As the war enters its 998th day, these are the main developments.
Here is the situation on Tuesday, November 19:
Fighting
- A Russian missile attack on a residential neighbourhood has killed 10 people and wounded 44 in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa. Four children were among the wounded while three people are in serious condition, according to local officials.
- Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its forces took control of the village of Novooleksiivka in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the eastern front-line towns of Pokrovsk and Kupiansk as Kyiv marks 1,000 days since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion.
- The world’s chemical weapons watchdog said it found traces of tear gas in samples taken last month on the front line with Russia in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region. The team was not mandated to assign blame, but Ukraine and the US have claimed Russia has illegally deployed tear gas to clear trenches.
- Ukrainians in Odesa had been without power for 24 hours as of Monday morning and further cuts were expected across the country after a Russian missile strike damaged energy infrastructure.
Long-range missiles
- The United States said Russia is escalating its war in Ukraine by deploying North Korean troops after the Kremlin warned Washington it was adding “fuel to the fire” by allowing Kyiv’s forces to strike far into Russia with US-made weapons.
- Russia’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated that Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to attack Russian territory would mark a radical escalation of the conflict, triggering “an adequate and tangible” response.
- Changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine have been drawn up and just need to be formalised, according to Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary.
- French President Emmanuel Macron said US President Joe Biden’s administration made a “good decision” to allow Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike inside Russia.
- Minister of Foreign Affairs Jean-Noel Barrot also signalled that allowing Kyiv to strike military targets inside Russia remained an option for France, which has provided long-range missiles to Ukraine.
- Polish President Andrzej Duda said the decision to allow Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike deep into Russia may be a decisive moment in the war.
- A German government spokesperson said Berlin is sticking with its decision not to provide long-range missiles to Ukraine despite Washington’s move.
- Slovakian Prime Minister Robert Fico said he strongly opposes the US’s decision, calling it an “unprecedented escalation of tensions” aimed at thwarting peace negotiations.
- Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto also labelled the move “astonishingly dangerous”.
- EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said he hopes the bloc can agree to allow Ukraine to use arms to strike inside Russia. He also expressed concerns about reports of Iran, North Korea and China producing and supplying weapons systems to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
International diplomacy
- Leaders from the Group of 20 major economies, meeting in Brazil this week, issued a joint statement highlighting the suffering caused by conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine, reaching a narrow consensus on Russia’s escalating war focused on “human suffering” and its economic fallout.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he will discuss the delivery of dual-use goods with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G20, following a report that a Chinese factory is producing military drones for Russia. Scholz added he will also tell Xi it is unacceptable that North Korean soldiers are being deployed to fight Ukraine.
- Speaking at the G20 Summit, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol urged North Korea and Russia to end what he said is their illegal military cooperation.
- Speaking on the sidelines of the G20 summit, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said support for Ukraine is “number one” on his agenda.
- US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said the US will announce additional security assistance for Ukraine in coming days.
- Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said Scholz’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin was a “strategic mistake” that weakened European unity in the face of Moscow’s war against Ukraine.
Sanctions
- The EU widened sanctions against Iran over Tehran’s support of Russia in its war against Ukraine, the European Commission said, targeting Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and its director Mohammad Reza Khiabani, among others.
- The United Kingdom imposed sanctions against Iran’s national airline and shipping carrier in response to Iran’s alleged transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia for use on the battlefield against Ukraine.
