ODESA, UKRAINE – NOVEMBER 25: (——EDITORIAL USE ONLY – MANDATORY CREDIT – ‘KHERSON REGIONAL MILITARY … [+] ADMINISTRATION OF UKRAINE / HANDOUT’ – NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS – DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS—— ) Officials help residents after Russian forces launched a missile attack on the Odesa, Ukraine on November 25, 2024. As a result of attack 11 people were injured and civilian infrastructure were damaged, including residential buildings, cars, a dental clinic, a beauty salon, shops, and flower stands. Additionally, two educational institutionsa school and university gymwere damaged, with windows and doors shattered. (Photo by Kherson Reg. Mil. Administration/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 1006.
Ukraine launched its first-ever strike on a Russian airbase using American ATACAMS ballistic missiles in the Kursk region overnight into of Nov. 25. The attack used cluster warheads to target the Kursk-East airfield, home to Russian tactical aircraft, and likely resulted in a detonation of submunitions. The Biden administration lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s use of U.S. long-range weapons for strikes within Russia earlier this month, in response to North Korea’s growing contributions to Russia’s war effort.
Russia has reportedly supplied North Korea with over 1 million barrels of oil since March 2024, in violation of United Nations sanctions, in exchange for military support, according to a BBC investigation. Satellite images reveal North Korean tankers docking 43 times at a Russian Far East port terminal, departing full after arriving empty. The illicit oil trade, which has brought North Korea twice the U.N.’s annual cap of 500 thousand barrels, provides Pyongyang with a critical economic lifeline, alleviating the strain of sanctions imposed for its nuclear weapons development program.
Nearly one-third of the ballistic missiles Moscow launched at Ukraine in 2024 originated from Pyongyang, CNN reported. According to Ukraine’s Air Force, of the 194 ballistic missiles fired by Russia this year, approximately 60 were KN-23 missiles supplied by North Korea. Additionally, the Kremlin ally has sent more 11 thousand soldiers to the Kursk region, with some already involved in combat against Ukrainian forces, according to Anatoliy Bargylevych, Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
Odesa region. Russia launched a missile attack on downtown Odesa on Nov. 25, injuring at least 11 people, according to the Governor Oleh Kiper. Russia struck Odesa’s densely populated residential area with no military targets, damaging a school and university gym.
Zaporizhia region. A Russian glide bomb killed a 55-year old man and injured a child in the frontline regional capital of Zaporizhia in southeastern Ukraine on Nov. 23.
Kherson region. On Nov. 25, Russia struck a residential building in the regional capital city of Kherson in Ukraine’s south, killing a civilian.
Donetsk region. Ukraine’s prosecutor general is investigating the execution of five Ukrainian soldiers by Russian forces near the city of Vuhledar on Oct. 2 as a war crime. A day after Russian forces captured the industrial city of Vuhledar on the eastern front line, following months of fierce fighting, the Ukrainian soldiers were reportedly captured during an assault on their position. One soldier was shot in a forest, while the others were marched at gunpoint to a road, and executed later. In just three days, Russian forces killed three civilians and injured over 20 in the region.
Ukraine is set to receive another $4.8 billion from the World Bank’s PEACE (Public Expenditures for Administrative Capacity Endurance) program, an initiative designed to sustain critical public services amid the ongoing war. Part of a broader $101 billion in foreign aid for Ukraine since early 2022, the World Bank’s PEACE program funds key state expenditures such as pensions and the reconstruction of schools and hospitals. As of November 2024, PEACE has allocated $30.8 billion to Ukraine, with over $25 billion of this sum from U.S. grants.
Ukraine has lost 40% of the territory it seized in Russia’s Kursk region, now controlling 300 square miles, down from 530 earlier in its offensive, according to Reuters. Kyiv initially caught Russia off-guard when it launched its surprise incursion in August, but Russia has since deployed 59,000 troops to counter it. Ukraine brought the war to Russian territory in an attempt to disrupt the Kremlin’s assaults on its east and northeast regions, but the offensive failed to slow Moscow’s advances, particularly in the Donetsk region, where Russian forces continue to steadily gain ground despite Kyiv’s efforts. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy noted that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, aspires to expel Ukrainian forces from Kursk by Jan. 20, seeking a tactical victory ahead of Donald Trump’s return to the White House.
Ukrainian drones are 95% reliant on foreign components, with 80-90% sourced from China, according to Oleksandr Yakovenko, founder of Ukrainian manufacturer TAF Drones. Although 96% of the 1 million drones procured for Ukraine’s frontlines in 2024 were produced domestically, heavy dependence on international suppliers exposes the country’s home-grown drone production to external risks and supply chain disruptions. In response, the International Drone Coalition, consisting of allied 20 countries led by Latvia and the United Kingdom, is allocating nearly $1.9 billion this year to bolster Ukraine’s technological capabilities and support its defense efforts.
Independent Russian news outlet Mediazona, in collaboration with BBC News Russian, has confirmed nearly 80,000 Russian military deaths in Ukraine, far surpassing Moscow’s last official count of 5,937 fatalities. The outlet’s analysis, using publicly available data such as social media and local reports, reveals a far higher toll than Kremlin figures, with nearly 2,700 new deaths documented just in the past two weeks. To fill in gaps in reported deaths, Mediazona analyses excess mortality in military-aged men based on Probate Registry data, using methodology developed in collaboration with Latvia-based media outlet Meduza. This calculation estimates nearly 120,000 Russian soldiers killed since February 2022.
By Danylo Nosov, Karina L. Tahiliani
