kremlin offers November talks in Abu Dhabi — and rejects a ceasefire the same evening

Civilian casualties of russian strikes on 29–30 October and the night of 30–31 October — as reported by the authorities; the data are incomplete and may rise. The reports cover different periods and partly overlap, so they are not added up:

• Izium and the Kharkiv region, 29–30.10 — 4 killed (all in Izium), 26 injured (2 of them children); strikes on Kharkiv and 13 settlements (regional governor Oleh Syniehubov, via LB.ua, 30.10 09:09)
• Kremenchuk (Poltava region), 29.10 — 3 killed; a drone hit a residential building (LB.ua, 30.10; regional governor Vitalii Diakivnych separately reported night strikes on an industrial site with no casualties)
• Chernihiv, 29.10 — 2 killed (both 15-year-old girls), 35 injured (4 of them children), 8 in hospital; 30.10 was a day of mourning in the city for four residents killed on 21–29.10 (Chernihiv city council, via LB.ua, 30.10 10:39)
• Zaporizhzhia region, 29.10 — 2 killed, 23 injured (one of them a minor); 792 strikes on 56 settlements (Ivan Fedorov, Telegram, via LB.ua, 30.10 08:16)
• Sloviansk and the Donetsk region, 30.10 — 2 killed (Sloviansk), 16 injured (regional governor Vadym Filashkin, via LB.ua, 31.10 08:33)
• Kyiv, evening of 29.10 — night of 29–30.10 — 1 killed; a ballistic strike, missile debris fell in the courtyard of a housing complex in the Dniprovskyi district, warehouses on fire in Darnytskyi (Kyiv city military administration, Vitali Klitschko, via Apostrophe.ua)
• Kharkiv, night of 30–31.10 — no one killed, 5 injured; a jet-powered drone hit a private house, about 10 more houses damaged (State Emergency Service, mayor Ihor Terekhov, via Obozrevatel, 31.10)
• Dnipro, 30.10 — at least 1 woman injured; houses, a school and the railway station damaged (from LB.ua and 24 Kanal headlines; full text not read)

Chernihiv, 29 October. A russian drone carrying a Banderol munition killed two 15-year-old girls and injured 35 people, 4 of them children, according to the city council (via LB.ua, 30.10 10:39); 8 people were taken to hospital, 3 of them children. Shops and cars burned; homes and businesses were damaged. The city declared 30 October a day of mourning for four residents killed on 21–29 October. On 30 October it was hit again — an industrial site, with no casualties reported so far. Interfax-Ukraine had earlier reported 25 injured; the figures rose as they were updated.

Kyiv, night of 29–30 October. After the Air Force warned of a missile threat at 22:40, several explosions followed almost at once, the city military administration said (via Apostrophe.ua); at 23:48 it reported one person killed. Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported warehouses on fire in the Darnytskyi district; missile debris fell in the courtyard of a housing complex in the Dniprovskyi district, partly destroying a shop and damaging homes and cars. In the morning drone debris started a fire in the Obolonskyi district, with no casualties. The Air Force later reported 3 ballistic targets shot down over Kyiv and Kremenchuk.

3,104 shelling attacks in the 24 hours to the morning of 31 October — the most since at least 9 October and 27% above the weekly average (2,439), 15 of them with multiple rocket launchers. Combat clashes: 173, down 38 on the day before (211). russia also carried out 75 air strikes with 255 guided glide bombs (KABs) and 3 missile strikes, and used 9,189 kamikaze drones (General Staff report as of 08:00, LB.ua 08:08). The named directions account for only 66 of the 173 clashes, plus 3 assaults in the North Slobozhanskyi/Kursk directions; the General Staff did not break down the rest. Attacks by direction:

• Kostiantynivka — 20 (the heaviest)
• Pokrovsk — 14
• Lyman, South Slobozhanskyi, Huliaipole — 9 each
• Orikhiv — 3
• Sloviansk — 2
• North Slobozhanskyi and Kursk directions — 3 assaults, 4 air strikes (10 KABs), 169 shelling attacks
• Kupiansk, Kramatorsk, Oleksandrivka, Prydniprovskyi — no assaults

Ukraine’s General Staff reports russian losses for 30–31 October (total ~1,588,170 personnel; no independent confirmation):

• personnel — 1,670
• tanks — 0
• armoured vehicles — 3
• artillery systems — 19
• MLRS — 1
• air defence systems — 2
• aircraft, helicopters — 0
• operational-tactical drones — 1,663
• cruise missiles — 0
• vehicles (incl. fuel tankers) — 206
• ships, boats — 0
• special equipment — 0

134 attack drones overnight into 31 October — 17 more than the night before (117), but below the weekly average (146). 105 were shot down or suppressed (78%, the lowest share since 25 October), including 49 of the 72 jet-powered ones. Hits at 20 locations, debris at 10; at 08:30 several drones were still airborne. They were Shahed-type drones, Gerberas and Parodiyas launched from the Oryol, Kursk, Shatalovo and Millerovo directions and from occupied Donetsk region. The Air Force report names no missiles.

Overnight into 30 October (18:00 on 29.10 to 07:30) russia launched ballistic missiles (Iskander-M, S-400, KN-23) from the Voronezh, Kursk and Bryansk regions, 4 Kh-59/69 guided missiles from the Belgorod region and 113 attack drones (83 jet-powered). 99 targets were shot down or suppressed: 3 missiles and 96 drones; hits at 17 locations, debris at 5. The main targets were the Kyiv, Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The report does not say how many ballistic missiles were launched.

🛢️unverified📏 1,335 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Night of 30–31 October, Ufa (Bashkortostan, about 1,400 km from Ukraine). Drones attacked an industrial zone with three refineries — Bashneft-UNPZ, Bashneft-Novoil and Bashneft-Ufaneftekhim (combined capacity ~23.5m tonnes of oil a year), according to the monitoring channel Exilenova+ (via LB.ua, 07:50); witnesses saw a drone and smoke. Local authorities declared a drone threat and Ufa airport briefly restricted flights; no statement by the head of the republic was found in the material read. In short, the authorities acknowledged only the threat and named no damage. No official confirmation from the General Staff, SBU, HUR, SSO or USF had been found at the time of publication; damage to the sites is unknown.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (Bashkortostan authorities, 31.10): drone threat declared, airport operations restricted; no statements on damage or the sites found

🔥unverified📏 910 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Night of 29–30 October, Novokuibyshevsk (Samara region) — update to yesterday’s report. Drones hit a Rosneft refinery (~8.8m tonnes a year); by 08:00 at least 10–11 fires were recorded (Exilenova+, ASTRA photos, via Obozrevatel). Governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev urged residents to stay calm and said nothing about the refinery (Dialog.ua). The plant was already struck in August (confirmed by the General Staff on 22.08). No official Ukrainian confirmation found.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (Samara region governor Vyacheslav Fedorishchev, 30.10, morning): urged residents to stay calm and keep to a safe place; said nothing about the refinery

💥📏 105 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Strike results: an Iskander-M launcher near Fatezh (Kursk region) and depots, 29–30 October. Ukraine’s General Staff (via LB.ua, 30.10) reported hitting the launcher near a ballistic-missile transfer point, as well as ammunition depots near Maloianisol (Donetsk region), Novoiehorivka (Kharkiv region) and Hanusivka (Luhansk region), a supply depot near Bilovodsk and repair units near Rubizhne and Pysarivka. The General Staff said destroying Iskanders reduces russia’s ability to carry out ballistic strikes on cities. No statements by the Kursk regional authorities about this site were found.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (Kursk region authorities, 30.10): no statements about this facility found in the material read

✈️unverified📏 335 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈29 October, Marinovka airbase (Volgograd region) — update to yesterday’s report. Ukraine’s Navy said Neptune missiles destroyed two Su-34s of the 11th mixed air regiment (via ZN.ua); NV and other outlets published satellite images. Exilenova+, citing NASA FIRMS, saw a fire and, unconfirmed, reported two servicemen killed and two injured. The Navy is not among the bodies whose confirmation counts as official here, so the item is marked unconfirmed. The regional authorities only declared a drone threat. Separately, Ukrainian sources report a Su-57 on fire at Akhtubinsk airbase (Astrakhan region) on 29.10 — without official confirmation.

local authorities silentLocal authorities (Volgograd region authorities, 29.10): declared a drone attack threat; said nothing about the aircraft hit

🧭unverifiedMy.ua (30.10) describes the kremlin’s “two negotiating tracks”, between which, in its view, the US and Ukraine have to choose: public preparation of a three-way meeting and a refusal of a ceasefire. Only the headline and summary were read; this is the outlet’s own assessment, not an official position.

🕊️Al Jazeera (21.10): Putin and Zelensky backed the US proposal for three-way talks; the kremlin is ready to meet in mid-November, possibly in Abu Dhabi, while Kyiv wants to meet before early November; the sides remain far apart on peace terms. This is the background to Ushakov’s statements today.

UK MoD and IAEA: no fresh updates for 30–31.10 could be found; not used in this issue.

🕊️Oleshky (Kherson region). Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, who heads the Ukrainian delegation, said on 30 October that the humanitarian truce in the occupied town had held for more than 75–80 hours without violations; 25 buses with 750 seats were ready to evacuate those who wished to leave. Glavcom later reported that the evacuation of those willing had been completed. According to 24 Kanal the truce lasts until 1 November; evacuation is to Ukraine (via Belarus). Per Peskov (see “Word from the swamps”), the kremlin calls Oleshky a “special case” that does not extend to a settlement as a whole. The number evacuated has not been independently verified.

unverifiedThe kremlin and Europe. Dmitry Peskov said on 30 October that Putin is “open to contacts with all” leaders (see “Word from the swamps”).

🧾unverifiedSanctions. On 30 October, meeting at the White House with Stephen Hubbard (74, a Michigan teacher held prisoner by russia and freed on 21.10 during Witkoff’s visit to St Petersburg), Trump said, according to Glavcom (31.10 05:12): “Stupid people wanted me to put sanctions on russia” — back-translated from Ukrainian; the English original was not read. Hubbard said russians laugh at western sanctions; Trump repeated his words and added that pressure could have derailed the talks and the American’s release. Trump also said he was not yet ready to lift sanctions on the russian Direct Investment Fund. Background: on 16.10 Trump paused sweeping sanctions on buyers of russian energy; bipartisan criticism in Congress continues.

🛢️ Iran. No new statements by Trump on Iran for 30–31 October were found in the material read.

🗣️russia and NATO/Europe. No separate statements by Trump on these topics in the past 24 hours were found.

😄light noteNo verified funny episode was found for the day, so there is no such item today.

No statements on the war in Ukraine by US officials (other than Trump) or by China for 30–31 October were found in the material read.

🗣️Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign-policy aide, told russian media on 30 October (via 24 Kanal, updated 18:30) that work had begun on agreeing dates for three-way talks between russia, the US and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi in November: a proposed schedule had been passed to the American side, with no official reply yet; the final days depend on “many reasons”, domestic and international. The kremlin earlier spoke of mid-November; Kyiv hopes to meet before 10 November. No other party has confirmed the dates.

🗣️unverifiedDmitry Peskov, the kremlin spokesman, said on the evening of 30 October (via Obozrevatel, 31.10 00:38): “We have said repeatedly ourselves that we are against a ceasefire, which would give the Ukrainian side a chance to regroup”; preparing for three-way talks, he said, does not mean agreeing to a truce. On the “pause” Trump had mentioned, he said “they broke this pause” and called it a matter for Washington and Kyiv; russia is fighting to “deprive the Kyiv regime of any ability to strike at all” and will achieve its goals “by any means”. Background: the energy “truce” was announced only by Trump, and both Kyiv and Moscow said they had not heard of it; Peskov called Oleshky a “special case”.

🗣️Dmitry Peskov said on 30 October (Izvestia) that Putin is “open to contacts with all” and ready for phone calls with any leader, including Macron and Merz, who have not called; he predicted that more European leaders would seek contact “if reason prevails”. Luxembourg’s foreign minister Xavier Bettel complained on 29.10 about attempts to limit the country’s contacts with Putin. Background: this does not change the kremlin’s position on a ceasefire (see above).