On Nov. 8, Dmytro Lubinets, Ukrainian Ombudsman, met Tatyana Moskalkova in Belarus to discuss humanitarian issues relating to Russia’s full scale war against Ukraine.
The public meeting between Ukrainian officials and Russian officials in Belarus – Russia’s ally that has allowed the Kremlin use its territory as an staging ground for military operations against Ukraine – appears to be the 1st since March 2022.
The International Committee of the Red Cross was also present at the discussions.
Lubinets stated, “I want to emphasize that I have interacted with the Russian Ombudsman in order to resolve humanitarian issues, bring Ukrainians back home, and get information about our citizens living in Russia.”
During the meeting the parties repatriated bodies of fallen soldiers. Kyiv received 563 corpses, while Russia received 37.
According to Lubinets, the two ombudsmen launched a new initiative: exchanging letters between Ukrainian relatives and Ukrainian prisoners of war in Russia. The two ombudsmen also exchanged lists on POWs that both sides visited.
Since Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in 2020, the two countries have regularly swapped prisoners. The most recent exchange took place in mid-October when each side returned 95 prisoner.
The exact number Ukrainian troops and civilians in Russian captivity is not known. Lubinets reported that more than 14,000 Ukrainians were in captivity by late June.
Lubinets said that a 91-year old woman was able meet her son after the Belarus talks.
Bloomberg reported on November 8 that unnamed sources familiar to the matter said that European officials met in Budapest, Hungary, on Nov. 7, to discuss whether or not the European Union was willing to continue funding Ukraine’s assistance if U.S. president–elect Donald Trump stopped U.S. aid.
320 bodies were recovered from Donetsk Oblast and 89 from Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Another 154 bodies have been repatriated by Russian morgues.
Viktor Orban added: “Europe cannot finance this war alone.”
“Nobody is safe in Ukraine until Russia ends its aggression,” Estonian Foreign Affairs Minister Margus Tsahkna stated in a social media post on Nov. 8th.
General Staff report: The Russian army uses munitions like K-51 and RG-VO that are loaded with hazardous chemical substances and are used to counter-riot operations but are prohibited as weapons.
Five times, guided aerial bombs were used by Russia to strike Zaporizhzhia. The attack damaged houses, an apartment building and a cancer hospital.
The missiles that Ukraine will be testing are designed to counter drones and can shoot targets from an altitude up to 2 km.
Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, said: “It is not appropriate for us or any other country to force him into this.”
The city is home to the Saratov Oil Refinery (formerly known as Cracking Plant), which is part Rosneft – the state-run oil corporation
Since February 2022, Ukraine received over $37 billion of budget support from World Bank partnerships.
In a single attack, Russian forces killed nine and injured more than 40 people in Zaporizhzhia.
The air raid alert was sounded in Kyiv at around 9:30 pm local time on November 7, but the all-clear was not given until just after 7 am the next morning.
Since Ukraine launched its cross-border offensive at the beginning of August, Kursk Oblast has been a scene of heavy fighting.
This includes 1,580 casualties that Russian forces have suffered in the last day.
The attack caused damage to multiple residential buildings as well as a local primary school. According to preliminary information, one person died and nine others were injured.
Local authorities reported that at least 25 people were injured, and that there may be more trapped under the rubble. Search and rescue operations continue at the building.
Lindner said that Scholz had fired the former Finance Minister Christian Lindner because he suggested sending Ukraine Taurus rockets instead of financial assistance, Lindner said.
Sabrina Singh, Deputy Pentagon press secretary, said Washington was “confident” it could fulfill its commitments towards Kyiv.
The International Chamber of Commerce will lower the arbitration court costs for foreign investors who are involved in Ukraine’s rebuilding projects to encourage much needed investment.
At a press conference held at the European Political Community Summit in Budapest, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that he thought Trump wanted to end Russia’s war quickly, but that they had not discussed any plan.
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