As we enter the 638th day of the war, these are the most important developments.

Here is the situation as of Thursday, November 23, 2023.

Battle

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said troops were facing “difficult” defensive operations on parts of the eastern front as the bitter winter cold sets in, while forces in the south continued to carry out offensive operations. “Difficult weather, difficult defense on the Lyman, Bakhmut, Donetsk and Avdiivka fronts. Offensive actions in the south,” Zelensky said in Telegram Messenger. In its evening report, Ukraine’s General Staff said 22 Russian attacks had been repelled in and around Avdiivka. In its report on the fighting, the Russian Defense Ministry said its forces attacked Ukrainian troops and equipment near Bakhmut, another destroyed town north of Avdiivka.
• According to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office, one man died when Russian troops shelled Avdiivka, another in an attack on Khasiv Yar in the north and a third in the southern city of Kherson. Another body was recovered from the rubble in the eastern town of Selydove, bringing the death toll from Tuesday’s Russian missile attack to three.
• The Ukrainian air force said it shot down 14 attack drones fired from southern Russia and an X-22 cruise missile, while authorities in the southern Odessa region said they destroyed one Rare Iranian-built Mohajer-6 attack and reconnaissance drone. Russia bought 30 of the drones last year, they added.
• According to the Russian Defense Ministry, anti-aircraft units destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Crimean peninsula and four maritime drones. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
• Separately, the Defense Ministry said a group of Russian journalists had fallen victim to a Ukrainian drone attack in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. A reporter from state television channel Rossiya 24 suffered minor injuries, the ministry added.

Politics and diplomacy

• Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared cautious on Ukraine, telling Group of 20 (G20) leaders that they needed to think about how to stop “the tragedy” of war. Putin noted that some leaders had said in their speeches that they were shocked by Russia’s ongoing “aggression” in Ukraine. “Yes, of course military actions are always a tragedy,” Putin said at the virtual meeting. “And of course we should think about how we can stop this tragedy.” Putin launched Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In his speech, the Russian president also referred to the conflict as a “war,” instead of using the Kremlin’s preferred term of a “special military operation.”
• After the G20 meeting, Chancellor Olaf Scholz told reporters that he had called on Putin to withdraw all Russian troops from Ukraine “so that this war can finally end.” Scholz spoke alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who said it was necessary to work towards peace but also to remember “that in Ukraine there is an aggressor and an aggressor.” [party that was] attacked. It is simply enough for Russia to withdraw its troops from the occupied territory.”
• Poland said it had charged 16 foreigners with spying for Russia, allegedly preparing acts of sabotage and collecting information about shipments of military equipment to Ukraine. The spy ring was dismantled in March.
• A court in St. Petersburg sentenced 17-year-old Yegor Balazeikin to six years in a juvenile penal colony for throwing Molotov cocktails at army recruiting offices in protest against Moscow’s attack on Ukraine. There were no injuries or significant damage in the attack because the device did not detonate.
• Russia said it protested to Finland after a damaged Russian T-72B3 tank was displayed near the Finnish parliament. “Why are they doing this, for what? Why do Finns need this?” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accused Helsinki of “Russophobia”. The tank was exhibited in Finland on Saturday at the initiative of two pro-Ukrainian associations to remind people of the ongoing conflict.

weapons

• Zelensky and Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov welcomed the formation of a 20-member “coalition” by Ukraine’s Western allies to strengthen the country’s air defense. The group is led by Germany and France.
• The Kremlin declined to comment on a suggestion from White House spokesman John Kirby that Iran may be considering supplying Russia with ballistic missiles for use in Ukraine. “We are developing relations with Iran, including in the field of military-technical cooperation, but we do not comment on this information,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters in a regular news conference.