Key developments on Nov. 14:
- Ukraine repels Russian attempt to enter Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, military says
- Defense Ministry pledges to draft bill on demobilization by Dec. 18, official says
- European officials opening up to ‘land-for-security’ deal in Ukraine, WP reports
- Trump’s nominee for UN envoy dodges question on earlier support for Ukraine’s NATO accession
Ukrainian forces successfully repelled Russian attempts to break into the city of Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukrinfrom reported on Nov. 14, citing the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
“All Russian attacks in this direction were successfully repelled. Russian invaders failed to enter Kupiansk. The city is under the control of Ukraine’s Armed Forces,” General Staff spokesperson Andrii Kovalev told Ukrinform.
The statement came after the crowd-sourced monitoring website DeepState had claimed late on Nov. 13 that some Russian units, including armored vehicles and a tank, managed to enter Kupiansk but soon suffered heavy losses.
Kupiansk is a key logistics and railway hub in the eastern part of Kharkiv Oblast. With several highways and five railway lines running through it, the town was briefly occupied by Russian forces before it was liberated during a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive in the autumn of 2022.
According to Kovalev, Russian forces attempted to break through Ukrainian defenses in the area at around 2:30 p.m. local time on Nov. 13, attacking in four waves. They employed 15 vehicles, including tanks and armored fighting vehicles.
The spokesperson said that Russian troops wore Ukrainian uniforms, which violates international rules of warfare. Ukrainian defenders destroyed “all Russian armored vehicles” and a “significant part of manpower,” he added.
Russian troops ramped up their efforts near Kupiansk in early September and are now only 2 3 kilometers from the city’s industrial outskirts in the northeast. Moscow’s forces are attempting to find a footing for a final push to reach the Oskil River, dividing the city into two, before winter sets in.
During his evening address, President Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the soldiers defending the front line and spoke of Russia’s “attempts to expand their offensive, especially in the Kupiansk direction.”
“I am grateful to all our units for their resilience,” he said.
Even if Russian units have not yet entered the town, regular shelling of the city creates increasingly hard conditions for the locals to continue with their lives, with no gas, water, or electricity in the city’s eastern bank.
Capturing the city would widen the north-to-south supply route from Russia’s Belgorod Oblast, fuelling their attempt to take the entire Donbas region.
Defense Ministry pledges to draft bill on demobilization by Dec. 18, official says
The Defense Ministry plans to finalize a bill defining the procedure and conditions for discharging military personnel from service by Dec. 18 this year, secretary of the parliamentary defense committee Roman Kostenko told Ukrainska Pravda on Nov. 14.
Due to the lack of a regulatory framework, Ukrainian military personnel cannot be demobilized at will, even after long service. The reasons for demobilization may include injury or the need to care for a family member with a disability.
Many Ukrainian soldiers have been serving non-stop since the first day of the full-scale invasion in late February 2022.
“The committee addressed the Defense Ministry with an official request to develop a draft law on the procedure and conditions for the dismissal of certain categories of military personnel during martial law,” Kostenko said.
“Recently, we received a response saying that, according to the ministry’s plan, the draft will be ready by Dec. 18, 2024, within the timeframe set by the parliament.”
It is not yet clear what conditions the Defense Ministry will propose for discharging military personnel from service, Kostenko added.
Ukraine’s parliament adopted an updated mobilization law in mid-April to ramp up mobilization amid Russia’s ongoing war. The new law simplifies the process for identifying eligible conscripts and includes additional penalties for those dodging the draft.
The parliament voted to remove provisions on demobilization, which previously foresaw soldiers having the right to leave the military after 36 months of service, from the bill so that they could be considered separately.
The parliament obliged the Defense Ministry to develop a relevant draft law within eight months.
Chris York
European officials opening up to 'land-for-security' deal in Ukraine, WP reports
Kyiv’s European partners are increasingly preparing for a deal that could include Ukraine giving up on some of its territories in return for security guarantees, the Washington Post reported on Nov. 13, citing interviews with 10 current and former Western officials.
The news comes amid Ukraine’s mounting setbacks on the battlefield and uncertainties about U.S. support under incoming President Donald Trump. The U.S. president-elect has pledged to end the war “within 24 hours,” sparking concerns he might push Ukraine toward painful concessions.
While publicly declaring full support for Ukraine, the idea of ceding territory is quietly gaining more traction among Western officials, even though the details of such an agreement remain unclear, the Washington Post wrote.
“I think everybody has more or less reached this conclusion. It’s hard to say it publicly because it would be a way of saying we are going to reward aggression,” Gerard Araud, a former French ambassador to the U.S., told the news outlet.
The proposal is being allegedly reframed from “land-for-peace” to “security-for-peace” to stress the necessity for security guarantees that would prevent further Russian aggression.
Russia currently occupies roughly one-fifth of Ukraine’s territory in the south and the east.
Jakub Janda
Kyiv has repeatedly said that entry to NATO is the most secure way to avert future wars, but the proposal has met cold responses from a number of allies. Quick accession seems even more unlikely now as one proposal from Trump’s team reportedly includes delaying Ukraine’s entry by at least 20 years and instead supplying it with sufficient arms to repel Russia on its own.
Ukraine and Russia held unsuccessful negotiations in early 2022. The initial version of Russia’s peace proposal issued shortly after the start of the full-scale invasion and leaked to the media this year was described as an effective surrender of Ukraine.
The terms became more moderate later on and included reducing Ukraine’s military size, prohibiting NATO entry but allowing EU accession, and postponing the matter of occupied territories to a later date. The treaty would be backed by international guarantors like the U.K., the U.S., China, and France.
The negotiations eventually failed, and no direct talks have been held between Ukraine and Russia since then. Kyiv has insisted that a peace settlement should be based on President Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace formula, which includes the restoration of full territorial integrity.
Some Ukrainian officials acknowledged, however, that some territory would have to be liberated by diplomatic means as the country’s manpower and resources dwindle in the face of unrelenting Russian attacks.
There seems to be little readiness for compromise in Moscow as its forces continue steadily advancing in Donetsk Oblast. Russia’s economy has largely weathered Western sanctions and managed to offset its heavy battlefield casualties better than Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in October that his country is not planning any concessions and that a peace deal must favor Moscow.
Sławomir Sierakowski
Trump's nominee for UN envoy dodges question on earlier support for Ukraine's NATO accession
Donald Trump’s pick for the U.N. envoy, Elise Stefanik, dodged questions on her earlier support for Ukraine’s NATO accession and on calling Russia’s war in Ukraine “genocidal,” with her office saying her views now fully align with Trump’s, CNN reported on Nov. 13.
Shortly after Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022, the Republican Congresswoman said that Ukraine needs “to be admitted into NATO and we need to do everything we can by providing them munitions and Javelins,” reminding that the weaponry was first provided under the first Trump administration.
When asked about the matter again by CNN after Trump tapped her for the U.N. job, Stefanik’s office said the Congresswoman’s views fully align with those of the president-elect, without going into details.
“Chairwoman Stefanik fully supports President Trump’s peace through strength policy agenda and will follow his lead as Commander in Chief on best practices to end the war in Ukraine,” her communications director, Ali Black, was quoted as saying by CNN.
Stefanik was among the 400 members of the U.S. House of Representatives who were sanctioned by Russia, calling the sanctions a “badge of honor” at the time.
As public opinion in the U.S. regarding aid to Ukraine shifted and some Republicans became increasingly vocal in their opposition, she also voted against the $60 billion aid package that eventually passed in April 2024.
After Trump’s victory in the presidential election on Nov. 5, she was appointed to lead U.S. representation at the United Nations.
“Elise is an incredibly strong, tough, and smart America first fighter,” President-elect Trump said.
Trump’s support for Ukraine hangs in the air as analysts and politicians try to gauge his plans to bring peace, as he promised to end the war within “24 hours” after reelection without revealing details.
Predictions range from Trump keeping his word and ending the war as soon as possible in a “land-for-peace” scheme to more optimistic views that the incoming president would not leave Ukraine behind after so much American taxpayer money was spent on its security.
Oleg Sukhov
