Here is the situation as it stands on Thursday, November 3rd.
Battle
- Russian attacks were reported from much of Ukraine, with heavy shells damaging infrastructure in numerous regions.
- Europe’s largest nuclear power plant was again disconnected from the grid after Russian shelling damaged remaining high-voltage power lines, leaving only diesel generators, Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom said.
- The Russian Defense Ministry said it had received written guarantees from Kyiv not to use the Black Sea grain corridor for military operations against Russia.
- Russia ordered civilians to evacuate an area along the east bank of the Dnieper River in Ukraine’s Kherson province, an extension of an evacuation order that Kyiv says amounts to forced depopulation of occupied territories.
- The streets of the Russian-held port of Kherson are practically empty. Many shops and businesses are closed. Evacuations have increased as Ukrainian forces advance north and east of the strategically important city.
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said it was important to resist “the insane Russian aggression that is destabilizing international trade”.
grain and diplomacy
- Seven ships carrying agricultural products left Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a day after a grain trade aimed at supplying Ukrainian food to foreign markets resumed.
- Russia said on Wednesday it would resume participation in the deal to free up vital grain exports from war-torn Ukraine after suspending it over the weekend, which threatened to worsen hunger around the world.
- The British ambassador to Russia has been summoned to discuss Moscow’s claims that Britain was involved in a Ukrainian drone attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he and Zelenskyy had discussed sending grain to African countries.
- Foreign ministers of the G7 group of rich democracies will discuss how best to coordinate further support to Ukraine at their meeting in Germany.
- The British government said it had sanctioned four Russian steel and petrochemical tycoons in connection with the war in Ukraine.
- The United States says it has information suggesting North Korea is secretly supplying Russia with a “significant” number of artillery shells for its war in Ukraine.