Victory Chronicles-DAY 1003

U.S. and European officials are considering the option of providing Ukraine with a significant stockpile of conventional weapons as a security guarantee in case Russia violates a potential ceasefire agreement, according to The New York Times. If necessary, the idea is to have enough weaponry to launch a retaliatory strike. Some officials have even proposed returning Ukraine’s nuclear weapons, which were withdrawn after the fall of the Soviet Union, as an additional deterrent. 

According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Russian ground force involved in the hostilities against Ukraine consists of nearly 580,000 Russian servicemen, including those in the Kursk region. 

Major General Vadym Skibitskyi, the Deputy Chief of Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, revealed this information in a comment to Interfax-Ukraine. Skibitskyi clarified that this number includes the military personnel stationed in the Kursk region. Additionally, he mentioned that a contingent of Rosgvardia troops, totaling almost 35,000 servicemen, has been deployed in Ukraine’s temporarily occupied territories.

CNN has released a photo of the wreckage of a new Russian missile that is believed to have been fired at the Dnipro River in Ukraine on November 21. The image, obtained from a source within the Ukrainian security forces, shows the fragments of the missile, which Ukrainian officials claim was an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launched by Russia. This would be the first time in over 1,000 days of war that Moscow has used such a weapon. However, it should be noted that the source mentioned that the fragments in the photo may not all belong to the same missile. 

Two people were killed, and 12 others were injured in a drone attack on Sumy city center. The attack, carried out by three kamikaze drones, occurred early in the morning. It caused significant damage to 12 multi-story and five private residential buildings, a shop, and three cars. The authorities have launched search and rescue operations to deal with the attack’s aftermath. Rescue teams, strengthened police investigative units, and explosives experts are on the scene. The documentation of war crimes is currently underway.

Russian President Vladimir Putin intensified his reflexive control campaign aimed at Ukraine and its Western partners by conducting an ostentatious ballistic missile strike against Ukraine that used multiple reentry vehicles on November 21. 

Russian forces conducted a complex strike against critical infrastructure and industrial enterprises in Dnipro City, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, on the morning of November 21, that reportedly included a Kh-47M2 Kinzhal ballistic missile fired from Tambov Oblast, seven Kh-101 cruise missiles fired from Volgograd Oblast, and an experimental medium-range ballistic missile with reentry vehicles – likely a modified RS-26 “Rubezh” intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) – fired from Astrakhan Oblast. The Ukrainian Air Force reported that Ukrainian forces downed six Kh-101 cruise missiles and that the remaining missiles did not cause significant damage. 

Ukrainian officials reported that the strike damaged an unspecified industrial enterprise (likely Ukraine’s Pivdenmash factory that manufactures missiles and space rockets), a medical facility, and residential areas in Dnipro City, and reported that a Russian missile also damaged residential areas in Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Western officials told Western media that the ballistic missile that targeted Dnipro City was not an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and was more likely a ballistic missile with a shorter range.

Ukrainian defender Ihor “Did” Koshlay died on 7 January 2024 while performing a combat mission near the village of Novodarivka, Zaporizhzhia region. The fighter was 50 years old.

Ihor was a native of Lviv. He graduated from the secondary school №79. Later, he studied at Lviv Secondary Vocational School No. 57. In civilian life, he worked in the construction industry. He loved to fish and relax in the mountains in his leisure time. In May 2023, the man was mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He fought in the ranks of the 15th Battalion of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade.

‘Dad was an exceptionally kind, decent, and sincere person, a loving father and husband,’ said Diana Koshlay. The defender was buried in the village of Kamianopil, Lviv region, where he spent his childhood. Ihor is survived by his wife and daughter.

*Ihor’s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

• US intelligence warns defence agencies of sabotage threats from Russia
• Ukraine to receive USD 4.8 billion through World Bank’s PEACE project
• IAEA: Russian strikes damaged four substations in Ukraine critical to NPP safety
• NATO-Ukraine Council to convene for urgent meeting due to Russian attack on Dnipro with “Oreshnik”
• Russia supplied air defense missiles to North Korea in return for its troops