ATACMS possibly strike airfield in Russia for the first time, and MP denies his words about IDPs: highlights for November 25

Attack on an airfield in the Kursk region

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that at night, the Ukrainian military struck “a number of important targets of the Russian occupiers”, in particular in the Kursk region of Russia.

OSINT analysts from the Ukrainian project Cyberboroshno and the Russian publication Astra claimed that the strike was carried out with ATACMS missiles at an airfield in Kursk region and the position of the S-400 air defense system, which was trying to repel the attack.

Militarnyi wrote that such an attack on an airfield in Russia using ATACMS missiles was the first for the Ukrainian military.

Airplane crash in Lithuania

A Boeing 737-476(SF) cargo plane of the Spanish airline SwiftAir crashed near Vilnius International Airport at about 5:30 a.m. local time. It was carrying out transportation for the German company DHL.

There were 4 people on board the plane. One person, a Spanish citizen, died, and three others — citizens of Spain, Germany and Lithuania — were injured and hospitalized.

The head of the Department of Transport Accidents and Incidents of the Lithuanian Ministry of Justice, Laurinas Naujokaitis, called the crash “probably the first accident of this magnitude in the history of independent Lithuania.”

The Lithuanian authorities do not reject the version of a terrorist attack on the plane. However, they are inclined to believe in technical malfunctions or human error.

MP denies his words about IDPs

MP and member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Human Rights Maksym Tkachenko called his words about 150,000 IDPs allegedly returning to the occupied territories his own assumption.

“There is no such data. It was my unfounded and emotional assumption,” he said.

Election in Romania

An independent candidate, Calin Georgescu, who has spoken negatively about helping Ukraine in the war against Russia, and a pro-European candidate, Elena Lasconi, have made it to the second round of the Romanian presidential election on December 8.

The latter beat incumbent Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu by a hundredth of a percent: she received 19.17%, while he received 19.15%. Against this backdrop, Ciolacu resigned as head of the Social Democratic Party and promised not to run for any more positions in the political force.

Parliament proposes to lower the age for mobilization

A draft law has been submitted to the Verkhovna Rada that proposes to lower the upper age limit for mobilization from 60 to 55. The explanatory note to the document states that the physical health of most men aged 55 to 60 is unsatisfactory and that “the army is getting older”.

At the same time, the draft law proposes to preserve the right to military service for citizens over 55 if they express such a desire.

Zelenskyy's law “killed” the rules on confiscation of corrupt officials' property

MP Anastasiia Radina said that the recently adopted law on depriving collaborators of state awards “deleted” the provision on confiscation of property of corrupt officials who have made a deal with the investigation from Article 77 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration and Minister of Justice Olha Stefanishyna called the abolition of the provision a “technical ricochet”. According to her, the government and European partners are concerned about this situation, and Ukraine is working to fix it.

Other news for the day

• The Georgian Dream party unilaterally recognized the powers of the parliament. Voting continued amid protesters' shouts.
• Shooting in a hotel in Kyiv: the shooter was notified of suspicion of premeditated murder.
• Law enforcers are checking the decisions of the Medical Expert Committee on disability of 1695 officials.
• Budanov is planned to be fired for the second time, candidate for his replacement in the Defence Intelligence is already available, NV reports.
• Podcaster Joe Rogan slams Zelenskyy, commenting on the US decision to allow strikes deep into Russia.