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The latest developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. All times EDT.
10:03 p.m.: The Estonian government on Thursday announced a bill to remove Soviet monuments from public spaces, arguing that they incite hatred amid Russia's war in Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reported.
The parliament of fellow Baltic state Latvia had earlier voted to remove all remaining Soviet statues and plaques by mid-November, prompting Russia to summon its ambassador.
Both Estonia and Latvia have large Russian-speaking minorities that are sometimes at odds with the national governments. There have been concerns that Moscow could seek to exploit these differences to destabilize the countries, both EU and NATO members.
Estonia had already taken down many of the monuments since it broke free from the crumbling Soviet Union in 1991. It moved to dismantle the remainder of them after Russia invaded Ukraine earlier this year, a conflict in which Tallinn has sided with Kyiv.
9:04 p.m.:
8:11 p.m.: Spain is to send Ukraine two more HAWK surface-to-air missile launchers on top of the four it dispatched to counter the Russian invasion, the Spanish government said Thursday, Agence France-Presse reported.
"Two extra launchers will be sent" following a request from NATO, Defense Minister Margarita Robles said. Earlier this month, Madrid said it was sending anti-missile and air defense systems, including four HAWK missile launchers and an Aspide surface-to-air missile system.
Spain will also train 64 members of the Ukrainian military in the central Spanish city of Toledo starting next week on deactivating explosives, mine clearance and sharpshooting.
Twenty-one other Ukrainian soldiers are being trained to handle 105/14 howitzers in the southern city of Almeria, and another 19 have learned how to use the Aspide.
The ministry says Spain is to train around 400 Ukrainian soldiers every two months.
7:13 p.m.:
6:36 p.m.: Efforts to persuade Russia and Ukraine to install a protection perimeter around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are "very complicated," the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog chief said Thursday, while vowing not to "lose patience," Agence France-Presse reported.
The plant — Europe's largest, located in Ukraine, but in territory Russia claims to have annexed — is near the scene of constant shelling and only has enough power to keep its six shut reactors from melting down.
The site is close to the line between Russian and Ukrainian forces and the two sides have in recent months repeatedly accused each other of shelling around the plant, leading to fears of a nuclear disaster.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began shuttle diplomacy several weeks ago on securing the site.
5:45 p.m.: U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will tell India on Friday that ending Russia's war in Ukraine is a "moral imperative," but that economic challenges from the conflict and supply strains were drawing India and the United States closer together, Reuters reported.
In excerpts of remarks prepared for delivery at a Microsoft India (MSFT.O) research facility near New Delhi, Yellen lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent sharper tone on the conflict after he avoided condemning Russia's invasion for most of the year.
"Prime Minister Modi was correct when he said that this 'is not an era of war,'" Yellen said in the excerpts released by the Treasury.
"I believe that ending Russia's war is a moral imperative. It is also the single best thing we can do to help the global economy. This is a view that is broadly shared among policymakers of the world's major economies," Yellen said.
5:05 p.m.:
4:07 p.m.: Each time Ukrainian pensioner Halyna Halytska prepares for her hospital treatment, she is preoccupied with a single thought: Will there be enough power and water to see her through?
Outages, caused by Russian airstrikes on Ukraine’s infrastructure, can last for hours at a time as Halytska and 27 other patients lie tied to their dialysis machines in hospital in Obukhiv, a city south of Kyiv, Reuters reported.
The power cuts hit pumping stations, a particular worry for the patients whose treatments use hundreds of liters of running water. Doctors do their best. But sometimes the pipes run dry, and they have to curtail the life-saving treatments.
3:18 p.m.: Countries scrambling this year to source more natural gas to replace supplies from Russia are risking years of emissions that could thwart climate goals, the research collaboration Climate Action Tracker said on Thursday.
Efforts to stave off disastrous climate change collided this year with a global energy crisis of scarce gas and soaring fuel prices, as Russia sharply cut gas deliveries to Europe following its February 24 invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
"We're witnessing a major push for expanded fossil gas LNG production and import capacity across the world – in Europe, Africa, North America, Asia and Australia – which could cause global emissions to breach dangerous levels," said Bill Hare, CEO of research institute Climate Analytics, which together with NewClimate Institute forms Climate Action Tracker.
The planned projects could emit 10% of the world's remaining carbon budget - the cumulative amount that can be emitted if warming beyond 1.5C is to be avoided, CAT said. Among the projects are new gas drilling in Canada and liquefied natural gas import capacity in Germany and Vietnam.
2:30 p.m.: Sweden will continue its dialogue with Turkey to overcome objections raised by Ankara over its application to join the NATO alliance, Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom said on Thursday.
"I think the discussions are continuing in a very positive way," Billstrom told reporters in Berlin after meeting his German counterpart, Reuters reported.
Billstrom said discussions would continue on all levels and that he would go to Ankara shortly, while discussions between authorities in Sweden, Turkey and Finland would continue at the same time.
2:10 p.m.: The European Union has announced it won't accept Russian travel documents issued in Ukraine and Georgia, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
The European Council said in a statement on Thursday that the decision is a "response" to Russia’s "unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine" and Russia's practice of issuing Russian international passports to residents of the occupied regions.
"It also follows Russia’s unilateral decision to recognize the independence of the Georgian territories of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 2008," it added. The move still needs to be formally signed off by the European Parliament and EU member states.
1:55 p.m.:
1:40 p.m.: Italian Premier Giorgia Meloni pledged Italy’s “strong commitment” to NATO and efforts to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, taking a firm pro-alliance stance Thursday following the pro-Russia sentiments expressed by one of her governing coalition partners, The Associated Press reported.
Meloni told NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg during a meeting at her office that the best way to defend European security was to remain united.
“Given our principal challenge today, Italy strongly supports the territorial integrity, sovereignty and freedom of Ukraine,” Meloni said with Stoltenberg at her side. “The political cohesion of the alliance and our full commitment to supporting the Ukrainian cause are, from our point of view, the best response that NATO allies can give.”
1:25 p.m.: Russian commanders faced shouted obscenities and threats as they tried to control newly mobilized soldiers in the Tatarstan region. Footage that surfaced on a Telegram channel from early November shows enraged draftees chanting and accusing Russian Army leaders of selling off ammunition. Recruits have complained about shortages of proper uniforms and fuel for heat. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has this report.
1:10 p.m.: The U.S. will send $400 million more in military aid to Ukraine, several U.S. officials said Thursday, amid concerns that financial assistance for the war against Russia could decline a bit if Republicans take control of Congress, The Associated Press reported. An announcement is expected Thursday.
According to officials, the aid package will contain large amounts of ammunition and, for the first time, highly mobile Avenger Air Defense Systems. Officials said there will be ammunition for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, known as HIMARS, which Ukraine has been successfully using in its counteroffensive against Russia. There also will be mortars and missiles for the Hawk surface-to-air anti-aircraft system.
The additional ammunition and air defense capabilities come as Russian troops began pulling out of the key Ukrainian city of Kherson, in a widening retreat that could mark a turning point in the war.
12:50 p.m.:
12:30 p.m.: The United States has detected some signs that Russian forces may be planning to withdraw from the Ukraine city of Kherson, the White House said on Thursday.
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Russian withdrawal from some areas in Ukraine does not mean the Ukraine war is concluding, Reuters reported.
He said Washington was not pressuring Ukraine to engage in diplomacy with Russia over the war.
12:15 p.m.:
12:05 p.m.: Amnesty International has accused Russia of committing war crimes, and "likely" crimes against humanity, through the forcible transfer and deportation of civilians from Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
The rights group said in a report issued on November 10 that Russian and Russia-imposed authorities forced civilians to go through an "abusive" screening process known as filtration, where some were arbitrarily detained, subject to torture or other ill-treatment, and separated from their children.
The report says it documented cases in which members of specific groups -- including children, the elderly, and people with disabilities -- were forcibly transferred to other Ukrainian regions controlled by Russian troops or unlawfully transferred to Russia.
In one case, a woman was separated from her 11-year-old son during filtration, detained, and not reunited with him, a clear violation of international humanitarian law.
11:50 a.m.: U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv this week. She said she expressed to Zelenskyy the United States’ steadfast support of Ukraine, which Russia invaded on February 24. Thomas-Greenfield spoke with VOA Eastern Europe Bureau Chief Myroslava Gongadze in Warsaw.
11:30 a.m.: Russia's leading war hawks have swiftly rallied behind the decision to abandon the Ukrainian city of Kherson, putting a brave face on one of Moscow's most humiliating retreats in nearly nine months of war, Reuters reported.
The decision - described by one Russian military blogger as "a black page in the history of the Russian army" - was nonetheless quickly defended by some of the most high-profile proponents of the war as a wise and necessary action.
"After weighing all the pros and cons, General Surovikin made the difficult but right choice between senseless sacrifices for the sake of loud statements and saving the priceless lives of soldiers," said Ramzan Kadyrov, the Chechen leader who has frequently urged a more aggressive approach to the war and has even called for the use of low-grade nuclear weapons.
Another increasingly outspoken war hawk - Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner mercenary group which is fighting for Russia in Ukraine - was quoted by the RIA news agency as saying: "The decision taken by Surovikin is not easy, but he acted like a man who is not afraid of responsibility."
Margarita Simonyan, editor-in-chief of state media outlet RT, went even further, comparing the retreat to the decision by General Mikhail Kutuzov to abandon Moscow to Napoleon in 1812 for the sake of preserving his army and saving Russia.
Their chorus of supportive comments on Wednesday suggested a concerted attempt to close ranks behind the top military leadership at a perilous moment in the war and to put on a united front. But their comments barely disguised the bitter taste of the retreat.
11:20 a.m.:
11:05 a.m.: Ukrainian troops pushed forward and a battle-scarred stretch of the front fell silent on Thursday, after Moscow ordered one of the war's biggest retreats, Reuters reported.
A small group of Ukrainian soldiers was shown on Ukraine's state TV being greeted by joyous residents in the center of the village of Snihurivka around 55 km (35 miles) north of Kherson city, with a Ukrainian flag fluttering above the square behind them. Reuters verified the location of the video.
A few kilometers away, in a devastated frontline village reached by Reuters in an area already held by Ukrainian forces, the guns had fallen silent for what residents said was the first quiet night since the war began.
"It's like there was no war," said Nadiia Nizarenko, 85, her face lit by a bulb powered by a car battery in the cramped apartment that she, her daughter and son-in-law had refused to abandon as fighting had raged daily around them. "We hope the silence means the Russians are leaving."
Ukraine's army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said Ukrainian troops had advanced 7 km in the past 24 hours and had recaptured 12 settlements in the south, although he would not confirm whether Russia was indeed pulling out as announced.
10:45 a.m.:
10:30 a.m.: The European Commission on Thursday proposed two action plans to address the "deteriorating security environment" following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to bolster cyber defense and to allow armed forces to move faster and better across borders, Reuters reported.
"Cyberspace has no borders," the European Union's executive said in a statement. "Recent cyber-attacks on energy networks, transport infrastructure and space assets show the risks that they pose to both civilian and military actors."
It said this called for more action to protect citizens and armed forces, as well as the EU's civilian and military missions and operations, against cyber threats.
A separate Action Plan on Military Mobility will help European armed forces to respond better, more rapidly and at sufficient scale to crises erupting at the EU's external borders and beyond, the Commission said.
10:20 a.m.:
10:05 a.m.: Ukrainian troops advanced in the south on Thursday after Moscow ordered one of the war's biggest retreats, though Kyiv remained publicly wary, warning that fleeing Russians could turn Kherson into a "city of death."
Ukraine's army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said Kyiv could not yet confirm whether Russia was indeed pulling out, but that Ukrainian troops had advanced 7 km (4 miles) in the past 24 hours and recaptured 12 settlements.
"We continue to conduct the offensive operation in line with our plan," he wrote in a post on Telegram.
A small group of Ukrainian soldiers was shown on Ukraine's state TV in the center of the village of Snihurivka around 55 km north of Kherson city. They were greeted by dozens of residents in a square, with a Ukrainian flag fluttering from a pole behind them. Reuters verified the location of the video.
9:55 a.m.:
9:40 a.m.: Authorities In Chechnya are using aggressive shaming to boost the number of volunteers for Russia's Ukraine war, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Thursday.
Russian forces have sustained heavy losses in the war in Ukraine, and fighters from Chechnya are no exception: On October 24, dozens of Chechen men were killed in an artillery strike on the building where they were staying in the Kherson region town of Kayiry.
In a fiery Telegram post the same day, Kremlin-backed strongman Ramzan Kadyrov claimed Chechens in Ukraine were “defending their religion and family values” and proposed dramatically increasing the number of men from Chechnya sent to the war.
Officials have been releasing videos of Chechen soldiers berating so-called “useless Chechens” for not showing sufficient enthusiasm for “protecting Russia’s interests.”
9:25 a.m.:
9:15 a.m.: Russia will announce a number of initiatives related to gas cooperation with Turkey and grain exports at a gathering of leaders from the Group of 20 (G20) nations in Indonesia next week, the foreign ministry said on Thursday, according to Reuters.
"A number of specific initiatives are planned, including increasing gas cooperation with Turkey, (and) organizing large shipments of grain and fertilizers," it said in a statement.
President Vladimir Putin, who will not be attending the summit in person, has proposed the idea of creating what he calls a "gas hub" in Turkey, via which shipments of Russian gas could be sold on to the European market.
The foreign ministry said it hoped the summit would contribute to the establishment of a "multipolar" world, a term Putin often uses to criticise what he argues is Western dominance in global affairs.
9:05 a.m.:
8:50 a.m.: The British government said on Thursday it had frozen assets worth more than 18 billion pounds ($20.5 billion) held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and businesses sanctioned over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
Russia has overtaken Libya and Iran to become Britain's most-sanctioned nation, the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of the finance ministry, said in its annual report.
The frozen Russian assets were 6 billion pounds more than the amount reported across all other British sanctions regimes.
Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich and businessman Mikhail Fridman are among those sanctioned this year, along with President Vladimir Putin, his family and military commanders.
8:35 a.m.:
8:20 a.m.: EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has paid an official visit to Moldova, where she announced a 250 million-euro ($250 million) financial package to help one of Europe's poorest countries overcome a severe energy crisis amid Russia's war in Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
Von der Leyen said on November 10 that Moldova was to receive 100 million euros in grants and the same amount again in loans from the European Union to help it meet its gas needs this winter, starting on January 1.
An extra 50 million euros will help the country's most vulnerable citizens, von der Leyen said at a joint news conference with Moldova's pro-Western president, Maia Sandu.
"European solidarity with the Republic of Moldova is unshakable," von der Leyen said. "We assure you that we will do our best to help you through this crisis."
8:10 a.m.:
7:55 a.m.: Russia said on Thursday that it had summoned the Latvian ambassador in protest over what it said was the demolition of Soviet-era monuments, Reuters reported citing Moscow’s Foreign Ministry.
"A strong protest was issued to the head of the Latvian diplomatic mission in connection with the ongoing policy of state vandalism in Latvia to dismantle Soviet memorials," the foreign ministry said.
7:40 a.m.:
7:20 a.m.: Ukraine signed a peace accord Thursday with Southeast Asian nations, a largely symbolic act that comes as Kyiv seeks to shore up international support in isolating Russia, The Associated Press reported.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba signed the “Treaty on Amity and Cooperation in Southeast Asia” as the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations got underway in Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital.
The ASEAN summit kicks off a series of three top-level meetings in Asia, with the Group of 20 summit in Bali to follow and then the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Bangkok. They come as Russia seeks new markets for its energy products to avoid Western sanctions following its invasion of Ukraine.
As a group, the ASEAN nations, with a combined population of nearly 700 million, have been reserved in their stance toward the invasion, condemning the war but generally trying to avoid assigning blame. Eight of 10 ASEAN countries did vote in favor of the U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning Russian aggression, with Vietnam and Laos abstaining.
7:05 a.m.:
6:50 a.m.: Russia's decision to withdraw troops from near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson is a positive step, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Thursday.
Erdogan was responding to a question about prospects of talks between Moscow and Kyiv at a news conference before departing on a visit to Uzbekistan for a Turkic states summit, Reuters reported.
6:35 a.m.:
6:20 a.m.: Ukrainian forces have advanced seven km (4.3 miles) in two directions in the south and captured 12 new settlements in the last 24 hours, Ukrainian army chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said on Thursday.
"We can't yet confirm or deny the information of the so-called withdrawal of Russian occupation troops from Kherson. We continue to conduct the offensive operation in line with our plan," he wrote in a post on Telegram, according to Reuters.
6 a.m.: The British government said on Thursday that it had frozen assets together worth 18 billion pounds ($20.5 billion) held by Russian oligarchs, other individuals and entities sanctioned for Moscow's invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported.
The frozen Russian assets were 6 billion pounds more than the amount reported across all other British sanctions regimes.
"We have imposed the most severe sanctions ever on Russia and it is crippling their war machine," said Andrew Griffith, a junior government minister in the Treasury. "Our message is clear: we will not allow Putin to succeed in this brutal war."
5:17 a.m.: Ukrainian economy minister Yulia Svyrydenko said Russia’s destruction of civilian infrastructure in recent weeks would widen the expected contraction of gross domestic product to 39% from an earlier forecast calling for a 35% drop, Reuters reported.
Svyrydenko told reporters on Wednesday the Ukrainian government was taking steps to reduce the size of the government that would also include reduction of staff and privatize smaller state-owned enterprises.
Svyrydenko, who also serves as first deputy prime minister, said Ukraine is also seeking a yearlong extension of the suspension of U.S. steel tariffs to help Ukrainian steelmakers, who have been hit hard by Russian missile attacks.
Svyrydenko said she discussed the issue with U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai during a meeting in Washington earlier on Wednesday.
She also met on Tuesday with U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, who pledged continued strong support for Ukraine, including efforts by the U.S. government and private sector to help rebuild Ukraine's civilian infrastructure.
4:17 a.m.: The latest intelligence update from the U.K. defense ministry said Russia’s ability to sustain its forces on the west bank of the Dnipro river had been placed under pressure by Ukrainian strikes on Russia’s resupply routes. With limited crossing points, Russian forces will be vulnerable in crossing the Dnipro River as its forces withdraw. It is likely that the withdrawal will take place over several days with defensive positions and artillery fires covering withdrawing forces.
3:09 a.m.:
2:13 a.m.: The U.N. General Assembly scheduled a vote for Monday on a resolution that would call for Russia to be held accountable for violating international law by invading Ukraine, including by paying reparations.
The draft resolution, obtained Tuesday by The Associated Press, would recognize the need to establish "an international mechanism for reparation for damage, loss or injury'" arising from Russia's "wrongful acts" against Ukraine.
It would recommend that the assembly's 193 member nations, in cooperation with Ukraine, create "an international register" to document claims and information on damage, loss or injury to Ukrainians and the government caused by Russia.
Russia's veto power in the 15-member Security Council has blocked the U.N.'s most powerful body from taking any action since President Vladimir Putin ordered his forces to invade Ukraine on Feb. 24. But there are no vetoes in the General Assembly, which already has adopted four resolutions criticizing Russia's invasion.
1:06 a.m.: The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in its latest Ukraine assessment that Russian and Ukrainian sources reported continued fighting along the Svatove-Kremmina highway and Bilohorivka, Luhansk Oblast. Ukrainian forces made territorial gains northeast of Kherson City and continued their successful interdiction campaign, the assessment said, while Russian forces continued offensive operations around Bakhmut, Avdiivka, and in western Donetsk Oblast.
12:02 a.m.: Agence France-Presse reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not go to the G-20 summit in Bali.
12 a.m.: A top U.S. general said that more than 100,000 Russian troops have been killed or wounded in Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reported.
"You're looking at well over 100,000 Russian soldiers killed and wounded," U.S. General Mark Milley told the Economic Club of New York. He said Ukrainian forces likely have had similar casualties.
Some information in this report came from Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
