The Russian defense ministry said the strikes it launched against Ukraine on Thursday targeted missile manufacturing facilities along with “fuel and energy infrastructure” associated with the military. 

“On Nov. 17, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation delivered a concentrated strike with long-range precision weapons, air-, sea- and land-based, against military command and control facilities, the military-industrial complex of Ukraine and the fuel and energy infrastructure associated with them,” spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said. 

“As a result of the strike, the production facilities for the manufacture of rocket weapons were hit. An arsenal with artillery weapons supplied by Western countries, prepared for shipment to the troops, was destroyed. The transfer of reserves of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the delivery of foreign weapons to the areas of hostilities have been disrupted,” it added. 

7:53 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

Ukrainian experts at site of missile incident in Poland

From CNN's Jo Shelley

Aerial view taken of the site where a missile strike killed two men in the eastern Poland village of Przewodow, near the border with Ukraine, November 17.  (Wojtek Radwanski and Damien Simonart/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukrainian experts are working at the site of a blast in Poland where a missile killed two people on Tuesday, according to a senior government minister.

“Ukrainian experts are already working at the site of the tragedy in Przewodów caused by Russian missile terror against Ukraine,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted Friday.

“I am grateful to the Polish side for granting them access. We will continue our cooperation in an open and constructive manner, as closest friends do.”

The leaders of Poland and NATO said the missile that landed in the Polish village of Przewodow was likely fired by Ukrainian forces to defend against a wave of Russian strikes. The incident appeared to be an accident, they added.

CNN's Phil Mattingly, Kevin Liptak, Radina Gigova, Jim Sciutto and Sophie Tanno contributed reporting.

7:29 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

Traces of explosives found at Nord Stream pipelines, Sweden says

From CNN's Lindsay Isaac and Sophie Tanno

A gas leak causes bubbles on the surface of the water in the sea in Sweden on September 30.  (Swedish Coast Guard Handout /Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

The blasts at the Nord Stream pipeline in September were caused by an act of sabotage, Swedish prosecutors said Friday after evidence of explosives was discovered at the sites by investigators.

In a statement, Mats Ljungqvist, the prosecutor leading the preliminary investigation, described the incident as “gross sabotage,” adding that “traces of explosives” were found at the scene.

The preliminary investigation will continue and has yet to determine any charges, the statement said. The prosecutor’s office declined to give further comment, Reuters reported.

Swedish and Danish authorities have been investigating four holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines which link Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea.

Both pipelines have been flashpoints in an escalating energy war between European capitals and Moscow that has pummeled major Western economies, sent gas prices soaring and sparked a hunt for alternative energy supplies since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.

Read the full story here:

7:27 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

Russia launches assaults around Bakhmut and Avdiivka, as conflict in eastern Ukraine escalates

From CNN’s Yulia Kesaieva in Kyiv and Jo Shelley in London

Russia has launched renewed strikes on Kyiv's frontline positions in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to the Ukrainian military.

“The enemy is concentrating its efforts on thwarting our Defence Forces in specific areas ... launching assaults in the direction of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Novopavlivka,” Oleksandr Shtupun, a spokesman of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said Friday.

Bakhmut and Avdiivka have been fiercely fought over for several months, but they remain in Ukrainian hands.

Many other Ukrainian positions in the Donbas -- the eastern region at the heart of Russia's war in Ukraine -- also came under fire on Thursday, Shtupun added.

Russia will “likely” bolster its offensive operations in eastern Ukraine by redeploying troops from the south, after they were forced to retreat from the city of Kherson last week, according to the UK's defense ministry.

“Following the withdrawal of its forces from west of the Dnipro River, Russian forces continue to prioritise refitting, reorganisation and the preparation of defences across most sectors in Ukraine,” the ministry tweeted in its daily intelligence update Friday.

“It is likely that Russia will attempt to eventually redeploy some of the forces recovered from Kherson to reinforce and expand its offensive operations near the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast.”

7:18 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

Kremlin says Western countries could be "guiding" element in negotiations with Ukraine

From CNN’s Anna Chernova

Kremlin building in Moscow, Russia, on October 18.  (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)

The West could be a “guiding and reinforcing element” for Kyiv in any negotiations with Moscow over the war in Ukraine, according to the Kremlin.

Without the presence of the West, Kyiv’s position is “highly changeable,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Friday.

“Directives” from those countries are “very scrupulously implemented by Kyiv,” he added. 

The Kremlin repeatedly accused Ukrainian authorities of withdrawing from negotiations with Moscow and demonstrating an unwillingness to resume talks, amid renewed Russian attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure and energy facilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky previously told CNN's Chief International Anchor Christiane Amanpour he did not rule out peace negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The tense diplomatic relationship between both countries further unraveled after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine in February.

As the war approaches the nine-month mark, Zelensky proposed a 10-point peace plan in front of world leaders at the G20 summit on Tuesday.

CNN's Masrur Jamaluddin and Xiaofei Xu contributed reporting.

6:14 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

Nine people left dead from Russian missile strike in Zaporizhzhia

From CNN’s Julia Kesaieva in Kyiv

Police officers carry fragments of a body found under debris of a residential house destroyed by a Russian missile strike in the town of Vilniansk, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on November 17.  (Reuters)

The death toll from Russian shelling on a residential building in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region overnight into Thursday has risen to nine, according to the Ukrainian presidential office.

“As of this morning 2 more dead were found" in Vilniansk, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said on Telegram.

“Thus, 9 dead have already been found as a result of Russian terrorists' missiles that shelled residential buildings yesterday.”

Pictures posted in the aftermath of the attack by Ukraine's State Emergency Service showed dozens of rescuers working at the scene.

5:10 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

As temperatures plummet in Ukraine, power grid comes under extra strain

From CNN’s Julia Kesaieva in Kyiv and Jo Shelley in London

A girl walks a dog during first snow fall in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, on November 17.  (Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP/Getty Images)

Temperatures have plummeted in Ukraine this week, putting the country’s power grid under extra strain as engineers try to repair damage caused by fresh Russian missile strikes, according to the state energy company.

“Due to a dramatic drop in temperature, electricity consumption is increasing daily in those regions of Ukraine where power supply has already been restored after massive missile strikes on November 15 on the energy infrastructure. This complicates the already difficult situation in the energy system,” Ukrenergo said in a statement Friday.

The latest barrage of shelling from Moscow targeted critical infrastructure in multiple Ukrainian cities, leaving 10 million people without power, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky. 

Ukrenergo said it was restricting the use of electricity in some areas as “a necessary measure to preserve the stability of the energy system” and had teams “working around the clock to restore the damaged infrastructure in order to return light to Ukrainians.”

Many parts of Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, saw the first snowfall of the season on Thursday.

3:07 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

Former detainees in liberated Kherson allege Russian brutality, torture under occupation

From CNN's Nic Robertson

A view from a detention center on Wednesday, which Ukrainians say was used by Russian forces to jail and torture people before they retreated from Kherson.  (Murad Sezer/Reuters)

Oleksander’s restless pale blue eyes speak as loudly as his words. He is on edge, and with good reason, as he returns to the jail in the newly liberated city of Kherson where he says Russian guards beat him daily.

We pass cell blocks and rusting outdoor exercise cages, move through guard rooms, turnstiles and heavy iron doors, and travel along fences topped in reams of razor wire in this Soviet-era prison until we reach one of the epicenters of Russia’s brutal occupation of Ukraine.

It’s here, in a dark and rubble-strewn corridor, that Oleksander and another former prisoner who didn’t want to be interviewed say Russian guards executed Ukrainian prisoners for pro-Ukrainian chants or tattoos. CNN is identifying Oleksander only by his first name for security reasons.

As Oleksander pushes on a solid, red iron cell door at the end of the corridor, burning wood falls from the ceiling, smoke billows and glowing embers tumble out. The ceiling in this part of the cell block is alight and burning timbers are crashing down.

That’s where the Russian troops brought people for torture, Oleksander tells us. After the Russians withdrew from Kherson “they set fire [to] it to destroy evidence of their crimes,” he says. It is impossible to enter to check it out, due to the flames.

Read the full story here.

3:04 a.m. ET, November 18, 2022

Poland will move quickly with investigation into missile incident, official says

From CNN's Niamh Kennedy, Zoe Cantley and Anna Gorzkowska

Police prepare for the arrival of Polish President Andrzej Duda in Przewodow on Thursday.  (Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

Poland will move quickly with its investigation into the missile that landed on the village of Przewodow on Tuesday, a Polish official told CNN on Thursday.

Speaking to CNN’s Isa Soares, Polish Ministry for Foreign Affairs spokesperson Lukasz Jasina said Poland is pushing ahead with its investigation into the incident, adding that authorities expect to receive the results in the next few days.

Jasina said Ukrainian experts will also be allowed access to the site, stressing there first needs to be “some legal arrangements to create a good space for their expertise.”

Some background: Earlier Thursday, Polish President Andrzej Duda said Ukrainian investigators will be allowed to observe the investigation, “but when it comes to participation in proceedings and access to documents and information, it requires specific treaty grounds, specific grounds in the field of international law and international agreements.”

Jasina, who told CNN he comes from the region where the missile exploded, said the mood among his friends and neighbors is “very very sad.”