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washingtonpost.com reported on October 30. Some units did not return to their home bases after the exercises, and others are deploying again. According to the Washington Post, western analysts estimate that there are currently 80,000-90,000 Russian troops along Ukraine’s border after the Zapad 2021 exercises. Recall, Russian President Putin stated at the Valdai Discussion Club last week that even though Russia cannot stop Ukraine from joining NATO, the Russian government was preparing steps to lessen the effects of the integration. Some analysts in Ukraine are concerned that Putin would use last week's destruction of a piece of Russian heavy artillery by a Ukrainian drone and the Ukrainian military’s incursion into the village of Staromaryivka as reasons for launching a military offensive.
Kyiv goes to Red pandemic level on November 1 The city of Kyiv is being placed on the Red epidemic level effective November 1, following a request from mayor Vitaliy Klitschko. Cases of COVID have been rising, but most alarmingly, 66% of the hospital beds with oxygen for COVID patients in Kyiv had been filled for the last three days, Klitschko noted in a briefing. Public access to shops, restaurants, gyms, and other establishments will be restricted to those with proof of a negative PCR test result or a COVID vaccination certificate. Roving inspectors in public transport will have the right to stop passengers and demand to see a test result or certificate as well. Primary and secondary schools are switching to distance learning from the end of their autumn break (also November 1) and will work in this mode until further notice. Kindergartens will continue to operate, but only if 100% of staff has been vaccinated.
Nationwide, daily confirmed cases hit a new record Thursday: 26,071. Also on Thursday, nearly 300,000 people received a vaccine dose, double the rate of one week ago. The Health Ministry lists vaccination centers here. “Ukraine is at the highest levels for the entire pandemic for each of the indicators - the number of new daily cases, hospitalizations and deaths,” Health Minister Viktor Lyashko told a televised briefing. Tomorrow, seven new regions are to be classified ‘red’: Chernihiv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kyiv, Khmelnytsky Luhansk, Lviv, and Zhytomyr regions.
Video of a Turkish-supplied Bayraktar TB2 drone destroying a 122-millimeter D-30 howitzer in Russia-controlled Donetsk has enraged the Kremlin, raising war tensions in Ukraine’s southeast corner. “Deliveries of these types of weapons to the Ukrainian military can potentially destabilize the situation on the line of contact," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday.
In October Ukraine’s Defense Minister, Andriy Taran announced a site has been chosen near Kyiv to manufacture and maintain Bayraktar drones under Turkish license. Russia immediately protested this deal. In Syria, a Russian ally, Turkish drones destroyed 73 Syrian armored vehicles in Idlib province last year, according to the Middle East Institute, a US think tank. On Russia’s border, Poland last May became the first EU nation to acquire Turkish drones. Latvia has hinted that it will follow suit.
Moving beyond “joint production of Turkish Bayraktar drones...plans are also evolving to unite efforts in the production of Ukrainian Antonov aircraft,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote yesterday in an
7 UKRAINE Country Report November 2021 www.intellinews.com