Ukraine Invasion: Part 63

Reporting for duty.

🫡

Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦

My love for Zelenskyy and for the bravery of all Ukrainians grows every day. They truly stand up to the gross bully Putin.

Thank you MagicFox

I shall be here, but, as in the last thread, mostly watching and not posting. I'm grateful for all the effort people put in to keep me informed!

Thanks for the new thread @MagicFox though Ill keep the roundups on the old thread til it's a bit closer to 1000

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/_chat/5562880-ukraine-invasion-part-62?page=40&reply=155868639

Just getting a comfy spot ready.

Reporting in.
Something is clearly working in Ukraine's favour as Trump is desperate to make a deal for Putin.

I think much of the recent urgency stemmed from his hope that a diplomatic breakthrough would help his party in the midterm elections. A fool's errand, of course.

Ukraine is doing much better in the east. Mostly due to innovative tactics, but some of it is down to the continued degradation in the quality of the Russian forces they face.

The Russian losses recently are jawdropping.

@mb said there is heavy fighting going on atm that is being kept fairly quiet and Ukrainian losses are high too :( (iirc; please correct me if Ive misremembered, the last days have been busy)

F

Checking in

There was a drone incursion in Finnish airspace yesterday, airspace was temporarily closed, the English language news doesn't tell any more than that but just checked Finnish news and it was a Ukrainian drone on its way to strike a Russian missile ship so all in a good cause.

A question was asked by @MissConductUS about Aster 30 re-supplies on previous thread.

Seems from variois sources there's been a trickle of re-supplies earlier this year and talk of France helping provide them in the shape of providing SAMP/T NG batteries (that system uses Aster 30) but not sure how far that plan has got and by chance in the last day or so Italy announced it now has no further missiles to spares.

Basically because of Russia/Ukraine, Iran and even the Houthis everyone (well almost everyone) has woken up to need need for SAMs that have at least some capability against ballistic missiles and there aren't enough of them (e.g. Patriot, Aster 30) to go around.

PMK.

How wretched it must be for everyone in Ukraine waking to freezing cold weather, no heating and endless drone and missile attacks. Nearly 5 bloody years of it.

Yet at 74, Putin still looks physically capable of carrying on. Surely the Russian people must be getting sick of losing their sons, brothers and husbands.

Thanks for the new thread 🌻

Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner have arrived at the Kremlin for talks with Putin.

Thanks for looking into that. It's a bit annoying that we spent billions developing and testing these systems, then misplaced our checkbooks when it came time to manufacture reasonable stockpiles of the expendable bits.

Kyiv Independent Telegram Highlights

⚡️ Starshield speed restrictions return, hampering efforts to intercept Russian drones, Zelensky says.
"Unfortunately, this is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine," President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

⚡️Witkoff, Kushner arrive in Moscow following Ukraine peace talks, Russian state media reports.

⚡️ Russian ambassador to Washington dies at 66.
Alexander Darchiev, Russia's ambassador to the U.S., died unexpectedly at the age of 66, Russia's Foreign Ministry announced on Nov. 11, without commenting on the cause of death.

⚡️ 'Large-scale' prisoner exchange agreed as 2nd day of Abu Dhabi talks concludes, Umerov says.
The exchange was also confirmed by Russian presidential aide Vladimir Medinsky, who is leading Russia's delegation.

⚡️ Update: Kremlin envoy Medinsky reiterates Russia’s rejection of Ukrainian territorial integrity at trilateral peace talks.
Kremlin envoy Vladimir Medinsky was quoted by Russian state news agency Interfax on Nov. 11 as saying that “every inch of our land will be returned to Russia, one way or another,” reiterating Moscow’s claim to Ukrainian territory and its rejection of Ukraine’s sovereignty.

⚡️ Zelensky arrives in Dublin for European Political Community summit, expects a debrief from Witkoff, Kushner.
President Volodymyr Zelensky added that a meeting with U.S. special envoys — Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — will also take place in Ireland, following the envoys' trip to Russia.

⚡️ EU purchases of Russian Yamal LNG rise to over $9 billion in 2026, despite October dip.
The European bloc has already paid over one-fifth more for Yamal LNG this year than throughout the entire 2025, according to Urgewald.

⚡️ Spain resumes Russian LNG purchases ahead of key deadline, new report reveals.
Spain imported 138,000 metric tonnes of Russian liquefied natural gas (LNG) in October despite having phased out imports from Moscow in September, according to a Nov. 12 report by the Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

⚡️ Russia strikes 6 major power substations, causing outages across Ukraine.
Substations were hit in Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr, and Cherkasy oblasts. Power lines were also damaged in Kirovohrad and Rivne oblasts, Prime Minister Serhii Koretskyi said.

⚡️'Ukraine's future is within the European Union' — Irish PM aims to open all EU negotiation clusters for Kyiv by end of year.

⚡️ Ukrainian parliament passes EU-linked prosecution reform bill slammed by anti-graft experts.
Anti-corruption activists and legal experts have lambasted the recent prosecution reform bill because it does not envisage the participation of any independent or international experts. Prosecutors will dominate in all the bodies supposed to reform the prosecution service.

⚡️ Tsikhanouskaya says Belarus must be included in Russia-Ukraine peace talks.
"Without a free and democratic Belarus, there will be no security, neither for Ukraine nor for European countries," Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said.

⚡️Russia's largest oil refinery slammed by drones in 8-hour attack 2,500 km from Ukraine.
The Omsk oil refinery, a Gazprom facility in Siberia, has a processing capacity of over 21 million metric tons of crude per year.

Helsing launches European alternative to Palantir’s military AI
German defense technology company Helsing on Nov. 11 unveiled Clarity, a military AI platform pitched as a sovereign European alternative to U.S. providers such as Palantir, promising military control over their data, AI models, and operations.
Ukraine’s vast reserves of battlefield imagery, collected throughout Russia’s full-scale invasion, have become a resource for military AI development, raising questions about which governments and companies can use the data and who owns the resulting technology.

How a Ukrainian veteran injured fighting for Bakhmut finds peace in pottery
The faces of the men Ivan trained come to him in his dreams. They melt and turn into skulls in the mud. Their bodies broken by mortar rounds, they call to him — "save me."
⠀Ivan Shostak fought at Bakhmut in 2023. Fully blinded in a Russian attack, he was discharged and sent to his hometown of Vinnytsia. How to care for and integrate the hundreds of thousands of people with debilitating physical trauma from the war is a looming issue in Ukraine, and will become only more apparent once the fighting ends.

⚡️ Russian colonel reportedly killed in car explosion near St. Petersburg.
A Russian serviceman was killed when his car exploded in Shushary near St. Petersburg, Russia's Investigative Committee said on Nov. 12.

⚡️ Ukraine captures first Indonesian prisoner of war as Russia steps up foreign recruitment.
The man, originally from the Indonesian island of Java, was sent to participate in a Russian assault in southern Ukraine. After his unit came under a Ukrainian drone attack, he managed to reach Ukrainian-held territory, where he was taken prisoner, according to the I Want to Live project.

⚡️ Russian attacks kill 10, injure 40 across Ukraine over past day, as peace talks end.
Russian forces launched Iskander-M/KN-23/S-400 ballistic missiles, Zircon anti-ship missiles, Gerbera, Banderol/Dan-T and 123 long-range attack drones at Ukraine overnight on Nov. 12.

Ragnar Bjartur Gudmundsson 🇺🇦
@ragnarbjartur.bsky.social
⚡ RUSSIA’S WAR AGAINST UKRAINE — NOV 12, 2026
■ Overnight: missiles shot down for the second day in a row; 72% drone interception rate; 35 locations hit or affected by debris
■ Casualties: the 12th-highest daily figure of the war, but 12% below the 7-day avg
■ Drones losses: the fewest since Nov 1; kamikaze drones used at front 7% below the 7-day average
■ Equipment: 392 pieces of land-based equipment destroyed, the fewest since Oct 31 and 34% below the 7-day average; 80% unarmored vehicles
■ Strike ratio: the 7-day average is 49% below the 30-day average, mainly because of more Ukrainian strikes while 🇷🇺 strikes also eased
■ Territorial change: still waiting for this week’s figures. The week before, 🇷🇺 gained 28 km², according to DeepState

UNITED24 Media Telegram Highlights

❗️Russia rejected Ukraine’s ceasefire proposals raised during negotiations in Abu Dhabi, President Zelenskyy said.

Russia reportedly lost three attack helicopters, along with their entire crews, during an overnight drone raid on the Leningrad region. The helicopters allegedly went down while being scrambled to intercept long-range drones targeting strategic sites in the region, marking another costly aviation loss deep inside Russian territory.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) struck the Russian missile ship Naro-Fominsk, a Kalibr and Oniks cruise missile carrier, during a nighttime operation targeting Russian military and oil infrastructure.
The strike was part of a broader Defense Forces operation that also targeted oil infrastructure at the port of Ust-Luga in Russia’s Leningrad region. The SBU said the attack on the ship was planned in advance.
The Naro-Fominsk, launched in 2022, belongs to Russia’s Baltic Fleet.

The death toll from the Russian strike on Chornomorsk has risen to four, Odesa Regional Military Administration Head Oleh Kiper reported.
Another person died in hospital from their injuries. Eleven others were injured, and doctors are continuing to fight for their lives.

2026 could become the deadliest year yet for the Russian army, with Russia at risk of losing 230,000 soldiers killed in action over the course of the year, according to The Economist.
The publication analyzed data that hacker groups Silent Crow and Cyber Partisans BY claim to have stolen from a database belonging to Rosstat, Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service.
According to the data, Russia’s total military death toll may have reached 504,000 by the end of August. The number of fatalities has roughly doubled each year since the start of the full-scale invasion.
The data also suggests that the war has already claimed the lives of at least 0.9% of Russian men under the age of 60. Among men aged 35–49, the share exceeds 1%.
For comparison, the UALosses project has confirmed the deaths of 115,952 Ukrainian military personnel, with another 105,788 listed as missing in action. Relative to Ukraine’s pre-war male population under the age of 60, confirmed losses amount to approximately 1.1%.
While the authenticity of the entire Rosstat database has not been definitively verified, The Economist notes that its data is broadly consistent with independent estimates of Russian casualties.

EU ambassadors have agreed on a new package of sanctions against Russia targeting its energy sector, “shadow fleet,” and business figures, Reuters reports.
The restrictions are expected to target 50 banks and 145 individuals and entities. These include companies facilitating the operations of Russia’s “shadow fleet,” energy firms, and Russian business figures.
The measures are being introduced in response to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and its hybrid activities against Europe, including an act of sabotage at Leipzig/Halle Airport.
Final approval of the sanctions is expected on November 16

Russia’s Alex Ovechkin claimed Russian athletes "just want to play and represent their country," pushing back against international bans. Yet while Russian stars demand global ice time, Moscow's bombs and frontline assaults have killed over 500 Ukrainian athletes and coaches: from young prodigies in bombed gyms to champions defending their homeland who will never play again.

A total of 11,335 foreign nationals from 100 countries have died in Russia’s war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reports, citing Rosstat data obtained by hackers.
The deaths were recorded between February 24, 2022, and the end of August 2026. Listed causes include “shelling,” “drones,” and “participation in the ‘special military operation.’”
The records also use special codes to designate deaths resulting from military actions.

Russia’s Commissioner for Human Rights Yana Lantratova, seems to fall for the wishful thinking that Russia is fighting a war against everyone else, but “absolutely not Ukraine.” Yet, it is Ukrainians who continue to die every single day from massive Russian strikes on civilian neighborhoods.

CNN’s analysis of exclusive footage obtained from Ukrainian authorities reveals new details about Russia’s strike on an underground shelter in southeastern Ukraine using a massive bunker-busting bomb.
The November 2 attack on a village in southern Ukraine killed more than 50 people, making it the deadliest Russian strike of 2026 and one of the deadliest of the war. The victims had gathered to receive food and aid, and many had taken shelter after an earlier strike.
CNN reviewed police bodycam footage, weapon fragments, eyewitness testimony and geolocated videos, finding that the bombing was part of a double-tap attack: a second strike launched shortly after the initial one. https://t.me/United24media/47948

Ukraine’s women’s futsal team has won gold at the Youth Olympic Games in Dakar.

Kyiv Post Telegram Highlights

Ukraine’s ability to intercept Russian jet-powered drones is being hampered by a 161 kph Starshield speed cap, Zelensky says.
He said the satellite communications system has suffered major disruptions for days across the front line and in Russian-occupied territory.

Russia could offer bilateral nonaggression pacts to individual NATO states under a proposed security model.
Chief negotiator Vladimir Medinsky called European security central to Abu Dhabi talks, revisiting 2021 NATO pullback demands.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi discussed high-level diplomacy, including a possible trilateral summit with Russia, as Washington pushes talks on peace and nuclear disarmament.

Paris wants Berlin to align its long-range weapons doctrine with France’s nuclear strategy as Germany expands its arsenal with weapons capable of striking deep inside Russia.
French officials warn that miscalculated signals could push Europe across the nuclear threshold.

CSTO leaders gathered in Moscow as Russia seeks to reinforce its security influence under an outgoing chairmanship.
However, Armenia's ongoing boycott and suspended voting rights underscore widening cracks within the Russian-led military alliance.

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz could hold talks with Vladimir Putin following negotiations in Abu Dhabi, according to Die Zeit.
A government spokesperson said the UAE discussions had produced an understanding on basic principles, potentially opening the way for further contacts.

93+ sanctioned US- and Chinese-made components have been found in Russia’s Geran-5 K-5K jet-powered drone, Ukraine’s military intelligence says.
Mass-produced at Alabuga at up to 4,000 units a month, the roughly $150,000 weapon can fly low and strike with cruise-missile-like precision.'

Ukraine has allocated $43 million for 113 reconstruction projects across the country.
The funding will prioritize schools, hospitals, rehabilitation centers, water systems and energy-efficiency measures chosen by local communities.

Estonia and Ukraine are developing secure digital tools to document Russian war crimes and help trace abducted Ukrainian children.
Estonian Minister Liisa-Ly Pakosta emphasized that safeguarding registries from Russian cyberattacks is paramount.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Moscow’s calls for security guarantees have nothing to do with genuine security, noting that nobody has attacked Russia in decades.
“When Russians talk about a security architecture for themselves or security guarantees for Russia, they are unlikely talking about genuine security. Or about peace,” Zelensky told Denmark’s parliament.

Top congressional Democrats sharply condemn Trump, Kushner and Witkoff for undermining Ukraine, pressuring Kyiv to surrender sovereign territory and promoting Kremlin demands that threaten NATO and US national security.

Luc Chénier Marks 5 Years as Kyiv Post CEO With 20-Fold Growth in Monthly Website Views and 7-fold Growth in Digital Revenue
Free access and international digital reach underpin a strategy to fund journalism and bring Ukraine’s story to the world.

Live: Ukraine Telegram Highlights

🇺🇸The US will ask Russia to prepare a new security agreement with Europe, Axios sources say.
According to sources, the agreement should take into account not only Moscow's demands but also Russia's steps to reduce tensions and guarantees that it will not attack European countries.
US presidential envoys Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff are to convey this request to Putin during today's meeting in Moscow.
They also want Putin to allow European representatives to join the next round of peace negotiations on Ukraine.

The Czech Republic may sell 16 L-39 Skyfox aircraft to Ukraine, which are used, among other things, to counter drones, Czech Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček stated.
According to him, the transfer of four aircraft was confirmed earlier, and the sides have preliminary agreements on another 12.
▪️The L-39 Skyfox is a Czech jet aircraft designed for pilot training. It can also perform light combat missions, in particular countering drones.

Russia has registered the deaths of over 11,000 foreigners from nearly 100 countries since the start of its full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, Bloomberg reports, citing Rosstat data.
These deaths were registered between February 24, 2022, and the end of August 2026 and are directly linked to the war — either through relevant codes in the records or through mentions of the terms "military operation," "shelling," or "drones."
Approximately 340 of the deceased were from Africa, with most of these deaths occurring from 2025 onward. The highest number of deaths were from Egypt, Cameroon, Nigeria, Kenya, and Ghana. Another 300 records concerned Russian citizens born in Germany before 1992.
Almost all the deceased foreign military personnel were men. Of the 159 deceased women, 154 lived in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
▪️As of October, Russia had recruited about 46,000 foreign citizens. Ukraine has captured fighters from 59 countries. In total, Russia plans to recruit up to another 18,500 foreigners this year, said Dmytro Usov, secretary of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Ukraine has captured an Indonesian citizen for the first time — a man Russia sent to storm positions in Zaporizhzhia. In total, Russia has recruited at least 292 Indonesians, whereas over the previous three years there were no more than 10, The Guardian reports, citing the "Khochu zhyty" project.
Sukamto Ayok, 49, from Java, was promised construction work in Russia, but eight days after arriving in Moscow he learned he had signed a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. He was sent to the 39th Assault Brigade.
Sukamto tried to escape but was detained and forcibly had an identification number tattooed on his chest. He received no training. After a drone attack on his assault group, the man wandered for several days before being captured.
Indonesia has called on Moscow not to recruit its citizens following reports of the death in October of an Indonesian serving in the Russian army. Local police also uncovered a human trafficking network: people were lured with promises of work in logistics, border security, and construction, and after arriving in Russia were offered military contracts.
Earlier, Kenyan intelligence reported that over a thousand Kenyans had been lured into fighting for Russia. Among the recruited are also citizens of Uganda and South Africa.
▪️In August, the HUR stated that Russia tattoos persistent numbers on the skin or equipment of foreign mercenaries instead of military dog tags. This is how Russian security forces control them and search for deserters.

Russia has banned entry to two French MPs and two journalists after RT propagandist Ksenia Fedorova was expelled from France, Le Monde reports.
Entry was banned for MPs Sacha Houlié and Arthur Delaporte and for journalists Ariane Chemin of Le Monde and Paul Gogo, who previously worked in Russia.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova claims that the French figures allegedly took part in the persecution of Fedorova and called for her expulsion from France.

Overnight, Russia attacked Ukraine with Iskander-M, KN-23, and S-400 ballistic missiles, Tsirkon anti-ship missiles, and 123 drones. Air defense shot down 5 Banderol munitions and 89 Shaheds.
At the same time, missiles and drones struck 17 locations, with debris falling in 18 others. Key points on the aftermath:
🔴Kherson. A 58-year-old woman injured by a Russian drone in the morning has died in the hospital.
🔴Rivne region. Russia struck energy infrastructure, enterprises, and residential buildings.
🔴Kyiv region. In the Brovary district, a missile caused a fire in a truck carrying household chemicals near warehouses. The driver sustained severe injuries. In the Obukhiv district, warehouses and production premises of an enterprise were on fire. In Kyiv, a drone struck a nine-story building.
🔴Dnipropetrovsk region. Russia attacked three districts with drones more than 10 times. In the Pavlohrad district, buildings and equipment were damaged, and fires broke out. Nikopol and warehouses in the Synelnykove district were also hit.
🔴Russia again struck the residential neighborhood of Balakliia in the Kharkiv region. No casualties were reported, but private houses, a store, and the power grid were damaged.

In Kyiv, a woman was killed and five other people were injured. In the Solomianskyi district, a drone set a nine-story building on fire: the flames engulfed floors three through six. Here is what is known about the aftermath in other regions:
🔴In the Zhytomyr region, Russian attacks caused fires at energy facilities, an enterprise, and in a residential area. Buildings, homes, and outbuildings were damaged. One person was injured.
🔴In the Kherson region, a drone attacked Novovorontsovka. A man was injured.
🔴In Volyn, an attack by jet-powered Shaheds set trucks and a fuel tanker on fire. A drone fell on the territory of a customs terminal in Kovel. One person was injured.

Starlink ......

What are Musk & Trump playing at. Is the Starlink slow down to force Ukraines hand in ‘peace’ negotiations?