Ukraine war latest: Kremlin denies Ukraine talks with Trump – as expert warns things ‘not looking good’ for Kyiv

By admin On Nov 11, 2024

Key points

Ivor Bennett:

Dominic Waghorn:

Ask a question or make a comment

To use this form you need to have javascript enabled. 15:30:01 In pictures: Aftermath of Russian attack on Kryvyi Rih

Earlier, we reported on a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih (see 9.24 post).

The area’s regional governor has said four people have been injured in the attack, adding that there may be victims under the rubble of a high-rise building that was struck.

The images below show the aftermath of the attack as rescue teams work on searching the site for survivors and clearing the debris.

15:00:01 Ukraine may welcome Trump’s election win – report

Ukraine may welcome Donald Trump’s US election victory as Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s staff have become “increasingly frustrated” at the Joe Biden administration, according to The Economist.

Zelenskyy’s team has reportedly grown upset with the Biden administration, believing it fears escalation with Russia “to the point of paralysis”.

The report adds that Kyiv believes there to be a “growing gap” between Washington’s rhetoric of “standing with Ukraine for as long as it takes” and actions that suggest the opposite.

Among the reported list of grievances held by Zelenskyy’s staff are America’s refusal to grant Ukraine permission to use its long-range missiles for strikes inside Russia, delays in supplies of military aid, and its inability to offer “solid security guarantees”.

Trump’s victory, it adds, could offer Zelenskyy a way out of what looks like “a bloody deadlock at best, defeat at worst”.

The Ukrainian leader was among the first to endorse Trump’s victory in the US election, saying on X he was looking forward to an era of a strong America under Trump’s “decisive leadership”.

14:30:01 Things ‘not looking good’ for Ukraine after Trump win, says analyst

“Everything suggests” that Donald Trump will “throw Ukraine under the bus” when he takes office in January, a foreign affairs analyst has told Sky News.

Trump has suggested he would be able to end the war between Russia and Ukraine “within 24 hours” of starting his second term as US president, without explaining how.

Kyiv and its allies fear he will give in to the demands of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who wants Ukraine to give up its ambitions of joining NATO and withdraw its troops from its territory currently held by Moscow’s forces.

Tim Marshall says we’ll have to wait to see what appointments Trump makes around him to judge what his approach to Ukraine will be, but currently it doesn’t look good for Kyiv.

“Everything so far suggests, for Ukraine, [America is] going to throw them under the bus,” Mr Marshall tells Sky News.

“There are potentialities that Trump, wanting to appear strong on the world stage, actually surprises us all.

“But so far, personnel shapes policy, and all the personnel that are shaping up are shaping up for a policy that says to Ukraine: ‘It’s over, you’re going to have to compromise, give up your land and go to the table probably from a position of weakness.’

“Things will become clearer between now and 20 January, but it’s not looking good for Ukraine.”

14:15:01 Ukrainian forces engaged against 50,000 troops in Kursk region, says Zelenskyy

Ukraine’s forces are engaged against nearly 50,000 troops in Russia’s Kursk region, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

Earlier, we reported that Moscow had amassed a force of 50,000 soldiers, including North Korean troops, to march on the Kursk region (see 9.50 post).

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops “continue to hold back” Russia’s forces in the area.

He also said Ukraine would “considerably strengthen” its positions on the Pokrovsk and Kurakhove fronts in the east, where the most active fighting is taking place.

14:00:01 Your questions answered: Why is Russia not attacking Ukraine from the north?

Ukraine’s capital Kyiv is in the north of the country, with Belarus being the city’s nearest land border.

But Russian efforts to take control are largely concentrating on the east of the country, where Putin is aiming to take the whole of the Donbas region.

Today, Tom asks:

Why is Russia not attacking from the north of Ukraine as intensely as the east? Wouldn’t Putin’s invasion be more effective if he were to station troops to go through Belarus?

Military analyst Sean Bell says this…

Early in the war, Russia forward-deployed troops in Belarus and conducted limited operations from the territory.

Although an attack from the north would cause some challenges for Ukraine – defensive forces would have to be spread more widely – it is increasingly unlikely that any such attack from Belarus territory will occur, for two primary reasons.

Firstly, Belarus’s president Alexander Lukashenko is described as Europe’s last dictator. He has been in power since 1994 and, despite huge nationwide protests, has maintained a tight grip into his sixth and current term in office – aided by Putin supplying heavily discounted energy to Belarus.

However, Lukashenko knows his tenure as president could become very vulnerable if he was to direct reluctant Belarusian soldiers to join Russia in the war in Ukraine, which many believe is “none of their business”.

Instead, to appease Putin, Belarus’s leader agreed to host forward-deployed Russian tactical nuclear missiles on Belarusian soil – but it appears very unlikely that Belarusians would tolerate getting drawn into the war directly.

Secondly, Russia does not have unlimited supplies of military capability and must focus on its main effort. Although the initial objective of the Russian invasion was to defeat Ukraine, the primary (revised) objectives of Putin’s special military operation appear to be securing Crimea, the Donbas, and the land bridge between them, in the east.

Therefore, the focus of Russia’s military campaign this summer has been to secure the remaining area of the Donbas not under Russian control – the area around Pokrovsk and Chasiv Yar. Most military experts expect this area to be the focus of Russia’s military effort for the remainder of 2024.

13:41:00 Kyiv says Russian assaults in south could come ‘any day’ now

Russian forces could launch ground assaults in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region in a matter of days, a Ukrainian military spokesman has said.

The attacks could create a new pressure point for Kyiv’s overstretched defenders who already are on the back foot in the east, although it was unclear if they would involve a single offensive push or separate assaults, the spokesman said.

“[The assaults] could begin in the near future, we’re not even talking about weeks, we’re expecting it to happen any day,” Vladyslav Voloshyn told Reuters.

He added that Russian troops heavily outnumber Ukrainian defenders in the area.

13:15:01 Ukraine’s allies must not pre-judge Trump, says France

Kyiv and its allies shouldn’t prejudge how Donald Trump will handle the Ukraine conflict, France’s foreign minister said today.

Vladimir Putin has suggested Trump’s claim he can rapidly end the war in Ukraine “deserves attention”, though the Kremlin today denied reports that the two leaders had spoken on the phone about the conflict (see 9.02 post).

Jean-Noel Barrot said “we absolutely should not prejudge” what a second Trump administration could mean for Ukraine.

“We have to give it time,” he told the Paris Peace Forum.

He added that any initiatives would have to ensure that Ukraine itself determined the timing and conditions for engaging in a negotiation process.

In the meantime, he said, Western allies had to give Kyiv all the necessary means to push back invading Russian forces.

12:45:01 Trump could secure ‘ugly peace deal’ for Ukraine – but at what cost?

Any potential peace deal in Ukraine organised by Donald Trump with Vladimir Putin would be “an ugly deal” where Kyiv would trade “land for peace”, an analyst has said.

Trump has promised to end the war in Ukraine “within 24 hours” of starting his second term as US president, without explaining how he would do so.

Kyiv and its allies fear Trump will give in to Moscow’s demands in order to create peace, which include Ukraine ending its march towards NATO membership and giving up its territory currently occupied by Russian forces.

Mark Galeotti, senior associate fellow at defence think tank RUSI and the author of We Need To Talk About Putin, says such a deal could end up being a temporary ceasefire.

“If we’re talking about a deal that is imposed, or at least I say facilitated, within a matter of months, it almost certainly would have to be an ugly peace deal in which essentially Ukraine is trading land for peace,” he says.

“But more to the point, this could well just simply end up being a temporary ceasefire. The question is, what would stop Putin regrouping his forces and coming back for another round when he thinks that the time is right?”

Mr Galeotti says Trump could impose a “kind of ceasefire” by threatening to halt aid to Kyiv and by telling Moscow it would increase help for Ukraine – but it would only be “temporary”.

“A lasting peace that involves security guarantees for Ukraine – that is a very, very complex program which can’t be done quickly, unfortunately,” he says.

12:15:01 Your afternoon roundup

If you’re checking in, here is a summary of what’s happened over the last 24 hours:

Russia is said to have suffered its deadliest day of the war yesterday, losing 1,770 troops, according to figures released by Ukraine’s armed forces (see 11.20 post);Moscow has fired 145 drones at Ukraine, more than any previous single nighttime attack during the conflict, according to Volodymyr Zelenskyy (see 7.11 post);A residential building in Kryvyi Rih was hit by a Russian missile, injuring at least seven people, including two children, Mr Zelenskyy said (see 9.24 post);Similar strikes in the city of Zaporizhzhia killed one person, while attacks in Mykolaiv killed five people, according to the area’s regional governors;In Moscow, a woman has been injured and flights from major airports were disrupted after the city was hit with the biggest drone strike since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine yesterday. Russia’s defence ministry said 70 drones were shot down overnight in its territory;The ministry also claimed its forces had captured the village of Vovchenko in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where the army has been making advances in recent weeks;Ukraine’s military intelligence claims to have destroyed a Russian attack helicopter at an airbase northwest of Moscow (see 11.50 post).

11:50:01 Russian attack helicopter destroyed at Moscow airbase, says Ukraine

Ukraine has destroyed a Russian attack helicopter at an airbase in the Moscow region, Kyiv’s military intelligence (HUR) has claimed.

In a post on Telegram, HUR said the Mi-24 aircraft was attacked at the Kiln airbase, northwest of Moscow, overnight on 9-10 November.

It attached a video allegedly showing the helicopter on fire.

“HUR would like to remind everyone that for every war crime committed against Ukraine, the occupier will receive a fair punishment,” it added.

Ukraine’s general staff reported today that Russia has lost 329 helicopters since the start of the full-scale invasion on 24 February 2022.

This content is provided by , which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable cookies or to allow those cookies just once. You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options. Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to cookies. To view this content you can use the button below to allow cookies for this session only. Enable Cookies Allow Cookies Once
Source