World about Ukraine digest: November 2023, Week 3

EU moves closer to imposing a new set of sanctions on Russia for its war on Ukraine.

The European Union’s executive said Wednesday it proposed to the member states a new package of sanctions targeting the Kremlin and its associates, seeking to tighten previous measures approved since the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as well as adding dozens of economic operators.

The proposal sets in motion final talks between the 27 member states to reach the necessary unanimity on the issue and officials have said they hope to have the 12th package operational by the end of the year.

Even though Wednesday’s statement did not go into details, preparatory talks centered on imposing export restrictions on Russia’s lucrative diamond industry.

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EBRD Directors Recommend 4 Billion Euro Capital Increase to Boost Ukraine Funding

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has taken the first step to enable a 4-billion-euro capital increase that would allow it to double its annual investment in Ukraine, it said in a statement on Wednesday.

The EBRD, which already deployed 3 billion euros ($3.26 billion)to Ukraine for 2022-2023, said its board of directors had recommended that the bank’s governors approve the capital increase “to enable it to provide significant and sustained investment for Ukraine, now and in the future”.

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Ukrainian teenagers win peace prize for developing apps to help young refugees

Three Ukrainian teenagers who developed apps for children who have fled war have been awarded this year’s International Children’s Peace prize at a ceremony in London.

Sofia Tereshchenko, 18, Anastasiia Feskova, 17, and Anastasiia Demchenko, 17, were awarded the prize for developing a pair of apps for refugee children.

Inspired by a news report of a lone child crying while crossing the Ukraine-Poland border, the trio met online and developed one app for young children who have fled their country, to help them understand where they are and how to seek help, and another for older children on how to integrate into the countries they successfully sought refuge in.

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Ukraine says Russia launched new drone attacks on three regions

Russia has launched several waves of drone attacks on the Kyiv, Poltava and Cherkasy regions of Ukraine, stepping up its assaults on the Ukrainian capital after several weeks of respite, according to Ukrainian officials.

“The enemy’s UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] were launched in many groups and attacked Kyiv in waves, from different directions, at the same time constantly changing the vectors of movement along the route,” Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a message on Telegram messaging app early on Sunday.

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Swimming rivers and faking illness to escape Ukraine’s draft

Nearly 20,000 men have fled Ukraine since the beginning of the war to avoid being drafted, the BBC has discovered.

Some have swum dangerous rivers to leave the country. Others have simply walked out under cover of darkness.

Another 21,113 men attempted to flee but were caught by the Ukrainian authorities, Kyiv confirmed.

After Russia’s invasion, most men aged 18-60 were banned from leaving. But data obtained by the BBC reveals dozens have made it out daily.

We have spoken to several men who have escaped in order to join family abroad, study, or simply make a living.

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EU to miss target of supplying Ukraine with 1m artillery shells, Germany says

The EU will miss its target of supplying Ukraine with 1m artillery shells and missiles by next March, the German defence minister has said.

Boris Pistorius’s comments, the first public admission by a senior European minister that the target would not be met, were made before a summit of EU defence ministers in Brussels on Wednesday.

“It is safe to assume that the 1m rounds will not be reached,” Pistorius said. Diplomats and officials have been expressing scepticism privately for months about the goal.

The target was set in response to Ukraine’s urgent and continuing need for 155mm artillery shells, which have become a key element in its fight against Russia’s invasion as the conflict has descended into an intense war of attrition.

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David Cameron visits the Ukrainian port of Odesa, his first overseas trip as the UK’s top diplomat

David Cameron traveled Thursday to the Ukrainian port of Odesa in his first overseas trip as Britain’s new foreign minister, and pledged that the U.K. would continue providing military support until Ukraine is victorious in its war with Russia.

Cameron, a former prime minister who returned to government in a surprise appointment Monday in a Cabinet shuffle, said he wanted to make Ukraine his first diplomatic destination, and met Wednesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“I admire the strength and determination of the Ukrainian people,” he told Zelenskyy in a video posted by the president.

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Ukraine aims to use bad weather for tactical advantage over Russian forces

Military analysts have noted that Russian invading forces are facing challenges in transporting ammunition, fuel, and equipment to the front lines. The onset of frost, rain, mud, and continued shelling of supply routes is expected to further hinder the resupply efforts of the Russian troops.

Maj. Volodymyr Fito, head of the press department for Ukraine’s ground forces, has echoed these assessments. He indicated that heavy rains would likely reduce the use of aviation and drones, as well as impede the movement of ground vehicles.

This weather-induced slowdown, Fito says, presents an opportunity for the Ukrainian army to significantly disrupt and potentially “wipe out the enemy.”

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Thousands of Ukrainian Children Taken to Belarus -Yale Research

More than 2,400 children from Ukraine aged between six and 17 years old have been taken to 13 facilities across Belarus since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, research published by Yale University said on Thursday.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general said in May that he was investigating the alleged role of Belarus in the forced transfer of more than 19,000 identified children from Russian-occupied territories since the conflict broke out, including to Russia.

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Saving Ukraine’s art collections from Russian aggression

This week, “60 Minutes” traveled to Ukraine to investigate what Ukrainians say is Russia’s ongoing campaign to deliberately destroy their cultural institutions.

Churches, cathedrals, museums and libraries across the country have been bombed, burned and shelled. Museum employees have been arrested and kidnapped by Russian soldiers. And thousands of paintings, antiques and artifacts have been stolen from museums, looted by invading Russian forces.

Standing in a ruined church, the building having been shelled by Russian forces, Ihor Poshyvailo, co-founder of The Heritage Emergency Response Initiative, an organization documenting these attacks, told “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker that Russia’s intentions are clear.

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Ukraine Front Lines