Russia Kills 6 in Overnight Bombing; ‘Let Them Fight it out,’ Says Trump

Overnight on November 8, 2025, the Russians launched another massive strike by missiles and drones against central and eastern Ukraine, killing 6, and injuring at least 26, according to a wide range of Ukrainian and Western news media.

The Ukrainian Air Force said in a Telegram post Saturday morning, November 8, that Moscow had launched 503 projectiles – 458 drones and 45 missiles – of which 415 were shot down while the remaining 78 struck 25 different locations across Ukraine. While this wasn’t a record number, it was deadly and destructive.

If you follow the war against Ukraine on social media, newspapers or television, you were almost as shocked as were local Ukrainians to see the gaping hole there once were the fifth and sixth floors of an apartment building in Dnipro, where regular people lived.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine said in a Telegram post Saturday morning that the targets of the latest Russian strikes “remain the same: ordinary life, residential buildings, our energy system, and infrastructure.”

The irony of this deadly strike is that President Donald Trump cold heartedly quipped on November 3 in reply to a reporter’s question en route in Air Force 1 that in his opinion sometimes two sides just have to fight it out. “There’s no final straw. Sometimes you have to let them fight it out. It’s been a tough war for Putin... and it’s been a tough war for Ukraine,” he said. He later reiterated the point, saying the need for the two nations to take ownership of the war’s resolution. “Sometimes you have to let it just get fought out” – while he, Putin and other world leaders stand on the sidelines and watch the bloodshed.

While Trump never showed any interest in mediating an end to this war, which he really doesn’t understand or care about, his flippant observation about the life and death of innocent Ukrainians, who are regularly pitilessly and maliciously targeted for death by Moscow, is incomprehensible. He has stubbornly resisted learning why Russia has habitually invaded Ukraine for centuries while Ukraine has never invaded Russia. This alone should have given him an idea upon which to ponder. Why? Because Russia really has hated Ukraine, has believed it is its master, and seeks to permanently imprison it and its people in a renewed Russian prison of nations. An antiquated explanation, you say? Look at the centuries of wars and bloodshed between Russians and Ukrainians. Read the news.

The city of Dnipro, a city on the river that bears it name in central Ukraine, was hit hard, with three people killed and another 11 injured there, according to the regional military administration, which said children were among the casualties. A drone struck an apartment building in the city. Three more were injured in the nearby Samarskyi district of the wider Dnipropetrovsk region, authorities said.

In the Kharkiv region, at least one person was killed in the village of Rokytne; eight others were injured in the suburbs of Kharkiv city; one person was injured in nearby Chuhuyiv; and another was injured in the village of Hrushivka, according to the regional military administration. The mayor of Kharkiv said in a Telegram post Saturday morning that the city is facing a significant electricity shortage.

Additionally, one person was injured in the Poltava region in the east and another person was injured in the neighboring Kyiv region, according to the respective regional military administrations. The strikes on the Poltava region targeted energy infrastructure facilities, cutting off electricity, water and heating to some communities, authorities said. Actually, in addition to targeting civilians, the Kremlin is also striking the electrical infrastructure ahead of winter.

The Russian strikes mark the ninth large-scale attack on Ukraine’s gas infrastructure since the start of October, according to Ukrainian state-run energy firm Naftogaz, which in a Telegram post Saturday morning accused Russian of deliberately “targeting enterprises that provide Ukrainians with gas and heat” during the winter months. Ukrainian people are being forced to evade Russian missiles and drones as well as tolerate the region’s frigid winters.

The Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed in a Telegram post Saturday morning that it had targeted Ukrainian military and energy infrastructure in an overnight attack. The strike was carried out in response to “Ukraine’s terrorist attacks on civilian targets in Russia,” according to the Russian defense ministry. Moscow did not address its invasion of Ukraine which preceded the latest full-scale war, during which the Russians said they were looking for Nazis in Ukraine.

On that flight abroad Air Force One, Trump also indicated he’s not in a hurry to give Ukraine American Tomahawk rockets. While he understands their value to Ukraine’s war effort and that they can shorten Russia’s war, which has claimed so many civilian lives and military personnel, he doesn’t want to approve their use by Kyiv. He is willing to indifferently watch Russia and Ukraine fight it out.

Heathen Russians Target Churches in Occupied Ukraine

Since the beginning of the latest Russian war against Ukraine and Ukrainians – and for centuries before that – Russian cutthroats have targeted for destruction Ukrainian cultural artifacts, churches, libraries and other repositories of Ukrainian culture in order to obliterate evidence of the nation’s existence today and to wipe the historical slate clean of their presence in this planet.

Mission Network News on November 3, 2025, wrote about the Russians targeting Ukrainian churches in occupied regions of Ukraine for destruction or subversion. However, these violations of UNESCO restrictions that are tantamount to war crimes are felt equally in all regions of Ukraine.

Darina Rebro wrote: “Russian authorities are tightening their grip on occupied territories of Ukraine. Churches are under special scrutiny because sermons and prayers can either strengthen believers in faith and courage or pressure them to compromise with the occupying regime.

Pastor Mykhailo Brytsyn, a partner with Voice of the Martyrs Canada, says the crackdown has intensified especially against unregistered congregations.

“There are a lot of such churches,” Brytsyn explained, “because Ukrainian laws allowed churches to exist without registration.”

On the other hand, since the invasion, under Russian rule, churches must register so authorities can monitor sermons. Those who refuse risk punishment, and some gatherings are raided. Brytsyn experienced these limitations and oppression firsthand: “I saw it during the occupation, when it was forbidden to go to church, when our church buildings were already confiscated. People go to home groups for Bible study, as during the Soviet Union.”

Brytsyn said that his own church in Melitopol, a city in the Zaporizhzhia Oblast, southeastern Ukraine, was seized and transformed into an entertainment club. For believers who remained in town, even walking past the building brings deep pain.

“Russians cut off the cross,” he recalled being to mind criminal acts by the communists and tsarists. “They painted it brown and put up some picture instead.”

In occupied Berdiansk, a port city in Zaporizhzhia Oblast, south-eastern Ukraine, pastor Ilya and his wife Kateryna led a small church — until persecution forced them to flee.

“In 2024 he was twice arrested,” Brytsyn said. “He was tortured, and the third arrest — it could be the end. They escaped from the territory.”

Believers who remain in the occupied territories now worship quietly in small groups, echoing the secret prayer groups in the so-called catacombs of the Soviet era. Fear of informants keeps trust fragile, yet faith endures.

“I saw a lot of people who weren’t so dedicated to church attendance, but they made a decision and went to church firmly and bravely,” Brytsyn was quoted as saying. “For them, it was like their repentance — they were turning to Christ or renewing their commitment to Him.”

Rebro concluded her article: “Even as suffering deepens, believers see God moving in remarkable ways — through unity, mercy, and His protecting hand. Some ministers continue their training online as they pray for strength and hope in Ukraine’s darkest hours.”

The tsars, stalin, hitler and putin have sought the total eradication and annihilation of everything Ukrainian, including the people. And that’s exactly what we’re fighting for – the preservation of our bloodline.

I invite you to read two earlier posts on this topic based on the 2014 movie “The Monuments Men”: https://thetorncurtain1991.blogspot.com/search?q=Life+Imitating+Art+or+russian+%26+nazi+terrorists+never+change

Petrovsky-Shtern: Confronting Catastrophes Exhibit at Ukrainian Institute of America

The Ukrainian Institute of America, 2 East 79^th Street, New York City, continues presenting “Confronting Catastrophes,” an exhibition of paintings by Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern. Acting as a miniature survey, this exhibition features past and new works reflecting on personal and communal feedback to the resistance, stamina, and suffering of the Ukrainian people. The artist uses parallels between the fate of the Ukrainians at war and of Jews during the Holocaust and the catastrophe that befell Jews on October 7. Such topical parallelism has become part of a widely accepted and cultural war-time discourse in Ukraine and beyond. This marks Petrovsky-Shtern’s third solo exhibition with the UIA.

The exhibit continues until November 16.

“Confronting Catastrophes” displays a compelling evolution of Petrovsky-Shtern’s art, shaped by the tragedies of the 20th and 21st centuries. His narrative paintings combine memory, myth, and allegory, drawing on traditions from Renaissance masters, the avant-garde, and Ukrainian folk art. Balancing abstraction and figuration, his works confront war, devastation, and resilience while placing humanity at their center. Deeply rooted in Jewish cultural memory yet universal in scope, Petrovsky-Shtern’s art reflects both personal history and collective trauma. His layered identity as artist, scholar, and humanitarian underscores the transformative power of art amid catastrophe.

Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern is the Crown Family Professor of Jewish Studies and a professor of Jewish History in History Department at Northwestern University. He teaches a variety of courses that include early modern and modern Jewish history; Jewish material culture; history and culture of Ukraine; origins of Zionism; and Slavic-Jewish literary interaction.

He is also a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of The Ukrainian Quarterly, the UCCA’s 81-year-old journal of Ukrainian and international affairs.

He has published more than a hundred articles and eight books and edited volumes, three of them award-winning, including The Jews in the Russian Army: Drafted into Modernity (2008, 2nd ed. 2014); The Anti-Imperial Choice: the Making of the Ukrainian Jew (2009); Lenin’s Jewish Question (2010); Jews and Ukrainians: Polin, vol. 26 (2011, co-edited with Antony Polonsky); Cultural Interference of Jews and Ukrainians: a Field in the Making (2014); The Golden-Age Shtetl: a New History of Jewish Life in East Europe (2014, 2nd ed. 2015); Jews and Ukrainians :A Millennium of Coexistence (2016, co-authored with Paul Robert Magocsi; 2nd ed. 2018). His essays, books and book chapters have appeared in Greek, Spanish, Ukrainian, Polish, Russian, French, Hebrew, and German.

As an artist, Petrovsky-Shtern combines the traditions of European avant-garde, Polish political poster, and Ukrainian folk art. He enjoyed a dozen international and national shows, exhibiting his artwork in Kyiv, Lviv, Greenwich (CT), Chicago, and New York, including solo shows at Spertus Gallery, National Ukrainian Museum, and Ukrainian Institute of America. His work was featured at Crosscurrents, Antikvar, Ukrainian Weekly, The New York Jewish Week, and Arts Illustrated.

An illustrated catalog published by ibidem-Verlag (Hannover, Germany) in conjunction with the exhibition and will be available at the UIA. Confronting Catastrophes is edited by Anastasia Simferovska with contributions from Alex Averbuch, Rory Finnin, Amelia Glaser, Olena Grozovska, Anna Gruver, Borys Gudziak, Yuriy Gurzhy, Tamara Hundorova, Rodger Kamenetz, Mykola Kniazhytsky, Serhii Kvit, Oksana Lutsyshyna, Vasyl Makhno, Oleksandra Matviichuk, Joel Mokyr, Myroslava Mudrak, Mykhailo Nazarenko, Oxana Pachlovska, Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, Katja Petrowskaya, Ilia Rodov, Edward Serotta, Anastasiia Simferovska, Benjamin Sloan, Edjan Westerman, and Marcin Wodzinski. Introduction by Andrew Horodysky.

The Ukrainian Institute of America and Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern are immensely grateful to the Temerty Foundation and Ronald Winston for their support of this cultural undertaking.

https://yps.gallery/

World Leaders must Understand that Russia’s War against Ukraine is its Last Stand

The Kremlin threw down the gauntlet to the free world and the Russian leadership won’t budge until its mission is fulfilled.

This is the only certainty that you can count on since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

The Russians are not shying away from this truth irrespective of telephone calls between President Donald Trump and Russian despot Putin. Moscow leaders have been quite truthful at least on this issue regardless of how many bilateral or multilateral meetings are held in the Oval Office, Alaska or elsewhere about ending Moscow’s war against Ukraine.

It has been stated loudly and quietly by Russian leaders. Putin will not change his mind. He’s not looking for negotiations. He’s not looking to barter land for peace or Russian KIAs/POWs. He’s not looking for a line in the sand delineating what’s his and what’s Ukraine’s.

Moscow isn’t hunting Nazis in Ukraine as Putin said at the start of the war. Putin doesn’t care about protecting Russian-speakers Ukraine – many of them are on the frontline defending their native land. He’s not concerned by Ukraine’s European support, weaponry or NATO affiliation. Simply stated, Russia wants it all – from the Carpathians to the Caucasus.

To understand the situation better than he does, Trump has to listen to the words spoken by Putin and his capos and stop listening to his own misconceptions.

Eight decades ago, Winston Churchill, the liberator of Europe, offered his solution to a similar global situation. He argued that Europe must fight Nazism to preserve freedom, democracy, and civilization itself against a “monstrous tyranny.” In the years leading up to and during Second World War, he forcefully rejected appeasement and urged collective resistance against German expansionism. His explanations centered on several key arguments. We can easily equate Nazism with Russia and its expansionism.

Churchill portrayed Nazism as a barbarous ideology, distinct from typical national concepts, representing an evil system that threatened Western civilization. Putin also hopes to continue rolling his tanks beyond Ukraine, as many East European and European leaders believe and fear.

A staunch critic of appeasing Hitler, Churchill predicted that concessions, like the Munich Agreement of 1938, would lead to wider conflict rather than peace, likening it to feeding a crocodile in hopes of being eaten last. Ukraine’s allies, especially those in the east that suffered Russian tyranny also believe appeasement won’t work with Russia. Sanctions must be intensified to a boiling point.

Churchill warned that Germany’s expansionist goals threatened all European nations, not just immediate neighbors, aiming for continental domination and emboldening Hitler through submission. The former captive nations are free now but Moscow is hoping to change that.

He framed the war as a fight for freedom and democracy, with Britain acting as the champion of European liberties and appealing to a spirit of resistance against tyranny. Churchill emphasized in 1940 that victory was essential for survival, with Britain serving as the last defense against Hitler and crucial for Europe’s liberation. Today’s war in Ukraine not only defends Ukrainians and their country but also all of Europe – and perhaps even the United States, which must earnestly life up to its traditional reputation as the champion of the free world.

In his “Finest Hour” speech, delivered in June 1940, Churchill explicitly stated that the fate of “Christian civilization” and the whole world depended on Britain’s survival against Nazi Germany. He argued that if Britain failed, the world would sink into “the abyss of a new Dark Age” made more terrifying by “perverted science.” The leaders of the former captive nations, who know firsthand the meaning of Russian captivity, are also well aware of the consequences if Russia prevails in its war against Ukraine.

In a 1941 broadcast, Churchill declared his single, unwavering purpose: “to destroy Hitler and every vestige of the Nazi regime.” He described the Nazi system as based on calculated cruelty and listed the suffering inflicted across Europe, from the bombings of Warsaw and Rotterdam to the overflowing concentration camps. The same goal pertains to ending the scourge that is Russia.

At the end of World War Two, there was a widespread fear that never having witnessed the realities of life under the Nazi heel, Americans were obstinately incredulous of barbarity suffered in France and therefore too lenient with those responsible. That same feeling guides the thoughts of President Trump with regard to Ukrainians and others who have suffered barbarity in Russia and its concentration camps and today are too lenient with those responsible such as Putin.

Russia Destroys all who Tell Truth about its War vs Ukraine

The Committee to Protect Journalists calls for a thorough investigation into a recent Russian attack in Ukraine, which wounded Ivan Zakharenko, a local producer with German media group WELT, CPJ said in a press release. 

“The Russian attack on WELT journalists, which injured Ukrainian producer Ivan Zakharenko, is yet another illustration of the extraordinary risks journalists face while covering Russia’s war in Ukraine amid the widespread use of drones,” said Gulnoza Said, CPJ’s Europe and Central Asia program coordinator. “Journalists are civilians under international humanitarian law and must be able to report safely on the war.”

On October 13, a WELT crew composed of Zakharenko, reporter Ibrahim Naber, and freelance camera operator Viktor Lysenko, came under a Russian Lancet drone attack in the Dnipropetrovsk region, in eastern Ukraine, while filming a report about a Ukrainian air defense unit. Lancets are long-range drones often used against tanks and armored vehicles. 

The strike occurred less than 20 miles from the front line, the outlet reported, adding that it had targeted the unit’s military vehicle. The journalists, who were wearing press markings, were “only a few meters” from the three-person military crew they had just interviewed. The attack killed a Ukrainian soldier and severely injured another. 

Zakharenko suffered “two moderate shrapnel wounds in both legs,” Naber was hit in the ear by shrapnel, and Lysenko suffered a concussion, Zakharenko, who was treated at a hospital, wrote on Instagram on October 28. 

At least 21 journalists and media workers have been killed while reporting since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. In October 2025, Russian drones killed French photojournalist Antoni Lallican, as well as Ukrainian journalists Olena Hramova and Yevhen Karmazin. 

CPJ noted that Russia has often hit offices of media outlets across the country in the more than three-and-a-half-year war. Journalists have been injured while working and their homes have been shelled. 

Life Imitating Horror Movies: Russia Uses Drones to Hunt Ukrainian Civilians

The level of Russian disregard for human life, in this case Ukrainian lives in their homes, has reached a new level.

Russia’s rapists and cutthroats are using drones to hunt innocent, unarmed Ukrainian men, women and children like targets in a carnival attraction, according to the United Nations.

News reports, among them by Reuters, citing a new UN inquiry that was presented to the General Assembly on October 27, said Russian invaders have used drones to hunt and displace civilians from their homes near the front line in Ukraine.

The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that the coordinated drone assaults, carried out over more than a year, amount to the crime against humanity of forcible population transfer.

In May, the commission determined that Russia’s months-long, short-range drone attacks targeting civilians along a 100-kilometer stretch on the right bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region constituted murder as a crime against humanity.

Five months on, it has extended the scope of those conclusions to a 300-km stretch of Ukrainian-held territory across the Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions.

It has now also concluded that the attacks were “part of a coordinated policy to drive out civilians from those territories, and amount to the crime against humanity of forcible transfer of population.”

“Russian authorities have systematically coordinated actions to drive out Ukrainian civilians from their place of residence by drone attacks, as well as deportations and transfers,” the report said.

Investigators said Russian troops intentionally targeted civilians and civilian structures across a 300-kilometer area spanning the Kherson, Dnipropetrovsk, and Mykolaiv regions, forcing people to flee.

The report drew on 226 interviews with victims, witnesses, aid workers, and local officials, as well as verified videos showing civilians being “hunted” by drones.

UN investigators said the attacks also struck first responders, including ambulances and firefighters, despite clear humanitarian markings.

Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians and refuses to cooperate with the UN commission, which has previously accused Russia of war crimes such as the deportation of Ukrainian children.

New Jersey and Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Sign MOU on Boosting Economic Ties

Gov. Phil Murphy on October 25 the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the New Jersey Economic Development Authority (NJEDA) and the Oblast of Dnipropetrovsk in Ukraine to enhance economic collaboration, promote innovation, and contribute to the rebuilding of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Murphy shared this announcement in a video that aired during the Ukraine Action Summit in Washington, D.C. This MoU, which marks the first economic agreement between New Jersey and Ukraine, will promote opportunities for industry partners to enable private sector collaboration, linking the academic and business ecosystems of the Dnipropetrovsk region and New Jersey.

“We are excited to announce this historic partnership with the State of Dnipropetrovsk,” said Murphy. “As the proud home to the second-largest Ukrainian diaspora in America, New Jersey and Ukraine deeply cherish the principles of democracy and self-determination. Today’s MoU will advance our shared goal of sustainable economic growth and encourage innovation across sectors including technology, life sciences, and education. We look forward to a productive and meaningful partnership that strengthens both of our regions.”

“The Dnipro region continues to strengthen its international ties and opens a new chapter of transatlantic cooperation,” said Vladyslav Haivanenko, Acting Head of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional State Administration. “The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration and the State of New Jersey lays the foundation for developing economic relations, advancing technology and innovation, and exchanging experience between our regions. I sincerely thank Governor Philip Murphy and Tim Sullivan, Chief Executive Officer of the New Jersey Economic Development Authority, for their support of our country and for this historic step. My special gratitude goes to the Embassy of Ukraine in the United States for its comprehensive assistance and facilitation in establishing contacts and fostering the development of this important partnership. I am confident that through our joint efforts we will create new opportunities for growth and mutual trust.”

The NJEDA and the Foreign Economic Activity Department of the State of Dnipropetrovsk will develop and implement specific projects that mutually benefit both states while simultaneously contributing to the rebuilding of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Priority areas for collaboration include sectors such as clean energy, artificial intelligence (AI), aerospace, and life sciences. To foster cooperation, both entities will share information on regulatory environments, facilitate the development of direct contacts and partnerships between public and private sector stakeholders, and promote networking between companies and research organizations in both states.

“Under Governor Murphy’s leadership, New Jersey has strengthened its international relationships to bolster the state’s economic competitiveness, create high-quality jobs, and leverage the expertise of entrepreneurs from around the world,” said NJEDA Chief Executive Officer Tim Sullivan. “The NJEDA will work closely with the State of Dnipropetrovsk to build up critical industries, enhance research and development, and attract private investment to both States."

“A new chapter in building strong regional economic ties begins with the signing of a partnership Memorandum between the Dnipropetrovsk oblast and the State of New Jersey,” said Olga Stefanishyna, ambassador of Ukraine to the United States. “This milestone initiative marks a significant step toward expanding mutual economic opportunities and fostering closer connections between our peoples. The Dnipropetrovsk oblast, one of Ukraine’s key industrial and technological centers, continues to endure daily attacks from Russian forces. In this challenging context, the partnership represents an important avenue for resilience and shared prosperity. Ukraine expresses its deep appreciation to Governor Philip Murphy and NJEDA CEO Tim Sullivan for their leadership and commitment to strengthening regional and international ties. Expanding cooperation in strategic industries, higher education, and applied research will bring tangible benefits to both sides—supporting Ukraine’s recovery, advancing innovation, and creating a foundation for sustainable growth. This partnership reaffirms the enduring friendship between Ukraine and the United States and underscores our shared vision of progress, security, and prosperity.”