Victory Chronicles-DAY 1351

Ukraine’s General Staff said on Nov. 5 that fighting continues in the Pokrovsk–Myrnohrad area of Donetsk region but denied Russian claims that Ukrainian troops are surrounded.

“Measures are underway to block the enemy, which is attempting to infiltrate and concentrate forces in Pokrovsk,” the statement said. 

Ukrainian assault units, special operations forces, and military police are conducting strike-and-search operations across the city to prevent Russian infantry from gaining a foothold.

In the past 24 hours alone, Defense Forces eliminated 26 Russian soldiers and wounded 64 more, destroying or damaging 58 infantry shelters. Since the beginning of the week, Ukrainian forces in the Pokrovsk sector have neutralized 249 Russian troops,  including 159 killed,  along with seven drone command posts, 26 vehicles, one tank and one armored fighting vehicle.

The General Staff said fortifications around Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad are being strengthened and supply routes secured. It also reported progress in the nearby Dobropillia operation, where Ukrainian assault units advanced between 100 and 700 meters, liberating nearly 189 square kilometers and clearing 250 square kilometers of enemy sabotage groups.

South Korea says 10,000 North Korean troops deployed near Russia-Ukraine border. South Korea’s intelligence service believes that about 10,000 North Korean soldiers have been deployed near the border between Russia and Ukraine, in what appears to be growing military cooperation between Moscow and Pyongyang, South Korean lawmaker Lee Seong-kwon said on Nov. 5, citing briefings from the National Intelligence Service (NIS).

The NIS also reported that since September, around 5,000 North Korean military construction workers have been sent to Russia under the guise of “infrastructure reconstruction.” Additional deployments are being prepared, with intelligence pointing to continued training and personnel selection. The intelligence agency warned that North Korea is receiving money, food, energy supplies and access to advanced weapons technologies in exchange for its support, helping Kim Jong Un’s regime maintain its economy and expand its missile and nuclear programs in defiance of international sanctions.

Russian strike hits rescue unit and industrial zone in Kramatorsk, injuring two civilian women. Russian forces launched three strikes on the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine’s easternmost Donetsk region on Nov. 5, hitting a rescue station and an industrial area, local officials said.

According to the Kramatorsk City Council, the attack occurred around 9:10 a.m. Two women, aged 72 and 66 years, were injured and are receiving medical treatment. Emergency services are working at the scene to assess damage and clear debris.

Kramatorsk, a key logistics and administrative center in eastern Ukraine, has repeatedly come under Russian fire since the start of the all-out invasion in 2022, often targeting civilian and emergency infrastructure.

Ukrainian border guards destroy Russian surveillance system near Vovchansk. Ukrainian border guards from the Hart Brigade have destroyed a Russian long-range surveillance system known as Murom-M near the city of Vovchansk in Kharkiv region, the State Border Guard Service said on Nov. 5.

The Murom-M system was used by Russian forces to detect Ukrainian troops and equipment along the South Slobozhanskyi front. During the operation, Hart Brigade drone operators and artillery units also destroyed additional targets, including communication systems, vehicles and enemy drone launch positions.

Key Takeaways

1. Recent Russian advances through Pokrovsk are the culmination of a 21-month campaign to seize the town and a five-month dedicated battlefield air interdiction (BAI) effort to degrade Ukrainian defensive capabilities.
2. The current battlespace in the Pokrovsk direction took Russian forces 21 months to achieve.
3. Russian forces began achieving partial BAI effects against Ukrainian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) in the Pokrovsk direction in July 2025, at which point Russian forces effectively denied Ukrainian forces the ability to use Pokrovsk as a logistics hub.
4. These Russian BAI interdiction efforts have not proven as effective across the entire frontline, however, and will not necessarily be exportable to other parts of the theater.
5. Russian forces continue advancing through Pokrovsk, and Ukrainian forces continue defensive efforts in the Pokrovsk direction.
6. Kremlin ruler Vladimir Putin signed two laws on Nov. 4 that likely aim to facilitate the use of Russia’s inactive reserve in a protracted war in Ukraine and a possible war against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), as well as the use of the active reserve in combat in Ukraine.
7. Russian forces continue to commit war crimes against Ukrainian civilians.
8. Russian forces advanced in northern Sumy Oblast and within and near Pokrovsk. Ukrainian forces advanced in the Kostyantynivka-Druzhkivka tactical area.

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