War in Ukraine. Prisoner exchange, disagreements in the G20, weapons… The highlight of the 253rd day
Nuclear concerns, military battles, prisoner exchanges… The war between Ukraine and Russia continues on November 3, the 253rd day of fighting since the Russian invasion.
First, here’s a map showing the battlefront in Ukraine on November 3rd.
Also read: INTERVIEW. In the Russian Arctic, the population also lives during the war in Ukraine
Encouraging news about nuclear power
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Thursday that it has not detected at this stage “No sign of undeclared nuclear activity” Inspections were carried out at three locations at the request of Kiev, accused of erasing evidence of being prepared by Moscow. dirty bomb”.
“Our technical and scientific assessment of our results so far has not revealed any signs of nuclear activity or undeclared material at these three sites.” The head of IAEA, Rafael Grossi, made a statement.
“We will report the results of environmental sampling as soon as possible”Rafael Grossi added, referring to samples taken by IAEA inspectors.
Inspections at the Kyiv Nuclear Research Institute, the mining plant in Jovti Vody and the plant in Dnieper (central-east) were carried out following a written request by Ukraine to send IAEA teams.
Zaporozhye is disconnected from the network
Ukraine’s Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant went offline on Wednesday after Russian bombing damaged the last high-voltage lines still in operation, leaving it dependent on diesel generators, state group Energoatom said on Thursday.
According to Ukraine’s public energy company, Russia now wants to connect the plant to the grid of the Russian-occupied Ukrainian provinces.
Progress in Russian grain exports
There are negotiations to prevent Russian fertilizer exports “Significant Steps Forward”, On Thursday, one of the main UN negotiators admitted that there is still a long way to go before all obstacles are removed. Seven grain cargo ships left Ukrainian ports early Thursday after Russia resumed its participation in an export deal, saying it had received guarantees from Kiev on the disarmament of a safe humanitarian corridor in the Black Sea.
Thanks to an international agreement signed in July under the auspices of Turkey and UNO, despite the conflict, ships will use this corridor, which has made it possible to export 9.7 million tons of grain and other agricultural products from Ukraine.
If Putin attends, Ukraine will not participate in the G20 summit
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at a joint press conference with his Greek counterpart Katerina Sakellaropoulou in Kiev on Thursday that Ukraine will not participate in the G20 summit scheduled to be held in Indonesia in mid-November if the Russian president attends.
“My and Ukraine’s personal position is that if the leader of the Russian Federation participates, (then) Ukraine will not participate.”– said the President of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin, who was invited by Indonesian President Joko Widodo, has not yet announced whether he has decided to physically go to the summit planned on the island of Bali.
“Let’s see, there are only a few days left Vladimir Zelensky continued to the press when the summit bringing together the leaders of the 20 most developed economies was planned to be held in mid-November.
Mr Zelenskiy, although Ukraine is not a member of the G20, was invited to the summit by Indonesia and had previously indicated he would attend, at least virtually.
Questions about the supply of weapons to Ukraine
On Wednesday, Switzerland banned Germany from sending Swiss-made ammunition to Ukraine for anti-aircraft defense tanks that Berlin wants to deliver to Kiev.
“There is still no reason to respond positively to Germany’s request to send Swiss war material to Ukraine” neutrality law and war material in the name of Swiss law, explains Economy Minister Guy Parmel in a letter to German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht.
As for weapons from the United States, the Pentagon assured on Thursday that it regularly inspects stocks of military equipment supplied to Ukraine to guarantee their traceability.
“A small group of members of the Defense Department of the US Embassy in Kyiv has conducted several inspections of the delivery of US security assistance in several locations in Ukraine in recent months.” This was announced by Pentagon spokesman General Pat Ryder.
Joe Biden’s administration has provided $17.6 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began on February 24, and Washington has said it wants to make sure those resources are not misused.
Exchange of prisoners
We learned from the two countries that a hundred Russian and Ukrainian soldiers were exchanged as prisoners in a new operation between Kyiv and Moscow.
“Today we return 107 of our fighters from Ukrainian prisons” whose “65 people are from Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics”, Denis Pushilin, one of the main leaders of the pro-Russian separatists, said this on Telegram.
The Russian Ministry of Defense later claimed that the soldiers had been released “will be returned to Moscow” especially for medical examinations.
Kyiv, in turn, confirmed the exchange of prisoners with the voice of Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of the Ukrainian presidency, on Telegram.
According to him, in this exchange “107 soldiers were released: 6 officers and 101 soldiers and sergeants, most of whom were wounded in March” during battles.
74 of them were besieged by the Russian army in the spring of Azovstal, a huge steel plant in Mariupol in southeastern Ukraine.
