Introducing the main events of the 1,350th day of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Published November 5, 2025
Here’s what happened on Wednesday, November 5th.
finding
Russian and Ukrainian forces are fighting in the ruins of Pokrovsk, a transport and logistics hub in eastern Ukraine, with the Ukrainian military reporting heavy fighting in parts of the city that are a frontline logistics hub for Kiev.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said he visited troops fighting near the eastern city of Dobropilya, where Ukrainian forces are carrying out counterattacks against Russian forces.
In a post on the Telegram messaging app, the region’s governor said Russia had attacked civilian energy and port infrastructure in a large-scale nighttime drone attack on Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, adding that rescue teams had extinguished the fire and there were no casualties.
Ukraine attacked an oil refinery in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod region, east of Moscow, the General Staff of the Armed Forces said in a statement. The extent of the damage to the Lukoil refinery in Kustovo, which supplies supplies to the Russian military, is not yet known.
Ukraine’s military also announced that its drones had caused “significant damage” to a petrochemical plant in Bashkortostan in central Russia. Local authorities reported an attack on the Sterlitamak petrochemical plant, but added that the facility was still operational.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law authorizing the use of reservists to guard oil refineries after Ukrainian drone attacks caused fuel shortages in some parts of the country.
weapons
Putin praised his country’s development of new weapons, including the Burevestnik cruise missile and the Poseidon supertorpedo, saying they are faster and more effective, and that the Burevestnik is said to be capable of reaching more than three times the speed of sound. Putin also said Russia is mass producing the Oleshnik missile, which the Russian government announced would be used for the first time in November 2024 to attack Ukraine.
President Zelensky reiterated his call for the United States to remain open to supplying Kiev with long-range weapons for the war effort against Russian aggression, and also called for additional sanctions on Moscow’s gas and nuclear sectors.
According to the Norwegian government, Norwegian munitions manufacturer Nammo has signed a letter of intent with a Ukrainian industrial partner to produce, develop and sell ammunition in Ukraine.
sanctions
Kazakhstan’s state oil and gas company Kazmunay Gas and sanctioned Russian oil and gas company Lukoil continue to work on joint projects in accordance with their contractual obligations despite Western sanctions, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.
Japanese investment firm Marubeni plans to follow guidance from the Japanese government regarding its involvement in Russia’s Sakhalin 1 oil project after the US government imposed sanctions on Rosneft, the project’s main shareholder, Marubeni CEO Masayuki Omoto told a press conference in Tokyo.
Turkish fuel supplier Guzel Energi said it would raise diesel prices after Western sanctions against Russian oil companies led to supply problems and increased insurance and financing costs, according to a document seen by Reuters.
politics and diplomacy
President Zelensky called on Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán to stop blocking Kiev’s move to join the European Union. The European Commission praised progress on reforms needed for Montenegro, Albania, Ukraine and Moldova to join, and said it could welcome new member states as early as 2030. European Commissioner for Economy and Productivity Valdis Dombrovskis said the EU may have to come up with a bridging solution to maintain funding to Ukraine by early 2026 if an agreement on EU loans based on frozen Russian assets held in EU accounts continues to be delayed.
Germany plans to increase financial aid to Ukraine by around 3 billion euros ($3.5 billion) next year, a spokeswoman for the German Federal Ministry of Finance said. Germany has already contributed about 40 billion euros ($46 billion) since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022.
According to an executive order signed by President Vladimir Putin, Maksim Oreshkin, the chief of staff in the Russian presidential administration, will lead the Russian delegation to the G20 summit in South Africa later this month. The Kremlin earlier announced that Putin, who is facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, will not attend the summit in Johannesburg on November 22 and 23.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is constantly acting as an intermediary between Ukraine and Russia regarding Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, including Zaporizhia, said IAEA Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
