Yesterday, 05:37
Fierce fighting in the Russian border region of Kursk
Fierce fighting took place between Russian and Ukrainian troops in the Russian border region of Kursk. According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian Air Force dropped at least 24 glide bombs on Ukrainian positions during the day. The Ukrainian commander-in-chief Olexander Syrskyj rejected a statement by Russian President Vladimir Putin about the alleged encirclement of Ukrainian units on Russian territory.
“This is open disinformation that does not reflect the real situation,” he wrote on Telegram. Heavy losses have been inflicted on the Russian enemy since the operation began at the beginning of August. Among other things, 711 prisoners were taken. He did not provide any information about the front line.
The Russian president followed up again in an interview with the state news channel Rossiya 24. According to this, 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers are trapped in an area measuring 6 by 15 kilometers. “With general efforts, a sufficiently reliable encirclement ring was created and now this ring is being squeezed, the move has been made to eliminate this group,” Putin said. Ukrainian attempts to free those trapped have so far failed.
The Ukrainian advance into Russian territory began in August.
Zelenskiy has winter money distributed to Ukrainians
With winter approaching, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered the government to pay a lump sum of money equivalent to a good 22 euros to every Ukrainian in the country. “A thousand hryvnias per person – that’s a few thousand hryvnias for a family and the money can be used to pay for Ukrainian goods and services, including municipal services,” the head of state said in his evening video speech.
The program called “There is support” should work from December 1st and apply to every Ukrainian, regardless of age. The cabinet was instructed to work out the details of the program and present it to the people. However, the amount paid out for one person only covers slightly less than half of the monthly heating costs for a two-room apartment in the capital Kiev.
The government in Kiev assumes that around 31.1 million people still live in the government-controlled part of the country. A good half of the Ukrainian state budget is financed with foreign aid and loans.
Drone attack on Kyiv
In the evening, a Russian drone attack on the capital Kiev caused an impact on a high-rise building in the southwestern part of the city of three million people. According to authorities, a fire broke out. One person was killed and at least five others were injured. Over 100 residents had to be brought out of the building to safety. Several parked cars were also damaged. Drone debris also fell on an open space in a neighboring district. Anti-aircraft fire was heard several times over the city.
At the same time, the Russian military launched missile attacks on infrastructure objects in the cities of Sumy and Konotop in the north of the country. There were also reports of a rocket attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro. According to authorities, at least nine people were injured. Several residential buildings were damaged.
The Russian Defense Ministry had previously reported several Ukrainian drone attacks. Accordingly, almost a dozen Ukrainian drones were shot down over the Kursk, Belgorod and Oryol regions. There were no casualties or damage.
Ukraine has been defending itself against a Russian invasion with Western support for over two and a half years.
