The Ukrainian energy network, already very fragile, faced on Sunday one of the most significant Russian attacks in recent months, strikes leaving nine dead and around twenty injured across the country, according to the authorities. Washington then gave Ukraine authorization to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles supplied by the United States, a US official told AFP on Sunday, news welcomed with caution by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. This Monday, November 18, the G20 summit also begins, where discussions on Ukraine risk being tense.
Information to remember
⇒ The United States authorized Ukraine to use long-range missiles in Russia
⇒ China calls for peace in Ukraine
⇒ Start of a G20 under tension, particularly on Ukraine
Authorization to use American missiles “will not change anything” in the action of Russian forces
The green light given by Washington to kyiv for the use of long-range American missiles to strike Russia “will not change anything” in Moscow’s conduct of its battles with Ukraine, a Russian MP warned on Monday. “This will not change the course of the operation, absolutely nothing. We will continue to fulfill our missions as we have always done,” Andrei Kartapolov, chairman of the commission, told the Russian public agency Ria Novosti. defense of the lower house of the Russian parliament. “This factor will of course be taken into account, but the goals set by” Vladimir Putin in Ukraine “will be achieved,” he continued.
Andrei Kartapolov explained that to counter these missiles, it would be necessary to “prevent the planes from taking off”. “We are actively focusing on this task, intensively targeting airfield infrastructure. This is a priority, because if a plane does not take off, the missile will not be launched,” he stressed.
“This is an unprecedented step,” said Vladimir Jabarov, a member of the international affairs committee of the upper house. “This is a very important step towards the start of the Third World War, and the Americans will do it under the leadership of a departing old man, who will no longer be responsible for anything in two months,” he said. he noted, warning that “Russia’s response” would be “immediate”.
China calls for peace in Ukraine
China again called on Monday for peace in Ukraine, which was authorized by Washington to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles supplied by the United States. “A rapid ceasefire and a political solution are in the interests of all parties,” Lin Jian said at a regular press conference, when asked about this American decision. “The most urgent thing is to encourage an easing of the situation as quickly as possible,” he said.
China presents itself as a neutral country regarding the war in Ukraine and assures that it does not sell lethal equipment to the belligerents, unlike the United States and other Western nations which support kyiv. Beijing nevertheless remains a major economic and political ally of Moscow and has never condemned the Russian offensive. “China has always encouraged and supported all efforts towards a peaceful resolution of the crisis,” Lin Jian continued on Monday, adding that Beijing was willing to “continue to play a constructive role […] in his own way” with this in mind.
Russia says it shot down 59 Ukrainian drones
The Russian Defense Ministry announced this Monday morning that it had shot down 59 Ukrainian drones, notably over the border regions of Ukraine and in the Moscow region. “During the night, attempts by the kyiv regime to carry out terrorist attacks with aerial drones against sites on Russian territory were prevented,” the ministry said in a statement.
Russia announces almost daily that it has destroyed Ukrainian drones launched against its territory, but in generally lower numbers. kyiv says it is carrying out these strikes, which often target energy sites, in response to Russian bombings on its territory.
Eight dead including two children in Russian strike in northeastern Ukraine
A Russian missile strike killed eight people, including two children, and injured at least ten on Sunday evening in Sumy, a city in northeastern Ukraine, the regional prosecutor’s office said, as the country had already been targeted by a major air attack the night before. Ten buildings and vehicles were damaged, according to the prosecutor’s office. Photos, published by the same source, show a building with blown out windows and cars with broken windows.
Sumy is the main city of a region of the same name, bordering several Russian regions including Kursk, where Ukraine took control of dozens of localities during a major offensive in August.
Risk of tensions over Ukraine at the G20
Ukraine was the target of massive and deadly attacks this weekend, particularly against its energy infrastructure. After this offensive, “I believe it is clear that President Putin’s intentions are to intensify” the fighting, Emmanuel Macron said on Sunday in Buenos Aires. “Whatever his declarations, he does not want peace and is not ready to negotiate it,” continued the French president, who did not rule out contacting his Russian counterpart again, but only when the “context” s ‘ll lend to it.
G20 leaders meet Monday in Rio de Janeiro for a summit under high pressure. “Discussions on Ukraine and the Middle East […] are the most difficult. We will see how far we can go in the press release, it will be a challenge,” admitted a German government source before the G20. On Ukraine, which has just suffered one of the most significant Russian attacks in recent years. months, “we will firmly oppose any degradation of language”, warned the French presidency Russian President Vladimir Putin, who had already missed the last summits, will be notably absent in Rio.
US allows Ukraine to use long-range missiles in Russia
The authorization given by Washington to kyiv to strike Russian territory with long-range missiles is “language that (Russian President Vladimir) Putin understands,” the head of Polish diplomacy said on Sunday evening. “To the entry into war of North Korean troops and the massive Russian missile attack (Sunday morning, editor’s note), President (American Joe) Biden responded with language that V. Putin understands,” said Radoslaw Sikorski on X. According to the Polish minister, “the victim of an attack has the right to defend himself.” A member of the European Union and NATO and a direct neighbor of Ukraine, Poland has remained a firm supporter of kyiv since Russian aggression almost a thousand days ago.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his part, welcomed this announcement with caution. Recalling in his evening address the importance of his army’s “long-range capability”, he noted on Sunday that “today, many media outlets are reporting that we have received authorization to take appropriate measures.” “But strikes are not carried out using words. Things like this are not announced,” Volodymyr Zelensky continued. “The missiles will speak for themselves.”
These missiles with a maximum range of several hundred kilometers would allow Ukraine to reach logistical sites of the Russian army and airfields from which its bombers take off. The U.S.-supplied ATACMS missiles are initially expected to be used in the Russian border region of Kursk, where North Korean soldiers have been deployed in support of Russian troops, according to the New York Times, citing U.S. officials speaking under cover of anonymity. The decision by Washington to authorize Ukraine to use these missiles came in reaction to this deployment of North Korean troops, according to these officials.
Russian President Vladimir Putin warned that such a decision would mean that “NATO countries are at war with Russia.”