Russia summons UK envoy over drone attack – DW – 11/03/2022
Russia has called on the UK envoy Thursday, claiming London had a hand in a Ukrainian drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.
“Such confrontational actions of the English carry a threat of escalation of the situation and could lead to unpredictable and dangerous consequences,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.
British Ambassador Deborah Bonnert went to the Russian Foreign Ministry and had a conversation for about half an hour, according to Russian state news outlet TASS. She arrived at the building with protesters accusing the UK of being a “terrorist state.”
The UK has called Moscow’s allegations regarding the drone attack “false claims of an epic scale.” Russia has also accused London of being involved in explosions on the Nord Stream pipelines in September.
Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Thursday, November 3:
Microsoft extends wartime assistance to Ukraine
Tech giant Microsoft announced that it will provide Ukraine with another $100 million (€101 million) in tech assistance, as Russia’s invasion presses forward.
Ukraine will be able to to utilize the company’s cloud and data centers across Europe through the end of 2023.
“Part of what this war has shown is that one needs to move services to the cloud in a time of war to ensure their resilience and security,” Microsoft Vice Chairman Brad Smith told journalists at the annual Web Summit tech meeting in Lisbon, Portugal.
Smith said his company is pleased to take part in a “digital alliance of countries and companies and nonprofits standing together to support Ukraine.”
Zaporizhzhia plant again disconnected from power grid
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in southeastern Ukraine has been disconnected from its power grid again following Russian shelling, according to a Telegram post from plant operator Energoatom.
The operator said the plant is currently reliant on diesel fuel. Energoatom said the generators have enough fuel to power the plant for only 15 days.
“The countdown has begun,” Energoatom said, while adding that its options are limited to “maintain the ZNPP in a safe mode.”
The company claimed that Russia bombed two of its power lines overnight. Energoatom believes said Moscow wants to repair the plant and then connect it to the Russian grid.
Although Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed an order bringing the plant under Moscow’s control, Ukrainian workers still operate the facility. The plant has been occupied by Russian forces since the early stages of the invasion.
Melitopol witnesses explosions overnight
The Russian occupied city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine experienced multiple explosions overnight, according to regional officials.
Pro-Russian occupation representative Vladimir Rogov claimed on Telegram that Russian air defenses were shooting down a barrage of Ukrainian missiles.
Displaced Ukrainian Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said a building with Russian employees inside was targeted.
The claims from the two sides have not been independently verified.
UN Security Council rejects Moscow-backed biological weapons resolution
The UN Security Council late on Wednesday rejected a resolution drafted by Russia to investigate its allegations that the US is developing biological weapons in Ukraine.
Russia and China were the only votes in favor of the investigation, while US, France and Britain, which all have veto powers, voted against. All 10 non-permanent members of the Security Council abstained.
Moscow had asked for a committee to investigate its allegations that Ukraine and the US are engaging in “military biological” activities outside the convention against the use of biological weapons. These claims were dismissed by the US and Ukraine as disinformation or even a possible precursor to a “false flag” operation by Russia.
Russia circulated the draft resolution and a 310-page document to council members last week, alleging biological activities were taking place in laboratories in Ukraine with support from the US Defense Department.
Russia’s deputy ambassador to the UN, Dmitry Polyansky, expressed disappointment at the outcome of the vote.
“Western countries demonstrated in every way that the law does not apply to them,” he said. “This is a usual colonial mentality that we’re used to and we’re not even surprised by it.”
Russia plans to raise the issue again at the review conference of the Biological Weapons Convention, from November 28 to December 16 in Geneva.
US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield addressed the claims and said, “The US voted against this resolution because it is based on disinformation, dishonesty, bad faith and a total lack of respect” for the Security Council.
Both Western powers and Russia have faced considerable difficulty passing any resolutions on the conflict in Ukraine through the Security Council, given that at least four of the world’s five veto holders have strong and conflicting opinions on it.
Zelenskyy hails Russia’s agreeing to resume grain export deal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed Russia’s decision to resume the deal to allow the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea on Wednesday.
Zelenskyy called it “a significant diplomatic result for our country and the whole world” in his nightly video address after the resuscitation of the deal reached between Kyiv and Moscow in July, mediated by Turkey and the UN.
The Ukrainian president said Russia’s call for guarantees reflected “the failure of the Russian aggression.” After eight months of war, “the Kremlin is demanding security guarantees from Ukraine,” he said.
Russia said it had pulled out of the accord over the weekend after an attack on its Black Sea fleet.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry, the reversal of the decision was influenced by the Ukrainian government’s assurance that it won’t launch strikes via the maritime corridor.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said his country had the right to walk out of the grain deal once again, should Ukraine violate its security guarantees.
About 14 million people forced from their homes: UNHCR
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused the biggest and fastest human displacement in decades, impacting about 14 million people, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) director Filippo Grandi.
Speaking to the UN Security Council in New York on Wednesday, he called for “an end to this senseless war.”
“Some 14 million people have been forced from their homes,” since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Grandi said.
According to the UNHCR, more than 7 million Ukrainians have immigrated abroad — around 1 million of them to Germany. Grandi said the UN agency is getting ready for additional population movements both within and outside of Ukraine.
He warned that Ukrainians were poised to face “one of the world’s harshest winters in extremely difficult circumstances,” even as destruction of civilian infrastructure is “quickly making the humanitarian response look like a drop in the ocean of needs.”
ss/msh (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)