November 15, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

US Defense Department Press Sec. Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said the US is “aware of the press reports alleging that two Russian missiles have struck a location inside Poland near the Ukraine border” but does not currently have information to corroborate those reports.

The Defense Department repeated that the US “will defend every inch of NATO territory” as the US waits for more information. 

Ryder said the US is “very confident” in its force protection in Europe.

“When it comes to force protection, we always take the safety and security of our troops no matter where they’re serving very seriously,” said Ryder.

Two missiles or rockets are reported to have hit a farm in Poland, near the border with Ukraine. Two people are reported killed.

Polish media showed an image of a deep impact and upturned farm vehicle at the site, near the town of Przewodow.

It's unclear where the projectiles came from.

However, the missiles or rockets landed at roughly the same time as a Russian missile attack on western Ukraine.

A government spokesperson said that Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has convened the Committee of the Council of Ministers for National Security and Defense Affairs.

Russia unleashed a torrent of missiles on Ukraine Tuesday, the same day that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelesnky delivered a video speech to the G20 and a week after Russian forces retreated from the southern city of Kherson.

Here's what we know so far.

Multiple cities and regions targeted: Multiple cities and districts — Kyiv, Kharkiv, Lviv, Mykolaiv, Kryvyi Rih, the Poltava region, Chernihiv, Sumy, Rivne, the Khmelnytskyi region and the Vinnytsia region — were targeted by Russian missiles, according to a CNN analysis of the strikes.

Zelensky said Russia launched about 85 missiles, mainly on energy infrastructure.

The wave of strikes appears to be the largest since Oct. 10, when Russia stepped up its campaign to destroy electricity, water and gas infrastructure across Ukraine. 

Residential buildings struck in Kyiv: Three strikes hit apartment buildings in the capital, according to officials. The Kyiv city military administration reported that one person was killed in a strike that had a residential building in the Pecherskyi district.

Millions without power: At least seven million Ukrainians are without electricity as a result of the barrage of missile attacks Tuesday, according to an official, who said that 15 facilities of Ukraine's energy infrastructure had been damaged during the Russian missile strikes. Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klitschko said that power engineers were beginning emergency power outages in the capital. At least half of consumers have no electricity, he said.

The US unveiled additional sanctions on entities involved in the production and transfer of Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles (aka drones) to Russia that have been “used in devastating attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” the US Treasury announced Tuesday.

The sanctions include several aviation related companies and two people who facilitated the Russian mercenary Wagner Group’s “acquisition of UAVs from Iran.” The two are Abbas Djuma and Tigran Khristoforovich Srabionov.

Moldova has suffered "massive power cuts" following a series of Russian missile strikes across Ukraine that targeted energy facilities, Moldovan Deputy Prime Minister and Infrastructure Minister Andrei Spinu said Tuesday.

Spinu said in a post on his Telegram account that “following Russia's bombardment of the Ukrainian power system,” one of the power lines carrying electricity to Moldova has been disconnected.

The minister added that the line was not damaged but automatically disconnected as a safety measure and that authorities are working to restore the connection.

Spinu said that the Russian aggression against Ukraine “directly affects” Moldova, warning that the risks of power cuts remain high. 

“Any Russian bombing of Ukrainian power plants could lead to a repeat of today's situation,” he said, urging residents to continue to save electricity.

The deputy head of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, says that more than seven million Ukrainians are without electricity as a result of the barrage of missile attacks Tuesday.

Tymoshenko said that 15 facilities of Ukraine's energy infrastructure had been damaged during the Russian missile strikes, but Ukrainian air defenses had shot down 70 of more than 90 missiles fired at Ukraine. 

The missile attacks targeting Ukrainian cities "shows only Putin’s weakness," British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Tuesday during the G20 summit in Bali, Indonesia. 

"The callous targeting of Ukrainian cities with more sickening missile attacks today shows only Putin’s weakness," Cleverly said in a tweet. "Putin is losing on the battlefield and – as we saw today at the G20 – diplomatically too.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned Russia’s missile attacks across Ukraine Tuesday.

In a tweet, Blinken said that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky “again today by making clear he is prepared for diplomacy toward a just end to the war Russia started.”

Zelesnky earlier Tuesday outlined a 10-point peace plan to end Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a video speech to G20 leaders in Bali, Indonesia.

“Russia's response was another wave of missiles,” Blinken said. “These attacks will not break Ukraine’s will—we will be with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

US national security adviser Jake Sullivan condemned a series of missile strikes against Ukraine in a statement on Tuesday, writing that the attacks will "only deepen the concerns among the G20 about the destabilizing impact of Putin’s war.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said about 85 strikes have been launched on Ukraine so far. According to a CNN analysis of the strikes, at least a dozen cities and districts were targeted. The wave of strikes appears to be the largest since Oct. 10, when Russia stepped up its campaign to destroy electricity, water and gas infrastructure across Ukraine.

Looking forward, Sullivan pledged the United States allies “will continue to provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself, including air defense systems. We will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”