LIVE UKRAINE. Moscow: “17 Ukrainian drones destroyed over Crimea” – Zelensky finds elections “irresponsible” | War Ukraine and Russia

The Russian army said today it shot down seventeen Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and Crimea. An attempted “terrorist attack” was repulsed, the Ministry of Defense said.

“Air defense systems destroyed nine drones and intercepted eight others,” the statement said. Debris fell in at least two places near Sevastopol, according to the region’s governor, Mikhail Razvoyaev.

Since the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive this summer, Kiev has stepped up attacks on the Black Sea peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. In addition to the attack on the Russian shipyard last Saturday, the Ukrainians also claimed a successful attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol in late September.

The latest Ukrainian attack on a Russian shipyard on the annexed Crimean peninsula could delay the construction and repair of Russian warships, according to the British military’s assessment. “Ukraine’s ability to attack shipbuilding infrastructure in Crimea is likely to prompt Russia to consider a move further from the front line,” the UK Ministry of Defense said.

Ukraine said it destroyed a new Russian warship in the coastal town of Kerch in an attack on November 4. The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information about the progress of the war since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Moscow calls this disinformation.

Volodymyr Zelensky also announced yesterday that the Russian warship Askold had been destroyed at the Kerch shipyard, on Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula. He said that two days after his army said it had “successfully” carried out attacks on that area.

“I thank everyone who contributed to the destruction of the Russian vessel in the Kerch shipyard,” he stated during his daily message on social media.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, this is “not the right time” for elections. Because a state of siege is still in effect in Ukraine, the planned elections in the spring of 2024 have in principle also been canceled. Zelensky has been president since May 2019. After five years, his presidency can be extended for a maximum of five more years.

In his daily video message, the Ukrainian president said Monday evening that now is the time to be united, not divided. “We must decide that now is the time for defense, for struggle. The fate of the state and the people depends on it,” Zelensky gave as a reason for not organizing elections.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said last weekend that any presidential election would have “pros and cons.” He said at the time that holding elections during the war with Russia would pose “unprecedented” challenges.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has invited former US President Donald Trump to his country for a lesson in war diplomacy. “He said he can control and stop the war in 24 hours. What can I say, he is welcome,” Zelensky said during the NBC program ‘Meet the Press’.

A close advisor to the Commander in Chief Valery Zaluzhny member of the Ukrainian army was killed in an explosion on his birthday. The top soldier himself reports this on the social medium Telegram: “Under tragic circumstances, my assistant and good friend, Major Gennady Chastyakovkilled in family circle.”

The explosive was said to have been hidden in a package that the major had received. An investigation has been started. According to Ukrainian media, a security source of the wife of Chastyakov was told that the gift was a bottle of liquor in the shape of a grenade that the man had brought home. The booby trap exploded when he opened it. A son was seriously injured.

According to Gen Zaluzhny the deceased major had devoted his life completely to the armed forces of Ukraine and “the fight against Russian aggression.”