Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 11-12-2024

Over half of Ukrainians in a recent poll said they would not be willing to give up any territory for peace, but more than 40% said they were open to some territorial losses if it ended the war.

A majority of Ukrainians oppose ceding any land captured by Russia in exchange for peace, a survey shared on Tuesday found.

The Kyiv International Institute of Sociology carried out the poll a month before the election of Donald Trump, whose victory rekindled fears Washington may force Ukraine into giving up land. 

Ukraine said early last month that it had opened a first recruitment office in the Polish city of Lublin with the aim of encouraging Ukrainians to enlist in the Legion.

Some 700 Ukrainians living in Europe have signed up to join the Ukraine Legion, a fighting force being formed abroad, Kyiv said Tuesday.

Kyiv is looking for ways to replenish the ranks of its struggling army after nearly three years of brutal and costly fighting with Russia. 

Ukraine pitches key new proposals to Trump, which include replacing US troops in Europe with Ukrainian forces, to secure continued US support and secure an acceptable peace deal with Russia.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has reportedly amended his victory plan in the hope of strengthening ties with Donald Trump’s incoming administration, proposing to replace some US troops stationed in Europe with Ukrainian forces after the war, according to a Financial Times (FT) report on Tuesday.

The report said the idea was part of broader Ukrainian efforts to maintain strong cooperation with the United States rather than risk losing critical aid, according to Ukrainian and European officials.

Ukrainian forces repelled a major Russian offensive in Kursk, destroying a battalion, 28 armored vehicles, and inflicting over 200 casualties on Russia.

Ukraine’s Defense Forces repelled a powerful Russian offensive in the Kursk region and destroyed a battalion of Russian soldiers, reported press officer of the 47th Separate Mechanized Brigade, Anastasia Blyshchyk, during the national TV marathon on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

“Yesterday was truly a black day for the Russian occupiers who tried to storm in five to six waves,” said Blyshchyk, adding that “the Russians tried to attack with vehicles, with paratroopers, and storm Ukrainian settlements. However, ten units of armored vehicles were destroyed by the warriors of the 47th Brigade.”

OK, that’s the US presidential election out of the way.

The only reaction to Trump’s victory and Harris’ defeat that I’ll offer here is that my job and the job of people like me got a lot easier, because now that the voting is done it will be a breeze to compare what was promised or threatened during the campaign  –  and that’s both sides  –  with actual reports from actual real life. It’s already started, actually.

On the ground, I would say the most significant developments on the front this week have been a Russian push in the Kursk region, probably without North Korean help; and a slowdown, or maybe better stated, a redirection of Russian attacks in Donbas.

Russian forces targeted the Kurakhove dam after months of attempts, raising water levels by 1.2 meters in the Vovcha River. However, officials report no risk of a complete reservoir leak.

A video published by the TSN media outlet shows what appears to be the moment Russian troops blew up the Kurakhove dam in the Donetsk region, causing concern about potential flooding in nearby areas.

White House chronicler Bob Woodward offers a hard-to-believe picture of how the Biden administration has dealt with Ukraine. Hard to believe in terms of naiveté with respect to Russia.

From October 2021, the US government knew with eminent intelligence that Russia’s President Vladimir Putin intended to attack Ukraine very soon. It informed the Ukrainian government and its allies, some of whom refused to believe the US insights, notably Germany and France. The US did a bit to prepare the Ukrainians, but not much. When Russia attacked on Feb. 22, 2022, the US thought that Ukraine would fold fast.

Bob Woodward, famous for his Watergate revelations, has worked at the Washington Post since 1971, currently as associate editor. He operates as Washington’s chief court chronicler. Every second year he produces a book about the inside dealings in the White House. He has just published his 23rd book, War (Simon & Shuster), which discusses the White House on the war in Ukraine and Gaza. Roughly half of the book is devoted to each topic, while domestic issues are given short shrift. I concentrate on the discussion of Ukraine.

Rumors that US Senator Marco Rubio will soon become the new US Secretary of State lend credence to the narrative that the Trump administration may attempt to coerce Kyiv into a peace settlement.

Like US President-elect Donald Trump, Senator Marco Rubio – potentially the new secretary of state – also said he wants the war in Ukraine to end.

Early Tuesday, The New York Times citing three people “familiar with [Trump’s] thinking” reported that Rubio is on the president-elect’s shortlist for secretary of state, though they also said the decision is not final and can change last minute.

Overnight, an unclaimed Ukrainian drone attack hit a crucial fuel depot in Russia’s Belgorod region, igniting at least one storage tank in Russia’s military logistics chain.

In the early hours of Tuesday, Nov. 12, a Ukrainian drone attacked an oil depot in the Stary Oskol district of Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine’s northeastern regions, reported the Russian regional governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov.

“As a result of the explosion, one of the tanks caught fire. Ten firefighting units were on site and promptly extinguished the blaze. No injuries were reported,” Gladkov wrote.

The EU is at a turning point. Faced with Robert Fico’s obvious challenge to its values, the EU must take action against leaders within the Union who deliberately undermine it.

In a move that has caused serious EU concern, Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico openly defied European principles by appearing on Russia’s state-run Rossiya 1 channel, which is known for open war propaganda by the Kremlin and Vladimir Putin.

Fico’s decision to participate in an interview with a sanctioned Russian media outlet and his criticism of the British ambassador to Slovakia, Nigel Baker, for expressing concern about Fico’s move are just the latest episodes in a worrying trend of the Slovakian leader’s increasingly pro-Russian stance. This raises the question: how long will the European Union tolerate this blatant undermining of its common position on the war in Ukraine and its values?

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• According to the Russian Investigative Committee, on 18October 2024, 3 individuals were remanded in custody for charges relating to the misappropriation of real estate belonging to the Russian Ministry of Defence. The suspects include the former head of the Assets Department of Main Directorate for the Outfitting of Troops, who with the other suspects is accused of misappropriating 15 properties worth over 244 million roubles ($2.5m USD] in the Moscow Region, while administrating the bankruptcy of a Defence Ministry associated construction entity.
• Separately former Russian National Guard Deputy Director Sergei Mileiko is facing corruption charges for inflating the prices of uniforms during a procurement by over 400m roubles ($4.2m USD).
• Arrests and criminal proceedings against Defence and Defence Industry officials have continued apace since Spring 2024, as Russian investigative authorities almost certainly attempt to achieve a level of control over the massive scale of corruption in the Russian defence sector, for both practical and demonstrative political reasons.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

Control over the U.S. House of Representatives still hangs in the balance, teetering between a Republican or Democratic majority with less than 20 races left to be called. A majority in the House, alongside the Senate, would give President-elect Donald Trump a greater chance of getting his plans approved than if Democrats controlled one or both. In addition, Trump-appointed justices in the Supreme Court would allow for easier implementation of his sweeping agenda.

President-elect Donald J. Trump is expected to name Senator Marco Rubio of Florida as his secretary of state, three people familiar with his thinking said on Monday, as Mr. Trump moves rapidly to fill out his foreign policy and national security team. Mr. Trump could still change his mind at the last minute, the people said, but appeared to have settled on Mr. Rubio, whom he also considered when choosing his running mate this year. Mr. Rubio was elected to the Senate in 2010, and has staked out a position as a foreign policy hawk, taking hard lines on China, Iran, Venezuela and Cuba in particular. He initially found himself at odds with those Republicans who were more skeptical about interventions abroad, but he has also echoed Mr. Trump more recently on issues like Russia’s war against Ukraine, saying that the conflict has reached a stalemate and “needs to be brought to a conclusion.” - NYT

Putin and Kim signed the strategic partnership treaty in June, during the Kremlin chief’s visit to North Korea.

North Korea has ratified a landmark defense pact with Russia, state media reported Tuesday, deepening security cooperation that has seen Pyongyang send thousands of troops to help Moscow fight Ukraine.

The agreement formalises months of tightening military bonds between two nations that were Communist allies throughout the Cold War.

A Russian missile strike on a residential building in Kryvyi Rih on Monday killed four people, including a mother and her three children, and left 14 others injured.

In Kryvyi Rih, search and rescue operations have concluded following a missile strike that killed four people, including three children.

A Russian missile hit a five-story building on Monday, Nov. 11, causing extensive damage and fatalities. Serhiy Lysak, head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration (OVA), reported that the bodies of a 2-year-old, a 10-year-old, and a 2-month-old were recovered from the rubble.

Chinese foreign minister Wang was meeting with Shoigu, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council, for "strategic security consultations", Beijing said Monday.

China's top diplomat met senior Russian official Sergei Shoigu for security talks in Beijing on Tuesday, as the two powers deepen relations that have triggered protest from the West.

Russian state media outlet TASS shared a video of Wang Yi meeting Shoigu on the messaging platform Telegram.

The latest Google Earth and Google Maps updates not only revealed the locations of military bases in Ukraine but also showed Kyiv’s military transport aircraft stationed at a Polish Air Force base.

At the beginning of Russia’s February 2022 full-scale invasion Ukraine evacuated both civilian and military aircraft, primarily transport planes, to stop them falling into Russian hands. Sadly, Ukraine’s An-225 Mriya, the world's largest air transporter could not be evacuated and was destroyed by Russian paratroopers at the Hostomel airport in the early days of the war.

It was assumed at the time that many of the aircraft were dispatched to Poland from where they could support Ukraine’s resupply effort – though neither Kyiv or Warsaw have, up to now, confirmed that one way or the other.

At the Kozachyi training ground in Sevastopol, Russian forces train African and Cuban mercenaries and use children from the Yunarmiya group as human shields.

At the Kozachyi training ground in the occupied city of Sevastopol  on the Crimean Peninsula, Russian military personnel are training mercenaries from Africa and Cuba, Atesh partisan movement agents reported on Sunday, Nov 10.

The training ground is operated by Russia’s 810th Marine Infantry Brigade, where military trucks periodically arrive with people who don’t resemble the local population, say the partisans.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian forces are successfully leveraging their recent seizure of Vuhledar to make tactically significant gains south of Kurakhove in support of ongoing Russian offensive operations that aim to level the frontline and eliminate the Ukrainian salient in western Donetsk Oblast.
• ISW is revising its previous assessment that Russian forces would not likely be able to take advantage of the seizure of Vuhledar for further offensive operations in western Donetsk Oblast. That assessment was incorrect.
• Russian forces reportedly continue to advance in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area, and Russian advances northwest of Vuhledar and south of Velyka Novosilka may begin to pressure Ukrainian positions in Velyka Novosilka.
• Russian forces have advanced in western Donetsk Oblast at a moderate tempo, but Russian forces remain highly unlikely to be able to conduct rapid mechanized maneuver that could successfully encircle Ukrainian forces.
• Ukrainian and Russian sources stated on November 11 that damage to a dam of the Kurakhivske Reservoir is causing limited flooding in nearby settlements.
• Ukrainian and Russian sources disagreed about who was responsible for damaging the dam, but Russian forces reportedly struck the dam in September 2024.
• Russian forces may have struck the dam in order to cause significant, long-lasting flooding west of Kurakhivske Reservoir that could facilitate Russian efforts to envelop Ukrainian forces north and south of Kurakhove.
• Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied on November 11 reports of a recent phone conversation between Russian President Vladimir Putin and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast. Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast and near Kreminna and Kurakhove.
• Russian regional governments continue to commit large portions of their social budgets towards payments to Russian veterans, likely as part of ongoing efforts to incentivize Russian military service.