War

One thousand and nine days. In Ukraine there are emergency power outages due to a Russian attack. Putin threatens new blows with “Hazelnut”

Since February 24, 2022, Meduza has been broadcasting live about the Russian-Ukrainian war. Our chronicle is published once a day, and in it we dwell in detail on several key stories that are affecting the course of the war right now. We also publish your letters in these materials, because we are sure that we need to continue talking about the war. Please share your personal war stories with us. Find the feedback form at the end of this article. You can read the previous day's review here .

Russia

Putin threatens new Oreshnik attacks on Ukraine

The new Oreshnik missile has been put into serial production, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a session of the CSTO Collective Security Council in Astana. Russia currently has “several ready-to-use products of this kind,” Putin said.

“Dozens of self-separating warheads attack the target at a speed of Mach 10. This is about three kilometers per second. The temperature of the damaging elements reaches 4 thousand degrees. If my memory serves me correctly, the temperature on the surface of the Sun is five and a half to six thousand degrees. Therefore, everything that is at the epicenter of the explosion is divided into factions, into elementary particles, essentially turning into dust,” the president described the new weapon.

Putin also again threatened that in response to “continuing attacks on Russian territory with Western-made long-range missiles,” the Russian military would respond by “continuing to test Oreshnik in combat conditions.” According to the Russian president, the targets of the strikes could be military or defense facilities, as well as “decision-making centers in Kyiv.”

Russia first used the Oreshnik system during the war on November 21, hitting a military-industrial complex enterprise in the Dnieper. What the new rocket is is not known for certain. Putin called Oreshnik “one of the newest Russian medium-range missile systems.” At the same time, Western experts agree that this is only a modification of the RS-26 Rubezh missile, test launches of which have been carried out since 2012.

Ukraine

Emergency power outages due to massive Russian attack

In all regions of Ukraine, early in the morning of November 28, emergency power outages were introduced. The reason was a massive missile and drone attack by Russian troops. Overnight, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, more than 70 Kalibr and Kh-101 cruise missiles and almost 100 drones were fired into Ukraine. The Ukrainian Armed Forces stated that 90% of the cruise missiles were shot down, but 12 hits were recorded on energy facilities.

Initially, Ukrenergo predicted that emergency shutdowns would continue until 20:00, but reported that they had been canceled before noon. All consumers are already being returned to the standard schedule of hourly outages.

On the eve of winter, Russia has significantly increased the intensity of attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities. In Kyiv, they fear that given the scale of the shelling, the coming winter could become the most difficult in the entire three years of the war.

Experts suggest that if the cold snap continues, Ukraine could face power outages for up to 20 hours a day. Moreover, if the energy infrastructure is seriously damaged, large Ukrainian cities may be left not only without electricity, but also without water supply, sewerage and heating systems.

In recent months, the parties have tried to agree to renounce mutual attacks on energy infrastructure - it was assumed that in exchange for stopping Russian attacks, the Ukrainian Armed Forces would stop launching drones at oil storage facilities in the Russian Federation.

The Financial Times wrote at the end of October that by the end of the summer a non-public deal brokered by Qatar was practically agreed upon, but Moscow abandoned it due to the occupation of part of the Kursk region by the Ukrainian military. In the fall, the publication noted, consultations resumed. Since then, there have been no media reports about their progress.

World

Trump has decided on the candidacy of special envoy for Ukraine and Russia

US President-elect Donald Trump nominated former Secretary of the National Security Council Keith Kellogg for the post of special envoy for Ukraine and Russia. “Together we will secure peace through strength and make America and the planet safe again,” Trump wrote on social media. Kellogg's candidacy must be confirmed by the US Senate.

Kellogg, 80, began his military career in Vietnam. He also took part in the first US invasion of Iraq in 1991 (Operation Desert Storm). In the mid-2000s, he retired and went to work in the private sector, and in 2016 he joined the team of Trump, who was then running for the presidency for the first time. During Trump's first term, Kellogg served as national security adviser to Vice President Mike Pence and also served as chief of staff of the US National Security Council.

Kellogg has made no public statements since his selection as special envoy about his approach to the peace process. The Ukrainian edition of Forbes notes that Kellogg’s position on the issue of the Russian-Ukrainian war was outlined in detail in his article for the conservative think tank America First Policy Institute, published in April, as well as in a long interview with the Voice of America in July. Here are the key points:

• The US will continue to arm Ukraine. This is necessary so that after the ceasefire Russia does not decide to attack again. The reduction of the Ukrainian army, which Moscow demanded, is unacceptable.
• The United States must provide Ukraine with negotiations from a position of strength. Russia will be pointed out the consequences that will arise if it does not comply with the terms of the negotiations.
• Ukraine's NATO membership will be delayed for a long period. At the same time, Ukraine will receive a bilateral security agreement with the United States. It must be ratified by Congress, like a similar treaty between the United States and Taiwan.
• Ukraine will be asked to refuse to return territories by force in favor of diplomacy. Kyiv must understand that, most likely, diplomatic opportunities will appear only after Vladimir Putin leaves the post of President of the Russian Federation.
• Russia will be offered an easing of sanctions in response to compliance with the ceasefire and the creation of a demilitarized zone. It will be possible to completely normalize relations with the Russian Federation only after signing a peace agreement acceptable to Ukraine. Taxes will be introduced on the import of Russian energy resources in the West - and the money from them will go to the restoration of Ukraine.

War through the eyes of Meduza readers

Elena, Moscow . Since the beginning of the war, I have lost almost all my relatives living in Russia. Lost many friends. My husband watches propaganda every evening, and I don’t find the strength to argue with him. In Zaporozhye, my mother’s sister, my dear aunt, lives under shelling <…>. My brother, my sister and their families. They risk their lives every day. And every day I anxiously pray for only one thing: for the end of the war, for the health of my relatives and for a fair trial of the criminals. It's hard for me to bear this horror in isolation! My world is closed on books that are dear to me, on my favorite things and on my little granddaughters.

Why did this section appear?

Meduza talks about the war every day - but we are sure that reports from the front, photographs of destruction, reports of shelling and news about politicians’ attempts to agree on something alone are not enough. The story of the war is incomplete without the stories of the people whose destinies it affected, and without their opinions about what was happening.

Tell us and our readers what you think about the latest events unfolding in and around the war. We will publish some of your letters.

Please also share with us your thoughts about our new format of military chronicles. Tell us what topics you think are especially important right now. Explain what journalists don't see and what gets lost in the news. Thank you!

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