November 10, 2022
1. Russian MoD chief orders troop withdrawal from the right bank of the Dnieper to the left
It is reported that if the Kiev regime resorts to a larger water discharge from reservoirs or a more powerful rocket attack on the Kakhovka dam, this will create a flow of water flooding vast areas and causing civilian casualties
On November 9 Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu has ordered to start pulling out troops behind the Dnieper River. "Start withdrawing the troops and take all measures to ensure the safe relocation of the personnel, armaments and hardware behind the Dnieper," the defense chief said, setting the task for Commander of Russia’s Integrated Group of Forces in Ukraine Army General Sergey Surovikin.
Defense along the Dnieper barrier frontier is the most expedient option of operations in the zone of the special military operation, Surovikin said. "If the Kiev regime resorts to a larger water discharge from reservoirs or a more powerful rocket attack on the Kakhovka dam, this will create a flow of water flooding vast areas and causing civilian casualties. A further threat for civilians and of a complete isolation of our group of forces on the right bank of the Dnieper will emerge. Under these conditions, it is expedient to organize the defense along the barrier frontier of the Dnieper River," the commander said.
"I understand that this is a very uneasy decision. At the same time, we will preserve, which is the most important thing, the lives of our servicemen and, as a whole, the combat capability of the group of forces, which is inexpedient to be kept in a limited area on the right bank. In addition, this will release a part of forces and capabilities that will be involved in active operations, including for offensives in other directions in the zone of the operation," the general reported.
Army General Sergey Surovikin pointed out that Russian troops were successfully thwarting Ukrainian attacks and one of the reasons for withdrawing was the risk that if areas downstream from the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant (KHPP) got flooded, the Russian forces would be isolated.
According to him, all civilians who wanted to leave the area - over 115,000 civilians - have been relocated from the right bank of the river to its left bank in a very short time.
NOTE: No NATO politician has ever made critical remarks on Kiev’s intention to destroy KHPP, and especially its dam – with the aim to flood a vast area downstream from the plant killing a lot of civilians leaving on the banks of the Dnieper River separating Russian and Ukrainian forces
2. Politician expects AFU to focus on ZNPP
The Ukrainian Armed Forces will focus on the Zaporozhye Region following Russia’s withdrawal from the right bank of the Dnieper River, Chairman of the “We Stand With Russia” movement Vladimir Rogov said on November 9. It is noted that one of the goals is to seize the nuclear power plant. "The Zaporozhye direction is becoming a priority. Our enemy is sending forces there and it will also redeploy troops that will become available in the Kherson area. Why here? One of the goals is to seize the nuclear power plant," he said.
According to Rogov, Ukrainian troops stationed in the Kiev-controlled part of the Zaporozhye Region have already received dozens of armored boats, while over 700 Special Operations Forces members have been trained to seize a major technological facility on the banks of the Dnieper River. "Our task is to prepare as much as possible for their offensive and breakthrough attempts, because we do not have much time," Rogov added.
3. WSJ: US refuses to send long-range drones to Ukraine
The administration of US President Joe Biden has rebuffed Kiev’s requests to provide it with state-of-the-art drones over concerns that doing so could escalate the Ukraine conflict, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday, citing sources.
According to US officials and people familiar with matter interviewed by the newspaper, the US won’t send the Gray Eagle MQ-1C drones to Ukraine that it has been requesting for months. This type of military aid, they said, could “signal to Moscow that the US was providing weapons that could target positions inside Russia.”
US officials also worry that the technology used in the drones, particularly the cameras, could fall into the wrong hands, the report says.
In September 2022, a bipartisan group of members of the US Congress is said to have insisted that the Biden administration send to Ukraine the medium altitude and armed drones, which can stay in the air for more than 24 hours. In their letter, they asked for the review process to be accelerated, which spurred a briefing on Capitol Hill, Congressional officials told the WSJ.
4. Surgeons removed unexploded shell from Russian soldier’s chest
A team of Russian military physicians performed a unique surgical operation to retrieve an unexploded shell from the chest of a soldier seriously injured in the Ukraine operation, Russia’s Defense Ministry reported on November 9. A team of surgeons operated on junior sergeant Nikolay Pasenko. The operation was successful.
"The patient was admitted with a wound that had penetrated [his] chest. The examination revealed that the miraculously unexploded ordnance had pierced [his] ribs and lungs and got lodged close to the spinal cord, between the aorta and the inferior vena cava near the heart," the statement specified.
The risk of the munition’s detonation was extremely high. "Despite this, the military doctors together with their civilian counterparts donned body armor under their medical gowns and proceeded with this utmost intricate surgery," the ministry stressed.
Junior sergeant Nikolay Pasenko confessed that he was not afraid of his own life during the operation, but rather was thinking about the fate of his savers if the shell suddenly exploded.
Written by Vladimir P. Kozin
