November began with a significant intensification of Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine. On the Donetsk front, Russian forces captured the villages of Stepanivka and Illinka, continuing the pressure in the Kurakhove direction. Despite these advances, the Ukrainian side managed to stabilize the front line in key fortress cities: Chasiv Yar and Toretsk.

The spokeswoman for the Luhansk Group denied Russian reports about the fall of these localities, emphasizing that the Donets-Donbas canal remained an impassable barrier for larger enemy units. In the Kursk region, the ISW noted the advancement of the Ukrainian Armed Forces north of Sudzha.

Nov. 4 went down in the history of the conflict as the moment of the first direct combat contact between Ukrainian forces and North Korean units in the Kursk region. The information about the shelling of DPRK soldiers was confirmed by Ukrainian government centres and indirectly by US intelligence. There was an upswing on the diplomatic front: Canada sent the first NASAMS system, Germany contributed €200 million for energy infrastructure, and Australia provided 14 combat boats.

According to the Centre for Eastern Studies (OSW) analysis from Nov. 5, Pokrovsk was preparing to become a "fortress", while Russian positions were now only 7 km from the city limits. In Zaporizhzhia, a rocket attack on an infrastructure facility killed six people. In response to Russian terror, Ukrainian drones struck housing complexes in Belgorod, Russia. Sweden supported Ukrainian rescue services with a €9 million package, including specialized ships and protective masks. The balance of air strikes in recent months had showed a drastic increase in the dynamics of the air warfare – from August to October, Russia had launched 4,300 drones, which is almost four times more than the statistics from early summer.

Mid-week, there was a spectacular success for Ukrainian intelligence (HUR) – for the first time since the beginning of the invasion, drones struck the base of the Russian Caspian Flotilla in Kaspiysk (Dagestan), about 1,000 km from the front line. As a result of the attack, at least two Gepard-class frigates ("Tatarstan" and "Dagestan") were damaged. On the land front, the Russians continued their attack, capturing Stepanovka north of Kurakhove. General Oleksandr Syrsky summed up the balance of the Kursk operation, pointing out that since August, Russia had lost over 20,000 soldiers there (killed, wounded and captured), which forced the Kremlin to transfer 45,000 men to the area. The death of Pavel Klimenko, the seventh Russian general killed in action, was also confirmed. Politically, the Joe Biden administration declared its willingness to accelerate the transfer of the last $6 billion in military aid before Donald Trump's inauguration.

On Nov. 7, tragic news came from Zaporizhzhia: five Russian air bombs and missiles had hit residential buildings and an oncology hospital, killing 10 people, including a one-year-old child. President Zelensky officially reported the first losses among North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region, prompting South Korea to declare that it might begin supplying weapons to Ukraine depending on the level of escalation from Pyongyang.

On the night of Nov. 8, the Russians carried out a massive attack on Odessa (one fatality) and Kharkiv, where a KAB-500 bomb hit a 12-story skyscraper, injuring 25 people. Ukrainian long-range drones carried out a successful attack on the Rosneft refinery in Saratov. There was also an extensive exchange of bodies of the fallen. 563 heroes returned to Ukraine, mainly from the Donetsk direction.

Sunday, Nov. 10, saw a record-breaking drone attack on Ukraine – Russia launched as many as 145 of them (10 of which flew over Moldova and Belarus). In response, Ukraine launched its largest-ever attack on Moscow using 34 drones, forcing the closure of three major airports (Domodedovo, Sheremetyevo, Zhukovsky). In the Bryansk region, Ukrainian Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Forces hit the 1060th Logistics Centre, triggering powerful ammunition stock detonations. On the Kursk front, Russia had already gathered 50,000 troops (including the DPRK contingent), preparing for a general assault. 

Illustrative photo/AI generated