Introducing the main events of the 1,352nd day of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Published November 7, 2025
Here’s what happened on Friday, November 7th.
finding
Ukraine on Thursday attacked Russia with at least 75 drones, sparking a fire in an industrial area in the southern city of Volgograd, killing at least one person and grounding dozens of flights across Russia, Russian officials said. Russian oil company Lukoil’s refinery in Volgograd has also suspended operations after being attacked by a Ukrainian drone, Reuters reported, citing three sources familiar with the matter. Sources said Lukoil’s main processing unit, CDU-5, which has a capacity of 9,100 tons per day, or 66,700 barrels per day (one-fifth of the plant’s total capacity), and another processor with a capacity of 11,000 tons per day, were damaged in the attack. Russia’s Ministry of Defense announced that Russian troops have marched into the destroyed Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk and are conducting door-to-door fighting to eliminate Ukrainian forces. Russia said it had captured 64 buildings in Pokrovsk in the past 24 hours and repelled a Western Ukrainian military attack from Hryshne. The Russian government claims that capturing Pokrovsk will give it a base from which to move north toward Kramatorsk and Sloviask, the largest remaining Ukrainian-controlled cities in the Donetsk region. The South African government announced that it had received a distress call from 17 nationals who had joined mercenaries in the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The men, aged between 20 and 39, are trapped in Ukraine’s war-torn Donbass region. It is unclear who they were fighting for.
military aid
Ukraine is in “positive” talks with the United States about purchasing Tomahawk missiles and other long-range weapons, Olha Stefanishina, Ukraine’s ambassador to Washington, told Bloomberg News. Sweden’s Defense Minister Pal Jonsson said that Sweden and Ukraine have signed a letter of intent that includes establishing a joint center in Ukraine where “Swedes will work on defense innovation.” Ukraine has asked Sweden to start training Ukrainian pilots on Swedish Gripen fighter jets as soon as possible, according to Defense Minister Denis Shmyhal in Kyiv.
sanctions
Swiss commodities trader Gambar has announced it has withdrawn its offer to buy the overseas assets of sanctioned Russian energy company Lukoil after the US Treasury called the company a Russian “puppet” and signaled US opposition to the deal. In a post on X, the U.S. Treasury Department said that President Donald Trump “has made clear that the war must end immediately. As long as[Russian President Vladimir]Putin continues to commit senseless murders, Kremlin puppet Gunvor will never get a license to operate and make a profit.” Lukoil has begun diverting Caspian Sea oil flows from Azerbaijan’s capital Baku to Russia’s Makhachkala port in response to Western sanctions, Reuters reported, citing two industry sources. The Russian-flagged tanker Lady Leila arrived in Makhachkala late Thursday with a cargo of 5,000 tons of crude oil from Lukoil’s Korchagin field in the Caspian Sea, one of the people said.
regional security
Gothenburg Landvetter Airport, Sweden’s second-largest airport, has resumed operations after air traffic was suspended pending an investigation into sabotage following the drone incident. It was the latest in a series of incidents that European officials said were part of a hybrid war that Russia is waging against European countries. Belgian Defense Minister Theo Franken said his country would step up surveillance of its airspace after drones were repeatedly sighted over airports and military bases in recent months. NATO countries have been on high alert in recent weeks after drone sightings and other air attacks, including on airports in Copenhagen, Munich and the Baltic region. Around 20 Russian drones also entered Polish airspace in September. Moscow denied any connection to the incident. Poland will begin a new military training program this month as part of a broader plan to train around 400,000 people in 2026, the Ministry of Defense announced. Emboldened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Poland now spends more of its gross domestic product (GDP) on defense than any other NATO member.
Russian situation
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said he had agreed to a plan to gradually reduce the value-added tax threshold for small and medium-sized enterprises starting in 2026, rather than imposing it all at once, following a backlash from business owners over the Kremlin’s measures aimed at financing the war in Ukraine. Two members of Germany’s largest opposition party, the far-right Alternative for Germany party, will travel to Russia next week for the BRICS summit. The party has faced criticism from opponents over its ties to the Kremlin and accusations (strongly denied) that it may be passing on classified military information.
war crimes
A Ukrainian court has sentenced a Russian soldier convicted of killing a Ukrainian prisoner to life in prison, the first time Kiev has jailed a suspect on such charges. A court in the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhya found Dmitry Kurashov guilty of shooting dead Ukrainian soldier Vitaly Khodnyuk, who surrendered when his dugout was captured by Russian forces in January 2024.
