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Russo-Ukrainian War. Day 267: 10 mn Ukrainians without power after the Russian missile attack

Russo-Ukrainian War. Day 267: 10 mn Ukrainians without power after the Russian missile attack
Article by: Zarina Zabrisky

Ukrainian troops repelled attacks in the Donetsk oblast. Russia launched 4 air strikes and 6 missile strikes, carried out more than 40 MLRS attacks from rocket salvo systems. The civil infrastructure of the city of Zaporizhzhia hit by a missile. In the liberated Kherson Oblast, Zelenivka, Chornobayivka, and Kherson hit by artillery fire. Ukrainian sources continued to clarify the damage caused by the massive November 15 Russian missile strike across Ukraine. Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in the directions of Svatove and Kreminna. Russian forces continued ground attacks near Bakhmut and Avdiivka, and in western Donetsk Oblast. Ukrainian forces continued targeting Russian forces and logistics nodes in southern Ukraine.

Daily overview — Summary report, November 17

The General Staff’s operational update regarding the Russian invasion as of 06.00 am, November 17, 2022 is in the dropdown menu below:

Situation in Ukraine. Source: ISW.

 
The two-hundred-sixty-seventh (267) day of the heroic resistance of the Ukrainian people to a russian military large-scale invasion continues.
Over the past day, units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine have repelled attacks by occupiers in the areas of Stelmakhivka and Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region and Verkhnyokamianske, Soledar, Nevelske, Mariinka and Pervomaiske in the Donetsk oblast.
The enemy does not stop shelling the positions of our troops and settlements near the contact line. The russian occupiers launched 4 air strikes and 6 missile strikes, carried out more than 40 MLRS attacks from rocket salvo systems. Also, during the past day, objects of the civil infrastructure of the city of Zaporizhzhia were hit by a missile.
The situation in the Volyn and Polissya directions has not changed significantly.
The republic of belarus continues to support the armed aggression of the russian federation against Ukraine, providing it with infrastructure, territory and airspace. The threat of missile and air strikes on the territory of Ukraine remains.
The enemy shelled in other such directions:
Kharkiv Battle Map. November 16, 2022. Source: ISW.
in the Slobozhansk direction – from mortars and barrel artillery, in the areas of Starytsa and Ambarne settlements of the Kharkiv region;
in the Kupiansk and Lyman directions – from tanks and artillery of various types, in the areas of the settlements of Kupiansk, Kyslivka, Krokhmalne, Berestove, Novoselivske, Stelmakhivka, Makiivka and Ploshanka;
Donetsk Battle Map. November 16, 2022. Source: ISW.
in the Bakhmut direction – from tanks and the entire range of artillery, in the areas of the settlements of Serebryanka, Spirne, Rozdolivka, Yakovlivka, Soledar, Bakhmutske, Bakhmut, Opytne, Zelenopillia, Andriivka, Kurdyumivka and Ozaryanivka;
in the Avdiivka direction – from tanks, mortars, barrel and rocket artillery, in the districts of New York, Krasnohorivka, Kamianka, Avdiivka, Pervomaiskyi, Nevelske and Mariinka;
in the Novopavlivka direction – from artillery of various types, in the areas of Vuhledar, Bohoyavlenka, Prechystivka and Vremivka;
in the Zaporizhzhia direction – from tanks and artillery of various calibers, in the areas of the settlements of Hulyaipilske, Novoandriivka and Shcherbaki.
Kherson-Mykolaiv Battle Map. November 16, 2022. Source: ISW.
On the Kherson direction, Zelenivka, Chornobayivka and Kherson were hit by artillery fire.
The settlements of Nikopol and Chervonogrigorivka of the Dnipropetrovsk region were also affected by the fire of russian barrel and rocket artillery.
The russian invaders continue to suffer losses. According to detailed information, on November 15, in the city of Melitopol, Ukrainian soldiers destroyed the headquarters of one of the enemy units. As a result of the actions of the Defense Forces, two ammunition depots, two units of BM-21 “Grad” and an anti-aircraft missile complex S-300 were destroyed in the areas of the settlements of Kinsky Rozdory, Vladivka and Blahovishchenka of Zaporizhzhia region. Also, the enemy lost about 100 people killed and wounded.
In the Kakhovka district, the enemy intensified filtering measures after effective fire damage by the Defense Forces against its positions. In Kakhovka itself, russian invaders mine infrastructure and destroy cell towers.
The russian occupiers do not stop trying to implement their own and destroy Ukrainian culture on the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
According to available information, all textbooks on the history of Ukraine were seized in the city of Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia oblast, for further destruction. According to the submission of the self-proclaimed authorities of the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk oblast, the so-called “honorary titles” were awarded to the cities of Horlivka and Mariupol by the decrees of the president of the russian federation.
During the past day, the aviation of the Defense Forces of Ukraine struck 2 positions of the enemy’s anti-aircraft missile systems.
Over the past day, units of the missile forces and artillery of the Defence Forces hit 2 control points, 6 areas of concentration of manpower, weapons and military equipment, 3 ammunition warehouses, as well as 3 other important objects of the occupiers.

Military Updates

Shelling by Russian troops. Icelandic Data Analyst.
Russia likely used a substantial portion of its remaining high-precision weapons in Nov 15 attack on Ukraine. In its November 15 Russian offensive campaign assessment, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War says that in the November 15 Russian largest yet missile attack on Ukraine, Russia has “likely used a substantial portion of its remaining high-precision weapon systems” and it had prepared this missile campaign before Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented his 10-point peace proposal at the G20 summit earlier on the same day. Read more here. 
Intelligence finds Western supply chain behind Iran’s drones used by Russia in Ukraine – WSJ. Ukrainian intelligence finds that components of Iranian drones, including Mohajer-6, were produced by U.S, Japanese and Israeli companies, The Wall Street Journal reported.

According to British Defence Intelligence, (last 48 hours): 

  • Over the afternoon of 15 November, Russia carried out up to 80 long range missile strikes, mostly against power infrastructure targets across Ukraine. This is likely the largest number of strikes that Russia has conducted in a single day since the first week of the invasion.

 

  • Munitions were launched from air, sea and land-based platforms. Although a large proportion of missiles were successfully intercepted Ukraine is facing a significant decrease in the power available from its national grid. This will impact upon civilian access to communications, heating and water supplies.

 

  • Continued strikes at this scale are drawing deeply upon Russia’s reserves of conventional cruise missiles, as degrading Ukrainian’s national infrastructure has become a key element of Russia’s strategic approach to the campaign.

Losses of the Russian army 

As of 16 November, the approximate losses of weapons and military equipment of the Russian Armed Forces from the beginning of the war to the present day:

Losses of the Russian Army. MFA of Ukraine.

Humanitarian 

In liberated Makiivka, Luhansk Oblast, not a single house survived; “ruins and death are the consequences of the ‘Russky Mir’ that reigned here for 8 months.”

Environment

10 mn Ukrainians without power after the Russian missile attack, said Zelenskyy. “In many cities and districts of our country there are again emergency power cuts. About ten million Ukrainians are without electricity. Most of all – as of this moment – in Kharkiv, Zhytomyr, Kyiv and Lviv oblasts. Lviv and some other cities suspended heat supply.” Read more here.

63 bodies of Ukraine civilians tortured by Russia invaders already found in liberated parts of Kherson oblast. Read more here.

Support 

Sweden to deliver its biggest military aid package yet to Ukraine – Reuters. Biggest package of defense material to date which included an air defense system, Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said, according to Reuters. Previous arms contribution by Sweden, which has applied to join NATO along with neighboring Finland, has ranged from simple equipment such as helmets and body armor to rocket-propelled grenades and missiles, Reuters says. Read more here.

New Developments 

The Czech parliament’s lower house recognized the current Russian regime as a terrorist one.  In an adopted resolution, the Chamber of Deputies, the Lower House of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, has recognized the current Russian regime as a terrorist one in accordance with the resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Read here more.

Polish President says there’s no proof that the missile that hit Poland was fired by Russia. President of Poland Andrzej Duda said the missile that hit Poland yesterday during the massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine was an S-300 air defense missile, and there is no indication that it was an intentional attack. Read here more.

NATO Secretary General says Poland blast likely caused by Ukrainian missile but Moscow bears responsibility. On 16 November, NATO’s Secretary General said the November 15 blast in Poland was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile but that Russia was ultimately responsible because it started the war. Read more here.

 

Assessment 

  1. On the war. 

The Institute for the Study of War has made the following assessment as of 16 November, 2022:

Russian sources and proxy officials are flagrantly touting the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families. Prominent Russian milbloggers began circulating a multi-part documentary series on November 9 featuring several Ukrainian children from Donbas after being adopted into Russian families.[1] The documentary series claims that Russian officials have evacuated over 150,000 children from Donbas in 2022 alone.[2] It is unclear exactly how Russian sources are calculating this figure, and Ukrainian officials previously estimated this number to be 6,000 to 8,000.[3] Head of the Chechen Republic Ramzan Kadyrov additionally stated he is working with Russian Federation Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova to bring “difficult teenagers” from various Russian regions and occupied Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts to Chechnya to engage in “preventative work” and “military-patriotic education.”[4] Lvova-Belova has continually advocated for deportations and adoptions of Ukrainian children and herself adopted a child from Mariupol.[5] Forced adoption programs and the deportation of children under the guise of vacation and rehabilitation schemes likely form the backbone of a massive Russian depopulation campaign that may amount to a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and constitute a wider ethnic cleansing effort, as ISW has previously reported.[6]

Ukrainian sources continued to clarify the damage caused by the massive November 15 Russian missile strike across Ukraine. The Ukrainian General Staff stated on November 16 that Russian forces launched over 90 Kh-101 and Kalibr cruise missiles and 11 drones over the course of November 15 and targeted critical infrastructure in a number of oblasts.[7] Ukrainian Air Force Command reported that Ukrainian air defense and ground forces shot down 75 missiles and 10 Shahed-136 drones.[8] US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin noted on November 16 that the US-provided National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS) had a 100% success rate in intercepting Russian missiles.[9] As ISW previously reported, Russian forces likely used a substantial portion of their high-precision weapon systems in the November 15 attack.[10]

The Russian information space largely followed the official Kremlin framing of the missile strike on Polish territory as a Western provocation. The Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) stated on November 16 that Ukrainian and other foreign officials’ statements about Russian missiles in connection with the strike on Polish territory constitute a “deliberate provocation with the aim of escalating the situation.”[11] Russian Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev accused the West of moving closer to world war by waging a hybrid attack against Russia following the strike on Polish territory.[12]  Russian milbloggers widely accused Western and Ukrainian officials of trying to falsely blame Russia for the strike in order to justify increased support to Ukraine and further escalation in Eastern Europe.[13] Some Russian sources also asserted that Ukrainian and Western officials were trying to use the incident to either pressure Russia to end its coordinated missile campaign against Ukrainian critical infrastructure or to justify sending “better” air defenses to Ukraine.[14] The Russian milbloggers’ support of the Kremlin framing of the strike as a Western provocation is to be expected of a Russian information space that widely views the conflict in Ukraine as a Western operation aimed at degrading Russia as a regional and global power.

Wagner financer Yevgeny Prigozhin is continuing to establish himself as a central figure in the pro-war ultranationalist community, likely in pursuit of ambitious political goals. Russian opposition media outlet Meduza reported on November 16 that two sources close to the Kremlin stated that Prigozhin is thinking about creating a “conservative movement” that may become a political party.[15] Meduza’s sources reported that Prigozhin has established an information campaign of constant anti-elite rhetoric modeled after jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny’s social media campaign against Russian corruption, but to a very different effect.[16] Meduza’s sources reported that Prigozhin intends to simultaneously use the anti-elite social media campaign to cast himself as a populist figure while currying favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin by intimidating elites that may be viewed as insufficiently loyal to Putin.[17] ISW has previously reported that Prigozhin is attempting to appeal to a constituency in Russia that is both interested in Russia’s claimed national superiority and Soviet brutalist strength and opposed to Russian elite corruption.[18] Prigozhin has previously denied that he is attempting to cast himself as a politician or that he intends to create a political party or movement.[19] ISW has previously reported that Prigozhin is also pursuing the creation of parallel military structures to advance his influence in the ultranationalist pro-war community.[20] Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) representative Andriy Chernyak reported on November 15 that Prigozhin initially began constructing parallel military structures to suppress potential uprisings in Russia but capitalized upon the Kremlin’s need for more capable forces in Russia’s offensive campaign in Ukraine.[21] ISW has previously assessed that Prigozhin’s personal army serves his own personal political goals first and the Russian war effort in Ukraine second.[22] Prigozhin will likely continue efforts to establish parallel military structures and form an anti-elite campaign to cement himself as the central figure of an ultranationalist pro-war political movement in Russia.

Key Takeaways

  • Russian sources and proxy officials are flagrantly touting the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families.
  • Ukrainian sources continued to clarify the damage caused by the massive November 15 Russian missile strike across Ukraine.
  • The Russian information space largely followed the official Kremlin framing of the missile strike on Polish territory as a Western provocation.
  • Wagner Group financer Yevgeny Prigozhin is continuing to establish himself as a central figure in the pro-war ultranationalist community likely in pursuit of ambitious political goals.
  • Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations in the directions of Svatove and Kreminna.
  • Russian forces continued ground attacks near Bakhmut and Avdiivka, and in western Donetsk Oblast.
  • Ukrainian forces continued targeting Russian forces and logistics nodes in southern Ukraine.
  • Multiple reports indicate that the morale and psychological state of Russian forces in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts are exceedingly low.
  • Russian officials continued their efforts to replace proxy officials in occupied territories with Russian officials, forcibly relocate residents, and integrate occupied areas with Russia.

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