Vladimir Putin and Ebrahim Raïsi, his Iranian counterpart, announced an “intensification of cooperation in the political, economic and commercial fields” between Russia and Iran, after a telephone exchange on Saturday, November 12. This new rapprochement is important. While China and India, usually allies of Russia, say they are concerned about the conflict, and the Russian president seems increasingly isolated on the international scene, Tehran has been appearing for several months as an ally major of Moscow.
kyiv and its Western backers, notably the Americans, accuse Iran of supplying drones massively used by Russia in the war in Ukraine. If Iran has admitted having supplied drones to Russia, the government assures that these deliveries took place before the offensive. Press articles also report potential deliveries of Iranian surface-to-surface missiles to Moscow, accusations immediately denied by Tehran.
While these two economies are heavily penalized by Western sanctions, the Kremlin specifies that the exchange also concerned “the field of transport and logistics”. This week, the secretary of the powerful Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, also visited Tehran, where he had discussions on security cooperation between the two countries.
- Kherson in the process of “stabilization” and demining
Now is the time for demining and repairing infrastructure, following the recapture of Kherson by kyiv. The army is also trying to list the “crimes” attributable to Moscow in the big southern city. The 30,000 Russian soldiers who held Kherson and its region since last February have retreated to the right bank of the Dnieper in recent days. A third major setback for the Kremlin, whose military position in Ukraine is weakening.
“We are all overjoyed,” Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday evening. After eight months of occupation by Russian forces, national television programs are once again visible in Kherson. The region’s energy supplier said it was working to restore electricity supplies.
The Ukrainian president nevertheless reports significant destruction in the region. “Before fleeing Kherson, the occupants destroyed all essential infrastructure: communication, water supply, heating, electricity,” he added. He said 2,000 mines had been cleared, but called on residents to “move with caution” as there are still explosive devices in the town.
According to him, the Ukrainian armed forces have regained control of nearly 60 localities in the Kherson region. The army is applying “stabilization measures” there, the general staff said on Saturday evening, adding that “representatives of the military administration of the oblast have returned to Kherson and started working there”.
- Russia waving nuclear weapons again
Russia is struggling to digest this strategic failure after the loss of Kherson. Saturday, November 12, it was the turn of former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to agitate the nuclear threat. “For reasons that are obvious to all reasonable people, Russia has not yet made use of its full arsenal of possible means of destruction,” he wrote on Telegram, adding: “There is a time for everything.”
Vladimir Putin unilaterally announced at the end of September the annexation of four Ukrainian regions (in addition to the Crimea annexed in 2014), including that of Kherson. He then said that Russia would be ready in the future to use “all the means” in its arsenal to “defend” these new territories. “It’s not a bluff,” he said.
- Banksy unveils artwork for Ukraine
The mysterious British artist Banksy posted on his Instagram account on the night of Friday to Saturday images of a work painted on the wall of a bombed building in Borodianka in Ukraine, thus confirming to be the author. The work, made in stencil, represents a gymnast balanced on the rubble. Located a few kilometers northwest of the Ukrainian capital, the locality of Borodianka has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian bombing.
Several stencil drawings made in the style of Banksy have appeared recently in kyiv and its surroundings, which suggests that the artist may be working in the region. Another stencil drawing, which Banksy has not confirmed to be the author, shows a child knocking down a man in judo uniform: one of Vladimir Putin’s favorite sports. A third stencil drawing, which Banksy has not confirmed to be the author, was spotted in Irpin, another heavily bombed locality in the suburbs of kyiv.