Ukraine news LIVE — Evil Putin faces ‘extremely large losses’ as Kremlin plots new wave of missile strikes
THE Kremlin could be facing over "100,000" losses before Christmas, according to steadfast Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Speaking in his nightly address, Mr Zelensky warned that despite massive losses, the Kremlin is still attempting to advance.
: "Despite extremely big Russian losses, the occupiers are still trying to advance in the Donetsk region, gain a foothold in the Luhansk region, move in the Kharkiv region, they are planning something in the south."
He added Russia could be set to “lose a hundred thousand of its soldiers...and only God knows how many mercenaries,” by the end of the year.
This comes as experts warn Putin could be set to begin a new wave of missile strikes across Ukraine in the coming days, targeting the country's ability to produce electricity this winter.
Read our Ukraine-Russia live blog for the latest updates.
James Cleverly compares the use of rape by Russian soldiers to chemical weapons
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Foreign Secretary warned that rape in war is equal to the use of chemical weapons or the murder of POWs.
“This is an absolutely abhorrent act and yet we are seeing in Ukraine and other parts of world this is still being used as a weapon of war," he said.
"We need to make sure that military commanders understand that it is just as unacceptable as the use of chemical weapons or as the killing or abuse of prisoners of war."
Zelensky meets with Belgium's leadership
As Ukraine honoured the victims of the Holodomor famine, its steadfast president met with leaders from around Europe.
One leader was the Belgian Prime Minister, Alexander De Croo, who took to Twitter to affirm the country's commitment to helping Ukraine.
He penned: "Arrived in Kyiv. After the heavy bombing of recent days, we stand with the people of Ukraine. More than ever before."
UK provides 10 Sea King helicopters to Ukraine in latest round of military aid
The UK Ministry of Defence has shared a look at the 10 Sea King helicopters provided to Ukraine in the country's latest round of military aid.
Along with the hi-tech helicopters, Britain has delivered training to 10 crews "enhancing their search and rescue capabilities."
32 civilians killed in Kherson since November 9, report claims
According to the Kyiv Independent, which quoted Ukraine’s national police chief, Ihor Klymenko, 32 civilians have been killed in Kherson since Ukrainian troops liberated the city earlier this month.
Russia has targeted the city with intense shelling since its soldiers retreated in a humiliating move for the Kremlin.
Reports suggest that 15 people were killed on Friday alone in the city.
Heavy fighting continues in Donetsk
The British Ministry of Defence has shared details regarding the heavy fighting continuing in Donetsk Oblast.
The MoD statement said: "The area around the towns of Pavlivka and Vuhledar in south-central Donetsk Oblast has been the scene of intense combat over the last two weeks, though little territory has changed hands.
"Both Russia and Ukraine have significant forces committed to this sector, with Russian Naval Infantry having suffered heavy casualties.
"This area remains heavily contested, likely partially because Russia assesses the area has potential as a launch point for a future major advance north to capture the remainder of Ukrainian-held Donetsk Oblast.
"However, Russia is unlikely to be able to concentrate sufficient quality forces to achieve an operational breakthrough."
Russia will not ‘break’ Ukraine, claims defiant Zelensky
Speaking in a nightly address last week, Ukraine’s President Zelensky defiantly said his people would not be broken despite constant missile strikes and rolling blackouts.
“Together we endured nine months of full-scale war and Russia has not found a way to break us, and will not find one,” he said.
This comes as the Kremlin bombards Ukraine with missile strikes, targeting key infrastructure as Putin looks to break the will of the Ukrainian people ahead of a freezing winter.
Zelensky vows Ukraine will RESIST Russia in defiant speech
President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed Ukraine will continue to resist Russian attacks.
He made the comments as the country marked the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor famine that affected millions of Ukrainians under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
Several European leaders travelled to Ukraine to pledge support after weeks of Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy grid caused widespread power and water cuts as temperatures plunge with the onset of winter.
“Ukrainians went through very terrible things… Once they wanted to destroy us with hunger, now — with darkness and cold,” Zelensky said in a video posted on social media.
“We cannot be broken,” he added.
In pictures: Ukraine marks genocide at Holomor memorial centre
At the tall candle-shaped Holodomor memorial centre in central Kyiv, a dozen Orthodox priests in black and silver robes gathered on Saturday for a religious ceremony for the victims of the famine.
The Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine was a man-made famine 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians.
The Holodomor has long been a source of hostility between Russia and Ukraine.
Russian contests the genocide designation, placing the events in the broader context of famines that devastated regions of Central Asia and Russia.
Credit: Getty 
Credit: Getty Ukraine’s nuclear power stations back online, UN watchdog reports.
Ukraine’s nuclear power stations are back online, following the decision to disconnect them from the national grid this week amid heavy Russian shelling.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, all four stations are back up and running.
They were disconnected after a massive wave of Russian shelling that left millions of Ukrainians without power.
United States donates 22,500 blankets to Ukraine as blackouts continue
The US has announced it donated 22,500 blankets to Ukraine this winter, as civilians across the country face the cold months without electricity.
Bridget A. Brink, the United States Ambassador to Ukraine, announced this new initiative on Twitter.
She said: “Russia’s cruel attacks against civilians make it all the more important that we all work around the clock to help Ukraine weather the cold this winter in every way we can.”
Kherson hospitals evacuated amid Russian shelling
Hospitals across the liberated city of Kherson have reportedly been evacuated amid constant Russian shelling.
Regional Governor Yaroslav Yanushevych announced via Telegram, that children being treated at the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital are being moved to Mykolaiv.
On Thursday, the British Ministry of Defence reported the Kremlin is specifically targeting medical facilities with its bombing campaign.
Zelensky calls for the liberation of Crimea
President Zelensky has called the liberation of Ukraine without Crimea a “waste of time.”
Speaking to the , the steadfast leader said: “We must return all lands… because I believe that the battlefield is the way when there is no diplomacy.
“If you can’t get your land back entirely, the war is simply frozen. It’s a question of time before it resumes.”
NATO will defend Ukraine for ‘as long as it takes’
NATO’s Secretary-General, Jens Stoltenberg, this weekend vowed to aid Ukraine “for as long as it takes”.
“NATO will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes. We will not back down,” the NATO chief said.
“Allies are providing unprecedented military support, and I expect foreign ministers will also agree to step up non-lethal support.”
Russian reservists plagued with ‘confusion’ and ‘inadequate training’
The British Ministry of Defence has reported that the 300,000 reservists recruited in Putin’s partial mobilisation plan have been plagued by “confusion’ and “inadequate training.”
The MoD statement read: “Two months after President Putin announced a ‘partial mobilisation’, common themes are emerging in the experience of mobilised Russian reservists.
“Their deployment is often characterised by confusion over eligibility for service, inadequate training and personal equipment, and commitment to highly attritional combat missions.
“Most – though not all – mobilised reservists have previously served and numerous examples suggest that reservists are highly likely not having their medical status adequately reviewed and many are being compelled to serve with serious, chronic health conditions.
“Mobilised reservists have highly likely experienced particularly heavy casualties after being committed to dig ambitious trench systems while under artillery fire around the Luhansk Oblast town of Svatove.
“In Donetsk Oblast, reservists have been killed in large numbers in frontal assaults into well-established Ukrainian defensive zones around the town of Bakhmut.
“The Kremlin will likely be concerned that an increasing number of reservists’ families are prepared to risk arrest by protesting against the conditions their relatives are serving under.”
Citizens flee Kyiv amid Russian bombardment
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has reported that Ukrainians are fleeing Kyiv amid constant Russian shelling.
“We expect an increase of population movement in the next few months. We are already seeing in Kyiv the city is emptying,” IFRC official Violaine des Rosier told reporters in Geneva.
On Thursday, the Ukrainian capital was left in complete darkness, following a mass missile strike by the Kremlin.
Russia claims 9 POWs freed in prisoner exchange with Ukraine
Nine Russian prisoners of war were released as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine earlier today, Russian news agencies reported, citing Moscow's defence ministry.
"On Nov. 26, as a result of the negotiation process, nine Russian servicemen who were in mortal danger in captivity were returned from the territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," the ministry reportedly said in a statement.
Who are the notorious Wagner group?
The Wagner group has been heavily involved in the war in Ukraine, and it is believed the group of mercenaries have been operating since Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014.
The Pro-Kremlin group are believed to have about 5000 mercenaries operating across the world,
In September, videos emerged of its leader Prigozhin recruiting murderers and sex offenders from some of Russia's most notorious prison camps to fight in the war.
The group have shown they have no limits when it comes to killing people - last month they executed notorious mobster Zaur Aliyev after he tried to desert in Ukraine.
Russian bomb hit my bedroom – hours later I gave birth to a miracle baby boy
Exclusive from Jerome Starkey on the ground in Ukraine
CRADLING her newborn daughter Yana as she lies in a hospital bed, Lilia Gazimova describes her family’s “miracle” escape from a Russian bomb which hit their home while she was still pregnant.
The blast struck in the Ukrainian’s basement where she usually sleeps — and she only survived because she was in her son Artem’s bedroom instead.
Lilia, 22, went into early labour and gave birth just hours after the bombardment laid waste to her home in newly freed Kherson.
Her ordeal began at 1am on Monday morning when she heard the terrifying sounds of an indiscriminate bombing.
Read more on her incredible story here.
Moment ‘critically ill’ Putin wheezes and gasps through meeting
THIS is the moment Vladimir Putin appears to wheeze and gasp through a meeting with grieving mums whose children were killed in Ukraine.
Russia's president - who is reportedly "critically ill" - met with a carefully selected group of parents as he sat down with them to have tea, cakes and fresh berries.
Putin appeared physically uncomfortable and breathless as he spoke - stopping to clear his throat on multi occasions and struggling with his words.
"I would like you to know that, that I personally, and the whole leadership of the country - we share your pain," Vlad told the women in at a meeting at his official residence.
"We understand that nothing can replace the loss of a son - especially for a mother…we share this pain.”
Ukraine’s nuclear power stations back online, UN watchdog reports.
Ukraine’s nuclear power stations are back online, following the decision to disconnect them from the national grid this week amid heavy Russian shelling.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, all four stations are back up and running.
They were disconnected after a massive wave of Russian shelling that left millions of Ukrainians without power.
Ukraine pays tribute to famed ballet dancer who lost his life fighting Russia
This week, Ukrainians paid tribute to Vadym Khlupyanets, a ballet dancer who died resisting Putin’s brutal invasion.
Taking to Twitter, Ukraine’s Ministry of Defence penned a touching tribute.
The tweet read: “Vadym Khlupyanets, a ballet dancer of the Kyiv Operetta Theater, died in the battle for freedom and independence of Ukraine.
“He traded the stage for trenches so that millions of people would never lose their free lives to authoritarianism. Eternal glory!
Almost 5,600 Ukrainian civilians killed since invasion began, report claims
Almost 5,600 Ukrainian civilians have been killed since Russia’s brutal invasion began, according to a report by the Kyiv Independent.
Specifically, Putin’s bloodthirsty invasion has reportedly left 5,595 non-combatants dead.
440 of these casualties are children, the piece claims.
Russian reservists plagued with ‘confusion’ and ‘inadequate training’
The British Ministry of Defence has reported that the 300,000 reservists recruited in Putin’s partial mobilisation plan have been plagued by “confusion’ and “inadequate training.”
The MoD statement read: “Two months after President Putin announced a ‘partial mobilisation’, common themes are emerging in the experience of mobilised Russian reservists.
“Their deployment is often characterised by confusion over eligibility for service, inadequate training and personal equipment, and commitment to highly attritional combat missions.
“Most – though not all – mobilised reservists have previously served and numerous examples suggest that reservists are highly likely not having their medical status adequately reviewed and many are being compelled to serve with serious, chronic health conditions.
“Mobilised reservists have highly likely experienced particularly heavy casualties after being committed to dig ambitious trench systems while under artillery fire around the Luhansk Oblast town of Svatove.
“In Donetsk Oblast, reservists have been killed in large numbers in frontal assaults into well-established Ukrainian defensive zones around the town of Bakhmut.
“The Kremlin will likely be concerned that an increasing number of reservists’ families are prepared to risk arrest by protesting against the conditions their relatives are serving under.”
In pictures: Ukraine marks genocide at Holomor memorial centre
At the tall candle-shaped Holodomor memorial centre in central Kyiv, a dozen Orthodox priests in black and silver robes gathered on Saturday for a religious ceremony for the victims of the famine.
The Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine was a man-made famine 1932 to 1933 that killed millions of Ukrainians.
The Holodomor has long been a source of hostility between Russia and Ukraine.
Russian contests the genocide designation, placing the events in the broader context of famines that devastated regions of Central Asia and Russia.
Credit: Getty Credit: Getty Zelensky vows Ukraine will RESIST Russia in defiant speech
President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed Ukraine will continue to resist Russian attacks.
He made the comments as the country marked the 90th anniversary of the Holodomor famine that affected millions of Ukrainians under Soviet leader Joseph Stalin.
Several European leaders travelled to Ukraine to pledge support after weeks of Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy grid caused widespread power and water cuts as temperatures plunge with the onset of winter.
"Ukrainians went through very terrible things... Once they wanted to destroy us with hunger, now -- with darkness and cold," Zelensky said in a video posted on social media.
"We cannot be broken," he added.