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Russo-Ukrainian war, day 1709: Russian jet drone kills 14 on Dnipro railway platform beside a Zaporizhzhia-bound train
Exclusives
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Meet Zakon: Ukraine creates its own national font to replace Russian type in state documents. The antiqua typeface draws upon the works of Ukraine's 20th century artists amid a decolonization push |
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Ukraine and the Netherlands team up on missile defense as Europe plans its own missile killer, free of US approval. The best time to intercept an incoming ballistic missile is when it's just halfway to its target. Can Ukraine afford this capability? |
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A Russian disinformation campaign cloned Euromaidan Press to blame Ukraine for Russia’s own strike on Kramatorsk (we took the fake down). Researchers tie the fake to Storm-1516, a Russian influence operation that has overtaken RT and Sputnik by cloning trusted news brands to publish fabricated stories under their names. |
Military
“The enemy has changed tactics”: Zaporizhzhia faces record number of Russian FPV drone attacks, hitting public transport 3 times in one day. The attacks injured 14 people, including a 14-year-old boy, and damaged residential buildings, warehouses, and vehicles.
Ukrainian Neptune strike destroys two Russian Su-34 bombers used to attack frontline cities, Ukraine’s Navy says. The aircraft are a key part of Russia’s tactical aviation fleet, used to launch guided aerial bombs against Ukrainian military positions and settlements near the front line.
Russia’s October losses hit record high of 49,040 with three days left, Ukraine says. Russia’s estimated personnel losses reached a new monthly high by 29 October, surpassing the previous record set in December 2024.
Russian jet drone hits Dnipro railway platform, killing 14 people next to a Zaporizhzhia-bound train. An air alert was on and the railway had ordered an evacuation, but many passengers were still beside the train when the drone struck.
Baking soda by day, armor chemistry on contract: drones reportedly strike Russia’s Bashkir Soda Company. The plant, which Russian Telegram channel Astra says sits on a closed register of defense suppliers, is the country’s only producer of a chemical used in bulletproof fibers.
Russia may use the Oleshky truce to rebuild its forces, ISW warns, as evacuees face a route through Russia and Belarus. The agreement spells out every leg of the evacuees’ trip except the last one home.
Promised discharge, but no trust: Why Ukraine’s new military contracts are struggling. Only 8,600 Ukrainians have signed the army’s new fixed-term contracts in four months.
Ukraine may already be pushing Operation Vivaldi across the Zherebets River. It’s a risky gamble. Two mappers put Ukrainian troops on the river’s eastern bank this week, including at Terny, where Russia crossed in 2024 and kept pushing until Vivaldi drove it back.
Nearly 5,000 tons of nitric acid for Russia’s military-industrial complex. Why did Azot plant become strategic target?. A military observer explains why Ukraine keeps striking Russia’s Azot plant.
Intelligence and technology
Ukraine finds Russia’s Geran drones fitted with a compass that works through GPS jamming, but Western electronics still at their core. Ukraine is also studying a new jamming device, and the findings go into its sanctions work.
Russian “Susanin” drone component may push Ukraine into nighttime blackouts. Roads and highways would go dark first, presidential adviser says. Ukraine may have to rethink its wartime blackouts if Russia begins mass use of drones and missiles carrying the “Susanin” optical-navigation module.
Russia is building Starlink no foreign company can switch off. Ukraine names 49 firms behind it, and 23 face no sanctions from Kyiv’s allies at all. One of them is Roscosmos, which puts the satellites in orbit.
Licensed, not banned: what China’s new rules mean for the parts inside Russia’s Shahed-type drones. Ukraine’s sanctions commissioner says Geran engines are on Beijing’s updated list and sees an opening for Kyiv.
International
Some European diplomats doubt Seoul over what they see as a tilt toward Russia during Moscow’s war on Ukraine, but Seoul says it backs ending the war, FT reports. Kyiv has already clashed with Seoul over fuel reaching Russia and two North Korean prisoners of war.
Russia’s sanctioned top diplomat heads to the US to campaign against the sanctions on its war. Moscow says Lavrov will use the G20 meeting in Atlanta to denounce sanctions, the economic pressure built to make Russia pay for invading Ukraine.
Germany holds two 19-year-olds over Bulgaria’s Starlink arson, and Sofia says they also attacked the network Ukraine fights with elsewhere in the EU. Bulgaria wants them extradited, and their lawyers say they will fight the warrant.
“I really don’t want this to be Yalta 2, 3, 4”: Zelenskyy fears Trump-Xi-Putin meeting could redivide world, with Ukraine on agenda. Great powers may sit down to redraw the world’s spheres of influence again.
Russia abducts Ukrainian children, and the Netherlands now funds UN search for them as part of new €1.2 billion aid package. Dutch companies get a way into rebuilding Ukraine: €136 million for partnerships and more export insurance in a new aid package.
Humanitarian and social impact
Classrooms in Sumy Oblast are moving underground due to Russian shelling: 13 such schools are already operating, nine are under construction, and another 14 are at the design stage. Russian attacks have damaged 165 schools in Sumy Oblast since the start of the full-scale invasion.
Demining complete, humanitarian convoy ready: Oleshky mission advances as ceasefire holds and Lubinets heads to occupied city. Ukrainian, Russian, and US delegations are coordinating a humanitarian operation in occupied Oleshky after mine clearance along designated routes. The mission aims to bring aid to civilians and facilitate their safe departure.
Six lanes and metro line under fire: Kyiv prepares about $22 million for backup river crossings after Russian strike on Southern Bridge. The bridges are of critical importance. About 600,000 vehicles cross the Dnipro River in Kyiv every day.
Russia may not give Oleshky evacuees a free choice to return to Ukraine, ISW warns, after Putin called the town a “Russian settlement”. Those who choose Ukraine will likely have to travel through Russia first, with no public guarantees that they will be let go.
Political and legal developments
Ankara tells Washington it’s ready to help revive Ukraine-Russia talks—but names no date or venue. Moscow claims a contact is near but that talk of Abu Dhabi is premature while it is still preparing. Kyiv wants that round before a summit without Ukraine.
€100 million at stake: what Ukrainians could save by joining Europe’s euro-payment zone, if parliament votes before November. Ukrainian small businesses pay for every euro transfer in paperwork and days of waiting.
Ukraine wants its Abu Dhabi talks with Russia before a proposed Trump-Putin-Xi summit. Tusk pointed to a first Abu Dhabi round after 4 November. Kyiv says the meeting now depends on Washington.
Read our previous daily review here.
