Here is the situation as it stands on Saturday, November 12.
Fighting
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops have entered Kherson city and described the moment as “historic” after the Russian defence ministry claimed all its forces, more than 30,000 soldiers, have retreated.
- Russia said it completed the pullout across the Dnieper river without losing a single soldier, but Ukrainians painted a picture of a chaotic retreat, with Russian troops ditching their uniforms or drowning trying to escape.
- The Kremlin said Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson’s capital would not change the region’s status as annexed.
- Forty-five Ukrainian soldiers have been freed in a prisoner exchange with Russia and the bodies of two killed also repatriated.
- A Russian attack on a residential building in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv killed at least six people.
Diplomacy
- Ukrainian and Russian officials made several public statements in the past week in an apparent willingness to re-engage in dialogue, blaming one another for stalling a possible negotiated solution after nearly nine months of fighting. But experts said the prospect of meaningful talks remains distant.
- Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Germany’s priority in its aid to Ukraine should be to help it defend itself from Russian air raids on its cities and rebuild its infrastructure.
- The White House hailed what it said appeared to be an “extraordinary victory” for Ukraine in recapturing the city of Kherson from Russian occupiers, United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters on the way to the ASEAN summit in Cambodia.
- A British man who worked at the United Kingdom’s embassy in Berlin has pleaded guilty to eight offences under the Official Secrets Act relating to passing on information useful to Russia.
- Ukraine said it is building a reinforced concrete wall and other fortifications on its border with Belarus, a Kremlin ally that Moscow used as a staging ground for its February 24 invasion.
- The UN nuclear watchdog said an investigation of a research plant in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv found it was badly damaged, but there were no signs of a radiological release or diversion of nuclear material.
Economy
- Ukraine foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba urged Southeast Asian countries to take all measures possible to stop Russia from playing “hunger games” over a Ukrainian Black Sea grain deal, which could expire next week.
- A Russian delegation and UN officials have met to address Moscow’s grievances about the Black Sea grain deal in Geneva.
- The German government has set aside an extra one billion euros ($1.03bn) from its 2023 budget to support Ukraine.
