Victory Chronicles-DAY 1365

A Russian combined airborne attack on the regional capital in the western Ukrainian city of Ternopil killed 25 people, among them three children, and injured 73 others, officials said on Nov. 19.

Emergency crews said the strikes hit two residential areas: the upper floors of a nine-story apartment building, where rescuers pulled victims from heavy debris, and another site where a massive fire broke out despite limited structural damage. The blasts also damaged a nearby industrial facility.

The Interior Ministry said 15 children were among the wounded. Photos from the scene showed collapsed concrete slabs, burned-out apartments and firefighters working through thick smoke as families waited for news of missing relatives.

Ternopil has long been seen as a safer city for Ukrainians that is located far from the front lines and is located only 100 kilometers from the European Union.. The overnight attack shattered that sense of distance, striking homes on Stus Street and 15 Kvitnia Street. Investigators are treating the strike as a deliberate attack on civilians, documenting fragments from missiles and drones used in the assault.

Russia recruits 18,000 foreign fighters from 128 countries for war against Ukraine, Kyiv says. Russia has recruited at least 18,000 foreign nationals from 128 countries and unrecognized territories to fight against Ukraine, and 3,388 of them have already been killed, according to Ukraine’s Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.

Brig. Gen. Dmytro Usov, the headquarters’ secretary, said during the Crimea Global conference that Ukraine has “verified by name” all 18,000 fighters. He said Moscow built an extensive global recruitment network that started in 2023 to compensate for the heavy losses suffered by its own forces.

Usov noted that monthly contracts signed by foreign nationals initially numbered in the hundreds but later rose into the thousands. Most recruits joined for financial reasons, though “many ended up in Russia’s army through deception or coercion” after being promised employment in civilian life.

Ukraine is currently holding prisoners of war from 37 countries who have fought for Russia. Usov added that Moscow has shown virtually no interest in exchanging them. 

Zelenskyy says Russia fires 470 drones and 48 missiles overnight, urges more air defenses. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia launched more than 470 attack drones and 48 various missiles overnight in one of the largest strikes of the Russo-Ukrainian war that started in February 2022, hitting homes, energy sites and civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.

At least 25 civilians perished and dozens more were injured during the airborne attack. Zelenskyy said two high-rise buildings in Ternopil were struck that sparked large fires and left people trapped under the rubble. Kharkiv endured a massive evening barrage that wounded dozens, including children, and damaged power lines, transport links and civilian buildings. Energy sites in Ivano-Frankivsk and Lviv regions were also hit; injuries there included two children. Strikes were also reported in Donetsk, Kyiv, Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Chernihiv and Dnipro regions.

Zelenskyy said the scale of the assault proved that international pressure on Russia “is still not enough.” He urged partners to speed deliveries of air-defense missiles, additional air-defense systems, combat aviation and support for drone production.

Ukrainian Su-27 pilots use GBU-62 bomb to clear Russian-held building in Pokrovsk. Ukrainian pilots flying a Soviet-designed Su-27 Flanker jet carried out a precision strike with a U.S.-supplied GBU-62 glide bomb to rescue an infantry group that was trapped during fighting in the Pokrovsk agglomeration of the easternmost Donetsk region, the military said.

According to Ukrainian forces, Russian troops had entrenched themselves inside a building that was blocking a key route for Ukrainian soldiers who were operating nearby. With ground units unable to maneuver safely, commanders called in an airstrike.

The Su-27 crew delivered the guided bomb with what the military described as “surgical accuracy,” collapsing the Russian-held position and allowing Ukrainian infantry to break free. Video released by the armed forces shows the strike landing directly on the structure, sending up a plume of dust and debris.

The GBU-62 is a precision weapon converted from a naval depth bomb into a glide bomb that can be launched from legacy aircraft like the Su-27. Ukrainian pilots have adapted it for urban combat, where narrowly targeted strikes are needed to avoid friendly casualties.

Key Takeaways

1. Russian forces are struggling to focus on a single decisive objective in the Pokrovsk direction and instead continue simultaneous attempts to close the encirclement of the wider Pokrovsk-Myrnohrad pocket while also attacking within both towns.
2. Russian forces are trying to employ their new offensive template in the Siversk and Slovyansk-Lyman directions to set conditions for an advance on Ukraine’s Fortress Belt from the northeast and east.
3. Russian military commanders continue to order Russian forces to commit war crimes on the battlefield.
4. Ukrainian forces reportedly conducted an ATACMS missile strike against military targets within Russia.
5. Ukraine continues to collaborate with its European partners on the joint production of interceptor drones.
6. Russian forces conducted a series of missile and drone strikes against Ukraine on the night of November 15 to 16 that appeared to target the regional headquarters of major Ukrainian broadcasters.
7. Polish officials attributed the recent sabotage attacks against a Polish railway to Russian security services.
8. Ukrainian forces recently advanced in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Russian forces recently advanced in Pokrovsk and in the Dobropillya tactical area.

• Politico: Trump’s team wants to agree on a framework for ending the war in Ukraine by the end of the month
• Kallas: EU wants to extend military mobility corridors to Ukraine
• Ukraine and Poland to set up joint group to prevent Russian sabotage
• Poland closes last Russian consulate after railway bombing
• Ukrainian F-16 pilots have struck over 1,300 aerial targets and more than 300 Russian ground targets