Coup for Kyiv: With the help of drones, the Ukrainian military is apparently able to damage two Russian ships in the Black Sea Fleet. In response, Russia suspended the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain. In Cherson, Russian troops are said to have given the remaining Ukrainian civilians an ultimatum to evacuate. While Chechen leader Kadyrov is threatening retaliation, President Putin is said to be working on his re-election. The 248th day of the war at a glance.
Drone Attacks on Black Sea Fleet
According to media reports, the frigate "Admiral Makarov" was hit during the drone attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol in the Crimea in the morning. It is not known how badly the fleet's flagship was damaged, writes the Ukrainian journalist Andrii Tsaplienko in his Telegram channel, citing previously unconfirmed information. According to a Russian military blogger, only the ship's radar was hit. Later, the Russian Ministry of Defense additionally confirmed that the minesweeper "Ivan Golubets" was slightly damaged. On the other hand, there was no talk of damage to the "Admiral Makarov". Nine unmanned aerial drones and seven naval drones were involved in the attack, it said. All flying drones were shot down. Earlier, Crimean Peninsula Governor Mikhail Razvozhayev claimed that there had been no damage from the attacks. The TASS news agency, in turn, reported a heavy explosion at around 4:20 a.m. in the morning.
Soldiers disguise themselves as civilians
In the southern Ukrainian region of Cherson, too, Russian troops have been falling behind more and more recently. According to Ukrainian information, Russian soldiers in the former 12,000-inhabitant town of Beryslav in the Cherson region "dressed in masses of civilian clothes and moved into private apartments." Possibly they hope to be evacuated by Russian troops in this way and to be able to leave the heavily contested western bank of the Dnipo River. It is fitting that Niklas Masuhr, a researcher at the renowned Center for Security Studies at the ETH University in Zurich, considers the morale of the Russian soldiers to be desolate. A lack of weapons and materials presented the soldiers with considerable problems before the approaching winter. "For the Russians, it's still about digging in over the winter. The troops are in such a bad condition that it's not clear whether they can do it," said the expert.
Ukraine: Russia wants to evacuate Cherson by force
Although Russian officials recently declared the evacuation of the regional capital of the same name to be over, according to the newspaper "Kyiv Independent" there should still be an ultimatum for the civilians who remained in Cherson. They would therefore have two days to leave the city. They would then be forcibly relocated to the east bank of the Dnipro. There is no confirmation from the Russian side. At the same time, Ukraine is accusing that Russian troops are looting medical facilities in particular, and that equipment and medicines are being brought to the Russian-controlled part of the Cherson region on a large scale.
41,000 recruits according to the Kremlin in combat
In order to secure the occupied territories, Russian President Vladimir Putin wants to increasingly resort to recruits. Of the 300,000 fighters mobilized since September, 82,000 are already in Ukraine, but only half of them are stationed with combat units. The Kremlin boss has now announced this. 218,000 soldiers would still be trained in Russia. Experts from the Institute for the Study of War estimate that 150,000 of them would be sent to Ukraine during November. Since they are hardly trained and poorly equipped, their use should have a barely noticeable effect on the combat operations, according to the experts.
Kadyrov announces retaliatory operation
Although Russian troops are currently mainly engaged in defensive activities, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has announced that a "separate special operation" called "Retribution" will be carried out in Ukraine, according to the Russian portal Kommersant. He wrote that on his Telegram channel. Under whose direction this operation is, he did not write. However, there are already losses on the Ukrainian side in the direction of Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih as part of the action.
Russia and Ukraine exchange fighters
Despite the ongoing fighting, there are always small glimmers of hope: after talks, Ukraine handed over 50 Russian prisoners of war, according to the Russian Ministry of Defense. Previously, Denis Puschilin, the Moscow-backed head of the annexed Donetsk region, said there was an exchange of prisoners with Ukraine. Accordingly, 50 people would be exchanged on both sides. The Ukrainian armed forces also confirm on Telegram: "52 Ukrainians returned home" in another prisoner exchange.
Russia scraps grain deal
Elsewhere, however, talks have failed. Russia is suspending its participation in the Ukrainian grain export agreement, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced on Telegram. The move was justified by the Ukrainian attacks on the port of Sevastopol. Supposedly, ships used to protect the grain convoys were also targets of the attacks. Russia had repeatedly threatened to rupture the agreement in the event of acts of terrorism or sabotage. In connection with these attacks, which Ukraine carried out under the guidance of British specialists, the Russian side can no longer guarantee the safety of civilian grain ships, the ministry said. The United Nations, which negotiated the agreement with Russia and Ukraine at the instigation of Turkey, nevertheless hope that it will continue. "We are in contact with the Russian authorities on this matter," a UN spokesman said.
Brits are said to be behind sabotage of Baltic Sea pipelines
Great Britain is also being confronted with Russian allegations in another context. According to the Russian account, this is behind the acts of sabotage on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 Baltic Sea pipelines. "According to the information available, representatives of a unit of the British Navy were involved in the planning, preparation and implementation of a terrorist attack in the Baltic Sea on September 26 this year," the Defense Ministry said in Moscow. It provides no evidence for the allegations. Britain promptly dismissed the Russian claims. A spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense said these were "false claims of epic proportions". "This latest made-up story says more about the infighting within the Russian government than it does in the West," the spokesman added.
The Kremlin is already preparing for Putin's re-election in 2024
The Russian exile medium "Meduza" claims to have found out that preparations for the presidential elections in 2024 have already begun in the Kremlin. Sources close to the Kremlin have confirmed this. Accordingly, President Putin wants to run again. This time there would be no opposing candidates. It wouldn't even exist "for the show," according to the informants. According to the information, Putin's campaign should mainly focus on anti-Western narratives.
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