What has happened in the last few hours
On the 268th day of the war against Ukraine that Russia started, these are the key dates at 8:00 p.m. this Friday, November 18:
Erdogan talks to Zelenskyy and asks him for further agreements with Russia. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday. According to the Turkish Presidential Cabinet, both heads of government congratulated each other on extending the agreements on exporting Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea for another 120 days, a process in which Turkey acts as a mediator and guarantor. Hours earlier, Erdogan had asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to resume diplomatic efforts to end the war, assuring that the meeting between US and Russian intelligence agencies was held this Monday in Ankara, Turkey. It was important to prevent “runaway” escalation on the battlefield.
Kyiv says almost half of Ukraine’s power system is out of order. Ukrainian Prime Minister Denis Shmihal, speaking before the Vice-President of the European Commission on Friday, said almost half of the country’s energy system has been shut down as a result of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s essential infrastructure. , Valdis Dombrowskis.
Ukraine says it has confirmed troop movement from Kherson to the Lugansk front. For its part, the Ukrainian General Staff confirmed at 6 p.m. this Friday that it had confirmed the transfer of a unit of the Russian armed forces previously stationed on the Kherson front (to the south). in the direction of the city of Novoaidar, in the Lugansk province, in the Donbass region. If confirmed, this would be one of the expected consequences of the Russian evacuation of the west bank of the Dnieper (which includes the provincial capital of Kherson). and its entrenchment on the east bank.
Russia accuses Ukrainian troops of executing more than 10 Russian soldiers. The Russian Defense Ministry on Friday accused Ukrainian forces of executing more than 10 previously immobilized Russian soldiers “with shots in the head”. “No one will be able to portray as a ‘tragic exception’ the deliberate and systematic killing of more than 10 Russian soldiers who were immobilized by degenerates of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with direct headshots,” the official statement said.
The Russian soldier who applied for asylum in Madrid has agreed to testify about Russian war crimes, according to an NGO. Russian soldier Nikita Chibrin, who fled to Spain seeking political asylum, is ready to testify about alleged war crimes committed by the Russian army during February’s invasion of Ukraine, organization Gulagu.net said Friday. . Chibrin, who was helped by this human rights organization to find refuge in Spain, “agreed to cooperate with the judiciary and will testify before the special anti-genocide department investigating war crimes,” according to the platform on its Telegram channel.
The death toll in Thursday’s Russian attack in Zaporizhia has risen to nine. The death toll in Thursday’s Russian rocket attack on residential buildings in Vilniansk in the Zaporizhia region is now nine, Kirilo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, reported on Friday. “The rescue operations continue. Two more bodies were found as of this morning. Thus, nine deaths have already been recorded as a result of rockets fired by Russian terrorists who bombed residential buildings yesterday,” Tymoshenko reported in a message on Telegram.
In the photo by Bulent Kilic, for Portal, a Ukrainian tank in the Kherson province.