Russian ground gains in Donetsk…..
Russian giant oil outfit ‘fire sales’ before being seized….
Dreone attacks….
Ukraine lowering militarty service age….
Europe having trouble seperating it’s militaries from US leadership….
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The foreign oil refineries and other assets of Russian company Lukoil are attracting potential buyers as time runs out to strike cheap deals before US sanctions come into force on 21 November. The sanctions, put in place in response to Russia’s war on Ukraine, have already disrupted Lukoil’s operations in Iraq, at pump stations in Finland and a refinery in Bulgaria. Kazakhstan’s state firm KazMunayGas is studying a bid for Lukoil’s assets in the country, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Shell is interested in Lukoil deepwater assets in Ghana and Nigeria, two other sources said. Shell declined to comment to Reuters.
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The government of Moldova has started talks to nationalise Lukoil’s infrastructure at Chisinau airport, said the airport’s director, Serdgiu Spoiala. Bulgaria is working towards seizing and reselling Lukoil’s Burgas refinery, although Bulgaria’s president, Rumen Radev, has sent the legislation back to parliament asking for legal changes. In Egypt, Lukoil has indicated to the government its possible plans to sell out, a Reuters source familiar with the situation said. Lukoil holds three concessions in Egypt. Egypt’s petroleum ministry did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.
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Lukoil faces either selling its assets and having the proceeds potentially seized, or their takeover by foreign states if it does not sell them, said Sergey Vakulenko, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center and former head of strategy at Russian oil firm Gazprom Neft. Lukoil may try to emulate Russian oil firm Rosneft whose three German refineries were put under a trusteeship in 2022 – controlled by Berlin but still owned by Rosneft. Lukoil’s attempt to sell foreign assets to the Swiss-based oil trader Gunvor was scrapped after opposition from the US treasury which called Gunvor the Kremlin’s “puppet”.
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The Russian army overran three settlements in the Zaporizhzhia region of southern Ukraine, Kyiv’s top military commander, Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Wednesday. Dense fog enabled Russian troops to infiltrate Ukrainian positions, he continued, adding that Ukrainian units were locked in “gruelling battles” to repel the Russian thrust. The fiercest battles remained in the besieged Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk, in the Donetsk region, where close to half of all frontline clashes took place over the previous 24 hours. There was increased fighting also in the cities of Kupiansk and Lyman in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region.
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At Huliaipole, a Zaporizhzhia settlement where Syrskyi said the situation had worsened significantly, Reuters interviewed 84-year-old Polina Plyushchii as she sat bundled in layers of clothing and clutching her cane inside an evacuation van. Deadly threats including drones had made life too dangerous, she said. “You’re in your own house, your own yard – and you can’t go out,” she said, as Ukrainian rescuers race to get remaining civilians out of the line of fire. “There’s nowhere to buy medicine, there’s no water,” said evacuee Zhanna Puzanova, 55, adding both she and her 88-year-old mother were in poor health. “We can’t live like that any longer.”
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Vitaly Klitschko, the Kyiv mayor, has called for Ukraine to boost its fighting numbers by lowering the age of conscription. “In the past, 18-year-olds served in the army – but those are kids,” he said. “Right now you can only be mobilised in Ukraine from age 25. You could lower it by a year or two – to 23 or 22.” Klitschko spoke to a media network that includes Politico.
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The EU foreign policy chief, Kaja Kallas, said an energy corruption scandal in Ukraine was “extremely unfortunate” and it was important that Kyiv take it seriously. Luke Harding reports that Volodymyr Zelenskyy has moved to contain growing public outrage by firing two ministers who are accused of involvement in a large-scale bribery scheme. Ukraine’s president said the justice minister Herman Halushchenko and the energy minister Svitlana Grynchuk could no longer remain in their jobs.
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Ukraine’s president also called for personal sanctions against his friend and former business partner Timur Mindich, the scheme’s alleged organiser. “There must be maximum integrity in the energy sector, in absolutely all processes. I support every investigation carried out by law enforcement and anti-corruption officials. This is an absolutely clear and consistent position for everyone.” Mindich reportedly fled abroad, possibly to Israel, in the hours before investigators arrived at his Kyiv apartment to carry out a search. He was previously close to Zelenskyy, although sources say they have had little contact since Russia’s full-scale invasion…..
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Europe going it alone from America won’t be easy…
The 100-billion-euro ($116 billion) plan for a European fighter plane that could provide an alternative to the American F-35 is mired in industrial infighting, testing the promise of unity as companies jockey to profit from the manufacturing.
Meanwhile, the European Union’s proposal to build a “drone wall” near the border with Russia got little enthusiasm from some leaders, who thought the name was a clumsy description of the high-tech detection and defense capabilities that are needed.
The lukewarm response to the plan by the European Commission, the bloc’s executive arm, has called into question the E.U.’s much-hyped vow to step up and have a bigger say in military matters.
Officials point to a host of challenges as Europe aims to face up to a more militarized world: national governments have conflicting interests; defense industries are divided along national borders; and perceptions of threats vary from east to west.
While European members of NATO are accustomed to operating under United States’ leadership, outside the alliance’s umbrella there is also risk of a power struggle between national governments and the European Commission, which traditionally has not had a role in defense….
ISW…Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, November 12, 2025
- The situation in the Hulyaipole direction is deteriorating, although Russian forces will probably spend considerable time setting conditions for efforts to seize the settlement.
- Russian forces will likely attempt to isolate and encircle Hulyaipole from the northeast in accordance with a new campaign design that aims to degrade Ukrainian defenses to enable advances through infiltration tactics.
- Elements of three Russian combined arms armies (CAAs) are currently arrayed to either conduct or support offensive operations against Hulyaipole.
- Ukrainian forces will need to defend against Russian operational-level BAI and tactical-level interdiction to counter this new Russian campaign design.
- Russian forces will likely collapse the pocket around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, but the significance of seizing these towns will depend on the circumstances and conduct of the Ukrainian withdrawal.
- Russian milbloggers are mounting a concerted informational campaign prematurely calling the fall of Pokrovsk, likely to influence the information space.
- The Russian military command continues efforts to consolidate and integrate drone units into conventional military structures, but the position of the Rubikon Center for Advanced Unmanned Technologies relative to the new Unmanned Systems Forces remains unclear.
- The Kremlin is conducting multiple information operations against the Baltic states as it did to justify the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine, likely as part of Phase Zero conditions-setting for a possible attack on the Baltic states at some point in the future. ISW is not currently forecasting an imminent Russian attack on the Baltics.
- Officials reported aerial incursions in French and Lithuanian airspace.
- Russian forces advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area and near Pokrovsk.
Daily Kos grunt war report today….
ISW has been posting late….
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