Russian forces, which for weeks have been focused on an attack on the key city of Avdiyivka in eastern Ukraine, are now determined to seize its huge coke plant, the city’s mayor said on Friday. Volodymyr Zelenskyi on Friday named the new commander of his special forces, a unit known for its military operations in Moscow-controlled territories, but the officer replaced in the reshuffle said he had not been told why he was being replaced.

Basic information about the war in Ukraine, day 619, LIVETEXT:

08:42Yesterday evening, Russia attacked the Sumy region with two Shahed drones launched from Russia’s Kursk region, reports the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Both were destroyed by mobile fire groups of the Ukrainian army, the source said.

08:34 On Friday, as a result of a Ukrainian missile attack on an employment center in Chaplinka, a Russian-occupied city in the south of the Kherson region, nine people were killed and nine others were injured, the Russian-appointed governor of the region said.

Volodymyr Saldo, who told the “Russia-24” TV channel: “At the moment, nine dead and nine seriously injured people have been pulled out from under the rubble.”

Ukrainian officials have not yet reacted to the incident, Reuters notes.

01:12Elections in the Republic of Moldova: Maia Sandu warns of attempts by pro-Kremlin forces to block the country’s European path

00:27 President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, during an address to his compatriots on Friday evening, announced that he had replaced the commander of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and was “waiting” for new results from the new leadership.

Synthesis of the last 24 hours of the war:

• The Russian Orthodox Church demands that the most famous Russian singer Alla Pugacheva, who returned to the country, apologize for criticizing the war in Ukraine.
• “When you see suffering and bloodied children, you clench your fists and tears come to your eyes.” Putin says that “any normal person” would be outraged by the images from Gaza.
• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who was supposed to arrive in Russia on November 15 and meet with President Vladimir Putin, was forced to postpone his visit.
• Russia announces joint naval exercises with Myanmar, a Southeast Asian country ruled by a military junta.
• What is included in the new package of military aid to Ukraine announced by the US on Friday. The new aid was approved by the US Congress in late September and “exhausts currently available funds”, the Pentagon said.
• On Friday, by presidential decree, Zelenskyy appointed Colonel Serhiy Lupanchuk as the commander of the special forces. He presented Lupanchuk as an experienced officer with combat experience who can contribute to increasing the effectiveness of special forces.
• The head of Serbia’s intelligence service, the pro-Russian Aleksandar Vulin, has resigned after falling under US sanctions. Washington accused the head of the Serbian special service of helping Moscow in its “harmful” activities.
• The Kremlin on Friday denied an article in the American daily Wall Street Journal, according to which Wagner’s mercenary group intends to supply an air defense system to Hezbollah Islamists in Lebanon.
• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba said that Zelensky is analyzing the “pros and cons” of holding presidential elections in the spring.
• Leonid Mikhelson, director of Russian gas company Novatek and one of Russia’s richest men, says the new US sanctions against his company’s project are “an assessment of our professionalism.”
• Russia launched a massive drone strike on Friday, hitting critical infrastructure in western and southern Ukraine and destroying private homes and commercial buildings in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.

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• Friday’s events regarding Russian aggression were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro