November 14, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

All critical infrastructure in the city of Kherson was destroyed while under Russian occupation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Monday after visiting the city. 

“This is what the Russian flag means — complete devastation. There is no electricity, no communication, no internet, no television. The occupiers destroyed everything themselves — on purpose. This is their special operation. Before the winter, the Russian occupiers destroyed absolutely all critical infrastructure. Absolutely all important facilities in the city and the region are mined,” Zelensky said. 

The Ukrainian president added that efforts are being made to return life to normal in Kherson.

Earlier on Monday, officials said they were working to repair damaged bridges and restore Kherson’s electricity supply. 

Rublev returns the ball to Daniil Medvedev during their singles tennis match at the ATP World Tour Finals, in Turin, Italy, Monday, November 14.

Russian tennis star Andrey Rublev spoke out against his country’s invasion of Ukraine on Monday after his win against compatriot Daniil Medvedev at the ATP Finals in Turin, Italy.

Rublev, who is ranked seventh in the world, completed a comeback against Medvedev. After the match, he signed the camera lens with the words: “Peace Peace Peace All We Need.”

In his interview after the match, Rublev said the gesture wasn’t planned.

He added:

 This is not the first time that Rublev has spoken out against Russia’s invasion.

In February, shortly after the conflict began, he wrote, “No war please” on a camera after a win at an ATP tournament in Dubai.

The ATP Finals is the season-ending event for the premier men’s tennis tour in the world. It is competed in by the eight highest-ranked singles players and eight highest-ranked doubles pairs in the world. The event concludes Sunday.

Contactors from General Atomics load Hellfire missiles onto an MQ-1C Gray Eagle at Camp Taji, Iraq, in February 2011.

As Russian forces have retreated in Ukraine’s south, the Biden administration has announced a slew of new military aid packages for Ukraine — but all were missing a piece of weaponry that Ukraine’s military has long sought: the multi-use Gray Eagle drone, armed with Hellfire missiles.

According to two officials, the US has been looking into modifications that can be made to the deadly drone. Changes that would make the potential of losing any — with their sensitive onboard technology — less of a danger and possibly increase the likelihood of Ukraine receiving them.

A US official confirmed that the Army is leading the efforts to study what changes are possible to the drone, which is made by General Atomics and referred to in the Army as the MQ-1C. 

“When you’re talking drones, this is about as good as you can get,” says Seth Jones, the director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “These are really sophisticated drones.”

Without any changes, however, the Gray Eagle, which can carry four Hellfire missiles and fly at 25,000 feet for almost 30 hours, would likely not be on upcoming lists of military aid allocated to Ukraine.

Read more about this here.

The Commander of Ukrainian forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, says he has reiterated to his US counterpart, General Mark Milley, that Ukraine’s “goal is to liberate the entire Ukrainian land from Russian occupation.”

Zaluzhnyi said he had told General Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the “Ukrainian military will not accept any negotiations, agreements or compromise decisions. There is only one condition for negotiations – Russia must leave all the occupied territories.”

Zaluzhnyi said he had told Milley that the situation at the front is stable and controlled.

“We closely monitor the actions of the enemy on the border with the Republic of Belarus and build a reliable shield to protect Ukraine from the north,” he said on his Telegram channel.

Zaluzhnyi said Russian forces were actively attacking along several fronts in the Donetsk region, but were unsuccessful.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak speaks with political journalists on board a government airplane inflight to Indonesia, on November 13.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that Russia is becoming a “pariah state,” the UK’s PA news agency reported.  

In comments made to reporters traveling with him to the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia — the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February — Sunak said it was “telling” that Putin would not attend the event, PA reported.  

When asked how he planned to interact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the G20, Sunak said he was going to “take the opportunity to unequivocally condemn the Russian state and Putin for their abhorrent and illegal war.” 

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti says that Ukrainian forces are “conducting intense artillery fire on the area of the town of Oleshky” in Kherson.

Oleshky is on the east bank of the river Dnipro, eight kilometers (five miles) from Kherson city, which is on the opposite bank and was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces.

A RIA Novosti correspondent on the ground reported that explosions were heard in the town, including “the sounds of firing from a large-caliber machine gun.”

“They are attacking day and night continuously, you see, the forest is burning on the outskirts,” an employee of a gas station told RIA Novosti.

Cellular communication does not work in the town while shops and the market are closed, the agency reported.

A spokesperson of the Odesa Regional Administration Serhiy Bratchuk said there had been strikes against Russian military facilities in Hola Prystan and Hornostayivka, two towns on the opposite bank of the river from Kherson city. Bratchuk said there had been casualties. 

The Ukrainian General Staff — in its evening update — said that further upstream the Russians had shelled a number of settlements within a few miles of the river’s banks.

There are also reports of heavy fighting in the Donetsk region, where the General Staff says that Russian forces were conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka directions.

Ukraine’s state railway service, Ukrzaliznytsia, has begun repairing damaged rail tracks & infrastructure on the Kherson line, according to the Infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov. It expects to restore rail services to Kherson within 10 days. 

Jim Carrey attends a screening of the film "Sonic The Hedgehog" in Westwood, California, on February 12, 2020.

Russia said on Monday that it was imposing entry bans on an additional 100 Canadian citizens, including American-Canadian actor Jim Carrey, in response to Canada’s sanctions on Moscow.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it has added more Canadians to its “black list,” which contains hundreds of Western officials and notable individuals.

Moscow in March added Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the travel ban.

EU Commissioner for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Vice President Josep Borrell speaks to media at the EU Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on November 14.

The European Union and its member states have sent at least $8 billion worth of military equipment to Ukraine amid Vladimir Putin’s war, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday.  

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Borrell said this was about 45% of the amount provided to Kyiv by the United States.  

Borrell added the EU would “continue isolating Russia internationally,” and continue imposing “restrictive measures,” against Russia’s economy.  

Russian billionaire Suleyman Kerimov in Derbent, Dagestan, Russia, on April 14, 2021.

The Biden administration on Monday released new sanctions meant to target Russia’s military industry as well as networks that support two sanctioned Russian oligarchs as the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine continues.

The US Treasury and State Departments imposed sanctions on “a transnational network procuring technology that supports the Russian military-industrial complex,” according to a press release from Treasury, adding that this affects 14 people, 28 entities and eight aircraft.

Here’s a look at some of those affected by the sanctions:

A member of Ukraine’s parliament says that a US citizen has been freed from detention thanks to the liberation of Kherson.

“With the liberation of Kherson, one of the prisoners was released, a US citizen Suedi Murekezi,” Alexandr Kovaliov said on his Facebook page.

Kovoliav added that Murekezi had “defended the independence of our country, for which he was arrested.”

“The coordinated actions of our team led to the release of another US citizen from captivity. Today he is already free and returning home,” Kovaliov added. 

Kovaliov said Murekezi had been arrested in Kherson, “and for a long time there was no contact with him. But thanks to the efforts of our team, Mr. Murekezi’s location was established and he was returned from captivity.”

According to published reports, Murekezi was detained in Kherson in July. 

The State Department is aware of “unconfirmed reports” about the release of a US citizen who was held in Kherson during the Russian occupation. 

A State Department spokesperson said they had “no further comment on the matter “due to privacy considerations.”

“We also once again reiterate U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of U.S. citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that U.S. citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options,” the spokesperson said.

A resident of Kherson city in southern Ukraine has told CNN that his home was damaged when several shells landed in the neighborhood on Monday afternoon.

The shells landed in an area on the northeastern outskirts of the city

The resident, who asked not to be named, said he thought the shelling had come from the east bank of the Dnipro river, where Russian forces have been redeployed after withdrawing from the city last week.

Ukrainian officials have not commented on any shelling of the city or its surroundings since it was liberated. Ukrainian forces began arriving in the city on Friday. 

Russian forces are just a few kilometers from the city center in newly fortified positions.

Firefighters work to put out a fire at CHP power station hit by a Russian missile on October 10, in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Ukraine’s air force says it is seeing a lull in Russian missile attacks, which were heavy and persistent through October.

Yurii Ihnat, a spokesperson for the Air Force Command, said at a briefing in Kyiv: “Now we see some kind of a lull, nothing much is happening.”

Ihnat said there were still “shelling and rocket attacks on the frontline cities with rocket artillery and S-300 anti-aircraft systems. The enemy launches this type of missiles on a ballistic trajectory.”

And he said that on Saturday there had been one attack on a central region by “TU-22M3 bombers; several X-22 missiles were launched.”

But Ilhat said that “over the past week we haven’t seen the use of cruise missiles or Shahed drones. The enemy is unable to constantly launch massive missile strikes due to the shortage of weapons.”

He said the Russians were running short of ballistic missiles and air-launched cruise missiles.

Ihnat said Ukrainian defense forces had destroyed over 330 self-detonating drones and that “in total, the enemy launched over 400 Iranian UAVs in Ukraine,” from the south, east and north.

Ihnat said Ukrainian air defenses were being improved with the arrival of advanced western systems.

“Ukrainian air defense will be strengthened by American Avenger systems,” he said. “The Avengers supplied by our American partners have their own radar, can effectively operate eight Stinger missiles at once on their base; they are extremely mobile. “

He said the German-supplied IRIS-T system had destroyed 100 percent of targets.

The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) says its officers have detained a Russian serviceman in liberated Kherson in southern Ukraine. The man was dressed in a civilian uniform and tried to pretend to be “local,” it said in a statement.  

The SBU said the man admitted that he was a soldier from the 69th separate brigade of the Russian armed forces. 

The Security Service said it had established that his task in Kherson “was to collect information, [help] adjust fire on the Armed Forces of Ukraine and carry out sabotage.” 

Mikhail Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, said mobile Starlink terminals are being deployed in Kherson city to help people reconnect with their families. 

Mobile operators Kyivstar and Vodafone have launched the first base stations in Kherson, Fedorov said, noting that “there is still no electricity in the city, so the stations are operating on generators and Starlink terminals.”

Fedorov said his ministry immediately sends Starlink terminals to the de-occupied settlements. “Starlink terminals help to maintain communication while operators restore the damaged optical cable.”

“We are returning the connections to Kherson,” he said. “People who had been under occupation for nine months were finally able to call their relatives and say that they are alright. While there are problems with other infrastructure in the city, even a one-minute conversation helps Kherson residents to feel at home again.”

Fedorov said there were problems with the sabotage of mobile base stations in the area. “The occupants destroyed part of the infrastructure and mined the rest. The State Emergency Service finds tripwires with grenades at mobile base stations. This slows down the process of restoring communication, but heroic rescuers and telecom operators work 24/7,” the official said.

U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference following his meeting with Chinese president Xi Jinping, ahead of the G20 leaders' summit, in Bali, Indonesia, on November 14.

The Ukrainian liberation of Kherson “was a significant, significant victory for Ukraine,” President Joe Biden told reporters traveling with him to the G20 summit in Bali Monday. He emphasized that any negotiations towards a ceasefire will require Ukraine have a seat at the table.

“First of all, it was a significant, significant victory for Ukraine – a significant victory – and I can do nothing but applaud the courage, determination and capacity of Ukrainian people and Ukrainian military. I mean, they’ve really been amazing,” Biden said. “I’ve been very clear that we’re going to continue to provide the capability for the Ukrainian people to defend themselves – and we are not going to engage in any negotiation. There’s nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine, this is a decision Ukraine has to make.” 

During a news conference earlier Monday, Oleh Nikolenko, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, said that Russia is “in no position” to be setting rules for negotiations.

“The peace formula for Ukraine remains unchanged: Immediate cessation of the war, withdrawal of all Russian troops, restoration of Ukrainian territorial integrity, damages reimbursement and provision of effective guarantees of non-repetition of aggression,” Nikolenko said.

Still, Biden said Monday in Bali, he believes hostilities in the region will “slow down a bit because of the winter months, and the inability to move as well, as easily around the country,” later adding he remains confident “that Russia will not occupy or defend Ukraine as they intended from the beginning.”

Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns prepares for a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing on worldwide threats, at the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., on March 10.

CIA Director Bill Burns is meeting with his Russian intelligence counterpart, Sergey Naryshkin, in Ankara today as part of an ongoing effort by the US to “communicate with Russia on managing risk” and to discuss the cases of “unjustly detained US citizens,” a National Security Council spokesperson tells CNN. 

“We have been very open about the fact that we have channels to communicate with Russia on managing risk, especially nuclear risk and risks to strategic stability,” the spokesperson said. “As part of this effort Bill Burns is in Ankara today to meet with his Russian intelligence counterpart.”

CNN has previously reported that National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan has also been in touch with his Russian counterparts to warn them of the consequences should Russia use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine. 

The spokesperson emphasized that Burns “is not conducting negotiations of any kind.”  

“He is not discussing settlement of the war in Ukraine. He is conveying a message on the consequences of the use of nuclear weapons by Russia, and the risks of escalation to strategic stability. He will also raise the cases of unjustly detained US citizens,” the spokesperson added, saying that the US briefed Ukraine on the meeting in advance of Burns’ trip. 

“We firmly stick to our fundamental principle: nothing about Ukraine without Ukraine,” the spokesperson said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky made an unannounced visit to the formerly Russian-occupied city of Kherson on Monday, where work is underway to restore the power supply as NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg warns that Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to “leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter.”

Here are the latest headlines:

A pro-Russian tank gunner who was accused of firing into residential buildings in Mariupol will spend 12 years in prison, Ukraine’s State Security Service (SBU) said on Monday.

“The Security Service of Ukraine collected indisputable evidence of crimes committed by the militant of the ‘DPR’ [Donetsk People’s Republic] terrorist organization nicknamed ‘Phil,’” the SBU said in a statement. “The evidence allowed the court to imprison him for 12 years.”

As the gunner of a T-72 tank, the SBU said that the man “fired at least 20 shots at residential high-rise buildings in Mariupol.”

The SBU said that he was found guilty of high treason and the “creation of unauthorized armed groups or participation in its activities.”

He was taken captive near the eastern village of Rivnopil in April after his tank came under attack by the Ukrainian military.

The SBU said that the man joined separatist, pro-Russian militants in 2014, and then joined Russia’s 8th Army after the full-scale invasion this February.