Ukraine is developing a 10-point "internal resilience plan" that will be presented next week, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Nov. 14.
In late October, Zelensky instructed the National Security and Defense Council to prepare a plan to strengthen Ukraine, covering the front line, the military-industrial complex, economy and finance, regional development, and other strategic sectors.
The government's latest plan will focus on internal solutions and is not an alternative to a victory plan oriented toward Kyiv's partners.
"There are 10 points in total, which will be presented next week, and for each point, together with Ukrainian civil society, together with everyone who is ready to add rational ideas, with business, we will prepare a basic, doctrinal document for Ukraine, for our sustainability," Zelensky said.
"With clear applications. Step by step."
The Ukrainian government on Nov. 14 focused on drafting a plan for internal plan security that would include every community in the country, according to Zelensky.
"The Interior Ministry and the Security Service of Ukraine have good practices. We will implement everything," he said.
"We have already worked out points, in particular, on energy — everything is prepared in detail — and on weapons: our production, our cooperation with partners."
The government has also developed a clause on cultural sovereignty, Ukraine's cultural heritage, cultural diplomacy, and the production of Ukrainian content.
"There are things that neither politicians, nor public figures, nor the information space can convey to others. But emotions do it, art does it," Zelensky said.
Facing Russian military advances and increasingly uncertain Western support, Zelensky previously pitched to Ukraine and its allies a five-step victory plan, containing steps that should supposedly end the war by 2025.
Some points of the plan met with a lukewarm response from partners, with the White House still refusing to permit long-range strikes on Russian territory and several countries resisting a NATO invitation for Ukraine. The New York Times reported on Oct. 29 that, according to undisclosed U.S. officials, the request for Tomahawk missiles with a range of 2,400 kilometers (1,500 miles) was part of the secretive "non-nuclear deterrence package" included in Ukraine's victory plan.
According to DeepState, enemy forces occupied the village of Rivne and expanded their presence in several frontline areas.
The invaders occupied Rivne and advanced in several settlements in eastern Ukraine. This is reported by DeepState, according to UNN.
Details
The occupiers continue their offensive in eastern Ukraine, expanding their presence in some areas of the frontline regions. According to the latest reports, enemy troops captured the village of Rivne. In addition, the enemy advanced towards several settlements, including Plekhove, Nova Illinka, Novodmitrivka, Petrivka, Antonivka, Voznesenka and Novoselydivivka.
Recall
According to the General Staff, enemy forces conducted a series of air strikes on the territory of Ukraine, using 87 guided bombs. In addition, the aggressor activated more than 400 kamikaze drones and fired more than three thousand artillery rounds at Ukrainian military positions and civilian settlements.
Occupants seize Illinka and advance in several areas in the east – DeepStateNov 13 2024, 11:57 PM • 48661 view
Marharyta Koldanova was standing at a bus stop in a residential area in Kyiv when a sudden loud noise went off, prompting her to take out a tourniquet from her bag and prepare to quickly apply it in case she got injured by an aerial attack.
"I was overwhelmed with adrenaline and stress," Koldanova told the Kyiv Independent.
The air raid alarm that usually alerts Ukrainians of a threat of a Russian drone or missile strike wasn’t on. The sound she heard wasn’t a weapon exploding but the noise coming from a local thermal power plant — a regular buzz for a big city like Kyiv.
Yet for Koldanova, whose daily life has been disrupted by Russian aerial attacks for 2.5 years, even a regular loud noise comes with an immediate sense of danger.
Like thousands of other Ukrainians struggling with mental health issues due to the war, Koldanova has developed a hypersensitivity to sounds, anxiety, and insomnia. Since Russian strikes happen most often at night, they have been robbing millions of Ukrainians of proper sleep.
To target cities far from the front line, Russia has been employing a combination of missiles and drones, often launched in large-scale coordinated attacks. However, in the past couple of months, Moscow’s forces have changed tactics, launching barrages of drones nearly every night, and largely avoiding missiles.
In October alone, over 2,000 drones attacked Ukraine, according to the Ukrainian military. These drone barrages aim to exhaust and locate the country's air defenses ahead of a larger campaign of strikes targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this winter, experts say.
Though not as destructive as missiles and bombs, drone attacks often stretch on for many hours and can be launched far more frequently since drones are cheap and easy to produce.
For long-range drone strikes, Russia’s weapon of choice is the Iranian-designed Shahed, which can travel up to 2,500 kilometers, reaching any settlement in Ukraine.
Since Moscow first employed Shaheds in October 2022, these killer drones have contributed to the deteriorating mental health of Ukrainians, and the destruction of critical infrastructure and homes, putting an additional burden on the Ukrainian military tasked with the defense of the Ukrainian skies.
"If I fall asleep before the air alarm, I often wake up to explosions, panicking and confused," Koldanova, a 32-year-old copywriter, told the Kyiv Independent, describing how her nights have been lately. "If the alarm starts when I'm awake, I can't go to sleep until the threat is over. I just sit and wait for the all-clear."
Sometimes, this wait stretches until early morning.
Living close to a Kyiv air defense site, Koldanova hears explosions close-by and sees flashes of the defense system firing at drones and missiles from her window. She's too afraid to spend 10 minutes to run to a nearby shelter, fearing debris could fall nearby and injure her, so she hides in her corridor with her dog, watching red flashes and listening attentively to every sound.
"Every time I hear an explosion, I think how close it was to me and whether (the next one) could hit my house."
Running on just 3-4 hours of sleep, Koldanova finds it hard to concentrate at work the next day. Many Ukrainians struggle with low productivity, as experts say sleep deprivation hampers decision-making, memory, and performance.
"Sleep deprivation makes even minor dangers feel extreme, creating the feeling that danger is literally at every step and not letting you relax for a moment," explains Nika Bielska, a sleep consultant and geneticist. "This makes it difficult to study, work, and just live your everyday life, strains family relationships, and heightens the risk of PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder)."
Ukrainian firefighters work to put out a fire in a high-rise residential building after being reportedly hit by a drone in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 25, 2024, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Oleksii Filippov / AFP via Getty Images)Residents stay outside an apartment block in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv hit by a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine on Oct. 25, 2024. (Serhii Chuzavkov / Ukrinform/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
Already in fall 2022, over 70% of Ukrainian business leaders cited the deterioration of employee mental health as the main challenge for their companies. Fatigue and tension are now the dominant feelings for Ukrainians, according to a June 2024 survey by Gradus Research.
Chronic sleep loss can lead to anxiety and depression and increase risks for physical health, including cancer and diabetes, says Volodymyr Voloshyn, a Ukrainian crisis psychologist and the head of the Institute of Health Psychology. He suggests Russia may be using sleep deprivation to make Ukrainians more vulnerable to manipulation and disinformation, important tools of modern warfare.
Bielska adds that the longer sleep deprivation persists, the harder it becomes to relax, creating a "vicious cycle" of lack of sleep.
Even when Kyiv gets a rare quiet night, free from Russian attacks, any loud noise can deprive local residents of sleep due to the developed hypersensitivity to sounds.
"When there's a thunderstorm and rain, I can't sleep," says Koldanova. "I wake up panicking and check the news to make sure it was not an explosion."
Overnight on Oct. 8, during yet another Russian drone attack against Ukraine, debris hit Kira Rodkina’s residential building in Chornomorsk, a small southern city on the Black Sea coast.
A fire engulfed one of the apartments where a family with children lived. Luckily, all of them survived the attack. Rodkina's apartment got off with broken windows and a burned ceiling. She had previously moved to Odesa when her husband joined the Ukrainian army in 2023, so she learned that her building had been hit by local news.
"(When I saw the photos), I felt rage, and I already said goodbye to it (the apartment) in my mind. I thought it was completely burned, and I would come and see the ashes," Rodkina, a 30-year-old volunteer who has been raising money for Ukraine’s Armed Forces since the start of the full-scale invasion, told the Kyiv Independent.
Kira Rodkina's residential building in Chornomorsk, Odesa Oblast, damaged by a Russian drone attack overnight on Oct. 8, 2024. (Odesa Oblast Prosecutor's Office/Telegram)
Since Russian troops started using Shahed drones against Ukraine in the autumn of 2022, Ukrainian forces have become skilled at shooting down the loitering munitions before they reach densely populated areas. Therefore, some Ukrainians have developed a perception of Shaheds as less dangerous weapons, often neglecting to go to the shelter amid drone attacks.
However, kamikaze drones like Shaheds, while flying much slower than missiles, are still capable of causing serious damage to buildings and endangering civilians as they are estimated to weigh about 200 kilograms and carry around 45 kg of explosives, with upgraded Shaheds reportedly having twice as heavy warheads.
A Russian drone strike against Kharkiv on Feb. 10, 2024, caused a fire that engulfed 15 homes andkilled seven people, including afamily with three children, as well as led to a fuel leak contaminating over 10,000 square meters of land.
An exterior view of a business center building damaged by a Russian attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Nov.7, 2024. (Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)A man with dogs looks at a damaged multi-story apartment building after a Russian drone attack in Kyiv, Ukraine on Oct. 29, 2024. (Tanya Dzafarowa/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC "UA:PBC"/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, over 50% of the housing stock “in a significant number” of Ukrainian cities and towns has been damaged or destroyed, the Kyiv School of Economics estimated in July. Drone attacks account for a fraction of the damage, but it’s hard to calculate how many exactly.
Rodkina was "lucky" — nobody was at her home during the attack on Chornomorsk, and her apartment can be repaired — but it's still painful for her to comprehend that her home came under attack.
"So many parties were held on that balcony, so many memories and warmth! So much life and emotions!" Rodkina wrote on Instagram under the photo of her apartment building the day after the drone strike.
"But I can't say there was despair (following the attack). My husband had gone to war, his mother has cancer, and my father had been hospitalized after a heart attack," Rodkina says. "These were very difficult times for the family. The apartment incident felt like, 'it can’t get any worse.'"
Rodkina's family is waiting for a special state commission to evaluate the damage done to their apartment so they can receive financial support from the state. She and her husband still plan to move back to their apartment in Chornomorsk after the war is over.
Ukraine's drone hunters
While civilians take shelter, hoping their loved ones stay unharmed and their homes remain intact, Ukrainian service members work tirelessly to destroy Russian drones before they can cause any trouble. One of them is Dmytro from Ukraine’s 117th Territorial Defense Brigade, who is identified in this article only by his first name due to security reasons.
He commands three mobile air defense squads, who are based in the northeastern Sumy Oblast that borders Russia. Sumy Oblast faces swarms of drones nearly every night launched from across the Russian border. The Ukrainian military created these special units to quickly shoot down Russian drones using small arms and avoid depleting expensive interceptor missiles provided by Western allies.
Dmytro says his 12-member team has downed 19 drones in the past three months, compared to only seven throughout 2023. Due to a dramatic increase in workload and shortage of personnel, Dmytro’s team is currently on constant duty, with no rotations.
They take turns resting so that at least one person from a group is watching the sky at any given moment to avoid missing a potential threat. Besides drones, Sumy Oblast is regularly targeted by bombs and missiles.
"We are exhausted, but we hold on… If we leave, something will surely hit (the city), leaving people without heat, electricity, or water, and we cannot allow that," Dmytro says in a phone call with the Kyiv Independent.
Ukrainian military members of an air defense rapid response group track down Russian drones while on night duty in Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine on March 1, 2024. (Zinchenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
In September, for the first time since the full-scale invasion, Russia launched drone attacks on cities and towns across Ukraine every day for an entire month. Russian troops used 1,334 drones that month, compared to 75 in March 2023, according to a recent report by Kyiv-based investment bank Dragon Capital. Meanwhile, the number of missiles launched by Russia was almost twice as low as in August, the report shows.
In October, drone attacks intensified even more. Russia launched 2,023 Shaheds and other kinds of attack drones at civilian and military facilities in Ukraine, out of which 1,185 were intercepted, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces wrote on Nov. 1. Russia is now using 10 times more Shahed drones than last autumn, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 4.
Ukrainian officials anticipated that Russia would begin a renewed campaign of large-scale missile strikes on the country's energy infrastructure with the onset of the heating season, which started mid-autumn. After a pause of more than two months, on the morning of Nov. 11, Ukrainians across the country received warnings of a mass missile attack, but it later turned out to be a Russian aviation training exercise.
Russia's recent strategy of daily mass drone barrages may be aimed at depleting Ukraine's air defense systems ahead of an intensified missile campaign, according to experts interviewed by the Kyiv Independent last month. Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), suggested that this tactic could also force Ukraine to expose its air defense network when intercepting drones.
As Ukrainians across the country are bracing for mass missile attacks in the near future, Dmytro’s team keeps spending their nights in the field hunting for Russian drones. Their primary motivation is protecting native Sumy, where their families live. However, the soldiers urgently need more trained and highly motivated personnel and additional weapons to keep up with the escalating workload.
"It hasn't become easier, it's only getting harder. Russians won't go anywhere," Dmytro concludes. "We can't just hope this will end on its own. We need to destroy them (the Russian troops), and only then will it end."
As a result of the massive shelling in Odesa, 8 people were injured, including a 9-year-old child. Residential buildings, cars, and a heating main supplying heat to 220 apartment buildings were damaged.
In Odesa, a 9-year-old boy in stable condition and a 22-year-old man who was seriously injured after an enemy strike are among the wounded. This was reported by the head of the Odesa RMA, Oleh Kiper, UNN reports.
Details
On November 14, a massive enemy shelling took place in Odesa, injuring at least 8 people. There is a child among the wounded. All the victims are receiving the necessary medical care in the city's hospitals.
The attack destroyed one of the apartment buildings in the city center and set several apartments on fire. The fire also engulfed about 30 cars and partially damaged a two-story building and the territory of a public institution.
In addition, the shelling damaged a pipeline supplying heat to a large part of the city. As a result, a boiler house that provided heating for 220 apartment buildings and several schools and kindergartens was temporarily shut down. The boiler house also served a maternity hospital with 28 women and 22 newborns at the time of the attack. Fortunately, thanks to the backup systems in place, the facility was able to provide the required level of heat independently.
All emergency services – rescuers, utilities and law enforcement – are working at the scene.
In Odesa, as a result of a terrorist strike, the number of victims increased to 8 people, one woman was killedNov 14 2024, 10:38 PM • 1383 views
Editor's Note: This is a developing story and is being updated.
Russia attacked the city of Odesa with drones late in the evening on Nov. 14, striking a residential buildings and killing one civilian.
A "massive" Russian drone attack targeted Odesa and the surrounding region, Governor Oleh Kiper said.
One woman was killed and at least two others were injured, Kiper reported.
The attack damaged residential buildings, a church, and vehicles, causing fires to break out in some areas. The strike also damaged a main heating pipeline, forcing the city to shut down one of its boiler houses.
Emergency services are at work at the sites of the attack, Kiper said.
Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine's Presidential Office, called the strike on Odesa a "terrorist attack."
"(Russian President Vladimir) Putin just likes to fight civilians," he said.
Russia has ramped up its drone attacks across Ukraine, including in major cities like Odesa and the capital, Kyiv, where civilians suffer drone attacks almost daily. Consecutive drone strikes targeted Odesa on Nov. 8 and 9, killing and injuring civilians.
As a result of the attack in Odesa, a woman was killed, two people were wounded, and residential buildings and a church were damaged. The strike damaged a heating main and shut down one of the city's boiler houses.
A woman was killed in an enemy attack in Odesa, and at least two other people were injured. This was reported by the head of the Odesa RMA, Oleh Kiper, according to UNN.
Details
According to preliminary reports, several residential buildings and a church were damaged. Cars parked on the streets were also damaged by debris.
Fires broke out in some areas.
Emergency services are working on the spot to help the victims and eliminate the consequences of the attack.
Updates on the situation will be provided additionally, according to local authorities.
Recall
According to the city's mayor, Gennadiy Trukhanov, the main heating pipeline was also damaged, forcing the shutdown of one of the city's boiler houses.
russia launches a attack on a residential building in OdesaNov 14 2024, 09:01 PM • 3197 views
The Defense Ministry plans to finalize a bill defining the procedure and conditions for discharging military personnel from service by Dec. 18 this year, secretary of the parliamentary defense committee Roman Kostenko told Ukrainska Pravda on Nov. 14.
Due to the lack of a regulatory framework, Ukrainian military personnel cannot be demobilized at will, even after long service. The reasons for demobilization may include injury or the need to care for a family member with a disability.
Many Ukrainian soldiers have been serving non-stop since the first day of the full-scale invasion in late February 2022.
"The committee addressed the Defense Ministry with an official request to develop a draft law on the procedure and conditions for the dismissal of certain categories of military personnel during martial law," Kostenko said.
"Recently, we received a response saying that, according to the ministry's plan, the draft will be ready by Dec. 18, 2024, within the timeframe set by the parliament."
It is not yet clear what conditions the Defense Ministry will propose for discharging military personnel from service, Kostenko added.
Ukraine's parliament adopted an updated mobilization law in mid-April to ramp up mobilization amid Russia's ongoing war. The new law simplifies the process for identifying eligible conscripts and includes additional penalties for those dodging the draft.
The parliament voted to remove provisions on demobilization, which previously foresaw soldiers having the right to leave the military after 36 months of service, from the bill so that they could be considered separately.
The parliament obliged the Defense Ministry to develop a relevant draft law within eight months.
Russia's ambassador to the United Nations says he is ready to dialog with Trump on Ukraine. The talks should take into account “realities on the ground” and russia's current successes.
russia is open to negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine if initiated by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, but any negotiations should be based on the realities of russian successes. Moscow's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva told reporters on Thursday, reports UNN.
The publication notes that Trump has repeatedly criticized the scale of Western aid to Kiev and promised to quickly end the conflict without explaining exactly how. His victory in the Nov. 5 presidential election raised concerns in Kiev and other European capitals about the extent of future U.S. commitment to help Ukraine.
“Trump promised to resolve the Ukrainian crisis overnight. OK, let him try. But we realists, of course, realize that this will never happen,” said Gennady Gatilov, Russia's ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva.
“But if he starts or proposes something to start a political process, that's welcome.
He added that any such talks should be based on what he called “the realities on the ground”, describing Ukraine as lagging behind in more than two years of conflict. Russian forces are advancing in Ukraine at the fastest pace in at least a year and now control about one-fifth of the country, the media outlet said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has repeatedly said that peace cannot be established until all Russian troops are expelled and all territories seized by moscow, including Crimea, are returned. The “Victory Plan” he laid out last month maintained that position, as well as Ukraine's invitation to join NATO, long denounced by russia.
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Zelensky told European leaders in Budapest last week that concessions to russia would be “unacceptable for Ukraine and suicidal for all of Europe.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022 triggered the biggest confrontation between moscow and the West since the Cold War, when President Joe Biden led efforts to isolate russia.
gatilov indicated that Trump's election represents a new opportunity for dialog with the United States, but questioned a broader reset of relations, echoing the Kremlin's earlier warning.
“The U.S. political elite, regardless of domestic political shifts, (Washington) has consistently maintained a position of containing Moscow, and this orientation is unfortunately deeply entrenched, and a change of administration can do little to change that,” he said.
“The only shift (that) may be possible is a dialog between our countries, something that has been lacking for the last few years,” he added.
“I cannot imagine Trump allowing Russia to destroy Ukraine”: Duda tells what he plans to discuss with US President-electNov 14 2024, 10:49 AM • 14555 views
Ukraine’s sovereign bonds rose in price after Donald Trump’s win in the U.S. presidential elections as investors expect a quicker end to the war, the Financial Times reported on Nov. 14.
Over the past month, the country's dollar-dominated bonds have risen 12%, FT reported, as investors anticipate Trump will push for a ceasefire that could jumpstart Ukraine's recovery and ability to repay its creditors.
The outlet pointed out that the jump in Ukrainian bonds began in mid-October when markets began to believe in a Trump victory.
Trump has pledged to end the war within "24 hours," sparking fears he might push Ukraine toward painful territorial concessions to achieve a quick peace deal.
The rise in price follows an agreement reached in September between Ukraine and its creditors to restructure more than $20 billion in international debt. The deal shrank Ukraine's state debt by $9 billion, allowing it to avert default and helped its economy stay afloat amid Russia's full-scale war.
The country's bond maturing in 2036 rose from 44 to 49 cents on the dollar in the past month, FT reported. GDP-warrants, a growth-related fixed-income instrument, also jumped to a record high following Trump’s election since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in February 2022.
The FT also reported that a bond owned by Ukraine's state-owned grid operator Ukrenergo rallied more than 160% to 67 cents on the dollar. Bloomberg reported last week that Ukrenergo announced it would suspend bond payments on its dollar-denominated notes that mature in 2028 and would seek a restructuring agreement with creditors.
Not all investors are so bullish about Ukraine's recovery prospects. Portfolio Manager at Federated Hermes Mohammed Elmi told the FT that "There is still a significant amount of unanswered questions” about the country's future after any potential negotiated settlement.
More than 40 residents of the village of Olgovka, Kursk region, recorded a video message to Putin calling for an end to the war. The refugees lost their homes due to the Ukrainian army offensive and complain about insufficient payments to rent a new place.
Refugees from the village of olgovka in the Kursk region have appealed to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin to “end this damn war.” Residents of the village complain that the war has left them homeless, and that they have been evacuated and do not have enough money from the authorities to rent a house.
This was reported by the Russian media, UNNreported.
Details
We have been in hell for three months, where do we turn, where do we find salvation? We are asking you to end this damn war that has claimed many innocent lives. We want our children to see a peaceful sky, not to listen to the missile warning. Please understand this situation and listen to the residents of the border area. We do not tolerate all this by choice
– the residents asked.
More than 40 people took part in the video message. In the video, residents of Olgovka also say that they lost everything and were left homeless when the Ukrainian army began its offensive. In the evacuation, they do not have enough payments from the authorities to rent housing, and many are not ready to hire refugees.
The IDPs also said that some of their fellow villagers who did not evacuate were killed or went missing.
Addendum Addendum
On August 6, the Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an offensive in the Kursk region, including the Defense Forces entering the village of Olgovka, but later the Russian military regained control of it.
Recall
South Korea's intelligence agency confirms that North Korean soldiers are already participating in combat operations against the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region alongside Russian soldiers.
The Kyiv IndependentOleg Sukhov
