2023-11-20 12:11:58
► The head of the Pentagon in kyiv to reassure American support
The American Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin, arrived in kyiv on Monday, November 20, for a surprise visit intended to reassure Ukraine of the sustainability of American support in the face of the Russian invasion.
Lloyd Austin is in kyiv “to meet with Ukrainian leaders and reinforce the United States’ unwavering support for Ukraine’s fight for freedom”the Pentagon said in a statement about this visit, which had not been announced for security reasons.
I just arrived in Kyiv to meet with Ukrainian leaders.
I’m here today to deliver an important message – the United States will continue to stand with Ukraine in their fight for freedom against Russia’s aggression, both now and into the future. pic.twitter.com/1D96aeeACl
— Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III (@SecDef) November 20, 2023
The trip to kyiv (by train from Poland) is the Pentagon chief’s second since Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
►Ukraine claims a significant advance near the Dnieper
Ukraine said on Sunday it had repelled the Russian army “from 3 to 8 km” deep on the left bank of the Dnieper occupied by the Moscow army, the first numerical estimate of the advance of kyiv’s troops in this area, after months of unsuccessful counter-offensive.
“Preliminary figures vary from 3 to 8 km, depending on the specificities, geography and topography of the left bank”, an army spokeswoman told Ukrainian television. If this advance is confirmed, it would be the biggest push by the Ukrainian army against the Russians in several months.
Natalia Goumeniouk did not, however, indicate whether Ukrainian forces completely controlled this area of the Kherson region or whether the Russian army had withdrawn in the face of attacks by Kiev troops. “The enemy continues its artillery fire on the right bank,” she detailed, estimating the number of Russian soldiers present in this area at “several tens of thousands”.
►A young orphan transferred to Russia last year repatriated to Ukraine
Kiev and Moscow announced on Sunday that they had repatriated a 17-year-old Ukrainian orphan, transferred to Russia from the city of Mariupol after its occupation by the Russian army in spring 2022, following a bloody siege.
“On November 19, his birthday, Bogdan returned to Ukraine,” rejoiced the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Ukrainian Parliament, Dmytro Loubinets, who underlined the role « you Qatar (et) from Unicef » in the repatriation, without giving more details.
The teenager was living in Mariupol at the time of the Russian invasion in February 2022. Transferred to Russia, he tried last March to flee Russia to return to Ukraine before being arrested by Russian law enforcement near from the Belarusian border.
Ukraine estimates that 20,000 Ukrainian children have been forcibly sent to Russia. A practice which has earned Vladimir Putin prosecution by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the “illegal deportation” thousands of Ukrainian children.
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