Introducing the main events of the 1,373rd day of Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Published November 28, 2025
Here’s what happened on Friday, November 28th.
finding
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russian troops had “completely surrounded” the warring Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk and captured 70 percent of it. Putin also said the fighting would stop once Ukrainian forces withdraw from their positions in key areas. However, if this is not the case, the Russian military will use force to achieve its objectives. The Russian president added that the pace of Russia’s advance in all directions on the front is “significantly increasing.” Ukraine’s top commander, Oleksandr Silsky, painted a different picture, saying on social media that Ukrainian forces were thwarting Russian attempts to launch new attacks on Pokrovsk and Mirnohrad. Shirsky also said Russia was forced to bring its reserve forces into the fight. Russia’s air defense forces shot down 118 Ukrainian drones overnight, 52 of which were shot down over Russia’s Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense in Moscow said.
peace process
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his delegation would meet with the U.S. delegation this week to develop a formula that would bring peace and guarantee security to Kyiv, which was discussed at the Geneva talks. President Putin said a draft peace proposal negotiated by the United States and Ukraine could serve as the basis for a future agreement to end Russia’s war with Ukraine, but that Russia would continue fighting even if it did not. President Putin also called the Ukrainian leadership illegitimate and said it was pointless to sign a peace document with the Ukrainian leadership. The Russian president said Ukraine’s leadership had lost legitimacy by refusing to hold elections at the end of Zelensky’s term. Kiev has said it cannot hold elections while it is under martial law and defending its territory from Russian attack. Ukraine’s presidential chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, told The Atlantic that President Zelenskiy would not agree to cede land to Russia in exchange for peace. “As long as Mr. Zelenskiy is president, no one should expect us to give up territory. He will not sign it away,” Yermak said. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Ukraine still needs a strong military and security guarantees after a peace deal with Russia, but should not be forced to make territorial concessions. “We are very positive about the efforts of the U.S. government to find a solution here, but we also say that the security interests of the European people, and by extension the security interests of Ukraine, must be protected,” Merz said. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Ukraine’s membership in NATO remains unacceptable to Russia. “The threat for us remains the expansion of NATO,” she told reporters. “NATO’s desire to draw Ukraine into its orbit remains a threat to us.”
sanctions
Britain has issued a temporary license allowing the company to continue doing business with Lukoil International, a Russian-licensed Lukoil subsidiary based in Austria. The license is valid until February 26 and allows payments and other transactions under certain conditions, including that the funds in Lukoil remain frozen. Belgian Prime Minister Bart de Wever said the European Union’s plan to use frozen Russian state assets to help keep Ukraine solvent could jeopardize the possibility of a peace deal that could end nearly four years of war. In a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, seen by the Financial Times, Mr de Wever said: “If we proceed too quickly with the proposed reparations financing plan, the collateral damage would be to effectively prevent us in the EU from reaching a final peace agreement.” President Putin said Russia was preparing a series of retaliatory measures in response to the possible seizure of Russian assets in Europe. He warned that any move to confiscate Russian assets would be “theft of property” and damage the global financial system.
regional security
German federal prosecutors have announced that a Ukrainian man suspected of coordinating the 2022 Nord Stream gas pipeline sabotage has arrived in Germany after Italy’s Supreme Court approved his extradition last week. The explosion that destroyed a Baltic Sea pipeline three years ago all but cut off Russian gas shipments to Europe. Hungarian President Viktor Orbán said he plans to hold talks on Friday to ensure Hungary has enough oil and gas supplies from Russia, which would also allow it to supply neighboring Serbia. Russia has announced that it will close the Polish consulate in Irkutsk at the end of December in retaliation for Warsaw’s decision to close the Russian consulate in Gdansk.
russian politics
A Russian military court has sentenced eight people to life in prison for their role in a Ukrainian truck bomb attack on a bridge connecting southern Russia and Crimea. The eight people convicted on terrorism charges were accused of being part of an organized criminal group that helped Ukraine carry out the bombings. Ukraine’s SBU domestic intelligence service claimed responsibility for the attack in October 2022 that destroyed part of the 19-kilometer (11.8-mile) bridge, killing five people and was a key supply route for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
