12/02/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 04:59 Olena Selenska against her husband’s second term in office +++
Ukrainian presidential wife Olena Zelenska does not want her husband to run for a second term. She told the British “Economist” that “I don’t want him to remain president for another term or two.” At the beginning of November, Volodymyr Zelenskyj decided that the elections in Ukraine would be postponed because of the war. Her husband needs to find something new in his life, says the First Lady in the podcast the Economist.
+++ 03:16 Military situation in Marinka unclear +++
Control of the eastern Ukrainian city of Marinka remains unclear, although unofficial reports suggest that Russian forces are making some gains. The city, which once had 10,000 inhabitants, was almost completely destroyed in the fighting that lasted more than a year. Civilians are no longer in the city. The Ukrainian General Staff said in its evening report that Russian forces had unsuccessfully tried to advance on villages near Marinka. Ukrainian military spokesman Volodymyr Fitio mentioned in a speech on Ukrainian television that the Russian armed forces are carrying out attacks in many areas of the 1,000-kilometer-long front line.
+++ 01:15 “The sheer volume is overwhelming us”: 38,261 fallen Russians known by name +++
The Russian independent platform lists with the help of publicly available sources Mediazona lists the names of 38,261 Russian soldiers killed since the attack on Ukraine in February 2022. Since the last update on November 17th, more than 1,200 new names have been added to the list of victims. Mediazona states that the actual numbers are probably significantly higher, as only obituaries, contributions from relatives, news in regional media and reports from local authorities could be used for the evaluation. Mediazona adds that “the sheer volume of incoming data is overwhelming our processing capabilities.”
+++ 23:42 Lavrov blames Kiev for the war +++
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is once again using the OSCE meeting to blame Ukraine for the war started by Moscow. “We continue to see no signals – neither from Kiev nor from its teachers (in the West) – that they are ready for any political solution,” said Lavrov at the end of a meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Skopje, North Macedonia . Earlier, the Russian foreign minister berated Western politicians for leaving without listening to his speech. (Entry at 12:27 p.m.)
+++ 22:28 Truck blockades at the border: Polish and Ukrainian officials discuss measures +++
Ukrainian and Polish officials have met to discuss the ongoing border blockade. They agreed on a number of measures such as making it easier for empty vehicles to pass through, as the Ukrainian news agency Unian reports, citing Ukrainian authorities. Since the beginning of November, Polish truck drivers have been protesting near several border crossings with Ukraine. As the British newspaper “Guardian” reports, citing Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Ukrainian truck drivers stuck at the border are planning a hunger strike if their own demands are not met. In addition, Slovakian freight forwarders are now blocking the EU member state’s only truck border crossing with Ukraine.
+++ 21:51 Kiev: 67 battles with Russian troops within one day +++
There have been 67 battles between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the past 24 hours. This is reported by the Ukrainian state news agency Ukrinform. The situation in the east and south of the country remains difficult, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces said, according to the report. The statement said the Russians carried out two rocket attacks, 17 air strikes and opened fire 46 times with multiple rocket launchers on Ukrainian army positions and towns. According to the General Staff, the Ukrainian army is holding its positions on the left bank of the Dnipro River.
You can read all previous developments here.