Live blog: Kiev ‘never refused’ to negotiate with Russia – Ukraine official

Monday, November 7, 2022

Ukraine says it never refused to negotiate with Russia, wants talks with Putin successor

A senior adviser to Ukraine's president said that Kiev had never refused to negotiate with Moscow and that it was ready for talks with Russia's future leader, but not with Vladimir Putin.

The comments on Twitter by Mykhailo Podolyak followed a Washington Post report on Saturday saying the Biden administration was privately encouraging Ukraine's leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Moscow.

"Ukraine has never refused to negotiate. Our negotiating position is known and open," he wrote on Twitter, saying that Russia should first withdraw its troops from Ukraine.

Ukraine calls for boycott of international firms continuing to work in Russia 

Ukraine called for a boycott of various international companies that have maintained operations in Russia despite the war between the two countries.

International companies which continue to operate in Russia "are directly funding Russian war crimes and genocide of Ukrainians," Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, according to a tweet by the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, adding" I reiterate my call on their customers and partners to boycott these brands until they stop making blood profits and pull out of Russia." 

The tweet included a picture that contained the logos of various international Western companies that it said continue to operate in Russia, with Nestle, P&G, Johnson & Johnson, Philips, Siemens, Bayer, and Unilever among them.

Russia issues rare denial of "pointless losses" by brigade in Ukraine

Russia's defence ministry took the unusual step of denying reports by Russian military bloggers that a naval infantry unit had lost hundreds of men in a fruitless offensive in eastern Ukraine, the state-owned RIA news agency said.

It said the ministry had rejected the bloggers' assertions that the 155th marine brigade of the Pacific Fleet had suffered "high, pointless losses in people and equipment".

On the contrary, in the course of 10 days the unit had advanced 5 km into Ukrainian defensive positions southwest of Donetsk, RIA quoted the ministry as saying. 

Power being partially restored in Russian-occupied Kherson

Russian-backed authorities say they are working to partially restore power in the occupied Ukrainian city of Kherson following what they have called a Ukrainian “terrorist attack” on power lines.

The southern city in the region that Moscow illegally annexed in September was cut off from power and water supplies on Sunday following damage to three power lines.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the pro-Kremlin administration of the partially occupied Kherson region, said on Monday that “power and connectivity is being partially restored" in Kherson city. 

The alleged attack occurred on the Berislav-Kakhovka power line, and Russian state media reported on Sunday that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station had also been damaged by Ukrainian strikes.

Putin says 50,000 mobilised Russian soldiers serving with combat units

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that 50,000 Russian soldiers called up as part of his mobilisation drive were now fighting with combat units in Ukraine, the Interfax news agency reported.

Putin said 80,000 were "in the zone of the special military operation" - the term Russia uses for its war in Ukraine - and the rest of the almost 320,000 draftees were at training camps in Russia.

"We now have 50,000 in their combat units. The rest are not taking part in the fighting yet," Interfax quoted Putin as saying during a visit to the Tver region, outside Moscow. 

Ukraine hails arrival of Western air defence systems

Ukraine has announced it received more air defence systems from Western military allies, saying the weapons would help defend against Russian attacks that have recently targeted energy infrastructure.

"NASAMS and Aspide air defence systems arrived in Ukraine! These weapons will significantly strengthen the Ukrainian army and will make our skies safer," Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said on social media.

"We will continue to shoot down the enemy targets attacking us. Thank you to our partners: Norway, Spain and the US," Reznikov added.

Zelenskyy warns of more attacks on energy infrastructure

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned against more potential Russian attacks on energy infrastructure.

The mayor of Kiev urged residents to consider preparing to leave temporarily if the capital lost water and power supplies.

US urges Ukraine to show 'openness' to negotiate with Russia

The US administration has "privately" encouraged Ukrainian leaders to signal an openness to negotiate with Russia, according to The Washington Post.

US officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have warned that the “Ukraine fatigue” among some allies could worsen if Kiev continues to shut down negotiations, the daily reported.

The request by American officials is not aimed at pushing Kiev to the negotiating table, but they called it "a calculated attempt" to ensure that Ukraine "maintains the support of other nations facing constituencies wary of fueling a war for many years to come."

Kremlin declines to comment on reported Ukraine de-escalation talks with US

The Kremlin declined to comment on a Wall Street Journal report that Washington held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials about avoiding further escalation in the Ukraine conflict.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that while Russia remains "open" to talks, it is unable to negotiate with Kiev due to its refusal to hold talks with Russia.

The Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday that US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials in the hope of reducing the risk the war in Ukraine spills over or escalates into a nuclear conflict.

Ukrainian ‘threats’ to resume nuclear program main reason for ‘special military operation’: ex-Russian leader

Ukraine’s “threats” to resume its nuclear program were largely the reason for Moscow’s “special military operation,” Russia’s former president said.

One of the reasons for conducting the “special military operation” were the “threats” by Ukrainian leaders that hinted resumption of the nuclear program, which Kiev relinquished under the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, wrote in a message on the country’s VK social network.

Gazprom to ship 42.4 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Monday

Russia's Gazprom said it would ship 42.4 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine, levels similar to those reported in recent days.

Grid operator tells Ukrainians to brace for more blackouts

Ukraine's grid operator told consumers to brace for more blackouts in Kiev and other regions as it seeks to reduce the strain on energy infrastructure damaged by Russian missile and drone attacks.

Rolling blackouts are becoming increasingly routine in the capital of 3 million after a wave of Russian attacks on power facilities that have damaged 40 percent of energy infrastructure since Oct. 10.

Several of those attacks have struck during the Monday rush hour, but there was no immediate indication of new strikes on Monday morning although President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said late on Sunday that Russia might be preparing new attacks.

Russia suffering heavy losses

Russia is suffering heavy losses in continuing "fierce" attacks in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region and is preparing new assaults on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.

"Very fierce Russian attacks on Donetsk region are continuing. The enemy is suffering serious losses there," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

Zelenskyy said he believed Russia was "concentrating forces and means for a possible repetition of mass attacks on our infrastructure, energy in the first instance."

US-Russia holds undisclosed talks

National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has held undisclosed talks with top Russian officials in hopes of reducing the risk the war in Ukraine spills over or escalates into a nuclear conflict, the Wall Street Journal has reported.

The newspaper cited US and allied officials as saying that Sullivan, President Joe Biden's top aide on national security, held confidential conversations in recent months with Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev, Sullivan's counterpart, that were not disclosed publicly.

The White House declined to comment on the report, responding to questions about the story only with a statement attributed to National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson, "People claim a lot of things."

For live updates from Sunday (November 6), click here