November 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Kathleen Magramo, CNN

Updated 12:55 a.m. ET, November 9, 2022
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7:37 p.m. ET, November 7, 2022

Ukrainian official says Iranian ballistic missiles bought by Russia may need to be destroyed at their launch sites

From CNN's Julia Kesaieva in Kyiv and Tim Lister

Ukraine's air force says that newly arrived Western air defense systems will help deal with the new threat of Iranian ballistic missiles reportedly being purchased by Russia.

Yuriy Ihnat, Air Force spokesperson, told a briefing in Kyiv that Ukraine might target the Iranian missiles at their launch sites, which would probably be well inside Russia. 

"They must somehow be destroyed, probably from where they are launched. Because we have no effective means of fighting ballistic [missiles], except for their physical destruction at the launch stage."

Ihnat said the Iranian missiles have "a range of 300 and 700 kilometers, which in principle will not create anything new for Ukraine, because [Russian-made] Iskanders were used from the first day of the war."

"I think both the top military leadership and our partners are working on this issue, looking for effective ways to counter these new threats," Ihnat said. 

He said the Russians were unable to make progress on the battlefield and had resorted to attacking infrastructure supplying energy and water. "They want to hit energy facilities in the autumn-winter period first of all, because people's lives largely depend on them. This air terrorism will continue by all available means," he said.
"It is clear that the missiles that will be received from Iran, if it is done, will be used at the energy infrastructure facilities, and [the Russians] will continue to strike with cruise missiles as well."

CNN reported on Nov. 1 that Iran is preparing to send about 1,000 additional weapons, including short-range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia, citing officials from a Western country that closely monitors Iran's weapons program.

3:08 a.m. ET, November 8, 2022

Orthodox Church of Ukraine to allow Christmas on Dec. 25 as rift with Moscow deepens

From CNN's Jack Guy and Olga Voitovych

His Beatitude Epiphanius, Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine, center, participates in Christmas Liturgy at St. Sophia's Cathedral on January 7, 2019 in Kyiv, Ukraine.
His Beatitude Epiphanius, Metropolitan of Kyiv and all Ukraine, center, participates in Christmas Liturgy at St. Sophia's Cathedral on January 7, 2019 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

A branch of Ukraine’s Orthodox church has announced that it will allow its churches to celebrate Christmas on Dec. 25, rather than Jan. 7, as is traditional in Orthodox congregations.

The announcement by the Kyiv-headquartered Orthodox Church of Ukraine widens the rift between the Russian Orthodox Church and other Orthodox believers that has deepened due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The decision came after “taking into account the numerous requests and taking into account the discussion that has been going on for many years in the Church and in society; predicting, in particular due to the circumstances of the war, the escalation of calendar disputes in the public space,” the Orthodox Church of Ukraine said in a statement published Oct. 18.

Each church will have the option to celebrate on Dec. 25, which marks the birth of Jesus according to the Gregorian calendar, rather than Jan. 7, which marks the birth of Jesus according to the Julian calendar, still used by the Russian Orthodox Church.

In recent years a large part of the Orthodox community in Ukraine has moved away from Moscow, a movement accelerated by the conflict Russia stoked in eastern Ukraine beginning in 2014.

Read more here.