November 14, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

As Russian forces have retreated in Ukraine's south, the Biden administration has announced a slew of new military aid packages for Ukraine — but all were missing a piece of weaponry that Ukraine's military has long sought: the multi-use Gray Eagle drone, armed with Hellfire missiles.

According to two officials, the US has been looking into modifications that can be made to the deadly drone. Changes that would make the potential of losing any — with their sensitive onboard technology — less of a danger and possibly increase the likelihood of Ukraine receiving them.

A US official confirmed that the Army is leading the efforts to study what changes are possible to the drone, which is made by General Atomics and referred to in the Army as the MQ-1C. 

"When you're talking drones, this is about as good as you can get," says Seth Jones, the director of the International Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "These are really sophisticated drones."

Without any changes, however, the Gray Eagle, which can carry four Hellfire missiles and fly at 25,000 feet for almost 30 hours, would likely not be on upcoming lists of military aid allocated to Ukraine.

Read more about this here.

The Commander of Ukrainian forces, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, says he has reiterated to his US counterpart, General Mark Milley, that Ukraine's "goal is to liberate the entire Ukrainian land from Russian occupation."

Zaluzhnyi said he had told General Milley, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that the "Ukrainian military will not accept any negotiations, agreements or compromise decisions. There is only one condition for negotiations – Russia must leave all the occupied territories."

Zaluzhnyi said he had told Milley that the situation at the front is stable and controlled.

"We closely monitor the actions of the enemy on the border with the Republic of Belarus and build a reliable shield to protect Ukraine from the north," he said on his Telegram channel.

Zaluzhnyi said Russian forces were actively attacking along several fronts in the Donetsk region, but were unsuccessful.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said on Monday that Russia is becoming a “pariah state,” the UK’s PA news agency reported.  

In comments made to reporters traveling with him to the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia — the first since Russia invaded Ukraine in February — Sunak said it was “telling” that Putin would not attend the event, PA reported.  

When asked how he planned to interact with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov at the G20, Sunak said he was going to “take the opportunity to unequivocally condemn the Russian state and Putin for their abhorrent and illegal war.” 

The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti says that Ukrainian forces are "conducting intense artillery fire on the area of the town of Oleshky" in Kherson.

Oleshky is on the east bank of the river Dnipro, eight kilometers (five miles) from Kherson city, which is on the opposite bank and was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces.

A RIA Novosti correspondent on the ground reported that explosions were heard in the town, including "the sounds of firing from a large-caliber machine gun."

“They are attacking day and night continuously, you see, the forest is burning on the outskirts,” an employee of a gas station told RIA Novosti.

Cellular communication does not work in the town while shops and the market are closed, the agency reported.

A spokesperson of the Odesa Regional Administration Serhiy Bratchuk said there had been strikes against Russian military facilities in Hola Prystan and Hornostayivka, two towns on the opposite bank of the river from Kherson city. Bratchuk said there had been casualties. 

The Ukrainian General Staff — in its evening update — said that further upstream the Russians had shelled a number of settlements within a few miles of the river's banks.

There are also reports of heavy fighting in the Donetsk region, where the General Staff says that Russian forces were conducting offensive operations in the Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka directions.

Ukraine's state railway service, Ukrzaliznytsia, has begun repairing damaged rail tracks & infrastructure on the Kherson line, according to the Infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov. It expects to restore rail services to Kherson within 10 days. 

Russia said on Monday that it was imposing entry bans on an additional 100 Canadian citizens, including American-Canadian actor Jim Carrey, in response to Canada’s sanctions on Moscow.

The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it has added more Canadians to its “black list,” which contains hundreds of Western officials and notable individuals.

Moscow in March added Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to the travel ban.

The European Union and its member states have sent at least $8 billion worth of military equipment to Ukraine amid Vladimir Putin’s war, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Monday.  

Speaking at a news conference in Brussels after a meeting of the EU Foreign Affairs Council, Borrell said this was about 45% of the amount provided to Kyiv by the United States.  

Borrell added the EU would “continue isolating Russia internationally,” and continue imposing “restrictive measures,” against Russia’s economy.  

The Biden administration on Monday released new sanctions meant to target Russia’s military industry as well as networks that support two sanctioned Russian oligarchs as the Kremlin’s war against Ukraine continues.

The US Treasury and State Departments imposed sanctions on “a transnational network procuring technology that supports the Russian military-industrial complex,” according to a press release from Treasury, adding that this affects 14 people, 28 entities and eight aircraft.

Here's a look at some of those affected by the sanctions:

A member of Ukraine's parliament says that a US citizen has been freed from detention thanks to the liberation of Kherson.

"With the liberation of Kherson, one of the prisoners was released, a US citizen Suedi Murekezi," Alexandr Kovaliov said on his Facebook page.

Kovoliav added that Murekezi had "defended the independence of our country, for which he was arrested."

"The coordinated actions of our team led to the release of another US citizen from captivity. Today he is already free and returning home," Kovaliov added. 

Kovaliov said Murekezi had been arrested in Kherson, "and for a long time there was no contact with him. But thanks to the efforts of our team, Mr. Murekezi's location was established and he was returned from captivity."

According to published reports, Murekezi was detained in Kherson in July. 

The State Department is aware of “unconfirmed reports” about the release of a US citizen who was held in Kherson during the Russian occupation. 

A State Department spokesperson said they had “no further comment on the matter “due to privacy considerations.”

“We also once again reiterate U.S. citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of U.S. citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that U.S. citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options,” the spokesperson said.