Saturday, November 30

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Teddy bears representing Ukrainian children killed in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are seen in front of the Washington Monument as part of an installation in Washington DC, United States on Nov. 29, 2024. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

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Zelensky suggests ending ‘hot phase’ of war in exchange for NATO membership without occupied territories. To end the “hot phase of the war,” NATO would have to offer membership to Ukrainian territory under government control, with the invitation recognizing the country’s internationally recognized borders, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with Sky News.

Ukraine urges NATO to issue membership invitation next week, Reuters reports. “We believe that the invitation should be extended at this stage,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha wrote in a letter to his NATO counterparts.

Zelensky appoints new Ground Forces of Ukraine commander. President Volodymyr Zelensky appointed General Mykhailo Drapatyi as Ukraine’s Ground Forces commander, the president announced on Nov. 29.

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Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov arrives in North Korea for official visit. Belousov will participate in meetings with “the military and political leadership of the DPRK,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Ukraine hits oil depot in Rostov Oblast, destroys Buk radar station in Russian-occupied territory, Kyiv claims. The Ukrainian military said that on the night of Nov. 29, they struck the Atlas oil depot in Rostov Oblast. As a result of the strike, fires broke out on the territory of the facility, the statement read.

Syrskyi orders deployment of more reserves to Pokrovsk, Kurakhove directions in Donetsk Oblast. Prior to the statement, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi visited Ukrainian units in the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove directions of the front line.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Zelensky suggests ending ‘hot phase’ of war in exchange for NATO membership without occupied territories

“If we want to stop the hot stage of the war, we should quickly take under NATO umbrella the territory of Ukraine that we have under our control. That’s what we need to do first, and then Ukraine can get back the other parts of its territory in a diplomatic way,” Zelensky said during the interview, which was published on Nov. 29.

Photo: Diego Fedele/Getty Images

Trump’s pick for Ukraine envoy backs ‘peace through strength,’ security guarantees

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s decision to choose Keith Kellogg as a special envoy for Ukraine and Russia is not ideal for Kyiv but is a reasonable choice for Ukraine, analysts say. Kellogg co-authored a peace plan that would freeze the front line, take NATO’s accession off the table for an extended period, and partially lift sanctions imposed on Russia.

Photo: Nicholas Kamm / AFP via Getty Images

‘For some it’s a game, for me it’s a manifesto’ — Ukrainian soldiers join S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 frenzy

The long-awaited release of “S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl” has been one of the biggest gaming events of the year. The game, developed by the Ukrainian company GSC Game World, quickly shot up to the top spot of global video game sales, with players of the post-apocalyptic first-person shooter game roaming a fictionalized Chornobyl exclusion zone with a weapon in their hand.

Photo: GSC Game World

Human cost of war

Ukrainian poet Myroslav Herasymovych killed on front line. Ukrainian poet, prose writer, and screenwriter Myroslav Herasymovych was killed in action on Nov. 25 in Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast, according to his brother’s Facebook post.

Ukraine retrieves bodies of 502 fallen soldiers. The bodies of 397 soldiers were recovered from Donetsk Oblast, while 64 were brought back from Zaporizhzhia Oblast and 24 from Luhansk Oblast. Another 17 bodies were repatriated from morgues in Russia.

2 Ukrainian journalists came under Russian fire in Kharkiv Oblast. Two journalists from the Ukrainian media outlet Hromadske came under Russian attack in Kharkiv Oblast on Nov. 25 while filming a story about volunteers evacuating abandoned horses.

Russian attacks across Ukraine kill 1, injure 22 over past day. Russian forces launched 132 drones at Ukraine overnight from the Russian cities of Orel, Millerovo, Kursk, and Primosk-Akhtarsk, according to a report from Ukraine’s Air Force.

Russia reportedly loses a record 2,030 troops in one day in Ukraine. This surpasses the previous record of 1,950 set on Nov. 12. The total figure stands at 738,660.

International response

Ukraine receives $100 million loan for budget expenses from South Korea. In April of this year, Kyiv and Seoul signed an agreement enabling Ukraine to attract up to $2.1 billion in concessional loans over 2024-2029.

Turkey won’t support peace plan with territorial concessions, Ukrainian lawmaker says. Turkey won’t support a peace plan that involves freezing the war in Ukraine and Kyiv making territorial concessions to Moscow, Ukrinform reported on Nov. 29, citing Ukrainian lawmaker Ahtem Chiygoz.

In other news

Foreign Ministry condemns Georgian response to demonstrations as second night of protests in Tbilisi continues. The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) condemned Georgian authorities’ aggressive response against protestors in Tbilisi, according to a statement released on Nov. 29.

8 Ukrainian children return home from Russian-occupied territories. Eight Ukrainian children have been successfully returned from temporarily occupied territories, the head of the Presidential Office Andriy Yermak said on Nov. 29.

Police disperse protesters in Tbilisi after pro-Russian government refuses to negotiate EU accession. Protesters claim that the refusal to negotiate accession to the EU by 2028 is “a betrayal of the country’s interests.”

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