It Happened — November 17: After the Prague Spring, a Softer Revolution

Emergency power cuts were reported across much of the capital, which was also blanketed by the first snowfall of the season. Indeed, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose troops have recently lost ground on the frontline in the south and east, appears determined to try to keep Ukrainian cities under siege through the coming winter.

Officials in the capital highlighted that during the blackout, the electric sirens do not work, messages about air alarms and blackouts are published in the Kyiv Digital application and the Telegram channel and broadcast on the radio.

Rockets also hit two infrastructures in Dnipro, injuring at least 14, while a missile attack against an infrastructure was carried out in the Odessa region.

The Ukrainian army confirmed On Thursday since November 11, Russia has launched 148 missile strikes, including 111 missile strikes on Ukrainian critical infrastructure.

The first snowfall started Wednesday evening in Kyiv and elsewhere, and is expected to continue through Thursday. Due to an air alert, many residents of the capital were in shelters when the snow began to fall.

Grains agreement extended for another 120 days

Ukrainian grain cargo ship arrives in Istanbul thanks to the Black Sea Grain agreement

Onur Dogman/SOPA/Zuma

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres confirmed on Thursday that all parties had agreed to extend UN-brokered Black Sea Grains deal for another 120 days, after Russia questioned its participation in the deal.

The deal, which was signed in July and was due to expire on Saturday, has helped stave off a deepening global food crisis, with Ukraine and Russia together accounting for a third of global wheat exports.

António Guterres said the agreement “demonstrates the importance of quiet diplomacy in finding multilateral solutions”.

Ukraine is not ready to take the blame for the strike in Poland

The representatives of Poland and NATO confirmed said the missile that killed two people near Poland’s border with Ukraine was likely fired by Ukrainian forces trying to shoot down Russian missiles.

Although his allies were keen to say the accident was simply due to Kyiv forces trying to defend their country, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky refused to accept any blame.

“It was not our missile or our missile strike”, Zelensky said on Ukrainian television on Wednesday, citing reports from its top military commanders.

Kyiv has requested access to the site of the blast, near the village of Przewodow in southeastern Poland, just across the border. “I believe we have the right to this. Is it possible not to announce the final conclusions until the investigation is complete? I think that’s fair. If someone says it’s our rocket, should we be part of a joint investigation group? I think we should, it’s only fair.

A documentary series presents the forced adoption of Ukrainian children

Evacuation of Sloviansk, Ukraine

Alex Chan Tsz Yuk/SOPA/Zuma

According to the Institute for the Study of War, Russian military bloggers aired a documentary series last week touting efforts to Ukrainian children Donbass to be adopted by Russian families.

The apparent propaganda video is the latest sign of what Ukrainian officials say is a mass forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. The video boasts that Russian authorities evacuated more than 150,000 children from Donbass in 2022.

Kyiv says Russia’s forced adoption programs and the deportation of children, which are presented as vacation or rehabilitation programs, are the backbone of a massive Russian depopulation campaign. If proven, the campaign would violate the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Orwellian in the Kremlin

There is perhaps no better illustration of where the Kremlin has arrived than the following observation by Kirill Martynov, editor of Novaya Gazeta.Europe, the independent Russian media in exile. Martynov points to a curious collision that occurred in the Russian legal code following the liberation of the southern city of Kherson:

“For supporting the surrender of Kherson, they will put you in prison under Article 280.1 (four years in prison for separatism) and for condemning the surrender of Kherson, you will be sentenced under Article 280.3, for having discredited the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation That is, if you condemn the surrender of Kherson, you will be imprisoned under one point of this law, and if you support the surrender of Kherson, you will be imprisoned under one other point.

George Orwell would be proud. Read the full article: Swan Lake in Kherson? Why Russia’s Future Looks So Dark

Train to Victory: Ukrainian railway company starts selling token tickets to Mariupol, Crimea

The Ukrainian railway company has launched a fundraising project called Victory Ticketswhich sells tickets to the still occupied cities of Donbass and Crimea: Mariupol, Simferopol, Donetsk, Lugansk and recently liberated Kherson appeared on the company’s website.

“The Tickets to Victory project symbolizes the hope of Ukrainians for the rapid deoccupation of Ukrainian cities, their faith in the armed forces and that all of Ukraine will be liberated,” the website reads. “The ticket can be bought today, kept as a symbol and used immediately after the cities are deoccupied.”

Funds from ticket sales will be used to purchase cars to connect with areas of the country where rail service is not yet possible, in order to deliver food and medicine.

Australian billionaire Andrew Forrest launches $25 billion fund to help Ukraine rebuild

Destroyed building in Kyiv

Volodymyr Tarasov/Ukrinform/Zuma

Australian mining billionaire Andrew Forrest has launched an investment fund expected to reach at least $25 billion to help Ukraine rebuild after the war. Forrest and his wife have already committed $500 million of their own wealth to the fund, which its organizers say could even reach $100 billion.

The Ukraine Green Growth Initiative plans to invest in primary infrastructure such as energy and telecommunications networks. Ukrainian President Zelensky supports the plan: “We will take advantage of the fact that what the Russians have destroyed can easily be replaced by the latest and most modern green and digital infrastructure.”

Forrest, who made his fortune from Australia’s mining boom, is the founder and executive chairman of iron ore giant, Fortescue Metals. It has recently turned to sustainable technology, with initiatives to decarbonize its mining operations and become a major producer of green hydrogen.

Berta D. Wells