Abu Dhabi talks agree large prisoner swap; ballistic missiles hit Kyiv hours later

Civilian casualties of russian strikes on 11 November and the night into 12 November, as reported by the authorities; the data are incomplete and may rise, the reports cover different periods and partly overlap, so they have not been added up:

• Chornomorsk (Odesa region), 11.11 — 4 killed, 11 injured; strike on a market in the town centre, initially 3 killed and ≥10 injured (regional governor Oleh Kiper, via the Kyiv Independent and My Ukraina); no mention of children
• Kharkiv, night into 12.11 — 2 killed, 1 injured (a man of 69), acute stress reactions in a woman of 38 and a girl of 12; 2 apartment blocks, a petrol station, a vegetable store and 16 cars damaged (regional governor Oleh Syniehubov, via My Ukraina)
• Kyiv (Solomianskyi district), morning of 12.11 — 1 killed (a woman of 44), 5 injured; a drone hit a nine-storey block, fire on floors 3–6 (city military administration at 09:18 and 09:31, mayor Vitali Klitschko, via UNIAN)
• Yahotyn (Kyiv region), 11.11 — people killed and injured, numbers not given in the headline (Suspilne, 17:27 on 11.11)
• Poltava, 11.11 — two people in serious condition after shelling (Suspilne, 16:46 on 11.11)
• Kharkiv region (Kupiansk, Izium, Lozova districts), night into 12.11 — 0 killed, 7 casualties according to Syniehubov, two of them children (acute stress reactions); the text names only four (via My Ukraina)
• Brovary (Kyiv region), night into 12.11 — 1 driver seriously injured (mayor Ihor Sapozhko, via My Ukraina)
• Zhytomyr region, night into 12.11 — 1 injured (regional governor Vitalii Bunechko)

Chornomorsk (Odesa region), 11 November. A strike hit a market in the town centre; the air-raid alert sounded at ≈11:00 and reports of the strike came in around 12:30. According to regional governor Oleh Kiper (update at 13:00): at least 10 injured, 9 of them in hospital (4 in a serious condition); the figures later rose to 4 killed (one on the spot, two in hospital, one more later) and 11 injured. The authorities did not name the weapon; the Air Force had earlier warned of a jet-powered drone heading for Chornomorsk. Nearby houses and cars were damaged. It is the second strike on the town in three days (9.11 — a two-storey residential building). The materials mention neither children nor a day of mourning.

Kharkiv, night into 12 November. Both the city and the surrounding district came under attack, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov (via My Ukraina): in Kharkiv two people were killed, a 69-year-old man was injured, and a 38-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl suffered acute stress reactions; two apartment blocks, a petrol station, a vegetable store and 16 cars were damaged. Elsewhere in the region, Syniehubov said, 7 more people were hurt (two of them children with stress reactions), and homes, farm buildings, cars and power lines were damaged in the Kupiansk, Izium and Lozova districts. The weapon was not named.

Kyiv, morning of 12 November. After the night-time missile strike (the Air Force warned of ballistic missiles from the Voronezh region at 00:54; explosions in the city at ≈01:05 and 01:07, Kyiv Independent), a drone hit a nine-storey apartment block in Solomianskyi district in the morning: a 44-year-old woman was killed and 5 people injured, according to the city military administration (09:18 and 09:31, via UNIAN); mayor Vitali Klitschko said floors 3–6 were on fire, with partial collapse at the level of the 5th floor. In the Kyiv region a production and warehouse facility in Obukhiv district was damaged and burnt out (workers were evacuated). There is no mention of children among the casualties.

167 clashes on 11 November — a third more than the day before (125) and level with the weekly average (168), according to Ukraine’s General Staff (as of 08:00 on 12.11). russia carried out 84 air strikes with 238 guided glide bombs — the most air strikes since 5.11 — used 7,137 kamikaze drones and shelled Ukrainian positions and towns 2,371 times (9 of them with multiple rocket launchers). The named directions account for only 33 of the 167 assaults; the report does not break down the rest. Attacks by direction:

• Kostiantynivka — 14
• Pokrovsk — 6
• Lyman and Huliaipole — 5 each
• South Slobozhanskyi — 2
• Sloviansk — 1
• Kupiansk, Kramatorsk, Oleksandrivka, Orikhiv, Prydniprovskyi — no assaults
• North Slobozhanskyi and Kursk — 2 air strikes (4 glide bombs), 147 shelling attacks (6 by MLRS)
• Volyn and Polissia — no signs of offensive groupings

2,150 russian troops killed or seriously wounded on 11–12 November, according to Ukraine’s General Staff: fewer than a day earlier (2,580) and 12% below the weekly average (2,453). Armoured vehicles: 14, one and a half times the weekly average (9). Total ≈1,616,330 (≈1,614,180 as of 11.11). There is no independent confirmation; the figures are being updated:

• personnel — 2,150
• tanks — 3
• armoured vehicles — 14
• artillery systems — 47
• MLRS — 3
• air defence systems — 0
• aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles — 0
• operational-tactical drones — 1,013
• vehicles (incl. fuel tankers) — 312
• unmanned ground vehicles — 8
• special equipment — 5

unverifiedrussia’s MoD claimed in its report of 11.11 to have taken the villages of Shylivka (Donetsk region) and Voskresenka (Zaporizhzhia region). Ukraine’s General Staff has not confirmed this in the materials read; there is no independent confirmation.

123 attack drones overnight into 12 November — the fewest since 30.10 and a third below the weekly average (191) — but this time with ballistic missiles (Iskander-M/KN-23/S-400; one launched towards Kyiv from the Voronezh region at 00:54) and Zircon hypersonic anti-ship missiles; the report does not say how many missiles. 73 of the drones were jet-powered (Shahed, Gerbera, S-8000 Banderol and Parodiya types not counted separately). As of 08:00 (Air Force), 94 (76%) were shot down or jammed: 5 Banderols and 89 others, 51 of them jet-powered; the fate of the remaining 29 is not given. Hits at 17 locations, debris of downed targets at 18.

Energy. On the night into 10–11.11 russia struck six large substations in the Vinnytsia, Kirovohrad, Zhytomyr and Cherkasy regions (Prime Minister Koretskyi, Suspilne, 10:47 on 11.11); Kyiv switched off street lighting to save power (Kyiv Independent). On the morning of 12.11 more than 160 towns and villages in the Rivne region in western Ukraine were without power as of 08:30, and the town of Kostopil was cut off (regional governor Oleksandr Koval, My Ukraina); in the Khmelnytskyi region an energy facility was damaged, causing outages in Shepetivka district (Kyiv Independent, 6:28).

🚢📏 860 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Strike results: the port and oil terminals of Ust-Luga (Leningrad region, russia’s Baltic export port west of St Petersburg) and a missile ship, night into 11 November. Ukraine’s General Staff and the SBU security service (via Suspilne, 20:07 on 11.11) confirmed the strike. According to the General Staff (preliminary data: drones), oil tanks, pumping stations and the tanker berth were hit: 5 petroleum-product tanks with a total capacity of 150,000 m³ were damaged (a large fire), as were a hydrocracking unit, an air-cooling unit and a pumping station; the missile ship Naro-Fominsk, a Buyan-M class corvette that carries Kalibr and Oniks missiles, was also hit. According to the SBU, several tanks of ≈30,000 tonnes each were damaged at the Novatek-Ust-Luga terminal (oil products spilled), with fires at the Faktor terminal and Luzhskaya station; the SBU said the Buyan-M strike was part of a special operation; information on the possible destruction of attack helicopters is being clarified. Locally, governor Alexander Drozdenko confirmed a fire in the port area, 3 workers injured and an emergency substation shutdown; russian figures say 150 drones were shot down over the region. Bottom line: the strike is confirmed by Ukrainian bodies and acknowledged by russia; the scale of the damage comes only from the General Staff and the SBU.

local authorities confirmLocal authorities (Leningrad region governor Aleksandr Drozdenko, 11.11 (morning)): fire in the Ust-Luga port area after a drone attack, 3 workers injured (not life-threatening), emergency shutdown of a transformer substation; 150 drones shot down over the region

🛢️unverified📏 2,440 km from Ukrainian-held territory ≈Omsk refinery (russia’s largest, owned by Gazprom Neft), 11 November — ≈2,440 km from the front line in Siberia, the farthest strike since 26.10. According to the Kyiv Independent (12:41 on 12.11), Omsk was under drone attack for more than 8 hours: governor Vitaly Khotsenko reported an attack by Ukrainian drones, urged residents to stay at home and said emergency services had gone to sites where “debris fell”, without naming any facilities. Astra and OSINT analysis confirm a fire near the plant; residents reported power cuts. There is no official confirmation from Ukraine’s armed forces, the SBU or other Ukrainian bodies in the materials read; the extent of the damage is unknown. According to Ukrainian media, this is the third attack on the plant (July, October, November). Bottom line: the local authorities acknowledge the attack but do not name the target, hence “partial”.

local authorities: indirectLocal authorities (Omsk region governor Vitaly Khotsenko, 11.11): Ukrainian drones are attacking the region, stay at home, emergency services have gone to the sites where debris fell; no facilities named

🔥unverifiedUrgewald, according to a Kyiv Independent headline (12.11, 07:00): EU countries’ purchases of russian Yamal LNG topped $9 billion in 2026, despite a dip in October. The text was not read; the method was not checked.

unverified UK MoD, IAEA and the monthly UN report (HRMMU/OHCHR): no new updates for 11–12.11 were looked for in this issue; the UN’s September report (15.10) remains the latest.

🤝The outcome of the Abu Dhabi talks (10–11.11). The second day lasted less than two hours. Rustem Umerov: “The main result is that we managed to reach an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange” (as translated by the Kyiv Independent); the details and practical implementation are being worked out. Medinsky spoke of an “agreement in principle” and said details would be announced soon. The sides gave no number or date: Zelensky (11.11, press conference with Irish Taoiseach Micheál Martin): “A thousand for a thousand, maybe it will be twelve hundred” (another recording has up to 2,000); TASS, citing russian general Alexander Zorin, said the exchange would be the largest, over 1,000 people from each side (claimed by russia). By comparison, 270 people returned to Ukraine on 23.10. Kushner called it a “humanitarian breakthrough” but admitted territorial questions remain the hardest; there is neither a ceasefire nor a peace deal.

The main result is that we managed to reach an agreement on a large-scale prisoner exchange.

✈️The moscow visit. Witkoff and Kushner arrived in moscow early on 12.11 (according to russian state media, Kyiv Independent, 07:51) and, according to Ushakov, will meet Putin in the first half of the day; afterwards they plan to travel to Dublin to meet Zelensky (informal EU summit on 13.11). Zelensky (Dublin, 11.11) said he expects russia’s answer on security guarantees, a leaders’ meeting and an “energy truce”; the negotiating teams have no mandate on territory or a ceasefire. There were no results of the meeting with Putin at the time of this issue.

⚖️Sanctions. EU ambassadors agreed a new package of sanctions against russia: 113 individuals and entities for undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity and another 31 under the hybrid-threats sanctions regime (Suspilne, 00:46 on 12.11). The material read does not mention formal adoption.

🛩️Aircraft. Czech Deputy Prime Minister Karel Havlíček (Suspilne, 11.11) said Ukraine could receive 16 L-39 Skyfox jet trainers; Zelensky (Kyiv Independent) expects the first Gripen fighters from Sweden in January–February 2027.

📰unverifiedAccording to an Axios headline (“Scoop”, 11.11), the US is asking russia to propose a new security agreement with Europe. The article could not be read; sources and details are unknown.

🕊️ Ukraine, russia, Iran. No verified direct statements by Trump for 11–12.11 (with place, date and source) could be found: the search turned up only reports on the trip of his envoys Witkoff and Kushner (see the Diplomacy section) and outdated texts. His previous words on Ukraine and Iran (10.11) are in the issue of 11.11.

Jared Kushner, the president’s envoy (according to the Kyiv Independent, 11.11, after the Abu Dhabi talks ended): “We see some openings and some opportunities.” According to Suspilne (12.11), he also said territorial questions “remain the hardest”. Kushner and Witkoff called the prisoner-exchange agreement a “humanitarian breakthrough” (according to WND, a retelling; the original was not read).

We see some openings and some opportunities.

No new statements on Ukraine by official Beijing in the day were found in the materials read.

🗣️Putin’s foreign-policy aide Yuri Ushakov (TASS, 11.11, 20:26 Kyiv time) said Putin’s meeting with Witkoff and Kushner would take place in the first half of 12 November and follow the “usual” protocol. Context: it is the envoys’ first visit to moscow since the three-way talks; the kremlin has said nothing about the agenda.

🗣️unverifiedPutin’s aide Vladimir Medinsky (Abu Dhabi, 11.11; as relayed by the Kyiv Independent) said an “agreement in principle” on a prisoner exchange had been reached and details would be announced soon. russian general Alexander Zorin (TASS, as relayed by the Kyiv Independent) spoke of an exchange of over 1,000 people from each side. Context: neither Kyiv nor moscow has given official numbers or a date for the exchange.

🗣️No new statements by Putin, Peskov, Lavrov, Medvedev, Belousov or the other officials on the list about the war, the talks, Ukraine or the US for 11–12.11 were found in the materials read (apart from Ushakov and Medinsky above).