnel: how many are actually available, and not based on military IDs and what is in the reports. My husband says that they are walking over corpses there, everything is just littered with them.”
Most members of the military unit are over 40 years old and have not received any leave since the start of mobilization, it said.
Qatar: Russia lets six children back to Ukraine
1:36 p.m.: According to Qatar, Russia is allowing six more Ukrainian children to return to their homeland. The children were staying with relatives in Russia or in Russian-occupied territory, says an insider involved in organizing the return. They traveled to Ukraine via Moscow. Negotiations on this have been going on since April, mediated by Qatar, as Reuters learned from an insider. In October four children were able to return to their homeland.
Iran’s President visits Putin in Russia
10:54 a.m.: Iranian President Ebrahim Raissi is expected to visit Russia on Thursday. He will be accompanied by a political and economic delegation, reports the semi-official Iranian news agency Tasnim. Russian Presidential Office spokesman Dmitry Peskov says a meeting is planned between Raisi and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Russia and Iran have intensified their political and economic relations as well as those in security matters. Russia is using Iranian Shahed drones in the Ukraine war.
Ukraine: Two dead in Kherson shelling
9:29 a.m.: According to Ukrainian reports, at least two people were killed in a Russian shelling of the city of Kherson. In addition, one person was injured, presidential advisor Andrij Jermak said via the messaging service Telegram. Kherson is located in the south of Ukraine. Russian troops have been shelling the city regularly since they withdrew from it to the other side of the Dnipro River at the end of last year.
Ukraine reports Russian drones shot down
7.50 a.m.: The Ukrainian military says it shot down 10 of 17 attack drones that Russian forces fired during the night. The air force said the drones were intercepted over various areas of Ukraine. In addition, six S-300 missiles were fired at civilian objects in the Donetsk regions in the east and Kherson in the south. There are initially no reports of possible damage.
Russia claims to have shot down 41 drones from Ukraine
6:57 a.m.: According to the government in Moscow, Russian air defense shot down a total of 41 Ukrainian drones during the night and early morning. The Defense Ministry said on Telegram that 26 of the drones were destroyed over Russian territory. 15 more were intercepted over the Sea of Azov and the Crimean Peninsula. The ministry leaves it open whether damage was caused by the attack or falling debris. There is initially no statement from Ukraine. Such information about the fighting cannot be independently verified.
