Weekend Briefing

Here's what you need to know to start your week

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Morning Headlines

Reuters: Trump said on Sunday that, for now, he is not considering a deal that would allow Ukraine to obtain long-range Tomahawk missiles for use against Russia.

Politico: Belgium’s refusal to back a multibillion-euro EU loan to Ukraine could prompt the International Monetary Fund to block financial support for Kyiv — resulting in a cascading loss of confidence in the war-torn country's economic viability, EU officials warn.

Bloomberg: Chinese oil refiners are shunning Russian shipments after the US and others blacklisted Moscow’s top producers and some of its customers (archive).

Reuters: India's Bharat Petroleum Corp has bought crude oil from Abu Dhabi in a spot tender to replace oil from Russia after the U.S. sanctioned two major Russian producers.

The Guardian: A computer game-style drone attack system has gone “viral” among Ukrainian military units and is being extended to reconnaissance, artillery and logistics operations, the nation’s first deputy prime minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, has told the Guardian.

ISW: Russian forces have likely deprioritized offensive operations in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area in favor of completing the seizure of Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad. Russian assault tactics in the Pokrovsk direction are resulting in high casualty rates.

02.11.2025

CNN: Several drones spotted above a Belgian airbase over the weekend were there “to spy” on military fighter jets, the country’s defense minister said Sunday, at a time when European nations are on high alert for airspace intrusions.

RBC-Ukraine: Ukraine has received Patriot air defense systems from Germany, and talks to further strengthen the country's air defenses are ongoing, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

The Kyiv Independent: An oil depot in the Russian-occupied city of Shakhtarsk, Donetsk Oblast, was attacked on the evening of Nov. 2, according to footage posted to social media.

France 24: A wave of drones and missiles were fired into Ukraine by Russia overnight on Saturday and Sunday, killing at least six people including two boys aged 11 and 14. Russia's strikes on Ukraine's energy grid cut power to the entire eastern Donetsk region, as well as almost 58,000 households in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian officials said.

Reuters: Turkey's largest oil refineries are buying more non-Russian oil in response to the latest Western sanctions on Russia, two people with direct knowledge of the matter and several industry sources told Reuters.

Kyiv Post: A bipartisan alliance of defense heavyweights in Congress are moving to block the Trump administration’s controversial plan to pull troops out of Romania and other NATO outposts on Russia’s frontier.

Reuters: A Ukrainian drone attack struck one of Russia's main Black Sea oil ports on Sunday, causing a fire and damaging at least one ship, as Kyiv tries to undermine Russia's war effort by targeting its energy infrastructure.

ISW: Russian forces are intensifying offensive operations in and around Pokrovsk to seize the town.

01.11.2025

Ukrainska Pravda: Syrskyi said that a complex operation to kill and push back Russian forces in Pokrovsk is ongoing, involving Special Operations Forces, Security Service of Ukraine and Defence Intelligence of Ukraine.

Novaya-Europe: For the second time this year, Telegram has removed an anonymously-run Telegram channel known for sharing leaks from the Russian security services, claiming it was engaged in “doxxing and extortion”, sparking fears that Telegram’s management is cooperating with the Russian censors.

The Moscow Times: Russia fired more missiles at Ukraine in October than in any month since at least the start of 2023, an AFP analysis of Ukrainian data showed.

Reuters: Russia's manufacturing sector experienced a sharper contraction in October, with new orders declining at the fastest rate in three months, a survey by S&P Global showed on Saturday.

United24 Media: Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence has carried out a special operation that disabled Russia’s “Koltsovoy” fuel pipeline—a 400-kilometer network that supplied gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel to the Russian military.

ISW: Ukrainian forces marginally advanced during recent counterattacks north of Pokrovsk as Russian forces continue to infiltrate into Pokrovsk and east of Myrnohrad (east of Pokrovsk).

31.10.2025

LRT: Lithuanian Railways said it will stop transporting oil products from Russian energy giant Lukoil to the Kaliningrad region in compliance with new US and UK sanctions targeting Russia’s largest oil companies.

AP News: Russia has deployed around 170,000 troops in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region where they are trying to capture the stronghold of Pokrovsk in a major push for a battlefield victory, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Friday.

CNN: The Pentagon has given the White House the green light to provide Ukraine with long-range Tomahawk missiles after assessing that it would not negatively impact US stockpiles, leaving the final political decision in Trump’s hands.

RFE/RL: Police raided dozens of homes in Moldova and Ukraine, officials said, as part of a cross-border investigation into hundreds of people linked to Russian mercenary groups and who allegedly committed war crimes in Ukraine.

Reuters: Poland said on Friday that its jets intercepted a Russian reconnaissance plane over the Baltic Sea for the third time this week.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine’s security services destroyed a Russian Oreshnik ballistic missile inside Russia during the summer of 2024, President Volodymyr Zelensky said at a press briefing on Oct. 31.

Reuters: Ukraine has successfully hit 160 Russian oil and energy facilities so far this year, the head of the SBU security service said on Friday.

The Kyiv Independent: Top officials from 35 countries will gather in Madrid for a "secret, private summit" of the "Coalition of the Willing" on Nov. 4, Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported, citing a document it had obtained.

Reuters: Ukraine has handed over a captured Russian soldier accused of torture and illegal detention to Lithuania for trial, in what Kyiv said was the first case of its kind involving the justice system of a third country during Russia's nearly four-year-old war.

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