Eurasia Press & News
In today’s summary:
- The intensification of attempts by the Russian Armed Forces to dislodge the Ukrainian Armed Forces from the Kursk bridgehead has so far only led to huge losses of equipment
- There is growing evidence of mass looting by Russian military in the Kursk region
- Russian units are amassing forces on the outskirts of Kurakhovo and advancing north along the shore of the Kurakhovo Reservoir
- A column of the Russian Armed Forces broke through to the outskirts of Kupyansk and landed troops – some of the stormtroopers were killed, others were captured
- The current rate of growth of the confirmed death toll on the Russian side is a record for the entire war
- Pro-Russian military blogger Kirill Fedorov reported that a Ukrainian FPV drone shot down a Ka-52 attack helicopter
- Biden administration plans to spend all allocated military aid to Ukraine before Trump’s inauguration
- The European Union has approved funding for joint purchases of weapons and ammunition for the first time, including for supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces
The situation at the front
The main intensity of the fighting this week was observed in the Kursk region and in the Donetsk region near Kurakhovo . The new offensive on the Kursk bridgehead of the Ukrainian Armed Forces unfolded against the backdrop of reports that Vladimir Putin plans to dislodge Ukrainian forces from internationally recognized territory before Donald Trump’s inauguration as US President on January 20, 2025, but so far the offensive has not brought any significant successes. Ukrainian units are publishing footage ( 1 , 2 , 3 ) of repelling Russian attacks, which, according to the calculations of the Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance agency Kriegsforcher, have already cost the Russian Armed Forces at least 77 units of equipment. Z-bloggers accuse commanders of being unable to learn and sending “fake” reports to the top .
Meanwhile, local residents forced to leave their homes due to fighting complain about poor organization of the evacuation and insufficient assistance from local authorities ( 1 , 2 ). There is also increasing evidence of looting by Russian troops – recently acknowledged by the former governor of Kursk region Roman Starovoit , as well as a Russian serviceman who told The Insider about the atrocities. The state agency TASS released a curious note with impressions of civilians about the houses in Glushkovo “looted by the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, where the Ukrainian military never entered.
In the Kurakhovo area, Russian troops managed to capture Ilyinka on the northern bank of the Kurakhovo Reservoir and began to amass forces within the city limits of Kurakhovo . The dam on the reservoir itself was destroyed , which complicated the movement of Ukrainian equipment downstream. Despite successfully repelling mechanized assaults in the Dalniy area to the south of the city (during one of them, a Ukrainian Leopard 2A4 stopped an entire enemy column), the Russian Armed Forces managed to dangerously narrow the neck of the “pocket” in the southeastern part of the Kurakhovo salient. DeepState analysts blame the events on commanders sending reports to the top that do not correspond to reality.
Southwest of Kurakhovo, Russian troops are developing an offensive at the junction of the Donetsk and Zaporizhia regions, including the Vremevsky salient . Here, the Russian Armed Forces managed to take Rivnepil, and the Donetsk OVA announced the evacuation of families with children from the adjacent villages. Heavy fighting is also taking place in the Pokrovsk direction, where the Ukrainian Armed Forces were forced to abandon Grigorovka and Petrovka to the west of Selydovo. The Pokrovsk (until 2016 – Krasnoarmeysk) – Kurakhovo highway has come under fire control , where Russian drones are hunting for both military and civilian transport.
Ukrainian military observer Konstantin Mashovets, analyzing the military actions on the Seversky salient in the summer-fall of 2024 ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 ), came to the conclusion that the effective defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on this section of the front forced the Russian command to abandon plans for a large-scale offensive on Slavyansk . It is noted that the Ukrainian positions on the Seversky salient have “significant cover” in the form of the Seversky Donets River, which provides protection from the northern direction even in the event of a serious enemy advance.
In the Kupyansk direction, a Russian column unexpectedly drove several kilometers from the front line almost unhindered and landed troops on the outskirts of Kupyansk , which, however, was soon destroyed, and the remaining Russian soldiers surrendered . DeepState explains the incident by confusion in the defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which was soon resolved .
Another unexpected event occurred in the Chernihiv region, where Russian sabotage and reconnaissance groups carried out “flag-strikes” in several border villages at once. Analysts agree ( 1 , 2 ) that the operation was carried out exclusively for PR purposes, and DeepState specifies that it took place in a small area separated from the rest of Ukraine by a blown-up bridge, where there are no Ukrainian military or local residents .
According to the project “Go to the Forest”, recently conscripts are increasingly forced to sign a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense, in many cases – from the first days of service. This is due to the fact that orders with “norms” for recruiting contract soldiers are sent down to the regions. As the project’s press secretary Alexey Tabalov notes, it is worse to fill these vacancies at the expense of those in need of money or prisoners, so such measures have to be resorted to.
Mutual shelling and sabotage
The Ukrainian Air Force Command reported ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 ) the interception of 262 out of 558 launched Russian UAVs , including the Shahed type . Another 260 drones were “location lost”, that is, they fell under the influence of electronic warfare or turned out to be false targets. On the night of November 10, a record 145 UAVs were launched, one of them (a drone – a false target “Parody”) fell on the territory of Moldova. In addition, it was reported that 10 missiles of different types were launched, 7 of which were shot down. On the night of November 13, Kiev was subjected to a combined missile and drone strike for the first time in 73 days.
Over the course of the week, the Russian Armed Forces carried out the following strikes with drones, missiles and guided aerial bombs on the civilian infrastructure of Ukrainian cities:
- On November 9, after a drone attack on Odessa, one person was killed and 13 people were injured. Residential high-rise buildings, private homes, warehouses and cars were damaged; in Nikolaev, a private home was destroyed and a four-story building was damaged, five people were killed; as a result of the strike on Zaporizhia, a two-story residential building was partially destroyed , one person was killed and 21 people were injured ;
- On November 11, a ballistic missile hit a multi-story building in Krivoy Rog, killing three children and their mother, injuring 14 people, and declaring mourning in the city;
- In Kharkov, the arrival of FPV drones of the Molniya aircraft type was recorded ; on November 11, three people were injured ( 1 , 2 ), and on November 14, four more ;
- On the night of November 15, Odessa was hit by a UAV again. Residential buildings, a church, an educational institution and cars were damaged , and one of the city’s boiler houses was forced to shut down. One person died and ten were injured .
In addition, according to the Astra publication ( 1 , 2 , 3 ), the Russian Aerospace Forces dropped a total of seven aerial bombs on the territory of the Belgorod and occupied Luhansk regions in a week, while no one was hurt . In addition, Pepel found out that on November 5, it was not a Ukrainian drone that hit a residential building in Belgorod, but a Russian “Shahed”.
The Russian Defense Ministry, in turn, reported ( 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ) the destruction of 255 Ukrainian aircraft-type UAVs over Russian territory. On November 10, 32 UAVs were shot down in the Moscow region during one of the largest raids on the Russian capital. Also during the week, Ukrainian forces struck the following known targets:
regarding the Aleksinsky chemical plant in the Tula region, the SBU reported that the gunpowder production workshop was damaged;
at a military training ground in the Rostov region, several tents burned down, there are no known casualties;
According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, two fires have been recorded at the 120th arsenal of the Main Artillery Directorate in the Bryansk region;
on the accumulation of Pskov paratroopers in the Zaporozhye region;
at the oil depot in the Belgorod region;
at a military facility in Belgorod, where several conscripts were wounded;
at the Krymsk airfield in the Krasnodar region, no damage is known.
The Main Intelligence Directorate also reported the burning of a Russian Mi-24 helicopter at the Klin-5 airfield near Moscow, and in occupied Sevastopol, a passenger car belonging to the Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of the 41st Brigade of Missile Ships and Boats of the Black Sea Fleet, Captain First Rank Valeriy Trankovsky, was blown up . Ukrainian media sources in the SBU claimed responsibility for the latter incident , stating Trankovsky’s involvement in missile strikes on Ukrainian cities.
Losses
The BBC Russian Service and the Mediazona publication, together with a team of volunteers, updated the calculations of losses in the war on the Russian side based on reports in open sources. In total, 78,329 people are known to have died. It is noted that the current growth rate of the confirmed death toll is the highest in the entire war .
Pro-Russian military blogger Kirill Fedorov writes that a Ukrainian FPV drone hit a Ka-52 attack helicopter, killing its commander (the navigator survived) . Recall that the helicopter crash was previously reported in the Z community, without providing information on how it happened.
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine announced an investigation into yet another shooting of a Ukrainian prisoner of war . A video of an unarmed soldier lying on the ground being killed by a burst of machine gun fire has been circulated on Z-channels. Volunteer Sergei Sternenko reported another shooting of Ukrainian prisoners of war by publishing a corresponding video. According to him, the shooting of at least two unarmed soldiers took place in the Kursk region. In addition, as reported by the Donetsk region prosecutor’s office, Russian soldiers shot a civilian near Terny. An investigation has been launched into the fact of a war crime.
According to the Telegram channel “VChK-OGPU”, the commander of the 110th Separate Motorized Rifle Brigade’s assault troops , Vladimir Novikov, call sign Bely, who was previously arrested, as “war correspondent” Andrei Filatov claimed, for a conflict with the drug mafia, in fact beat up military prosecutors together with his subordinates during a fight in one of Donetsk’s bars. The subsequent inspection at the brigade’s location reportedly revealed hostages in dog cages, who were tortured and had their wages taken away . The hostages previously held in the same cages were allegedly “zeroed out” .
Also, “VChK-OGPU” gives an alternative version of the death of the commander of the 5th separate motorized rifle brigade, Major General Pavel Klimenko. Earlier it was reported that he received fatal injuries when an FPV drone hit him while he was touring his positions. According to the authors of the channel, Klimenko, while drunk, drove his motorcycle into a ditch and subsequently died from his injuries . Upon admission to the hospital, his body allegedly did not have thermal or shrapnel injuries characteristic of an explosion.
If previously all Russian servicemen who were wounded were paid 3 million rubles, now, according to a new government decree , such a payment is due only for serious wounds. For a minor wound, they will pay three times less (up to 1 million rubles), and for a minor injury, 30 times less – up to 100 thousand rubles. Subsequently, Vladimir Putin increased the amount of a one-time payment for disability received in the war against Ukraine to 4 million rubles.
Weapons and military equipment
The United States announced that $7.1 billion remains for military aid to Ukraine under the PDA and $2.2 billion under the USAI program . All these funds are planned to be spent before Trump’s inauguration on January 20, 2025. In particular, 500 SAMs for the Patriot and NASAMS air defense systems will be delivered in the near future . In addition, the Biden administration intends to ask Congress for funding for 2025, and has also allowed American military contractors to work in Ukraine, where they will repair and maintain military equipment.
France will provide Ukraine with an additional batch of SCALP-EG missiles , while the lack of supplies of similar Storm Shadow missiles has caused friction between Kiev and London. France is also going to deliver 600 AASM guided air bombs by the end of the year and will soon transfer six Mirage-2000-5F fighters with full technical support.
German Chancellor candidate from the opposition CDU party Friedrich Merz said that if elected, he intends to give Putin an ultimatum to stop striking Ukrainian infrastructure, threatening otherwise to sanction the delivery of long-range TAURUS missiles and strikes with them on Russian territory. So far, Ukraine has received access to radar satellite images from the Finnish company ICEYE through the mediation of the German concern Rheinmetall.
Meanwhile, the European Union has approved for the first time funding in the amount of €300 million for joint purchases of weapons by member countries of the association, including for subsequent delivery to Ukraine . In an interview with the Ukrainian “European Pravda”, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell promised that by the end of 2024 the Ukrainian Armed Forces would receive 1.5 million artillery rounds . So far, 980 thousand have been delivered, but instead of 12 months, it took 21 months (the promise to transfer 1 million shells within a year was given in March 2023).
OSINT researcher Jompy has provided an updated inventory of military equipment and weapons based on satellite images of Russian storage bases. He reports that for many categories, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles , armored personnel carriers , and artillery systems, less than 50% of pre-war levels remain, with only a small proportion likely to be in satisfactory technical condition . At the same time, another OSINT researcher, Just BeCause , notes that the critical moment with the exhaustion of combat equipment at the disposal of the Russian Armed Forces will not occur before mid-2025 or early 2026.
Meanwhile, Rostec reported on the transfer of a new batch of Su-35S and Su-57 fighters to the Russian Aerospace Forces. The situation with air defense systems is worse – a Tor-M2KM air defense system intended for Armenia was spotted in the Kursk region. As it turned out , tank stocks are replenished , including with the help of props from the Mosfilm studio . Also, the DPRK helped its new ally with military equipment for the first time – long-range 170-mm self- propelled guns , conditionally called M1989 Koksan, which are an analogue of the Soviet Pion, were spotted on a railway echelon in Russia .
The GUR reported that even primitive Russian drones – decoys “Parody” – use foreign components from China, the United States, Switzerland and the Republic of China (Taiwan). The Insider, in turn, found out that equipment for the development and production of electronic warfare systems was supplied to Russia from Germany, France and the United States through a network of Kazakh companies.
At the front, Ukrainian craftsmen applied classic winter camouflage to the M113 APC by pasting it with newspapers. In turn, the Russian army armored the Bukhanka with old car tires and a quote from the New Testament, and adapted another Bukhanka for an MLRS .
