“We are meeting in Bucharest at a critical moment for our security and today’s message is clear: NATO is here, NATO is vigilant”. This was stated by NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg in Bucharest, at the Aspen congress. “We will support Ukraine to the end, we will not back down. Putin’s war has not made us forget about other partners, such as Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia-Herzegovina. Which we will support, so they can defend themselves,” he added. The situation remains critical in Kiev. The capital it’s dark again as of today: the Ukrainian Electricity Company Dtek announced this morning the resumption of power outages. The UN makes it known that there are many on the ground nearly 7 thousand civilians killed since the beginning of the war.
“President Putin is failing in his brutal war of aggression. And he is responding with greater brutality. We see wave after wave of deliberate rocket attacks on cities and civilian infrastructure: homes, hospitals and power grids. Ukraine,” he added. “AND if we let Putin win, we will all pay a much higher price for many years to come. Because the lesson learned by President Putin and other authoritarian leaders is that they can achieve their goals using brute force. Then they will be encouraged to use force even more. This will make our world more dangerous. And all of us more vulnerable.”
“It is therefore in our long-term security interest to support Ukraine. We know that most wars end at the negotiating table. But what happens at the negotiating table is inextricably linked to what happens on the battlefield: for create the conditions for a lasting peace, which ensures Ukraine’s prevalence as an independent sovereign state, we must continue to provide military support to Ukraine.”
“Russia’s war against Ukraine has not made us forget about other partners who are facing Russian pressure, intimidation and aggression. On the contrary, it has made our partnerships even more important. That is why NATO foreign ministers will meet with their Ukrainian counterpart, as well as with Georgia, Moldova and Bosnia and Herzegovina. To address the challenges we face. And to strengthen our support. For their resilience, political independence and the modernization of their armed forces. So that they can better defend themselves. If they are safer, we will be safer.”
The front
“Starting today a Kiev emergency power outages resume, everything possible is being done to ensure electricity for each user for 2-3 hours twice a day. The blackout programs for stabilization are not working”, Dtek announced, quoted by UNIAN. “As soon as we manage to rebalance the situation, we will return to the hourly plan”, added the company. The blackouts resume in the capital for the first time from the November 23rd.
Meanwhile on the field, at least 6,655 civilians are dead and others 10,368 they were injured in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion, he said today the himas reported by the Independent Kyiv. The United Nations human rights agency points out that the real figures are probably much higher, also because many reports of civilian casualties have yet to be confirmed.
The Russia probably stopped the deployment of battalion tactical groups (Btg) in Ukraine in the last three months, as these units have proved insufficient in the fighting in the country, meanwhile he said the British Ministry of Defence in his daily intelligence update on the situation in the country.
In the report, published on Twitter, the ministry recalls that the concept of the Btg has played an important role in Russian military doctrine over the past decade, and has seen these battalions – typically made up of around 600-800 people – integrated with a full range of support sub-units, including armored, reconnaissance and artillery.
However, several inherent weaknesses of the BTG concept have emerged in the high-intensity and large-scale fighting in Ukraine, say British experts, pointing out that the relatively small number of combat infantry of the Btg has often proved insufficient. “The decentralized deployment of artillery did not allow Russia to fully exploit its advantage in terms of number of weapons and few Btg commanders were able to flexibly exploit the opportunities” that the Btg model offered, he concludes the report.
Mediation
“This is not the time to talk about negotiations between Russia and Ukraine but to focus on thehelp to be given to Ukraine in view of the winter“. A senior NATO diplomatic source let ANSA know, underlining that the war will probably last “beyond spring”. at that point and we must proceed one step at a time”, continues the source commenting on the words of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Meanwhile, the Pope has relaunched his proposal for mediation in an interview with the Jesuit magazine ‘America’. However, the Russian ambassador to the Vatican, Alexander Avdeev, told the agency Ria Novosti to have complained to the Holy See about the the words of Francis related announcement acts of cruelty of the Russian troops in Ukraine, especially of Buryats and Chechens. “I expressed outrage at such insinuations and stressed that nothing can undermine the cohesion and unity of the multinational Russian people,” the ambassador said.
Kiev’s political will and its willingness to discuss the demands of Moscow, the Kremlin spokesman said instead Dmitry Peskov cited by the Tass agency.
Meanwhile, the G7 Justice meeting has begun in Berlin. War crimes investigations in Ukraine need to be better coordinated, explained the German liberal minister, Marco Buschman. “War criminals should not go unpunished,” he added. The Italian Minister Carlo Nordio participates in the summit.
