LIVE, war in Ukraine: UNHCR raises the alarm about the plight of displaced Ukrainians as winter approaches and launches an appeal for donations

The UN warned on Tuesday of its lack of resources, due in particular to the drastic cut in US funding, to protect millions of refugees and displaced people this winter. It launched an appeal for donations to raise at least $35 million.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is drawing particular attention to the plight of Ukrainians, Syrians, and Afghans. In these three countries, "families will have to endure freezing temperatures without the things many of us take for granted: decent shelter, good insulation, heating, blankets, warm clothing, or medicine," stressed Dominique Hyde, UNHCR's head of external relations, in a statement.

“Humanitarian budgets are on the verge of collapse, and the winter aid we provide will be significantly reduced this year,” warned ^Ms. Hyde. The UNHCR considers aid from private donors crucial to “help repair bombed-out houses, insulate homes, provide warmth and blankets for children and the elderly, and fund the purchase of medicines and hot meals,” she explained.

Under the presidency of Donald Trump, the United States, traditionally the world's largest donor, drastically reduced its foreign aid. Previously, Washington funded more than 40% of UNHCR's budget, and other major donor countries have reduced their contributions, significantly straining the agency's finances.

In Ukraine, temperatures could drop to -20°C, as the population prepares to experience a fourth winter in the context of a large-scale war since the 2022 Russian invasion . "Humanitarian needs continue to grow, with the intensification of attacks causing civilian casualties and destroying infrastructure, which is exacerbating gas, electricity and water shortages," insists the UNHCR.

The National Anti-Corruption Bureau announced on Monday a series of raids targeting a network suspected of extorting money from subcontractors of Energoatom, the state-owned nuclear company. Among those targeted are the Minister of Justice and the co-owner of Volodymyr Zelensky's production company.

JOE KLAMAR/AFP

The fallout is unpredictable but all the elements of a major political scandal are in place: on Monday, November 10, as generators compensating for power cuts roared through the streets of Kyiv, investigators from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) announced they had conducted dozens of raids as part of a wide-ranging investigation into a criminal system undermining the country's energy sector.

Around 120,000 Russian airstrikes have been recorded since the beginning of the year in the Kherson region, including 14,000 last month, according to the regional military administration.

"The daily and massive bombings, particularly in coastal areas and the regional capital, leave no choice but evacuation. We are ensuring an organized and safe departure for anyone making this difficult decision," said Olga Maliarchuk, deputy to the local military governor, during a meeting with members of the government.

Since the recapture of Kherson on November 11, 2022, more than 50,000 residents, including 7,000 children, have left the region, according to the local military administration.

"It is urgent to take effective measures against corruption," said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in his daily address , reacting to revelations about the existence of an extortion scheme within the nuclear energy company Energoatom.

“Energoatom currently provides the largest share of energy production in Ukraine. Transparency within the company is a priority. In the energy sector, as in all other sectors, all those who have implemented schemes must receive a clear procedural response ,” he continued, calling for convictions.

Ukrainian analysts from the DeepState website report a "significant increase " in the "grey zone," i.e., the disputed area, west of Uspenivka, a town in the north of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast which, according to them, Russian forces seized at the end of last week .

"Currently, the enemy is exerting active pressure on Nove and Novoouspenivske and is already beginning to absorb Rivnopillia," they write, stressing that the capture of the village could "open up an operational space" towards Houliaipole, a larger city located in the southwest of the area.

“During all this time, Houliaipole "It was an impregnable city for the enemy, who had made considerable efforts to try to penetrate it, particularly from Marfopil. A new route is now opening up, which could complicate the defense of this important locality," the analysts added.

Ukrainian anti-corruption agencies announced on Monday that they had conducted an operation which uncovered wrongdoing in the energy sector, which was also heavily damaged by Russian bombing.

"The work carried out has yielded thousands of hours of audio recordings, which constitute evidence of the activities of a high-level criminal organization operating in the energy and defense sectors," the National Anti-Corruption Agency (NABU) explained in a statement.

Operation Midas, conducted after a 15-month investigation in collaboration with the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP), resulted in 70 raids that uncovered a system of extortion targeting subcontractors of the nuclear energy company Energoatom and money laundering operations involving approximately $100 million , according to the report. Energoatom confirmed that its premises were raided and stated that it is cooperating with the investigation, without commenting on the allegations.

The NABU had previously published photos showing bags of euro and dollar banknotes, without providing further details about the operation. Both the NABU and the SAP were targeted by a law introduced by the government and enacted in July, which aimed to place them under the direct authority of the Attorney General, appointed by the President. Following protests from civil society and the European Union, the autonomy of both institutions was restored.

The Russian army continues to intensify its efforts in Pokrovsk, where it launched 132 attacks last week, almost 20% more than in the previous week, reports the ^7th Corps of the Ukrainian Airborne Forces, which says it is maintaining "a defensive line" there.

The city's defenders are thwarting attempts by Russian soldiers to establish themselves in high-rise buildings, "which they are trying to use as strategic points," allowing other units "to carry out clearing missions," he wrote on Telegram.

According to him, the most intense fighting is taking place in the industrial zone, located in the north of the city . "The enemy's infiltration routes into this sector are under the control of our military. The enemy therefore has limited capacity to compensate for its losses," the unit continued.

Russian forces are also seeking to advance towards Hrychyne, northwest of Pokrovsk, but are encountering a multi-line defense system whose logistics are still being ensured, she says, adding that they are also trying unsuccessfully to infiltrate Myrnohrad, the neighboring city, from the southeast.

In its 4 p.m. update , the Ukrainian army headquarters reported 125 clashes across the entire front since the beginning of the day, including 51 in the Pokrovsk sector.

To counter the barrages of Russian Shahed drones, Ukraine has developed a multi-layered defense system that combines detection capabilities, such as the Sky Fortress acoustic system, with various interception methods. Mobile firing teams, most often equipped with anti-aircraft guns, Stinger or Igla man-portable air-defense systems, or radar-guided anti-aircraft systems like those on the German Gepard armored vehicle, form the first layer.

Interceptor drones, with their greater range, appear to be playing an increasingly important role in this strategy. According to Volodymyr Zelensky , 150 of the 810 Russian drones launched during the night of September 6-7 (an unprecedented barrage) were shot down using this method. In June, General Oleksandr Syrsky, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian forces, asserted that their success rate was 70% .

At the top of this system are air defense systems such as Patriot or SAMP/T. Very effective but expensive, they are mainly reserved for missile defense and the protection of the most sensitive sites.

All these resources allow Ukrainian forces to intercept a very large proportion of Russian attack drones. However, the interception rate, which was 95% between January and March, fell to 80% this summer due to technical and tactical developments in the Gueran-2 drones, the Russian version of the Iranian Shahed, and the increased scale of the attacks, according to figures from the Ukrainian Air Force.

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United in their determination to fight for the survival of their country, Ukrainian soldiers do not all react in the same way when, on the occasion of episodic American initiatives, the hypothesis of a ceasefire opening the way to diplomacy resurfaces.

Ukrainian army special forces say they hit the pumping station at the Hvardiïske oil depot ( 🚩 ), in Crimea, overnight using drones.

The site, which had already been targeted on Friday , "is crucial for supplying military installations and transporting the enemy army," they stressed on Telegram , without further details on the extent of the damage.

The Telegram channel "Crimean Wind" , citing local residents, reported explosions and power outages in the area north of Simferopol on Sunday evening.

The Ukrainian army once again denied on Monday that Russian troops had succeeded in encircling the city of Pokrovsk, while acknowledging that logistical operations to supply troops on the ground remain difficult.

Major Andrei Kovalev, spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff, once again denied on Monday that Russian troops had succeeded in encircling the city of Pokrovsk. He explained to the Ukrainian newspaperUkrainska Pravda that logistical routes to Pokrovsk remain open and that troops, including wounded soldiers, continue to be evacuated and replaced. However, he denied that these routes were under the control of Russian artillery and drones.

Russian forces are closing in on the Ukrainian pocket encompassing Pokrovsk and some areas further south, including the nearby city of Myrnohrad. According to the Ukrainian battlefield monitoring website DeepState, Ukrainian troops, almost completely encircled, have only about ten kilometers left to maintain supply lines to the pocket.

While his prolonged absence from the public sphere fuels rumors of Sergey Lavrov's possible fall from grace, the Kremlin is attempting to reassure the public in the face of persistent speculation: "Sergey Viktorovich (Lavrov) continues to work, to work actively," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov affirmed on Monday during his daily briefing, which is attended by Agence France-Presse (AFP). "Everything is fine," he asserted, calling the speculations in some media outlets about Lavrov's potential downfall "absolutely false." "When there are public events, you will see the minister," he promised.

There is much speculation in several foreign media outlets about the fate of Mr. Lavrov, whose last public appearance dates back to the end of October, with some suggesting the possibility of disgrace after his recent failure to reach an agreement with his American counterpart, Marco Rubio, on the terms of the Putin-Trump summit in Budapest, which has been postponed indefinitely.

In recent days, only written addresses or video interviews from Mr. Lavrov have been published on the Russian diplomatic website, and his spokeswoman, Maria Zakharova, made no announcements about his public agenda during her weekly press briefing last Friday.

Russia claimed on Monday to have captured three more villages in eastern Ukraine, where fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces is concentrated. The Russian Ministry of Defense announced in a statement that it had seized the villages of Nove and Solodke in the Zaporizhzhia region, as well as Hnativka in the Donetsk region.

For its part, the military mapping website DeepState, which is close to the Ukrainian army, reports that Russian forces have advanced in the Donetsk region, near the village of Seredny (Kramatorsk region), north of Sviatohirsk, as well as near the village of Maiske (near Chasiv Yar), the village of Kotlyne (west of Pokrovsk), and also near the village of Krasnohirske , in the Zaporizhzhia region, on the border with the Dnipropetrovsk region. However, no specific village or locality has been mentioned as having fallen under the control of Russian forces.

Ukraine's National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) announced in a statement on Monday that it is conducting a "large-scale operation to uncover corruption in the energy sector," jointly with the Special Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office (SAP). This announcement comes after several months of tension between these agencies and the government, amid debates surrounding Kyiv's anti-corruption efforts.

According to NABU, "a vast corruption scheme aimed at influencing strategic public sector companies" was allegedly in place, particularly within the Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom. "Fifteen months of work and a thousand hours of audio recordings. The activities of a high-level criminal organization have been documented," the agency stated, accompanying its press release with photos showing bags filled with euro and dollar banknotes, but without providing further details about the operation.

The NABU and SAP were both targeted by a law introduced by the government and enacted in July, which aimed to place them under the direct authority of the Prosecutor General, himself appointed by the President. Faced with protests from civil society and the European Union, and following large-scale demonstrations—the first in Ukraine since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022—the government finally announced that it would "correct" the law.

The Ukrainian energy sector is considered particularly strategic, as Russia has been bombarding it with missiles and drones since the beginning of its invasion.

In late October, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, the former director of the state-owned energy company Ukrenergo, was accused of embezzling approximately €283,000 in 2018 and briefly detained. He claimed the case was politically motivated. Ukrainian media reported that the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) had raided the home of Timur Mindich, a close ally of President Volodymyr Zelensky. Mindich's name surfaced in connection with a possible FBI investigation , potentially linked to money laundering allegations, according to the Ukrainian media. The NABU did not comment on this information in its statement.

Ukraine has long been plagued by corruption, and reforms aimed at eradicating it are essential to achieving its ambitions of joining the European Union.

On the night of November 10, naval drones attacked the Russian city of Tuapse, on the Black Sea coast. A video on the Exilenova+ account shows a strike against a Russian military vessel. No official confirmation or detailed information is available at this time.

According to the official TASS news agency, the Russian army "repelled a drone attack," but local public sources report audible explosions and the intervention of emergency services.

Rosneft’s terminal and refinery in Tuapse have already been targeted several times this year by Ukrainian forces as part of their campaign to weaken Russia’s oil and gas capabilities.

The Kremlin spokesman reiterated on Monday that "Russia wants this conflict to end as quickly as possible, but its conclusion is only possible after Russia has achieved all the objectives it initially set for itself."

On Sunday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated that Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin had agreed on demands made by the Russian president in June 2024 and on ideas submitted by US envoy Steve Witkoff during their summit in Alaska last August. The Russian president is demanding that Ukraine renounce joining NATO's military alliance and withdraw its troops from the four oblasts that Moscow considers part of Russia: Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia. Ukraine has already rejected these demands.

Nearly four years after the start of its invasion of Ukraine, Russia now says it controls 19% of Ukrainian land which it legally considers Russian, although Ukraine and European powers have never accepted this.

Ukraine wants to order 27 Patriot air defense systems from American companies and is seeking, in the meantime, to borrow this crucial system from its European allies, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an interview with the British newspaper The Guardian published on November 9.

In recent weeks, Ukraine has faced an intensification of Russian strikes against its energy infrastructure as winter approaches. All thermal power plants (TPPs) operated by Centrenergo, the Ukrainian state-owned energy company, were out of service following attacks carried out on the night of November 8. Meanwhile, Russian airstrikes killed three people and wounded at least 18 others in the Donetsk and Kherson oblasts over a 24-hour period, Ukrainian officials reported on November 9.

Ukraine's allies supply it with weapons and coordinate sanctions against Russia, but this support is not enough to stop Moscow or meet the needs of the battlefield.

In this interview, he adds that despite the support of its allies, as long as Russia's war against Ukraine continues, the country will always need additional help, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin must end the war.

Volodymyr Zelensky explained that his October visit to the White House had gone well and that he maintained good relations with US President Donald Trump, despite the fear Mr. Trump inspires in many people around the world. "No... we are not enemies with America. We are friends. So why should we be afraid?" Mr. Zelensky declared at the Mariinsky Palace.