Victory Chronicles-DAY 1358

Ukrainian forces from the 28th Mechanized Brigade thwarted a Russian attempt to advance into the front-line city of Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region, forcing the attackers to retreat with heavy losses, the brigade reported on Nov. 12.

Kostyantynivka, located about 20 kilometers southwest of Bakhmut, has become a critical defensive hub for Ukraine as Russian forces intensify assaults across the eastern Donbas area. The city lies along key supply routes that connect Ukrainian positions in Donetsk and forms part of the defensive line that protects the larger urban centers of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. 

The brigade said Russian troops tried to use dense fog as cover to push into the city and nearby areas, concentrating large numbers of soldiers in hopes of catching Ukrainian defenses off guard. 

“Our scouts detected the enemy’s movement in time, and the brigade met them hot,” the statement said. According to the brigade, several Russian assault groups were destroyed or forced to withdraw, leaving damaged equipment behind. Ukrainian forces confirmed that Kostyantynivka remains firmly under their control.

Denmark approves $217 million military aid package for Ukraine. Copenhagen has announced its 28th military aid package for Ukraine that is worth 1.4 billion kroner ($217 million), the Danish Ministry of Defense said on Nov. 11 after approval by the parliamentary defense committee.

The package includes 100 million kroner ($15.5 million) to support the “Danish model”– a program for producing weapons inside Ukraine — as well as more than 370 million kroner ($54 million) for the PURL initiative, which coordinates allied purchases of U.S.-made weapons for Ukraine. Another 80 million kroner ($12 million) will fund fuel supplies via NATO’s Support and Procurement Agency.

Three Shahed drones hit central Kharkiv, injuring five civilians and damaging buildings. Three Russian Shahed suicide drones struck central Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second most populous city, on Nov. 12, injuring five civilians and damaging a manufacturing facility and nearby homes, local officials said.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the attack hit the city’s Kholodnohirskyi district, damaging a civilian industrial site and several single-family homes. Regional Governor Oleh Syniehubov later reported that five people were injured, four of whom were hospitalized.

Emergency crews rescued two residents who were trapped in damaged apartments. Fires broke out in two buildings — one was extinguished and the other contained — and first responders continue to clear debris and assess structural damage.

Ukrainian paratroopers disrupt Russian supply line near Pokrovsk. Ukraine’s Air Assault Forces have released footage showing the destruction of a Russian supply route about 5 kilometers (3 miles) south of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, the military reported on Nov. 11.

According to the 7th Corps of the Air Assault Forces, Ukrainian defenders identified one of the enemy’s logistics routes near the village of Shevchenko and remotely mined it, creating a “kill zone” that severely disrupted Russian resupply operations.

The video captures an explosion that destroyed a Russian ground-based robotic transport system that had been moving along the route. Ukrainian forces said Russia has increasingly relied on such unmanned vehicles to deliver supplies as its conventional logistics become more difficult under constant Ukrainian fire that involve drones.

Key Takeaways

1.  The rate of Russian advances in the Pokrovsk direction remains relatively slow, likely in part because the Russian military command continues to pursue grinding offensive operations throughout the theater.
2. Russian forces will very likely seize Pokrovsk and Myrnohrad, but will likely take more time and suffer more casualties to do so than if the Russian military command focused more resources from elsewhere on the front in this direction.
3. Russian forces are taking advantage of foggy weather conditions that degrade Ukrainian drone operations to intensify offensive operations in the Hulyaipole direction and other areas of eastern Ukraine.
4. A months-long battlefield air interdiction (BAI) campaign likely facilitated recent Russian advances in the Velykomykhailivka and Hulyaipole directions.
5. Ukrainian forces continued their long-range strike campaign against Russian oil infrastructure on Nov, 10 -11.
6. Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Siversk. Russian forces recently advanced near Pokrovsk and Hulyaipole.

• Zelenskyy: Situation near Pokrovsk and in Zaporizhzhia Oblast is difficult, easier in Kupiansk
• Dutch volunteers deliver Yak-52 aircraft to Ukraine to help fight Russian drones
• Canada’s foreign affairs minister: G7 ministers’ meeting to start with discussion on support for Ukraine
• Drones attack petrochemical plant in Russia’s Stavropol Krai
• Russia moving into Pokrovsk with vehicles and deploying mortars
• Long-range ‘sanctions’: strategic Russian petrochemical plant struck by Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces