Dozens of wives and mothers of conscripted Russian soldiers, who were sent to the Svatove area of Luhansk Oblast, have arrived at the border with Ukraine and are demanding the return of their relatives, BBC News’ Ukraine service reported on Nov. 9.

With Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine currently in its ninth month, the ongoing war is high on the agenda as Americans prepare to vote in next week’s midterm elections. The US has led international efforts to bolster the Ukrainian fight back against Kremlin aggression and has provided Ukraine with crucial military, economic, and diplomatic support, but recent statements from both sides of the political divide indicate that this support cannot be taken for granted.

The Russian army is strengthening the defense of its Kherson bridgehead and has concentrated almost all Russian airborne troops there.

The United Kingdom will provide Ukraine with about 1,000 additional surface-to-air missiles (SAMs) to help counter the Russian threat to Ukrainian infrastructure, the UK Government said in a press release on Nov. 9.

Russian invasion forces are conducting conducting offensive actions on the Bakhmut and Avdiyivka axes in the Donbas, and defending everywhere else, the General Staff of Ukraine said in their morning Facebook update on Nov. 10.

France plans to transfer six more Caesar howitzers to Ukraine in the coming weeks, Minister of the Armed Forces of France Sébastien Lecornu told the French LCI television channel on Nov. 9.

The United States has not given Ukraine a “blank check”, U.S. President Joe Biden said during a speech following the midterm elections in that country on Nov. 9.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin won't attend the gathering of G20 country leaders in Bali, Indonesia next week – foreign minister Sergei Lavrov will represent him at the meeting virtually in his stead, the Reuters news agency reported on Nov. 10, referring to Indonesian and Russian officials.

A senior Ukrainian official has asked French President Emmanuel Macron to clarify what would be up for negotiation between Ukraine and Russia to end the war.

Winston Churchill 1954,As is often the case with familiar quotes this is not quite what Churchill actually said. Official biographer Sir Martin Gilbert reports that the original was ‘Meeting jaw to jaw is better than war’ which is not quite as punchy. 

Ukrainian anti-corruption investigators have completed a pretrial investigation against former Ukrainian MP Valeriy Patskan, who has been charged with illegally receiving compensation for housing expenses.

Ukraine’s state-owned Ukrposhta postal service has reopened four post offices in liberated settlements in Donetsk Oblast, the company’s press service reported on Nov. 8.

The total value of the assets of the companies Motor Sich, Ukrnafta, Ukrtatnafta, AvtoKrAZ, and Zaporizhtransformator seized by the state is estimated at $956.5 million, Forbes Ukraine wrote on Nov. 8.

The Russian army will carry on targeting critical infrastructure in Ukraine with missiles, as their key objective is to destroy it completely, Yuriy Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, said at a briefing on Nov. 7.

An alleged Russian mercenary involved in the full-scale war against Ukraine has perished in a fire at a nightclub n the Russian city of Kostroma, Ukrainian journalist Denis Kazansky said on Telegram on Nov. 6.

A Long-Term Perspective on Russia. This is the third in a four-part series on Western strategy for Ukraine. (See Part 1 Rebuildingthe Ukrainian Economy and Part 2 EnsuringUkrainian Military Victory).

A military registration and enlistment office in the Russian city of St. Petersburg has sent a draft notice to a “missing” sailor from the Russian Moskva missile cruiser, which Ukraine destroyed with missiles in April, the Russian Fontanka media outlet reported on Nov. 8.

Ukraine is correct when it asserts that the Russian government, ruled by the regime of dictator Vladimir Putin, has no interest in negotiations in accordance with the UN Charter’s principles and international law, and is continuing to escalate the war in Ukraine, U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said at a press briefing on Nov. 7.

U.S. Treasury and State Department officials have called on lenders to continue offering basic services such as U.S. dollar settlement, payment transfers and trade finance offerings to Russian companies exempt from certain aspects of sanctions.

The Russian occupation grouping in the area of Novosofiyivka in Kherson Oblast has been reinforced by a unit from Chechnya, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in its morning report on Facebook on Nov. 8.