Ukraine live briefing: Kyiv braces for emergency blackouts

Ukraine appeared to soften its denials that the missile parts that killed two Polish farmers could have come from its air defenses. So many missiles were fired both by Russia and Ukraine in western Ukraine during the Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure last Tuesday that the parts which hit Poland could have been of either Russian or Ukrainian origin, Ukraine’s air force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said Friday.

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Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told reporters Friday that around half of Ukraine’s energy system is down as a result of Russian strikes, and that Kyiv, the capital, would see emergency blackouts over the weekend, according to local media reports. In Ukraine, as winter sets in and the season’s first snow fell in Kyiv, “more than 10 million Ukrainians are without electricity,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a nightly address late Thursday.

Sweden finds explosive traces at Nord Stream blast sites, confirms sabotage

Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.

1. Key developments

Ignat said Friday that this week had seen an air battle so intense that as many as 50 missiles were flying through the air within a matter of minutes, including at least 20 fired by Russia and 30 fired by Ukrainian air defenses as Russia launched its biggest attack yet on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. “Anything could be the result of this air defense battle,” he said, acknowledging that at least some of the missile parts could have been Ukrainian.
Swedish prosecutors said Friday that explosions at the Nord Stream gas pipelines in September were the result of “gross sabotage.” Their investigation also discovered “traces of explosives on several of the foreign objects that were found” at the site of the blasts. The findings support the suspicions of many European policymakers that the blasts — which hit the major underwater natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea that connect Russia with Germany — were deliberate. Prosecutors did not provide further details or assign blame but said the “complex” investigation was continuing. A Kremlin spokesman agreed with the sabotage findings and said it was important to “find those behind the explosions.”
Russia is hoping for a “positive result” for its imprisoned national Viktor Bout, in any exchange with the United States, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said Friday, according to state media. “Viktor Bout is among those who are being discussed, and we certainly count on a positive result,” he said. There is speculation that Bout, a notorious arms dealer imprisoned in the United States, could be part of a prisoner swap to secure the release by Russia of WNBA star Brittney Griner and security consultant Paul Whelan.
Between March and October, 226 people in Kherson were detained or disappeared — most by Russia’s Federal Security Service rather than the country’s local forces — in a campaign described as “intentional and targeted,” a new report from Yale University researchers supported by the State Department says. The report, published Friday, says the patterns of detention and disappearance are consistent with preinvasion allegations that Russian intended to “capture or kill potential opposition figures and leading residents of occupied areas in Ukraine.”

2. Battleground updates

Fortification work is being carried out in Crimea to guarantee the safety of its inhabitants, the Russian head of Crimea’s administration, Sergei Aksyonov, said Friday. What type of work is underway is unclear, but Britain’s Defense Ministry said separately that Russian “units have constructed new trench systems near the border of Crimea,” as well as near the Siversky-Donets River between Donetsk and Luhansk. “Some of these locations are up to 60 km [37 miles] behind the current front line, suggesting that Russian planners are making preparations in case of further major Ukrainian breakthroughs,” the ministry said Friday.
Russia is likely to redeploy troops from Kherson to Donetsk, Britain’s Defense Ministry said. The movement of Russia’s forces from Kherson will aim to “reinforce and expand its offensive operations near the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk,” it said Friday. In his nightly address Friday, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had “repelled” about 100 Russian attacks in Donetsk the previous day.
Russian strikes hit “critical infrastructure” in Kharkiv on Friday, according to regional governor Oleh Synyehubov. “There is damage to gas industry equipment in the Izyum district,” he said on Telegram, and at least eight people were reported injured. In Donetsk, officials reported “isolated shelling” overnight but “without civilian casualties.” The Washington Post could not independently verify the reports.
Russian shelling killed at least nine people and destroyed a residential building in Zaporizhzhia, according to Ukraine’s emergency services Friday. Rescue operations are still underway, a day after the area was hit by Russian rockets, the services said. Zelensky warned that the number of victims may increase because rubble is still being cleared.

3. Global impact

Pope Francis said the Vatican is ready to help mediate an end to the war. “Everyone must commit to demilitarizing hearts, starting with their own. … We must all be pacifists,” the pontiff told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper in an interview Friday. He called on leaders in Kyiv and Moscow not to give up on dialogue.
The Kremlin has ruled out a summit between President Vladimir Putin and President Biden, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Friday. “A summit is not being discussed at this point,” he said. Meanwhile, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov told state media, “There is simply nothing to talk about Ukraine with them [the Americans].”
Asia-Pacific leaders at a Bangkok summit largely condemned the Ukraine war. The Asia-Paciﬁc Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit issued a joint statement Friday from the attending ministers saying that many members condemned the war but acknowledging that “there were other views and different assessments of the situation and sanctions.” The statement added that APEC is not the forum in which to resolve security disputes. Russia, the aggressor in the Ukraine war, and China, which has close ties with Russia, are APEC members.
Colin Kahl, undersecretary of defense for policy, said Friday that the U.S. is working to disrupt Iran’s UAV program as Iranian drones have been used to kill civilians in Ukraine. In remarks at the Manama Dialogue, Kahl said the U.S. is also helping strengthen Ukraine’s air defense to “protect their territory and people from Iran-proliferated drones after launch.”

4. From our correspondents

Russians fleeing Ukraine war seek success in Dubai: The cosmopolitan emirate in the oil-rich United Arab Emirates has long positioned itself as a haven for global wealth and finance. Now, the UAE’s decision not to join Western sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine has made Dubai a new hub for fortune-seeking Russians, who see much of the rest of the world closed to them, writes Brian Rohan for The Washington Post.

Many are choosing Dubai for its high living standards, low taxes and easy visa requirements, telling The Post they don’t face “Russophobia” as they do elsewhere.

A view of the Dubai Marina residential complex and boat basin on June 30. (Giuseppe Cacace/AFP/Getty Images)

“I see no reason to defend my homeland when no one attacked it,” said one emigre, Sergei Tulinov, 35, a tattoo artist from Kaliningrad who sold his business and moved to Dubai shortly after Russia announced a partial military mobilization in September. According to the property brokerage Betterhomes, Russians were the largest single group of nonresident buyers from July to September this year.

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