Lukoil’s Volgograd refinery hit, General Staff confirms: four distillation units and six tanks

Civilian casualties of russian strikes on 13 November and the night of 13–14 November, from official reports as of the morning of 14.11; the data are incomplete and may rise. No casualties from the night attack of 14.11 have been reported. The morning nationwide total (“9 killed, 61 injured” in a day, Kyiv Independent, 13.11 12:48) was compiled before Zaporizhzhia updated its figures, so we do not add it to the city figures below:

• Zaporizhzhia, 13.11 — 3 killed (a 17-year-old boy, a man under the rubble of a factory, a rescuer from the “Kobra” unit), about 50 injured (8 of them children); a multiple-rocket-launcher strike on private houses, an industrial plant and two five-storey blocks of flats (head of the regional military administration Mykhailo Semikin, via ZAXID.NET, update 19:45)
• Odesa, 13.11 — 2 killed (women), 7 injured; two drone strikes: a private house destroyed, 11 cars, a veterinary clinic, a warehouse and a shop damaged (regional military administration 11:20; prosecutors 11:06, via Suspilne Odesa)
• Kyiv, 13.11 — 0 killed, 3 injured; fire at a medical facility after a downed drone fell on it, dozens of people evacuated (Kyiv Independent, 13.11 07:35)

Zaporizhzhia, a regional capital near the southern front, 13 November: three killed and about 50 injured, 8 of them children. russian forces fired multiple rocket launchers at private houses, an industrial plant and two five-storey blocks of flats in the Kosmichnyi district. The dead are a 17-year-old boy in a residential street, a man under the rubble of the plant and a rescuer from the “Kobra” unit, crushed by a concrete slab while clearing the blocks of flats (Mykhailo Semikin, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, via ZAXID.NET, update at 19:45). Earlier reports that day gave lower figures — see the discrepancies. No day of mourning had been declared in the reports we read.

Odesa, 13 November: two women killed and 7 injured, five of them in hospital (one in a serious condition, four moderate), according to prosecutors (11:06) and the regional military administration (11:20); at 09:26 the State Emergency Service had reported 2 killed and 5 injured. The first drone hit a private house and set it on fire; the second struck open ground. No children were named among the casualties.

273 combat clashes on 13 November — the most since 16 October (304), 56% more than the day before (175) and two-thirds above the weekly average (163), according to Ukraine’s General Staff (report as of 08:00 14.11, Ukrinform 08:29). The heaviest fighting was on the Pokrovsk direction in Donetsk region: 47 assaults, against 11 a day earlier. The named directions account for only 106 of the 273 clashes; a separate note on the North Slobozhanskyi and Kursk directions (4 air strikes, 38 shelling attacks) is not included in the count. The report text we read gives no figures for KAB glide bombs, kamikaze drones or shelling. Assaults by direction:

• Pokrovsk — 47
• Lyman — 15
• Kostiantynivka — 11
• Huliaipole — 11
• Orikhiv — 8
• Sloviansk — 6
• Oleksandrivka — 3
• South Slobozhanskyi — 3
• Kupiansk — 1
• Kramatorsk — 1
• Prydniprovskyi — no assaults

russian losses over 13–14 November, according to Ukraine’s General Staff: 1,710 personnel — a third fewer than the day before (2,590); 19 armoured vehicles — the most since 26 September; 448 operational-tactical drones — the fewest since at least 5 September, when our data begin. Total ~1,620,630 personnel; not independently confirmed:

• personnel — 1,710
• tanks — 6
• armoured vehicles — 19
• artillery systems — 33
• MLRS — 2
• air defence systems — 0
• aircraft, helicopters — 0
• operational-tactical drones — 448
• cruise missiles — 0
• vehicles (incl. fuel tankers) — 302
• unmanned ground vehicles — 4
• special equipment — 0

The General Staff reports we read for 12–13.11 mention no settlements lost or retaken. Kostiantynivka, a city in Donetsk region, remains contested (Kyiv Independent, 12.11); it is where Putin has proposed a “humanitarian mission” for demining (see “Word from the swamps”).

96 attack drones overnight into 14 November — the fewest since 28 October and 45% below the weekly average (175); 61 were jet-powered Shaheds, the rest Gerbera and Parodiya decoys, not broken down. No missiles were reported. 81 drones were shot down or jammed (84%; Fakty: 52 of the jet-powered ones); hits at 8 locations (the fewest since 29 October), debris at 2; several drones were still in the air (Air Force, as of 07:30). For comparison, the night before: 117 drones (63 jet-powered), 80 shot down or jammed, hits at 24 locations, debris at 10 (General Staff, 13.11).

unverifiedAgriculture. Kernel, Ukraine’s largest sunflower-oil producer, has halted all its crushing plants after damage from russian drones (Kyiv Independent teaser, 12.11 22:55; the article was not read, no details).

🛢️Night of 12–13 November, Volgograd: the Lukoil-Volgogradneftepererabotka refinery. Ukraine’s General Staff (13.11, text on Censor.NET at 15:28): primary distillation units AVT-1, AVT-3, AVT-5 and AVT-6, a hydrotreating unit, a loading rack and six 2,000 m³ tanks were hit; a fire broke out. The General Staff calls the plant a key fuel supplier for russian troops in the south. Governor Andrei Bocharov (Radio Liberty’s russian service, citing Astra): drone debris caused local fires at an enterprise in the southern industrial zone, four workers were killed and two hospitalised; the refinery was not named. Verdict: the strike is confirmed by the General Staff; the local authorities acknowledge its consequences — fire and casualties — without naming the target. Monitoring projects report queues at petrol stations; analyst Vitalii Vakulenko’s claim that 55% of russia’s petrol capacity is out of action is unconfirmed. No independent satellite images found.

local authorities: indirectLocal authorities (Volgograd region governor Andrei Bocharov (according to Svoboda), 13.11, exact time not given): drone debris caused local fires at an enterprise in the southern industrial zone; four workers were killed and two hospitalised; the site was not named

💥Night of 12–13 November, Rostov-on-Don: Neptune missiles. Ukraine’s General Staff (13.11, Slovo i Dilo at 18:01): hit Ionos LLC — a maker of tactical attack drones — and its warehouse, as well as a service centre of Aero-Hit LLC that repairs drones for the front (Aero-Hit’s production itself, according to the General Staff, is in Khabarovsk). According to the General Staff, some drones “will not be made, some burned in the warehouse”. Governor Yuri Slyusar (according to Svoboda): one person injured, five blocks of flats damaged in Rostov-on-Don; no sites named. Verdict: the hits are confirmed only by the General Staff; the local authorities acknowledge consequences without naming the sites; the number of drones destroyed is not given.

local authorities: indirectLocal authorities (Rostov region governor Yuri Slyusar (according to Svoboda), 13.11, exact time not given): one person injured in Rostov-on-Don, five blocks of flats damaged; no sites named

No night strikes on russia from 13 to 14 November confirmed by the General Staff, SBU, HUR, SSO, USF, Operational Command South, StratCom or Zaluzhnyi were found in the material we read; confirmations often come later in the day. Reports of flight disruptions at Moscow airports and Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s claims of more than 100 drones shot down (Kyiv Independent, 13.11 01:32) have not been officially confirmed by the Ukrainian side.

unverifiedThe Kyiv Independent (12.11) argues in its own analysis that russian losses in Ukraine are rising again (only the teaser was read). Ukraine’s General Staff figures partly support this — 2,590 personnel on 12–13.11, the most since 9 November (1,710 today) — but these are one side’s claims.

🤝Dublin, 12 November: Zelensky met Trump’s special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner straight after their talks with Putin in Moscow (Kyiv Independent). The headline: “Next time, next meeting, Europe…will be in the negotiating team,” Zelensky said; according to him, the envoys promised the largest prisoner exchange of the war. Kushner called the talk with Putin “very detailed and productive” and said Putin was “willing to give it a try” on European participation — on 13.11 Peskov denied this (see “Word from the swamps”). There is no ceasefire, and no date or venue for the next round; the talks in Abu Dhabi ended on 11.11 without a breakthrough.

Next time, next meeting, Europe…will be in the negotiating team.

🛢️unverifiedThe UK said it had become the first country to sanction all ten of russia’s largest oil companies in its latest package (Kyiv Independent teaser, 12.11; the article and the list of companies were not read).

🤝unverifiedThree-way meeting. The White House has confirmed that Trump will meet Xi Jinping and then hold a three-way meeting with him and Putin in Shenzhen at the APEC summit (Yevropeiska Pravda, citing a briefing by White House spokeswoman Olivia Wales on Friday 13.11; Focus, citing AP, puts it on Thursday 19.11). Before that, Trump attends ASEAN events in Manila. According to Wales, the subject is reducing nuclear arsenals. An anonymous senior US official (AP) says Trump does not intend to discuss Ukraine there; this is unconfirmed.

🎙️CBS “60 Minutes” interview (9.11; the material we read has no more recent direct words from Trump on the war). As retold by Radio Svoboda and TSN (the original was not read): no one has been tougher on russia than he has; Putin is not fooling him; after the war Ukraine will “probably have a slightly different shape”; the biggest obstacle to peace is “the hatred between Zelensky and Putin”. Asked whom he trusts more: “I’d rather not say, but I get along well with both” (TSN’s translation, retranslated).

🕊️unverified Iran. No new statements by Trump on Iran in the past day were found. The latest are from 9.11, after meeting Qatar’s prime minister: according to US TV headlines, he believes the war with Iran is “effectively over” militarily (the articles were not read).

China and Rubio on the three-way meeting. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that a Trump–Putin–Xi meeting had been discussed; China’s foreign ministry first said it had no information, then confirmed that a three-way summit was being discussed (Censor.NET, 12.11). It was prompted by Putin’s aide Yuri Ushakov saying that Trump and Putin would discuss a “ Ukraine settlement” on the sidelines of APEC in Shenzhen on 18–19 November.

☢️unverifiedThe agenda in Shenzhen. An anonymous senior US official (AP, via Focus): the main topics are reducing nuclear arsenals, the war with Iran and possibly North Korea; China is “not really part” of the talks on russia, and no agreements are expected to be signed. No direct statements on Ukraine by Chinese officials were found in the past day.

🗣️Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, 13 November (UNIAN citing Reuters; the Reuters report itself was not read): there is no decision yet on a wider format for the next round — Moscow will agree to Europeans taking part “as soon as we understand their real intention and readiness to contribute to the peace process”. He did not rule out preliminary contacts with Europeans, but denied US claims that Putin had already agreed to their participation. Context: the day before, on 12.11, Kushner said the opposite — that Putin was “willing to give it a try” (Kyiv Independent).

🗣️Yuri Ushakov, Putin’s foreign-policy aide, on 12 November after the meeting with Witkoff and Kushner in the kremlin (according to Censor.NET): Trump and Putin will continue discussing a “ Ukraine settlement” on the sidelines of APEC in Shenzhen, China, on 18–19 November. Context: on 13.11 the White House confirmed a three-way meeting with Xi Jinping, while a US official says Ukraine is not to be discussed there.

🗣️unverifiedSergei Lavrov, russia’s foreign minister, in an interview with a russian propagandist after the talks in Abu Dhabi (interview date unknown; published by my.ua on 12.11, an aggregator only), called the three-way format “the most justified”, praised the Ukrainian delegation’s readiness for “substantive work” and added that russia would not back down from the conditions Putin set out in June 2024 and that the goals of the “special military operation” “have never changed”. Context: those “June 2024 conditions” demand that Ukraine withdraw from the regions occupied by russia, which Kyiv rejects.

🗣️unverifiedVladimir Putin, according to russian state media (via Kyiv Independent, 12.11), proposed a “humanitarian mission” in contested Kostiantynivka, citing the need for demining. The terms of the mission were not given in what we read; there is no sign that Ukraine agrees.