On Nov. 11, a Russian missile hit a high-rise building in Kryvyi Rih, killing a woman and three children. A dramatic incident took place on the Donetsk front: The Russians destroyed the dam of the Kurakhove Reservoir in Stari Terny, which caused a rapid rise in water in the Volcha River. This was aimed at hampering Ukrainian logistics and potentially cutting off supply routes to the besieged Kurakhove.

On Nov. 13, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) carried out a spectacular special operation in Sevastopol. As a result of a car bomb explosion, Captain Valery Trankovsky was killed, chief of staff of the 41st Frigate Brigade, responsible for the missile attacks on Vinnytsia and Odessa.

On Nov. 14, the situation around Kupiansk became critical. Russian armoured columns managed to break through to the city itself, using the element of surprise and disguise of Ukrainian uniforms (which is a war crime). Although the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced the repulse of the attack and the destruction of enemy vehicles, the presence of Russians within the city limits confirmed the high dynamics of the fighting. At the same time, trains carrying powerful North Korean 170mm M-1978 Koksan artillery were spotted in Siberia, suggesting a further escalation of support from Pyongyang. In Odessa, a nighttime rocket attack damaged the main heating pipeline, leaving thousands of residents without heat.

On Nov. 15, the first telephone conversation in two years between German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Vladimir Putin took place. President Zelensky sharply criticized this step, claiming that it "opened Pandora's box" and helped Putin emerge from international isolation. 

The third week of November 2024 brought a historic turn in the dynamics of the conflict. Ukraine, after months of diplomatic efforts, received and immediately used permission to use Western long-range weapons against targets deep inside Russia, coinciding with a drastic update of Russia's nuclear doctrine.

On Nov. 16 and 17, Russia carried out one of the largest air attacks in the history of war, launching 120 missiles (including hypersonic Tsirkon and Kinzhal) and 90 drones. The main objective was energy infrastructure, which forced power outages across the country. Ukrainian defences, supported for the first time by F-16 fighters as interceptors, managed to shoot down 144 targets. The tragic toll of the attacks included 11 fatalities in Sumy, where a cluster projectile hit an apartment block. At the same time, President Joe Biden officially authorized the use of ATACMS missiles to attack Russian territory, a move also supported by the United Kingdom and France with regard to Storm Shadow/SCALP missiles.

Nov. 19 is the 1000th day of the full-scale invasion. Ukraine commemorated this date with the first-ever attack with ATACMS missiles on a Russian ammunition depot in Karachev (Bryansk region). The hit caused a series of 12 secondary explosions. In response, Vladimir Putin signed a new nuclear doctrine lowering the threshold for the use of nuclear weapons. From that moment on, Russia allowed such a response even to a conventional attack if it is supported by a nuclear power. 

On Nov. 20, Ukraine continued its long-range offensive, using British Storm Shadow missiles for the first time to destroy an underground command centre in Maryino (Kursk region). According to reports, 18 Russian officers and hundreds of North Korean soldiers were killed in the attack, and General Valery Solodchuk was wounded. The Pentagon announced a new aid package (USD 275 million) and a controversial decision to transfer anti-personnel mines to Ukraine to slow down Russian "meat-grinder assaults" in the Donbas. Ukrainian intelligence also revealed a Russian project to "divide Ukraine by 2045," which would involve annexing the east and creating a puppet state in the centre, confirming the Kremlin's maximalist goals despite losses estimated at 700,000 personnel.

Nov. 21st brought an unprecedented event in the history of armed conflicts: Russia used a new type of ballistic missile during an attack on the city of Dnipro. Although the Ukrainian side initially identified the weapon as an RS-26 Rubezh intercontinental missile, final analyses and a statement by Vladimir Putin confirmed that it had been a medium-range system called Oreshnik that hit the Yuzhmash industrial complex. The experimental missile travelled at Mach 11 and carried six warheads, each containing a succession of submunitions, in a show of force against Western approval of Ukraine's use of ATACMS and Storm Shadow systems. At the same time, in Kryvyi Rih, a Russian missile attack injured 32 people and damaged administrative and residential buildings, while the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant once again found itself on the verge of a complete power cut due to shelling of power lines.

Illustrative photo/AI generated