The Kremlin expressed, on Wednesday, its hope that US President Donald Trump would continue mediation efforts to reach a solution to the conflict in Ukraine, following the victory of his Democratic opponents in the midterm elections in the United States.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, “President Trump is still carrying out his duties, and we sincerely hope that he will also continue his efforts to bring peace,” according to a video clip published by the Russian journalist close to the Kremlin, Alexander Yonachev.
Meanwhile, German Foreign Minister Johann Vadevol expressed his optimism about continued support for Ukraine within the United States, after the Democrats took control of the Senate and House of Representatives in the elections.
Vadivul told reporters in Berlin: “With regard to Ukraine, I feel some optimism that there will now be more discussions in Congress, including between the two parties, about what we can cooperate on to support Ukraine.” "I think they've been holding back on this issue for a long time during the election campaign."
A week before the scheduled resumption of the tripartite peace talks brokered by the United States and hosted by Abu Dhabi, mutual targeting of infrastructure continued between the two sides of the conflict. US envoy Steve Witkoff said on Monday that the United States will bring together delegations from Ukraine and Russia in Abu Dhabi on November 10 and 11 to discuss ending the conflict, post-war security agreements, and easing tensions.
The Russian authorities said on Wednesday that they were working to restore power to the Crimean Peninsula, after Ukrainian strikes led to it being cut off. Ukraine regularly targets Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014, with air attacks that Kiev says come in response to the Russian attack on its territory.
The Russian Ministry of Energy said, as reported by Agence France-Presse, that Ukraine “launched strikes on energy infrastructure facilities” during the night, which led to a power outage to the residents of Crimea. She said on Telegram: “We have adopted schedules to temporarily cut off power with the aim of treating the effects of the attack as quickly as possible and gradually restoring electricity.”
The authorities in the Russian Belgorod region, which is located on the border with Ukraine, said on Wednesday that three people were killed in Ukrainian drone attacks on the region.
Local authorities also reported that at least two people were killed in a Russian attack on the Zaporizhya region, located in southeastern Ukraine. The governor of the Zaporizhya region, Mykhailo Semykin, said in a post on the Telegram application on Wednesday morning that Russia attacked the town of Vilnyansk twice. The attack led to the death of a 52-year-old woman and a 63-year-old man, and another 59-year-old man was injured. Semykin did not provide details about the nature of the attack, while reports indicated that a number of residential buildings were damaged.
For its part, Kiev denounces the Russian bombing that targets the energy network in Ukraine and deprives residents across the country of electricity, at a time when temperatures are dropping with the approach of winter.
Both Russia and Ukraine deny deliberately targeting civilians. The attack came one day after the end of a six-day ceasefire aimed at evacuating civilians from the town of Oleshki, located in southern Ukraine and controlled by Russian forces.
A decree issued in Ukraine, and published on Wednesday, showed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky awarded Melania Trump, the First Lady of the United States, an official badge of honor. In recognition of its role in helping organize the evacuation of civilians from one of the cities on the fighting front last week. The decree, dated November 2, noted her “significant personal contribution” to humanitarian support for Ukraine and her work to help Ukrainian children, including those who were deported or forcibly transferred from Russian-occupied areas.
The official Russian news agency TASS reported that Ukraine attacked again overnight a facility belonging to one of the largest online retail companies in Russia. The giant Russian e-commerce company, Ozone, said on Wednesday that one of its warehouses in the south of the country was attacked by a drone.
Kiev targeted a series of logistics sites across Russia, including Ozone and its competitor Wildberries, the country's largest online retailer, which Ukraine claims supplied components to the Russian military.
Ozone is the second largest e-commerce platform in Russia, and its collection points and delivery lockers are spread across the country. The company reported that a fire broke out in its warehouse in the city of Adighisk in southern Russia, which required the evacuation of employees, noting via Telegram that no one was injured in the attack.
Previous strikes caused damage to an Ozone company center in Samara in southern Russia and to logistics centers in Makhachkala, also located in southern Russia, in addition to a facility affiliated with the company on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. The attacks on Russian warehouses caused the Russian side to incur economic losses estimated at billions of dollars.
The escalation of fighting between Ukraine and Russia has diminished hopes for progress in the US-led negotiations scheduled for next week.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian authorities accused Yulia Mendel, President Zelensky's primary spokeswoman, of treason after she criticized the president.
The Internal Security and Intelligence Service of Ukraine claims that Mendel is carrying out “information and subversive activities against Ukraine.” After analyzing her public appearances and statements, the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ukrainian Security Service concluded that Mendel harms her country's reputation on the international stage and justifies the practices of the “Kremlin regime” and the Russian war against Ukraine.
The Attorney General's Office pointed to an interview Mendel conducted with American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson as a basis for suspecting her. Mendel's statements, such as “I think Ukraine is about to disappear” and “Look, my country is in decline,” have been used in Russian propaganda.
On Tuesday, the Ukrainian authorities opened an investigation the day after clashes broke out over reports of the detention of military deserters in the Kiev region, and accusations that they were subjected to torture. Dozens of people gathered in front of a building on the outskirts of Kiev after information was circulated that people were being held there against their will and subjected to violence. The gathering witnessed clashes with the police.
Video clips posted on social media showed young men trying to overturn a police bus and throwing eggs at its officers, while warning shots rang out. Other clips showed a number of people leaving the building towards an ambulance, some with swollen faces or visible injuries, while others appeared in a state of shock. The head of the presidential administration, Kirilo Budanov, who went to the place at night, denounced “unacceptable events” aimed at “dividing the Ukrainians,” stressing that they would not have happened “without external influence,” in an implicit reference to Russia.
The investigators said in a statement: “After information was circulated on social media about the detention of soldiers in a suspected illegal manner (inside a house), citizens gathered near the house. The incident developed into confrontations during which shots were fired and police vehicles were damaged.” They added that the investigation will focus on determining “the circumstances and conditions of the soldiers’ residence” in a house used as “temporary housing” for them, and verifying whether they are actually detained there against their will.
For its part, the Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) announced the identification of “more than a hundred people” who participated in the clashes, stressing that the building in question was “a National Guard facility.”
Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lobinets called for revealing “the tasks that the soldiers and representatives of the National Guard” were performing at the scene, and verifying “whether the provisions of the law were observed.” He also condemned "civilian attacks on military personnel." The incident reflects the tensions associated with the military mobilization, which is widely opposed in Ukraine. In July, clashes broke out involving about two hundred people in Lviv, the largest city in western Ukraine, after soldiers recruited a young man.
