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Morning Headlines
Human Rights Watch: Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has devastated schools and kindergartens throughout the country. Since February 2022, over 3,790 educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed, according to Ukrainian government figures, severely interrupting access to education for millions of children.
Reuters: Russian forces, their numbers swelled by reserves, tightened their vise around the shattered eastern city of Avdiivka on Wednesday, but Ukrainian forces are holding defensive lines, Ukrainian military officials said.
ISW: Select Russian milbloggers claimed that Russian commanders may be making operational and tactical decisions using maps of the battlefield in Ukraine that differ from tactical reality.
The Kyiv Independent: Moscow is trying to get back some of the weapons it previously exported to other countries, including Pakistan, Egypt, and Brazil, sources told the Wall Street Journal on Nov. 8.
France 24: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday condemned North Korea for sending arms to help the Russian invasion of Ukraine, as he held meetings with top officials in key ally South Korea.
Reuters: The Court of Arbitration for Sport is due to resume hearing the doping case of figure skater Kamila Valieva on Thursday, a saga that rattled last year's Beijing Olympics and cast a shadow over Russia's already troubled anti-doping system.
VoA: Putin arrived in Kazakhstan on Thursday, while Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi were expected in Uzbekistan, amid renewed diplomatic interest in the region.
More News
Reuters: The Biden administration is working closely with partner countries over sanctions on a Russian liquefied natural gas project in the Arctic as a January deadline looms on a wind down of transactions with the plant, a State Department spokesperson said on Wednesday.
RFE/RL: In multiple cases, Russian contract soldiers and their families have received none of the benefits promised by the state for signing up to fight in Ukraine -- no combat bonus pay, no pardons of convictions, no compensation for injury or death, and no documentation to prove they ever fought at all.
Reuters: Hezbollah may have acquired Russian anti-ship missiles, which it can use against American warships.
Meduza: Putin’s new campaign will downplay the war while painting the West as rife with problems, Kremlin insiders say.
The Kyiv Independent: The U.S. has already spent 96% of the funds allocated for Ukraine since the beginning of the war, White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Nov. 8.
AFP: Putin signed a decree on Wednesday offering a way for Russian investors to "swap" their frozen assets abroad with the frozen assets of foreign companies in Russia.
Reuters: A Russian missile damaged a Liberia-flagged civilian vessel entering the Black Sea port of Odesa region, killing one and injuring four people, the Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday.
CNN: Russia’s leading aircraft manufacturer says it’s completed a successful test flight of a new widebody passenger airplane that it claims could replace Western aircraft in the country’s skies.
New UK sanctions target 29 individuals and entities operating in and supporting Russia’s gold, oil and strategic sectors.
UK's National Crime Agency on Wednesday issued a red alert to the financial sector warning that Russia was using gold to evade sanctions imposed after it invaded Ukraine.
AFP: Ukraine's spy agency admits to car bomb killing of Russia-backed politician Mikhail Filiponenko in the eastern city of Luhansk.
Reuters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised as a "historic step" a recommendation by the European Union executive on Wednesday to invite Kyiv to begin membership talks as soon as it meets final conditions, even as it fights to repel Russia's war.
Rheinmetall has received an order from the German government to supply Ukraine with about 100,000 rounds of ammunition for 120 mm mortars.
RFE/RL: Serbian companies are exporting dual-use goods to Russia that have been targeted by Western sanctions due to their use in Russian armaments deployed in Ukraine -- despite a pledge by president Vucic that his country would not serve as a conduit for circumventing US and EU sanctions.
AFP: The new Slovak government on Wednesday blocked a military aid package to Ukraine worth 40.3 million euros that was planned by the previous administration.
Reuters: European Union countries will start debating next week a proposal for a 12th package of sanctions on Russia that will focus on a ban of Russian diamonds, EU diplomats and an EU official told Reuters.
The Moscow Times: Putin has pardoned a man convicted in the murder of his ex-girlfriend after he is believed to have signed up to fight in Ukraine, women’s rights activist Alyona Popova said Wednesday.
UK’s Ministry of Defence: With virtually all methods of overt dissent banned in Russia, sabotage continues to appeal to a minority of young people as a method of protest against the ‘Special Military Operation’.
Reuters: Nikolai Patrushev, a powerful ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, said on Wednesday that the "destructive" policies of the United States and its allies were increasing the risk that nuclear, chemical or biological weapons would be used.
worth mentioning
Opinion: The Kremlin fuelled antisemitism at home. Then it blew up
Analysis: Moldova and Ukraine’s accelerated accession to EU marks Russia’s waning influence
Russian oil shaves India's import costs by about $2.7 billion
Putin lauds Russia's 'high-tech' military cooperation with China
Activist who disappeared from home in Tbilisi reportedly found in Russian jail
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