On the night of November 16-17, the Ukrainian military attacked the Dzhankoy airfield in Crimea with drones, the Fighterbomber Telegram channel, which is authoritative among Russian military pilots, reports. It is alleged that the airfield continues to operate normally.
Also, the Ukrainian military at night once again fired at the airfield in the village of Chaplynka on the left bank of the Kherson region. According to the Rybar Telegram channel, some of the shells were intercepted by air defense systems. After the retreat from Kherson, the Russian army redeployed helicopters from this airfield. This is confirmed by satellite images from Planet Labs, Censor.NET reported .
In general, there were no active battles in the Kherson direction over the past 24 hours, according to the Institute for the Study of War. The area highlighted in blue on the map is the areas liberated by Ukrainian troops:
New Kakhovka is still completely controlled by Russian troops. However, a few days ago, local residents reported the presence of separate groups of Ukrainian soldiers who left after small fights. Most likely they were special forces or intelligence officers, writes War Monitor.
Oleksiy Gromov, Deputy Chief of the Main Operational Directorate of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that during the offensive operation, the Ukrainian defense forces reached the line along the Dnieper, liberated up to 5,580 square kilometers of territory and 198 settlements. According to him , the Russian military is now transferring the most combat-ready from the right bank of the Dnieper to other sectors of the front. Perhaps these reinforcements will be transferred to the Donetsk region, they can also be transferred to reinforce the groups in the Zaporozhye or Lugansk regions, or they can be used in an attempt to re-offensive from Belarus, if this plan is decided to be implemented.
A video of a recent friendly fire incident has surfaced online as Russian troops retreated across the Dnieper in boats. On the Ingulets River, the military of the Russian Armed Forces, retreating to the shore, decided to destroy the floating craft, but on the meeting shore they were mistaken for an enemy sabotage and reconnaissance group and opened fire on them, writes the Gray Zone Telegram channel associated with Wagner PMCs.
In the Donetsk direction, according to Z-channels, the Russian military from the 100th brigade of the NM of the DPR captured a large stronghold "Bassein" in the Nevelskoye area. The capture of this strong point could allow the Russian military to take fire control of the supply road from Krasnogorovka to Pervomaiskoye and Avdeevka, and proceed to storm Nevelskoye.
The Rybar Telegram channel writes that Russian troops attacked the stronghold in three groups: one entered from the north and cut off the supply of the long-term position of the Armed Forces of Ukraine through the forest belt, while the others entered the line of trenches. According to the channel, local battles are taking place in other areas: Russian troops are trying to capture the northern outskirts of Opytny and the eastern part of Vodyany .
Military expert Roman Svitan explained to The Insider that the capture of the Bassin stronghold was “too small an event for a strategic breakthrough.” According to him, the occupation of this "fortification" really allows you to control the road from Krasnogorovka, but it will not give a serious advantage to the Russian troops.
Using target coordinates provided by Ukrainian partisans and deeply embedded Special Operations Forces, the Ukrainian military fired on units of the headquarters of the Russian 58th Combined Arms Army, located in the city of Melitopol in the Zaporozhye region, war correspondent and former US Navy SEAL member Chuck Pfarrer tweeted. It is reported about 100 injured Russian military.
On November 17, the Russian military continues to strike at Ukrainian territory with air weapons, the Air Force of Ukraine reports . In addition to attacks by rocket artillery and S-300 anti-aircraft missiles on front-line cities, Russian strategic aircraft Tu-95MS from the Volgodonsk region of the Rostov region carried out strikes. A total of nine missile-carrying bombers fired up to 18 X-101/X-555 cruise missiles. Their goals were an enterprise in the Dnipropetrovsk region and objects of the gas production industry in Ukraine. According to the Center operational command, four Russian cruise missiles were destroyed.
In the central region, the Ukrainian military destroyed five Shahed-136 drones that attacked Ukraine from the territory of Belarus.
In the southern direction, the air defense of the Yug air command destroyed two X-59 guided air missiles.
In total, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in six days, Russian troops launched almost 150 missile strikes on Ukraine, 111 of them on November 15. In total, since November 11, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have managed to shoot down 102 air targets, General Alexei Gromov said .
The Ministry of Reintegration of Ukraine has published the number of liberated Ukrainian settlements as of November 15. A total of 943 settlements were liberated – in Kharkiv, Kherson, Nikolaev, Donetsk and Lugansk regions.
More than 23,000 people have already been evacuated from the liberated Kharkiv region, Irina Vereshchuk, Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine, said during a briefing. According to her, there are almost 2,500 children and 452 people with limited mobility among them. Vereshchuk added that residents are also being evacuated from other dangerous regions, this is a voluntary process, the task of the authorities is to give people a choice and the opportunity to evacuate.
The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine reported on the consequences of a large-scale attack on the energy infrastructure of Ukraine on November 15. According to these data, 15 energy infrastructure facilities were damaged, 10 million Ukrainians were left without electricity. European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarci said that the damage to Ukraine's energy infrastructure is approaching a critical point, and is working non-stop to support the country's energy supply.
“The destruction of Ukraine's energy infrastructure is approaching a critical point. The European Union is working non-stop to support the country's energy supply,” he wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, CNN, citing sources, reports that the United States is facing a shortage of some weapons and ammunition, the supply of which is requested by Kiev. First of all, stocks of 155 mm artillery shells and Stinger portable anti-aircraft systems were depleted. The interlocutors of the publication argue that there may be difficulties with the production of other weapons, including Javelin man-portable anti-tank missile systems and HARM and GMLRS missiles. In September, the Pentagon reported that it had sent more than 806,000 155mm rounds to Ukraine.
Late on November 16, several countries at the 7th meeting of the Ukrainian Defense Contact Group (Ramstein format) announced new arms supplies to Ukraine, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said .
- Canada will provide assistance for $34 million. In particular, for winter equipment for the military, cameras for drones, satellite images;
- Sweden will provide Ukraine with military assistance worth €287 million, including air defense systems;
- Spain will transfer 2 additional Hawk anti-aircraft missile systems and missiles to them;
- Greece will supply 155 mm shells;
- Germany will continue to supply air defense systems, artillery, ammunition;
- Poland will supply artillery and anti-tank weapons, air defense systems.
“The free world is with us until we win. Strength of Ukraine now: increase in economic potential, better training of the Ukrainian army, modern logistics. We thank our partners for supporting new initiatives,” Defense Minister Alexei Reznikov tweeted .
See also The Insider’s military report for November 16: “The Armed Forces of Ukraine are strengthening in the Zaporozhye direction, a mined police building was blown up in Kherson. What's happening on the front line .