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Morning Headlines
Reuters: A dark fleet of tankers carried tens of billions of dollars of Iranian and Russian oil to Asia, evading Western sanctions. Reuters found the ships were connected by one thing: a small insurance company in New Zealand, run by a British family.
Politico: Hungary is looking to join forces with Czechia and Slovakia to form a Ukraine-skeptic alliance in the EU, a top political adviser to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán told POLITICO.
Reuters: Indian refiners have not placed new orders for Russian oil purchases since sanctions were imposed, as they await clarity from the government and suppliers.
Bloomberg: The price of a key Russian oil grade has plunged after Western sanctions prompted Chinese refiners to cancel some purchases (archive).
ISW: Both Ukrainian and Russian forces continue to advance in the Pokrovsk direction, underscoring the fluid and interspersed nature of the frontline on this sector of the front.
More News
Reuters: Russia has been chasing civilians who live near the front line in Ukraine with drones, hounding them out of their homes and hunting them down, forcing thousands to flee whole areas in what amounts to a crime against humanity, a U.N. inquiry found.
The Moscow Times: Kenyans have been "lured" by recruiters into fighting for Russia in Ukraine, the Kenyan Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. Many have ended up detained in military camps across Russia, said the statement signed by Foreign Minister Musalia Mudavadi.
Reuters: Washington has floated a six-month deadline for Berlin to sort out the ownership limbo affecting the German assets of Russian oil major Rosneft, allowing Rosneft to be temporarily exempted from U.S. sanctions.
France 24: Russian oil giant Lukoil will sell its overseas assets, the company said late Monday, after it was hit with US sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
Reuters: Ukraine is rushing to strengthen its positions in the strategic eastern transport hub of Pokrovsk as about 200 Russian troops have infiltrated the city in small groups, Kyiv's military said on Monday.
The Kyiv Independent: Lego toys, manufactured at a Czech factory of the Danish Lego Group, continue to flow to Russia through a Dutch trading company, according to an investigation by the Czech publication Page Not Found.
Ukrainska Pravda: The Swedish company Saab is prepared to open a plant in Ukraine for the final assembly of JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets as part of a proposed deal for Kyiv to purchase up to 150 of the aircraft.
The Moscow Times: Russian stocks plunged on Monday following Kremlin economic envoy Kirill Dmitriev's trip to the United States, which appeared to have produced no tangible results in easing tensions between Moscow and Washington over the war in Ukraine.
RBC-Ukraine: Fighters from the combined drone unit of the Active Operations Department of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine eliminated the son of a Russian general during a strike on the Russian positions in the Zaporizhzhia direction.
Reuters: Norway's military intelligence service said on Monday that Russia's test last week of the nuclear-powered Burevestnik long-range cruise missile was launched from the Arctic Barents Sea archipelago of Novaya Zemlya.
The Kyiv Independent: Washington expects Hungary, Slovakia, and Turkey to develop a plan for weaning themselves off Russian energy imports, U.S. Ambassador to NATO Matt Whitaker said in an interview with Fox News, published on Oct. 27.
Finland has become the thirteenth country to join the Tallinn Mechanism—an international initiative that helps Ukraine enhance its cyber resilience and digital security.
Euronews: Germany is turning into a frontline for hybrid warfare, with German intelligence warning that Russia is recruiting so-called "low-level agents" – ordinary civilians paid small sums to carry out acts of sabotage or espionage.
Reuters: Lithuania's Prime Minister Inga Ruginiene said on Monday her country will begin to shoot down smuggler balloons crossing the border from Belarus, which have repeatedly interrupted the Baltic nation's air traffic.
Axios: President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios that President Trump's new sanctions will hurt the Russian war machine, but Ukraine still needs long-range missiles to force Putin to make peace. He also said that Ukraine and its allies agreed to work on a ceasefire plan in the coming ten days.
Reuters: Poland has detained two Ukrainians accused of collecting details of soldiers and critical infrastructure for foreign intelligence as Warsaw cracks down on alleged espionage by Russia and Belarus.
The Kyiv Independent: A Ukrainian strike on a dam near Belgorod, Russia, has caused water to begin flowing uncontrollably, reportedly cutting off Russian units that had crossed the Siverskyi Donets River near the Ukrainian town of Vovchansk in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine’s 16th Army Corps said on Oct. 26.
Reuters: Trump said on Monday Putin should end the war in Ukraine instead of testing a nuclear-powered missile, and that the United States had a nuclear submarine positioned off Russia's coast.
worth mentioning
ISW Special Report 'The Russian Military: Forecasting The Threat' (long read)
Over $100 million in losses reported after Russia’s weekend missile strikes on Kyiv businesses
EU's Kallas says bloc looking for ways to support ICC
Number of new brands entering Russia drops in 2025
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