Author: dmitriy.vasyura@gmail.com

Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets met with his Russian counterpart, Tatyana Moskalkova, in Belarus on Nov. 8 to discuss humanitarian issues related to Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine.

The public meeting between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Belarus — Russia's ally, which has allowed the Kremlin to use its territory as a staging ground for its military operations against Ukraine — appears to be the first since March 2022.

The International Committee of the Red Cross also participated in the talks.

"I emphasize that I interacted with the Russian ombudsman to resolve humanitarian issues, return Ukrainians home, and obtain information about our citizens in Russia," Lubinets said.

During the meeting, the parties repatriated the bodies of fallen soldiers. Kyiv received 563 bodies, while Russia received 37.

The two ombudsmen introduced a new initiative, exchanging letters from Ukrainian relatives to Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) in Russia, according to Lubinets. They also exchanged lists of POWs visited by both sides.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the two countries have regularly exchanged prisoners, with the most recent swap occurring in mid-October, when each side returned 95 prisoners.

The exact number of Ukrainian troops and civilians held in Russian captivity has not been made public. In late June, Lubinets reported there were more than 14,000 Ukrainian civilians in captivity.

A 91-year-old woman was able to meet with her son as a result of the talks in Belarus, Lubinets added.

Kyiv appeals to UN, Red Cross after reports of Russian soldiers murdering civilians in Selydove“The alleged shooting of two women by the occupiers in Selydove is a war crime,” Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said. “I immediately sent letters to international organizations: UN and ICRC. I am waiting for a response.”The Kyiv IndependentAbbey Fenbert

Business tycoon Elon Musk was on the line during a recent phone call between President Volodymyr Zelensky and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, Axios reported on Nov. 8, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

Zelensky was among the first leaders to congratulate Trump on his victory in the U.S. presidential election on Nov. 6, voicing hopes for "strong bipartisan support for Ukraine in the United States." The two also had a follow-up phone call, agreeing to strengthen cooperation, Ukraine's president said.

According to Axios's sources, the call between the two lasted about 25 minutes, and Trump said that he would support Kyiv, without going into details.

Musk, who has backed Trump's campaign, reportedly joined the conversation, saying he would continue to support Ukraine through his Starlink satellites.

Known as the founder and CEO of the space and telecom company SpaceX and the owner of the social media platform X, Musk came out in support of Kyiv at the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, donating Starlink communication terminals that greatly assisted Ukrainian defenders.

His views progressively shifted toward pro-Russian positions later during the war, and the billionaire prevented Ukraine from using Starlink terminals in strikes on the Russian fleet.

The Wall Street Journal reported in late October that Musk has been in regular contact with Russian President Vladimir Putin and other Kremlin officials since late 2022. Previously, Musk denied sympathizing with Moscow and claimed he talked with Putin only once in April 2021 about space-related topics.

The call with Trump "didn't leave Zelensky with a feeling of despair," one of the sources told Axios.

The Presidential Office did not comment on these reports.

On the campaign trail, Trump claimed he could end Russia's war within 24 hours if elected, though he has not elaborated on how he would achieve this. He also criticized U.S. aid for Ukraine, calling Zelensky as the "greatest salesman on earth."

There are concerns that the new U.S. president may reduce support for Kyiv and pursue a deal with the Kremlin at Ukraine's expense.

Kuleba: 5 lessons for Ukrainians from Trump’s victoryFirst, after his defeat in the 2019 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump was written off as a political failure. But he didn’t give up — he got back up, ran again, and won four years later. Lesson: Never, ever give up, even if everyone around you says your causeThe Kyiv IndependentDmytro Kuleba

The Ukrainian government decided to terminate the agreement on air service with Iran, Taras Melnychuk, the government’s representative in parliament, announced on Nov. 8.

The air service deal was signed between Kyiv and Tehran on in July 1993.

Flights from Ukraine to Iran were suspended in 2020 following Iran’s shoot-down of Ukraine International Airlines flight PS752. All 176 people aboard — mostly Canadians and Iranians, were killed.

Iran is one of Russia’s closest allies. The two countries have deepened their military and political cooperation since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Tehran has provided Moscow with thousands of Shahed kamikaze drones. Iran also reportedly has sent ballistic missiles to boost Russian forces.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022, Ukraine’s airspace has been closed to all flights due to the risk of Russian attacks. Once air service is restored, flights with Iran will not be resumed.

The Biden administration allowed U.S. defense contractors to work in Ukraine to maintain and repair American-supplied weapons, Reuters reported on Nov. 8, citing unnamed U.S. officials.

The "small numbers" of contractors will not participate in combat operations and will be stationed far from the front line, one of the sources told Reuters.

Such a move comes in the final months of Joe Biden's presidency before Donald Trump returns to the White House after the victory in the U.S. presidential election.

This policy would help the Ukrainian military maintain and repair weapons systems provided by Washington much more quickly.

Washington will also send Kyiv the full $6 billion military aid before Trump's inauguration on Jan. 20, the Pentagon confirmed on Nov. 7. Politico reported that Biden was rushing to deliver the remaining funds by the end of his term out of fear that a Trump administration might halt weapons shipments to Kyiv.

Trump's electoral victory triggered fears that U.S. aid to Ukraine might soon draw to a close. His comments on Ukraine have emphasized speedy results over long-term support, and he has refrained from saying he wants Kyiv to prevail over Moscow.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said after a recent phone call with President-elect Trump that the two had agreed "to maintain close dialogue and strengthen our cooperation."

Kuleba: 5 lessons for Ukrainians from Trump’s victoryFirst, after his defeat in the 2019 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump was written off as a political failure. But he didn’t give up — he got back up, ran again, and won four years later. Lesson: Never, ever give up, even if everyone around you says your causeThe Kyiv IndependentDmytro Kuleba

U.S. President Joe Biden this week became a "lame duck," entering the period between White House administrations traditionally seen as one of waning influence, increasing irrelevance, and menial administrative preparation for the successor.

But it can also be a period of opportunity — relatively unburdened by responsibility and accountability, many lame-duck presidents take advantage of the time to take actions they may not have gotten away with before an election, controversial pardons being one of the most popular.

And as Jessica Berlin, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA), said in a post on social media after the election result was called, Biden does have an opportunity to be "the least-lame duck in history."

"Whatever can go to Ukraine needs to go now," she added.

Donald Trump's Nov. 5 election victory has triggered fears that U.S. aid to Ukraine might soon draw to a close.

Trump's comments on Ukraine have emphasized speedy results over long-term support, and he has refrained from saying he wants Ukraine to prevail over Russia.

The handover of power in the White House will be hugely consequential for Ukraine, even if no one can say for sure if those consequences will be positive or negative.

And it comes at possibly one of the most critical periods of the full-scale invasion for Ukraine — Russian forces are making their fastest gains in months, and North Korean troops are deployed in Russia’s Kursk region.

Biden has numerous options on the table, with speculation already mounting over what they could be, and how likely they are to happen.

"There has been some discussion that I've heard within the administration about the idea of making a gesture in the direction of Ukraine's NATO membership, or also about approving the use of long-range weapons (to strike deep inside Russia), something that the Biden administration has denied until now," Ambassador Kurt Volker, who served as the U.S. special representative for Ukraine negotiations in 2017-2019, told the Kyiv Independent.

But perhaps the most consequential action Biden could take, is the one that has been least discussed.

Seizing Russian assets

"Take the money, and do it now," Aaron Gasch Burnett, fellow and project manager at Berlin's Democratic Strategy Initiative, told the Kyiv Independent.

The money Burnett is referring to is the $300 billion in frozen Russian assets that has been sitting mostly in European banks for the majority of the war.

Only in October of this year did the Group of Seven (G7) countries finally agree on a deal that would allow for the interest they're accumulating to be given to Ukraine in the form of a $50-billion loan to Kyiv, which it is yet to receive.

What Biden could do is simply seize the U.S.-based frozen assets themselves, and give them to Ukraine so it can finance the war itself. There are $5 billion of Russian state assets frozen in the U.S.

"Biden could do this tomorrow if he wanted to," Burentt said, adding: "The U.S. Repo Act gives him that power.

"If he wanted to, he could just move ahead and declare that these assets are getting seized, or at the very least, the assets that are denominated in American money, an estimated $16 billion, possibly even more."

Some European countries including France and Germany have resisted such a move, which Burnett said is due to fear of "retaliation and reprisals" from Moscow, with the G7 agreement on loans backed by interest a way to placate all sides.

"It's basically a magic trick to turn $300 billion into $50 billion because you're too scared to make the necessary choice," he adds.

Burnett adds that with an incoming Trump administration, Biden would have a strong argument to get reluctant European nations on board — if Trump cuts aid to Ukraine, the financial burden is going to fall on them, and releasing a big lump sum now would be better than having interest build up over time.

Unsurprisingly, it's a step that Ukraine is also calling for.

"We think that the U.S. can and should take more steps in this regard to use all of those frozen assets to the fullest extent to support Ukraine," Heorhii Tykhyi, Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesperson, said in a press briefing on Nov. 7.

"You see, it's fair, first of all, it's fair that Russia pays for the damage it has caused. And it's also a very relevant way to fund the Ukrainian defense from this money."

"First of all, it's fair that Russia pays for the damage it has caused."

There's also one other benefit this move could have over other possible options — once Ukraine has the money, the process couldn't be reversed by Trump once he's in office.

Military aid

The same is true of U.S. military aid, and on Nov. 7 the Pentagon said it was committed to sending Ukraine the full outstanding $6 billion before Trump is inaugurated on Jan. 20.

Ukraine will receive $4 billion under the Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA), which pulls weapons from U.S. stocks, and $2 billion from the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh said at a briefing on Nov. 7.

When asked if the U.S. had enough weapons stockpiled to get shipments to Ukraine before Trump's inauguration, Singh said Washington was "confident" it could keep its commitments to Kyiv.

"So we're always constantly backfilling and restocking our shelves. We're committed to providing Ukraine what it needs and that includes that $4 billion in authority," she added.

Another option available to Biden could have a significant impact on the battlefield, and even if Trump did reverse it, the knock-on effect could still be beneficial.

Introducing official
merch from the Kyiv Independent Shop now

Long-range strikes

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's concerted campaign to get permission to use Western-supplied weapons like the U.S-made ATACMs and the U.K's Storm Shadows to strike deep inside Russia has, to date, failed.

But that doesn't mean he's given up — in his latest call he highlighted how Ukraine could preemptively target "every camp" in Russia where North Korean troops are currently gathering.

This would be on top of some of the airbases from which Russia launches missile attacks against Ukrainian cities.

"I think the Biden administration would be very well advised simply to just drop its objections," Volker said.

"Just let Ukraine use the weapons we've given them. And this can be done quietly, it doesn't have to be a big announcement. It can be done on a case-by-case basis, if the Biden administration insists," he added.

"But there's no justification for allowing Russia to attack Ukraine from anywhere, and to tell Ukraine that they must not strike back." If Biden did give the green light, it's almost certain that European countries such as the U.K. would follow suit.

"There's no justification for allowing Russia to attack Ukraine from anywhere, and to tell Ukraine that they must not strike back."

Even if Trump reversed the decision when he took office, Burnett said it's likely Ukraine would still retain permission from the U.K.

"It would look really bad for the Europeans to then withdraw permission alongside Trump if they had already given it under Biden," he said.

The last option is perhaps the one Ukraine covets the most.

NATO membership

While immediate NATO membership isn't currently on the table with the war ongoing, there are some steps Biden could take to bring it closer to being a reality.

Kyiv submitted its application to join in September 2022, and in July 2024 the alliance affirmed Ukraine's "irreversible path to full Euro-Atlantic integration, including NATO membership."

But Ukraine has yet to receive a timeframe regarding when this will happen.

A report in the Financial Times (FT) last month said Biden may agree to advance the status of Ukraine's NATO membership bid before leaving office in January, citing an unnamed Western official.

While Volker didn't specify exactly what the "gesture in the direction of Ukraine's NATO membership" could be, he cautioned against becoming too optimistic.

"On NATO membership, we have to be very, very careful. You don't want to put that out prematurely. You don't want it to be uncoordinated with allies," he said.

"We had an opportunity to do this leading up to the Washington summit this summer, and we didn't do it. So to bring it up in the last moments of the Biden administration now does not seem to be the wisest choice. It needs to be better coordinated."

While the range of options available to Biden and their chances of success varies, according to Burnett they all have one thing in common.

"I can't really think of anything that Biden could do in the next couple of months that he shouldn't have already done," he said.

"That's my honest assessment."

Note from the author:

Hi, this is Chris York, the author of this piece. It was written at the end of what will likely be remembered as one of the most consequential weeks for Ukraine during the entire war — not for events that happened here, but for those that happened in the United States. We’re heading into the most challenging winter yet, with U.S. support uncertain, Russia’s grinding advances accelerating, and relentless and nightly drone attacks here in Kyiv. Please consider supporting us so we can continue to bring you the best journalism from Ukraine, at a time when it's needed more than ever.

As Russia launched another swarm of killer drones to attack Kyiv on one day in early November, one of them came dangerously close to Petro, a 55-year-old resident of a high-rise apartment building in downtown Kyiv.

“I saw this motherf*cker just maybe 200 meters above my head, very low. I could see its shape and color. It was black, a triangular shape of the Shahed (drone),” Petro told the Kyiv Independent.

“Machine gunners were trying to hit it from one of the tall buildings. You could see the red traces of bullets … I heard an explosion a couple of seconds after that,” he added.

He was describing one of the latest in a surging wave of Russian drone strikes that are rattling infrastructure, towns, and cities across Ukraine, including – as of late – the very downtown area of the country’s capital.

Petro, whose last name is not being revealed due to his advisory role in Ukraine’s war effort against Russia’s full-scale invasion now in its third year, continued, saying: "A week ago, I saw two of them at the same time. They were a little bit higher than this time.”

The Shahed kamikaze drones he was referring to are designed and built in Iran, an ally of Russia in its war against Ukraine. They have been supplied in large numbers by Tehran to Moscow and account for the majority of Russia’s strike drone capabilities. Russia is also producing them locally on its turf.

“What surprises me is that they make it to the downtown area quite often now. It was a rare occasion earlier in the war, but now it's pretty much every night … so many of them flying at such low altitudes,” Petro said.

He spoke with the Kyiv Independent one day after a Russian drone crashed into the top floor of Jack House, a skyscraper apartment building in Kyiv’s centrally located Pecherskyi District, sending a European diplomat residing there for cover.

“Early yesterday, the building where Estonian ambassador Annely Kolk lives in Kyiv was hit by a Russian drone … She was lucky not to be harmed,” the Estonian Foreign Minister, Margus Tsahna, said in a Nov. 8 post on social media platform X.

“No one is safe in Ukraine until Russia stops its aggression. Ukraine needs more air defense to protect its residents. We must not get used to this,” he added.

Early yesterday, the building where #Estonian amb @AnnelyKolk lives in #Kyiv was hit by a Russian drone.
She was lucky not to be harmed.
No one is safe in #Ukraine until Russia stops its aggression. 🇺🇦needs more air defense to protect its residents.
We must not get used to this. pic.twitter.com/bUTz3c5AT6

— Margus Tsahkna (@Tsahkna) November 8, 2024

While hearing explosions from drones being intercepted or hitting targets on city outskirts has been a common overnight occurrence in the past two years, hearing their buzzing sound in downtown Kyiv is a sign that they – by their sheer higher numbers – are now getting through multiple layers of air defenses.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said early this week that Russia had launched 500 Shahed-type drones across the country since late October, targeting civilian and critical infrastructure.

Kyiv faced one of the longest air raids in recent months overnight on Nov. 2. On that Saturday, after a long working week, the Ukrainian capital was under mass drone attack for five hours straight. Although none of the drones hit their target, their debris still caused much damage across the city.

Kyiv among main targets in surging drone attack tactic

The Ukrainian capital has always been one of the most coveted trophies for Russia. Having failed the assault to capture Kyiv at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Moscow continues to terrorize the city in other ways, including with drones.

The last large-scale missile attack on Kyiv took place back in September, but Russia has changed its tactics and is now depleting Ukraine's air defense with much cheaper unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

Shooting down a drone takes longer as it is not as fast as a missile and can be harder to detect, especially at night. Drones also often maneuver and change altitudes, making it difficult for mobile air defense fire groups and other military units to down them. As a result, air raid alarms can stay on for hours.

"Now they (Russian forces) are using the tactic when Shaheds enter the city at low altitudes, the attacks come in waves," Mykhailo Shamanov, the spokesperson of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said on national television on Nov. 2.

"They (Russian drones) try to circle in certain areas, attracting the attention of mobile fire groups. The main goal is to confuse the air defense forces as much as possible. They try to make mobile groups move, thus creating corridors for the next waves to pass through."

Shamanov added that Russian drones are constantly trying to spy out air defense locations so that the next waves of UAVs can bypass them.

Throughout Nov. 2 and 3, debris from downed Russian drones fell in seven districts of Kyiv, including the city center.

Apart from residential buildings and cars, energy infrastructure in Kyiv and surrounding Kyiv Oblast has been damaged, according to DTEK, Ukraine's largest privately owned energy company. Several buildings were left without electricity.

The grid of Kyivvodokanal, the municipal water supply company, was also damaged, taking about a day to repair it.

On Nov. 3, a nighttime drone attack severly damaged the building of the Institute of Journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. Due to the incident, students switched to distance learning, at least for the next week.

Ukraine's Air Force told the Kyiv Independent that this is not the first time that Russian attack and reconnaissance drones have reached the center of Kyiv. Since Russian forces are now launching drones by the hundreds, not all of them are intercepted before reaching central Kyiv.

Russian drones are also equipped with alternative means of communication, including satellite ones. Satellite navigation helps to keep the drone under control at a long distance and increase its protection from electronic warfare. The latest Shahed-type drones may also have reconnaissance equipment that can be used for various purposes, according to the Air Force.

The Shahed-type drone is a "serious weapon." Due to its large size, it can fly several kilometers more by inertia when shot down. However, there is no way out — "they are downed wherever they can be downed," the Air Force said.

Sometimes, drones are shot down right over residential areas.

Biden has 6 weeks left to help Ukraine — here’s what he could doU.S. President Joe Biden this week became a “lame duck,” entering the period between White House administrations traditionally seen as one of waning influence, increasing irrelevance, and menial administrative preparation for the successor. But it can also be a period of opportunity — relatively un…The Kyiv IndependentChris York

Russia ramps up drone production

"At this point, the biggest advantage that Russia may have in such attacks is sheer numbers of drones," Samuel Bendett, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security think tank, told the Kyiv Independent.

Bendett mentioned the Alabuga Special Economic Zone in Russia's Republic of Tatarstan, where a Shahed-type drones plant is located. In May, the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) reported, citing a contract leaked by the Prana Network hacker group, that the factory already produces 4,500 Shaheds annually and aims to increase this number to 6,000.

"It appears that Russian efforts in Alabuga have ensured that the Russian military has thousands such UAVs at its disposal along with other simpler, smaller variance identified recently that fly alongside these official Geran (Russian name for Shahed-type) UAVs," Bendett said.

Taras Rud, a Ukrainian developer of weaponry, including drones, estimated that it costs Russia about $100,000 to produce one Shahed-type drone, adding that it is a "nothing" price tag for the defense industry. In the meantime, Russian forces are trying to force Ukraine to shoot down these cheap air targets with expensive Western-produced missiles.

"The winner is the one who can deliver more explosives from point A to point B in the cheapest way. In the end, it is a war of economies," Rud said.

Russia is seeking to replace aircraft with drones, creating air superiority and depleting Ukraine's air defenses, using aerial dummy targets, among other means. If they are sufficiently drained, Russia will be able to use its large fleet of planes and bombers in the skies over Kyiv, causing even more destruction, Rud added.

According to the expert, the situation may become significantly more complicated if drones start flying at an altitude of 2-3 kilometers (nearly 1 mile) because then most of the cheaper means of shooting them down will no longer be effective. Intercepting them with more expensive and sophisticated air defenses like the U.S.-produced Patriot missiles, which cost several million dollars each, will not be a sustainable option.

Rud also assumed that the Russian military is working to make drones less dependent on GPS signals and able to navigate the territory of Ukraine without them.

"The Russians will accumulate drones. What will they do next? They will launch not 100 drones, but, for example, 500 or 1,000," the expert said.

"And then out of this number, 20 or 30 will fly to Kyiv instead of 2-3 per night."

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It’s not entirely clear what Ukraine could do immediately to counter these increasing waves of drone attacks until it gets more air defense systems from Western allies.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister in charge of innovation and digitization, pointed to efforts underway to improve “situational awareness in the sky, of the enemy's drones, of our drones, and how to react.”

Answering a question from the audience about the drone attacks hitting the capital during the Kyiv International Economic Forum held in the capital on Nov. 7, he described “a system of rapid reaction, which allows analyzing in real-time and seeing what needs to be improved.”

Petro, who witnessed the drone attacks in recent weeks firsthand from the 9th floor of his apartment in downtown Kyiv, said that “we can observe they (Russians) are now producing them in masses.”

“We absolutely need more air defenses.”

Kuleba: 5 lessons for Ukrainians from Trump’s victoryFirst, after his defeat in the 2019 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump was written off as a political failure. But he didn’t give up — he got back up, ran again, and won four years later. Lesson: Never, ever give up, even if everyone around you says your causeThe Kyiv IndependentDmytro Kuleba

Russia attacked 12 communities in Sumy Oblast on Nov. 8, injuring eight people, the Sumy Oblast Military Administration reported.

The communities of Sumy, Khotin, Yunakivka, Bilopillia, Krasnopillia, Velyka Pysarivka, Novoslobidsk, Putyvl, Shalyhyne, Druzhbivka, Seredyna-Buda, Znob-Novgorodske were targeted.

In total, Russian forces fired 57 times and caused 129 explosions.

Five people were injured in Krasnopillia, where strikes damaged private homes, pharmacies, a school, a shop, and multiple cars.

Three people were injured in Sumy as a result of a ballistic missile strike.

Throughout the day, Russia assailed the border communities with mortar, artillery, missile, and drone attacks. Several mines were also dropped.

The town of Bilopillia experienced the most attacks, with 65 explosions recorded in the area. Bilopillia, which had a pre-war population of about 15,600 residents, lies just eight kilometers south of the Ukraine-Russia border.

Russian strikes against Sumy Oblast have become increasingly destructive in recent months, amid fears that Russia may launch a new attack on Sumy Oblast in the coming months.

Shelling is a daily occurrence for the communities near Ukraine's northeastern border with Russia, with residents in the region's vulnerable border settlements experiencing multiple attacks per day.

Russian drone damages Estonian ambassador’s apartment building in Kyiv“No one is safe in Ukraine until Russia stops its aggression,” Estonia’s Foreign Affairs Minister Margus Tsahkna said in a post on social media on Nov. 8.The Kyiv IndependentThe Kyiv Independent news desk

Russian authorities are seeking a six-year prison sentence for Dr. Nadezhda Buyanova, a pediatrician originally from Lviv, Ukraine, accused of criticizing Russia’s actions in Ukraine during a private appointment.

The case began when Anastasia Akinshina, the ex-wife of a soldier missing in Ukraine, alleged that Buyanova called Russia an aggressor and labeled her ex-husband a legitimate target.

Buyanova, who denied these accusations, was initially released with restrictions but later placed in pre-trial detention for alleged non-compliance.

She is being charged with spreading “fake information” about the Russian military.

“I am not a politician…I am just a doctor,” Buyanova said in court, insisting she is innocent.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's crackdown on dissent since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine has seen thousands of his citizens arrested and many jailed.

In 2023, at least 21,000 people were targeted by Russia's repressive laws against anti-war activists, according to Amnesty International.

Russia imprisons former US consulate employee for ‘secret collaboration with foreign state’Robert Shonov, a former employee of the U.S. consulate in Vladivostok, was detained in 2023 and accused of passing information on Russia’s war in Ukraine to the U.S. He was sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison on Nov. 1.The Kyiv IndependentOlena Goncharova

Russia has lost 707,540 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces reported on Nov. 6.

This number includes 1,660 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

According to the report, Russia has also lost 9,238 tanks, 18,697 armored fighting vehicles, 28,561 vehicles and fuel tanks, 20,249 artillery systems, 1,245 multiple launch rocket systems, 996 air defense systems, 369 airplanes, 329 helicopters, 18,575 drones, 28 ships and boats, and one submarine.