November 15, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

President Volodymyr Zelensky presented a 10-point peace plan to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a video speech to G20 leaders in Bali on Tuesday, according to a transcript shared by the Embassy of Ukraine in Indonesia.

The steps includes a path to nuclear safety, food security, a special tribunal for alleged Russian war crimes, and a final peace treaty with Moscow, according to a transcript of the speech.

He also urged G20 leaders to use all their power to “make Russia abandon nuclear threats” and implement a price cap on energy imported from Moscow.

Foundation for victory: In the address, Zelensky compared the recent liberation of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to the battles leading to the Allied defeat of Germany in World War II.

Zelensky also called on Russia to stop bombing Ukraine’s energy infrastructure as winter approaches. “Let Russia prove by its rejection of terror that it is really interested in the restoration of peace,” he said.

Moscow has been isolated at this year’s G20 summit as multiple Western leaders vowed not to have any contact with its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is in attendance on behalf of the Kremlin. 

Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated Beijing's stance that peace talks should be held to end the war in Ukraine during the G20 summit in Bali on Tuesday, according to state media, though he once again stopped short of condemning Russia's actions.

Some context: Although China has consistently called for an end to hostilities in Ukraine, it has refused to condemn Russia's invasion. Instead, Beijing has called for the "legitimate security concerns of all parties" to be recognized, while blaming the US and NATO for the conflict.

Beijing and Moscow have become close partners in recent years as both face tensions with the West, with Xi and Russian President Vladimir Putin declaring the two countries had a "no-limits" partnership weeks before Russia's invasion began

So far, Beijing has not provided direct military or financial aid to Moscow that could spark sanctions from Washington. Meanwhile, Chinese state media has previously reported on Xi’s support for international peace talks as a mechanism for ending the war. 

In September, Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Wang Wenbin called on the “relevant parties” in Ukraine to “achieve a ceasefire through dialogue and negotiation.”

President Joe Biden is confronting competing issues at home and abroad while he’s at the Group of 20 Summit in Bali this week, using the moment on the world’s stage to lean into international support for condemning Russia’s aggression while also facing the prospect of hearing Donald Trump announce his next run for the presidency.

Administration officials previewing Biden’s G20 summit activities have their sights set on the coalition’s efforts to voice its opposition against the war in Ukraine, which could send a powerful signal amongst a group that’s so far had fragmented approaches to the Kremlin’s aggression.

Such an expression of condemnation has been the work of months of diplomacy between G20 leaders. However, it’s not clear yet exactly which countries will sign onto the declaration.

Although the G20 is comprised of world powers who have long backed Ukraine during the war, it also includes other nations that have been tepid in their response to Russia’s aggression — including India, China, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia, the host of this year’s summit. The coalition, which is broadly focused on the global economy, also includes Russia itself. But Russian President Vladimir Putin is not making an appearance at the summit this year.

Since the spring, US officials have anticipated a showdown at this year’s G20 over the war. Biden has stated Russia should no longer be a member of the bloc, though expelling Moscow would require support from all of the G20’s members.

As of now, no official “family photo” is listed on a schedule, a sign of the deep acrimony within the G20 spurred by the war in Ukraine.

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All critical infrastructure in Kherson was destroyed while under Russian occupation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Monday after visiting the southern city. 

The Ukrainian president added that efforts are being made to return life to normal in Kherson.

Earlier on Monday, officials said they were working to repair damaged bridges and restore Kherson’s electricity supply. 

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.

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

Zaluzhnyi said he had told Milley 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.

"Defense forces, despite the fierce resistance of the occupation troops, continue offensive actions in the Kharkiv sector."

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

Three days after Banksy debuted his latest mural on Instagram, spray painted on the wall of a bombed building in the city of Borodianka, Ukraine, the anonymous street artist confirmed that he completed seven new works in Ukraine in total.

Banksy confirmed the news to The Art Newspaper after a series of murals suspected to be his appeared in the liberated Ukrainian city, which is located about 35 miles northwest of Kyiv. Other works are located in ​​the capital and other cities in the region.

The first artwork to be identified, which went viral over the weekend, shows a female gymnast balancing on a pile of rubble on the side of a building damaged by Russian strikes.

The graffiti artist posted three images of the piece Friday on social media, with a simple caption reading "Borodyanka, Ukraine" — an alternative spelling for the town's name.

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Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose Wagner Group is heavily involved in the fighting in Ukraine, has applauded a video in which a former member of the group is brutally murdered.

The video surfaced over the weekend on the Grey Zone Telegram channel, which frequently showcases the activities of mercenary fighters of the Wagner Group, which is accused of war crimes in Africa, Syria and Ukraine.

It showed a member of the group who had deserted and gone over to the Ukrainian side being murdered with a sledgehammer. The man is named (and names himself in the video) as Yevgeny Nuzhin.

Prigozhin was asked on his Telegram channel about the killing. Without directly acknowledging that Wagner fighters had carried out the murder, he said: “Nuzhin betrayed his people, betrayed his comrades, betrayed them consciously. He was not taken prisoner, nor did he surrender. Rather, he planned his escape. Nuzhin is a traitor.”

In a separate Telegram post Prigozhin called the video “an excellent director’s work.”

Read more here.