These were the main events on the 1,008th day of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Here’s what’s happening on Thursday, November 28:
Fighting
- Russian troops have seized a residential area in Nova Illinka, near the Donetsk city of Kurakhove in eastern Ukraine, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.
- A Russian attack on Kyiv has injured three people, two of whom have been hospitalized, officials in the Ukrainian capital have said.
- Russia is looking forward to deploying its Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile – part of its nuclear arsenal – in battle, according to state news agency TASS.
- Ukrainian air defenses shot down 36 of 89 Russian drones launched overnight, while Russian air defenses destroyed 22 Ukrainian drones overnight, both sides said.
- Ukraine should consider lowering the military service age of its soldiers to 18 from 25, an unnamed US official has said, adding that Kyiv is not recruiting or training enough new soldiers to replace those lost in the war.
Politics and diplomacy
- Russian actions to damage Western targets could prompt NATO to invoke the alliance’s defense clause and Article 5, said Bruno Kahl, head of Germany’s intelligence agency.
- Donald Trump has tapped Keith Kellogg, the retired U.S. military official who gave him a plan to end the war in Ukraine, to be his special envoy for the conflict, the president-elect announced. Kellogg was chief of staff at the White House National Security Council during Trump’s 2017-2021 term and national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence.
- Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said he discussed security measures with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during his visit to Seoul this week, where the Kyiv delegation reportedly requested military assistance.
- Poland has arrested a German citizen and accused him of selling and sending dual-use goods to Russia that were “illegally sent to Russian military factories engaged in the production of weapons”.
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia has said that the proposal says floated to the West that Washington should give nuclear weapons to Ukraine is “insane” and to avoid this is one reason why Moscow went to Ukraine.
- Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov warned the US to stop what it called “escalation” in Ukraine, but said it would continue to inform Washington about missile tests to avoid “dangerous mistakes”.
- Russia has said the US military freeze on Japan threatens Russia’s security and will prompt Moscow to retaliate after the Kyodo news agency reported that Japan and the US are planning to develop joint military plans in the event of an emergency in Taiwan.
- Moscow district councilor Alexei Gorinov, who is serving seven years in prison for opposing Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, staged an anti-war protest from the courtroom at the start of a new trial on charges of justifying terrorism.
Military support
- The administration of US President Joe Biden is preparing a $725m arms package for Ukraine, Reuters reports, citing two unnamed US officials. The package will reportedly include antitank weapons, including antitank mines, drones, Stinger missiles and High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
- The leaders of Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Norway, Poland and Sweden have said in a joint statement that they will support Ukraine and make more weapons available in the coming months.
- Russia’s deputy UN ambassador Dmitry Polyanskiy told the United Nations Security Council that any decision by President Donald Trump to cut aid to Ukraine would be a “deadly punishment” for Ukraine’s military, as he accused Kyiv of trying to draw NATO allies. . direct confrontation with Russia.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he will sign Ukraine’s 2025 budget on Thursday, a document that will require the country to increase its first wartime tax.
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