Following two months of diplomacy by US President Donald Trump to find a solution to the UKRAINE war, tripartite negotiations will be held next week in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, between the technical delegations of the USA, Russia and Ukraine. However, Russian leader Vladimir Putin decided to send his "hawk team" to the negotiation table again. Western observers are of the opinion that a serious ceasefire cannot be achieved, let alone ending the war, with the delegation chosen by Russia. US President Trump said, "This time, I see that both Russia and Ukraine really want to end the war. I believe positive steps will be taken in Abu Dhabi."
KREMLIN ANNOUNCED THE NAMES
Putin personally selected the delegation that will represent Russia at the negotiation table to be established in Abu Dhabi on November 10, at the Security Council meeting held in Moscow the previous evening. Kremlin Spokesperson Dmitry Peskov announced that the Russian delegation will be headed by Vladimir Medinsky, Putin's deputy. In addition to Deputy Ministers of Foreign Affairs Sergey Ryabkov and Mikhail Galuzin, the delegation will also include the Head of the Main Operations Department of the Russian General Staff, Igor Kostyukov, and his deputy, Yuriy Jigarlovski, to discuss military issues. The names announced by the Kremlin are known as representatives of the hawkish wing in Russia. In particular, the appointment of Medinski as the head of the delegation caused negative reactions even before the negotiations began.
BALLISTICS ON THE BRIDGE IN KIEV
Negotiations continue with the mutual air attacks of the previous parties intensifying. Last night, the Russian army hit the northern bridge over the Dnieper River in Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, again with a ballistic missile. Tripolskaya, the only operating thermal power plant near Kiev, was also disabled in the attack. Mayor Vitaliy Klitchko announced that electricity had not been supplied to most of the capital since the morning hours.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenski also made a worrying statement regarding his country's energy infrastructure. Zelenski stated that all power plants producing electricity in Ukraine, except the three nuclear power plants that continue to operate, were disabled by Russian attacks and asked his Western allies for a large number of powerful generators to be used during the winter months.
SARATOV REFINERY WAS HIT
While Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine's infrastructure and make cities and towns uninhabitable, the Ukrainian army continues to target Russia's lifeblood oil facilities. A new one was added last night to the Russian oil refineries that were disabled one by one in the last seven days. Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles hit the refinery belonging to the Rosneft company in the Saratov region. While a fire broke out in the facility after the attack, the refinery, which has an annual crude oil processing capacity of 7 million tons, is known as the sixth largest facility in Russia. In the previous six days, four more refineries supplying gasoline and diesel to Moscow were targeted.
Putin's hawkish staff Vladimir Medinski (center), Mikhail Galuzin (left) and Igor Kostyukov had previously attended the negotiations in Istanbul.
