By Kathleen Magramo and Joshua Berlinger, CNN
From CNN's Julia Kesaieva
Ukraine's International Legion has named the US citizen killed during combat in eastern Ukraine.
In a statement sent to CNN, the Legion said: "Our brother in arms, Timothy Griffin, has taken part in the counteroffensive on the eastern front with his unit and was killed in action. While conducting operations, the unit came under attack."
Griffin is believed to be the sixth American who has died in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February.
From CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, Maddie Araujo and Christian Streib
The signs of devastation are all around when you arrive in Irpin, near Kyiv.
The city saw some of the heaviest fighting when Russia tried to close in on the Ukrainian capital at the beginning of the war.
But it soon becomes clear that residents are busy putting the pieces back together. A CNN team bumped into resident Olexander, who showed pictures of what his apartment building looked like eight months ago, with nearly every single window blown out. “Everything is operating now,” he said, including heating.
In this suburb, it’s a race against winter as temperatures start to drop and rolling blackouts continue.
Resident Tetyana said she spent 10 days hiding in her basement during the occupation. Somehow, her phone connection was working when her friend called to say Russian tanks were just minutes away from her building. It was time to evacuate.
“It was a miracle that Mykhailyna managed to reach us,” she said, referring to the call. “I took my parents. We had a car. And that was the only chance to leave.���
Tetyana’s apartment was badly damaged, but she, too, is proud that it has since been repaired, allowing her to move back in.
At the UNICEF site, a different kind of rebuilding is taking place. Aid workers are focused on helping kids and parents navigate unspeakable trauma.
Psychologist Ksenia Lebedev said the lingering trauma manifests in all kinds of ways, from speech impairment to self-harm.
Healing comes through play, arts and crafts and therapy.
Kateryna Chyzh, the volunteer animator, said she notices children gradually come out of their shells and connecting again.
And even the aid workers themselves find it healing. “It usually inspires me, too,” Kateryna said, “I experienced the occupation in Bucha, so now in this environment, I am more relaxed and I like it very much.”
From CNN's Tim Lister
Ukraine's state energy company Ukrenergo says that power supplies are most vulnerable in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions after a campaign of Russian missile attacks against power infrastructure.
Ukrenergo's CEO, Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, said on Ukrainian television Monday that the situation was tough after five massive missile strikes and a number of smaller attacks.
"Repair teams are working 24/7 in order to fix the damage caused in the past weeks. The most difficult situation is in the Kyiv region and Kharkiv region," Kudrytskyi said. "So this is where the scheduled outages, hourly outages as we call them, are in place and additional emergency outages take place on top of them from time to time in order to balance the energy system in these regions."
"We are working on improving the situation within the grid in Kyiv city and Kyiv region as well as in the north region, consisting of Kharkiv region, Sumy region and Poltava region," he added.
Kudrytskyi said that if there was no more shelling, there should be improvements in a few more days.
He said power engineers would do everything possible to avoid a total blackout.
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler
A US citizen recently died in Ukraine, a State Department spokesperson confirmed Monday.
“We can confirm the death of a U.S. citizen in Ukraine,” the State Department spokesperson said.
“We are in touch with the family and providing all possible consular assistance,” the spokesperson said. “Out of respect for the family's privacy during this difficult time, we have nothing further to add.”
The spokesperson did not provide details on the identity of the person who died or the circumstances of their death.
This is the sixth American who has died in Ukraine since the Russian invasion in February.
From CNN's Julia Kesaieva in Kyiv and Tim Lister
Ukraine's air force says that newly arrived western air defense systems will help deal with the new threat of Iranian ballistic missiles reportedly being purchased by Russia.
Yuriy Ihnat, Air Force spokesperson, told a briefing in Kyiv that Ukraine might target the Iranian missiles at their launch sites, which would probably be well inside Russia.
"They must somehow be destroyed, probably from where they are launched. Because we have no effective means of fighting ballistic [missiles], except for their physical destruction at the launch stage."
Ihnat said the Iranian missiles have "a range of 300 and 700 kilometers, which in principle will not create anything new for Ukraine, because [Russian-made] Iskanders were used from the first day of the war."
"I think both the top military leadership and our partners are working on this issue, looking for effective ways to counter these new threats," Ihnat said.
He said that the Russians were unable to make progress on the battlefield and had resorted to attacking infrastructure supplying energy and water. "They want to hit energy facilities in the autumn-winter period first of all, because people's lives largely depend on them. This air terrorism will continue by all available means."
"It is clear that the missiles that will be received from Iran, if it is done, will be used at the energy infrastructure facilities, and [the Russians] will continue to strike with cruise missiles as well."
CNN reported on Nov. 1 that Iran is preparing to send about 1,000 additional weapons, including short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia, citing officials from a western country that closely monitors Iran's weapons program.
From CNN’s Anna Chernova
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday that Russia is “open to” negotiation with Ukraine but that the moment is not right for talks.
“We have repeatedly said that the Russian side remains open to achieving its goals through negotiations,” Peskov told reporters. “We also repeatedly drew the attention of everyone that at the moment we do not see such an opportunity, because Kyiv turned into a law [their decision] not to continue any negotiations.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree in early October formally ruling out the possibility of negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in response to Russia's illegal claim to annex portions of four Ukrainian regions.
“Russians are not ready to admit they have occupied our country,” Zelensky said in September, a month before the decree. “This means there will be no substantial dialogue.”
“We want to end the war, but the space and opportunities have changed,” Zelensky said. “There is no reassurance that [the Russians] will do what they say they will do. I think they won’t. No one believes them.”
The Washington Post on Saturday reported that U.S. officials have privately encouraged the Ukrainian government to signal an openness to talks with Russia – not to reach a near-term settlement, but as a political move in order to maintain Western support for the war effort. CNN has not confirmed the Post’s reporting.
“We don't know if this is true or not,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson told reporters on a regular conference call adding, “We are unable to comment on this without being sure that it is true.”
CNN's Jo Shelley, Mariya Knight, and Olga Voitovych contributed reporting to this post.
From CNN's Mick Krever in Kyiv and Kevin Liptak, Maegan Vazquez and Sam Fossum in Washington
New air defense systems provided by Ukraine’s western allies have arrived in the country, Ukraine’s defense minister said on Monday.
“These weapons will significantly strengthen #UAarmy and will make our skies safer,” Oleksii Reznikov said on Twitter. “We will continue to shoot down the enemy targets attacking us. Thank you to our partners: Norway, Spain and the US.”
The United States this summer committed to sending eight NASAMS – National Advanced Surface to Air Missile Systems – to Ukraine. The White House in October said it would expedite the delivery of two systems.
NASAMS provide short-to-medium range defenses, and would be capable of engaging Russian cruise missiles. It’s the same system used to protect airspace in Washington, DC.
From CNN’s Mostafa Salem in Abu Dhabi
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi called for an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine at a speech during the opening of the World Leaders Summit at the COP27 UN climate conference.
The entire world is suffering because of the war between Russia and Ukraine,” Sisi said. “This war must stop, this war, and the suffering it has caused, must finish."
This year's UN climate summit is being held in the Egyptian resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, where thousands of climate negotiators and advocates will gather to raise their ambitions on the climate crisis. Negotiators from nearly 200 countries will, over the next two weeks, debate future clean energy proposals to prevent the worst consequences of the climate crisis.
Sisi called on world leaders to urgently take “more measures and actions” to clarify how they will reduce emissions, which will encourage stakeholders to release “adequate funding” to face the challenge of climate change.
“There is no time to sit back, there is no space for hesitation for the sake of future generations,” Sisi said.
Read more about what to expect at COP27 here:
