Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy visits recaptured Kherson

The Ukrainian president on Monday paid a visit to the liberated city of Kherson, just days after it was retaken from Moscow's forces. 

The end of the eight-month Russian occupation of Kherson has sparked celebration, but also exposed a humanitarian emergency. Many residents are living without power and water and there are shortages of food and medicines. 

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was photographed Monday posing with troops in a central Kherson square.

"We are moving forward," Zelenskyy said in an address to his forces, also thanking NATO and other allies for supporting his country in the war against Russia.

"We are ready for peace, peace for all our country."

"I'm really happy, you can tell by the reaction of the people, their reaction is not staged," the president said. He later sang the national anthem as the flag was raised above the city's main administration building in downtown Kherson.  

"This is the beginning of the end of the war," he said. "It is impossible to kill Ukraine."

Nearby shelling could be heard from the center of Kherson could be heard minutes before Zeleskyy arrived, with artillery blasts echoing after he finished speaking.  

Ukrainian forces entered the city, the Kherson region's administrative center, on Friday after Russia pulled back its troops. 

Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on Monday, November 14

Jim Carrey, Margaret Atwood among 100 Canadians banned by Russia

Russia barred entry to 100 Canadians in retaliation for Ottawa's sanctions against Russian citizens.

Author Margaret Atwood, actor Jim Carrey and Amy Knight, a noted historian of the KGB, are on the list of people now banned from entering Russia.

Atwood sarcastically wrote to Carrey on Twitter that they'll "get through this together."

Russia's foreign ministry said they and the other 97, many of whom are connected to ethnic Ukrainian organizations, were banned because of involvement in "formation of (Canada's) aggressively anti-Russian course.''

Carrey has repeatedly expressed solidarity with Ukraine while Atwood has participated in protests against the war.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine, Canada sanctioned more than 1,400 Russian individuals and entities.

UN General Assembly calls for Russia to pay Ukraine for war damages

The United Nations General Assembly on Monday approved a resolution saying Russia must be held accountable for violations of international law in Ukraine, including by paying war reparations.

Russia "must bear the legal consequences of all of its internationally wrongful acts, including making reparation for the injury, including any damage, caused by such acts," the non-binding resolution read.

It was supported by 94 of the assembly's 193 members, 14 nations voted against it and 73 abstained — close to the lowest level of support of the five Ukraine-related resolutions adopted by the General Assembly.

Ukraine's UN Ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya told the assembly his country "will have the daunting task of rebuilding the country and recovering from this war."

"But that recovery will never be complete without a sense of justice for the victims of the Russian war," he added.

"It is time to hold Russia accountable."

The resolution calls for the creation of "an international register" that would document damage caused by Russia.

Russia's veto power in the 15-member Security Council has blocked the UN's most powerful body from taking any action since President Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion.

But there are no vetoes in the General Assembly and the votes do reflect world opinion.

Russia's UN Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia warned that approval of the resolution "can only increase tension and instability in the entire world,'' and said supporters of the resolution "will become implicated in illegal expropriation of sovereign assets of a third country."

US Treasury imposes new round of sanctions

The US Treasury Department sanctioned Russians and several others it believes is either acting for or on behalf of Russians.

The US includes them in a list called the Specially Designated Nationals list.

The Treasury sanctions list includes family members of Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov. It also imposed sanctions on commercial entities.

Biden applauds Ukrainian 'courage' for taking back Kherson

US President Joe Biden on Monday hailed Ukraine's recapture of Kherson as a "significant, significant victory."

Winter is soon approaching and that will slow fighting, but Biden said he can do "nothing but applaud the courage, determination and capacity of the Ukrainian people."

Biden spoke to reporters after meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for the first time since taking office on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Bali. 

The US leader said that while the outcome of the war was yet to be seen, he was sure that it was not going to end with Russia occupying Ukraine.

US and Russian spy chiefs meet in Ankara

The US National Security Council confirmed a report earlier in Russian newspaper Kommersant that said the director of Russia's foreign intelligence service, the SVR, Sergei Naryshkin, was meeting in Ankara with CIA Director William Burns.

The US said Burns was in the Turkish capital not to negotiate over the conflict in Ukraine but to warn Russia against the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

He is also expected to raise the cases of two Americans detained in Russia, women's basketball star and former US Olympian Brittney Griner and former US marine Paul Whelan. Both face long sentences in a Russian penal colony.

Ukraine has tough months ahead, says NATO chief 

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg says Ukraine faces some challenging months, adding that the capabilities of the Russian military should not be underestimated. 

"The coming months will be difficult. Putin's aim is to leave Ukraine cold and dark this winter. We should not make the mistake of underestimating Russia," Stoltenberg said after meeting the foreign and defense ministers of the Netherlands. 

"They still control large parts of Ukraine... What we should do is strengthen Ukraine's hand." 

UK predicts winter challenges for both sides 

The UK Ministry of Defence has given its prediction for how winter will alter conflict conditions for both Russian and Ukrainian forces.  

It said changes to daylight hours, as well as temperature and weather, would present challenges for both sides. 

"Any decisions that the Russian General Staff make will be in part informed by the onset of winter," the ministry said. 

It noted that daylight will reduce to fewer than 9 hours a day, compared to 15-16 in mid-summer. As a result, the ministry expected fewer offensives and more static defensive frontlines, and a greater reliance on night vision capability. 

It is predicted that the average high temperature will drop from 13 degrees Celsius through September to November, to zero through December to February. 

"Forces lacking in winter weather clothing and accommodation are highly likely to suffer from non-freezing cold injuries," the ministry said. 

An increase in rainfall, wind speed and snow was expected to pose additional challenges to the already low morale of Russian forces, as well as kit maintenance. 

EU to launch military training mission for Ukraine 

European Union foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to launch a training mission for Ukraine's armed forces. 

The bloc's top diplomat Josep Borrell said some 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers were to receive training in Poland. Multiple countries are willing to take part, he said upon arriving at the meeting. 

Germany's military, the Bundeswehr, is planning combat training and tactics exercises for up to 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers. 

The ministers will also discuss Belarus and Iran's support to Russia during the ongoing war. 

Although there is no evidence of direct involvement of the Belarusian army, Minsk's "level of engagement" with the conflict was said to concern the EU. 

 The EU recently sanctioned Tehran because of its supply of Iranian-made drones to Russia for use in strikes on Ukraine. 

New Zealand on Monday also said it would send an extra 66 personnel to the United Kingdom to help train Ukrainian soldiers. 

Ukraine alleges hundreds of Russian atrocities in Kherson 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his regular nightly address on Sunday that investigators working in the southern Kherson region had uncovered more than 400 "war crimes" committed by Russian troops.  

Moscow's withdrawal from Kherson city represents a major setback for Russia as it was the only regional capital it had captured since the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine in February.  

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently probing potential war crimes conducted by Russian forces in Ukraine. 

Poland prepares room for more than 100,000 refugees

Poland's Integration Minister Agnieszka Scigaj said Warsaw has prepared "considerably more than 100,000" spaces in reception centers for Ukrainians fleeing Russian attacks as the winter months approach.

There were as of yet no indications that the numbers of refugees from Ukraine entering Poland were increasing, but authorities in Poland expect that to change.

At present, only around 1,000 of the 20,000 people normally crossing into Poland along the 500 kilometer-long border with Ukraine are refugees, with the rest considered normal border traffic.

Currently, Poland is host to 1.3 million refugees from Ukraine, the largest number of any country receiving Ukrainians following Russia's invasion on February 24 of this year.

Zambian national jailed in Russia dies in Ukraine

Zambian Foreign Minister Stanley Kakubo said a 23-year-old Zambian national, Lemekhani Nathan Nyirenda, who had been serving time in a Russian jail was killed fighting in Ukraine.

In a statement, Kakubo said Nyirenda had "passed away" on September 22 "at the battlefront" in Ukraine. Zambia's Foreign Ministry said it demanded an explanation for Nyirenda's death from the Kremlin.

"The Zambian government has requested the Russian authorities to urgently provide information on the circumstances under which a Zambian citizen, serving a prison sentence in Moscow, could have been recruited to fight in Ukraine and subsequently lose his life," Kakubo said.

Prior to his arrest, Nyirenda was in Russia studying nuclear engineering at the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute. In April 2020, Nyirenda was given a jail term of nearly a decade and sent to the Tyer medium security prison on the outskirts of Moscow.

Nyirenda's remains were being transported to the Russian city of Rostov just over the Ukrainian border prior to their repatriation to Zambia.

More on the war in Ukraine 

Russia's withdrawal from Kherson paves the way to the liberation of the rest of the region. It is the gateway to the Crimean Peninsula, which Russia annexed in 2014. 

British artist Banksy appears to have confirmed he is in Ukraine by posting an image of a gymnast on a war-damaged house to his Instagram page. Speculation had already been rife after several murals in his style popped up near the capital, Kyiv. 

rm, ar, rc/rt (AFP, dpa, AP, Reuters)