Sitrep for November 8-9 (as of 15:00)
Correction of inaccuracies
The statement about the strikes on Ukrainian servicemen in Blahodatne was not made by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but by the pro-Russian Telegram channel ”WarGonzo project”. However, this statement means that the settlement was recaptured by the Armed Forces of Ukraine some time ago.
The situation on the frontline
Our team continues to record events hinting at the imminent withdrawal of Russian forces from Kherson. The Dar'ivsky bridge is reported to have been blown up, presumably by the Russian forces. There used to be a ferry crossing made of pontoon sections next to the bridge. Now the bridge is completely destroyed and cannot be restored within a short period of time.
The Tyahynsky and Novovasylivsky bridges in the Kherson region were also blown up. The strategic meaning of these actions is still unclear.
There are photos of empty Russian checkpoints in Kherson and at the entrance to Chornobaivka.
The Wagner Group forces managed to make some progress on the Bakhmut axis, but they are still at the outskirts of Bakhmut.
The pro-Russian correspondent Anastasia Kashevarova reports in her Telegram channel that the situation in Svatove is still very bad for mobilized soldiers.
Regnum (Russian news agency) correspondent Aleksey Sukonkin reports that the last three Russian battalions (more precisely, what is left of them) are participating in the fighting for Pavlivka on the Vuhledar axis, and the losses are actually much greater than the Ministry of Defense announced.
He also warns that when mobilized soldiers are withdrawn from this sector of the front, they will begin to make claims against the command and ask tough questions.
According to Kyrylo Stremousov, on November 8-9, active fighting continued for Snihurivka, Mykolaiv region. At the moment, it is still under Russian control.
Mobilization updates
The Orel region's mobilized soldiers complain that all the gear, which Governor Aleksei Klychkov promised to purchase instead of giving soldiers an allowance on appointment, is of extremely poor quality. In our opinion, there is clearly a corruption component to this case.
Upon public pressure, Klychkov allocated 50,000 rubles to the families of the mobilized, stating that dissatisfied soldiers could now buy the gear they preferred.
A mobilized soldier from the Kursk region told his mother that conscripts were being used as bait to identify Ukrainian positions, while Russian artillery was constantly missing by almost hundreds of meters. As a reaction to such news, relatives of the mobilized came out to protest in Kursk.
Relatives of the called-up servicemen from the Ulyanovsk, Penza and Bashkortostan regions complain that the men were deployed to the combat zone without being adequately trained.
The mobilized servicemen from Ulyanovsk who came under fire in Ukraine were abandoned by their command with no food or medication.
Family members of mobilized soldiers from the Voronezh region report that they have been unable to communicate with their loved ones and have not obtained any information about them.
Conscripts from the Perm region training in Yelan claim that they are primarily taught how to dig trenches, that firing practice was only executed twice, and that artillerymen had only fired a few shots from howitzers.
The executive secretary of the Union of Committees of Soldier’s Mothers, Valentina Melnikova, told the Agentstvo (“Agency”) media outlet that a resident of Omsk, who was mobilized at the end of September, was not given a mobilization mark on his military identity card, which allowed for him to be transferred to the Wagner group, although this is against the law.
Russia spent more than 166.2 billion rubles on payments to the dead and wounded. According to the Telegram channel “We can explain”, this corresponds to almost 16 thousand dead.
According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, from February 24th to November 6th, at least 6,490 civilians were killed in Ukraine, and another 9,972 were injured.
Russian forces continue shelling the territory of Ukraine:
- On November 8th, as a result of the shelling of Kramatorsk, an 8-year-old boy was injured.
- On the night of November 9th, a logistics company was hit in Dnipro, using kamikaze drones. Four employees were injured and warehouses were destroyed. Five drones were destroyed by air defense forces.
- Also, on the night of November 9th, the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region was shelled from the Grad MLRS.
Sky News, citing its sources, reports that on August 20th, a Russian plane secretly brought 140 million euros and several pieces of captured American and British weapons, such as Javelin, NLAW, and Stinger to Tehran. In return, Russia received a batch of kamikaze drones. The source also said that another deal was concluded between Russia and Iran for the supply of drones for 200 million euros.
There is increasing evidence of the usage of Russian Lancet loitering munitions, for example, on a Strela-10 air defense system, a tank, and a Krab self-propelled gun.
A rare Russian Granat-4 reconnaissance drone was found in Ukraine.
Previously, such a device had been showcased at the Ukrainian exhibition of spoils of war.
The Oryx Project estimates that Russian forces have lost 25 tanks and 32 military vehicles over the week.
The first photo appeared of Ń„ destroyed Russian Grad-1 MLRS on old ZIL-131 chassis.
Italy is preparing to send another military aid package to Ukraine, which will include SAMP-T and Skyguard Aspide air defense systems, as well as Stinger MANPADS.
In the Sevastopol Bay, Russian forces put up barriers and set up a corral for trained dolphins. Probably, these are measures to prevent new Ukrainian attacks on the ships of the Black Sea Fleet.
Mobile bomb shelters are now being installed at public transport stops in Dnipro.
The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine has appointed Stepan the cat from Kharkiv as an ambassador for a project to restore monuments destroyed by Russian forces in Ukraine.
Actor Sean Penn once again visited Ukraine and left his Oscar in Kyiv until Ukraine wins the war. In response, Zelensky awarded the actor with the Order of Merit, III degree, for significant personal merit in strengthening interstate cooperation, support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and a significant contribution to the popularization of Ukraine in the world.
