KYIV, UKRAINE – NOVEMBER 7: Rescue workers extinguish the fire at warehouse and trade buildings … [+] damaged by Russian kamikaze drones’ fragments on November 7, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. As a result of a prolonged night attack by Russian UAVs in Kyiv, buildings in five residential districts were damaged. Russia continues to attack Ukrainian cities, particularly the capital Kyiv, with dozens of kamikaze drones every day. (Photo by Yan Dobronosov/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 988.
Zaporizhzhia region. Early November has been the deadliest week in several months for the region’s capital. On November 5, a Russian missile strike here killed seven and injured more than 25 civilians. On November 7, Russian glide bombs destroyed residential buildings and a hospital, killing four and wounding 33 civilians. Just in October, Russian troops shelled the region more than 11,000 times.
Donetsk region. A Russian attack on the city of Mykolaivka destroyed a residential building, killing two and wounding five.
Russian troops again have killed Ukrainian prisoners of war execution-style near the front-line city of Pokrovsk. Late in October, three Ukrainian soldiers captured during a Russian assault near the city of Selydove were shot dead soon afterward. Russian troops similarly shot dead another three Ukrainian POWs captured on November 1.
Ukraine’s Commander-in-Chief, Oleksandr Syrskyi, estimates that Russia has suffered 20,800 casualties, along with heavy losses in equipment, in the Kursk region. Even with 45,000 Russian troops in the region, Russia is deploying North Korean soldiers to make up for personnel gaps while Ukraine’s defense forces continue to resist attempts at further Russian territorial gains.
North Korean troops engaged in combat for the first time in Russia’s Kursk region on November 4. President Zelenskyy cautioned that this escalation might add a new chapter of global instability. The Pentagon estimates up to 12,000 North Korean soldiers are in Russia, with allies expressing serious concern and preparing a coordinated response. British intelligence indicates that the North Korean forces might have difficulty operating unfamiliar Russian equipment.
Building on earlier success in eastern Ukraine, Russian forces captured nearly 200 square miles, the highest monthly loss for Ukraine in 2024, in October alone. Russian units now benefit from improved training and regular rotations while Ukrainian forces face limitations in manpower and rest cycles.
According to Politico, the Biden administration is fast-tracking the final $6 billion in U.S. aid to Ukraine, aiming to maximize support before Donald Trump takes office. The administration’s attempt to assure expedited supply to Ukraine, however, could be interrupted if deliveries extend into the Trump administration.
Despite Ukraine’s requests to target Russian territory, U.S. President Joe Biden has restricted use of U.S. weapons to defensive purposes. More worrisome for Ukraine, Trump has pledged to negotiate an end to the conflict, with U.S. aid potentially a key chip in future peace talks. Anticipating a shift in U.S. policy, European allies are considering increases in their own support. Regardless of the new administration’s policy on the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy congratulated Trump on his impressive election victory.
With some eight million people economically inactive, Ukraine is facing a significant labor shortage. Deputy Minister of Economy Tetiana Berezhna believes that the country needs 4.5 million additional workers to meet demand across various sectors. Factors such as disability, veterans’ reintegration and care-giving responsibilities limit labor-force participation. Despite government efforts to alleviate the crisis, the labor deficit is expected to worsen due to ongoing war and migration. One potential solution is retraining for underrepresented groups, including women, with 45% of those surveyed expressing interest in acquiring skills to work in male-dominated fields.
A recent survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology shows that 93% of Ukrainians view Russia negatively, with only 3% expressing positive sentiments. In stark contrast to current sentiments, 53% of Ukrainians had a positive view of Russia in early February, 2022. The survey also revealed that only 8% of Ukrainians now have a favorable view of Russians, with 84% holding negative opinions. Respondents overwhelmingly oppose allowing Russian citizens into Ukraine, with a majority expressing reluctance to engage with them at any level.
Until Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, nearly 80% of Ukrainians had held a positive view of Russia for decades. After the beginning of the war in Donbas, an eastern part of Ukraine, that figure soon dropped to 30%. That was the first time negative views of Russia surpassed positive ones. Yet by late 2018, more than half of Ukrainians again expressed favorable views of Russia.
Google has addressed a security lapse after sensitive images of Ukraine’s military infrastructure appeared on its updated maps. Although the satellite images were available to the public for more than a year, the company removed the military sites only recently after public outcry. By then, Russian forces already had “widely dispersed” the images.
Culture Front
In Kyiv, PinchukArtCentre has announced the winner of the Future Generation Art Prize: Bangladeshi artist Ashfika Rahman received the main award of $100,000. The prize, which was launched by the PinchukArtCentre in 2009, supports international artists aged 35 or younger and counts as one of the biggest art awards worldwide. The exhibition of 21 shortlisted artists for this year’s award, delayed twice by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, opened on October 4. The top five artists each received $20,000: Tara Abdullah Mohammed Sharif (Iraq), Bekhbaatar Enkhtur (Mongolia), Dina Mimi (Palestine), Hira Nabi (Pakistan), Ipeh Nur (Indonesia), and Zhang Xu Zhan (Taiwan).
In New York’s East Village, Phil Buehler, with Bird of Light Foundation, has created an installation called Empty Beds to remind the world of the almost 20,000 children kidnapped by Russian forces. Buehler, a Brooklyn-based artist known for his public installations with political themes, made a trip to Ukraine in September and took photographs of some of the beds of the children who have been safely returned to Ukraine. The show, featuring some real belongings of the children, will be on view through November 30th, 2024.
By Danylo Nosov, Alan Sacks.
