Here is the situation on Monday, November 18:
Fighting
Two children were among 10 people killed when a Russian missile hit a residential building in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Sumy, Ukrainian officials said, while another missile strike left the region’s administrative centre without power. At least 55 people, including eight children, were injured, according to the city council.
Russia’s air defence units destroyed 59 Ukrainian drones overnight, including two heading towards Moscow. Russia’s Ministry of Defence said 45 of the drones were destroyed over the Bryansk region.
- Russia unleashed its largest air strike on Ukraine in almost three months on Sunday, launching 120 missiles and 90 drones. At least seven people were killed and severe damage was caused to the power system, officials said.
- The Ukrainian air force said it repelled 104 of the incoming 120 missiles and shot down 42 drones. Another 41 disappeared from radar, it said.
- Ukraine’s energy operator DTEK announced “emergency power cuts” in the Kyiv region and two others in the east after Russia’s latest aerial attack hit the region’s energy grid.
- Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister Mihai Popsoi said Russian missiles and drones had violated Moldovan airspace during the attack. NATO member Poland, which also borders Ukraine, said it had scrambled its air force as a precaution.
Politics and diplomacy
- President Joe Biden’s administration has allowed Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike deep into Russia, Reuters and other news outlets reported, quoting two US officials and a source familiar with the decision, in a significant reversal of Washington’s policy on the Ukraine-Russia conflict.
- Washington’s decision to let Kyiv strike deep into Russia with long-range US missiles escalates the conflict and could lead to another world war, senior Russian lawmakers said on Sunday.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said a major Russian air barrage against Ukraine showed that President Vladimir Putin “does not want peace and is not ready to negotiate”.
- The Russian air attack on Ukraine also shook a fragile consensus among the Group of 20 major economies drafting their joint statement at an annual leaders summit in Rio de Janeiro, three diplomats familiar with the talks said.
- United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres condemned as “unacceptable” the Russian air attack on Ukraine, which he said had targeted “energy and critical civilian infrastructure”.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said his hourlong conversation with Putin had given no indication of a shift in the Russian leader’s thinking on the war in Ukraine. He defended his much-criticised decision to phone the Kremlin.
Ukrainian rescuers escort an elderly resident out of a building in Sumy following a deadly Russian strike that killed 10 people [Handout: State Emergency Service via EPA]∎