Victory Chronicles-DAY 642

According to a British intelligence report, the losses of Russian occupation forces in Ukraine have seen a significant increase in the past six weeks. The report, released by the British Ministry of Defense, highlights that these losses result from an offensive in Avdiivka, Donetsk Oblast. 

Data from the Ukrainian General Staff shows that the average daily losses of Russian troops in November amounted to 931 individuals. This marks the highest number of casualties since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. Before this, the Russian occupation army experienced its highest losses in March 2023 during the battle for Bakhmut, with an average of 776 dead occupiers per day. 

While British intelligence cannot independently verify the methodology used by the Ukrainian General Staff to determine Russian losses, they consider these figures to be credible.

Andrii Kovaliov, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced that the Ukrainian Air Force had destroyed 124 out of 126 enemy Shahid drones over the past week. In addition, the Defense Forces carried out 53 strikes on enemy concentrations, targeting manpower, weapons, and military equipment. They also conducted strikes on a command center and two enemy anti-aircraft missile systems. The missile forces targeted 35 areas of concentration, two air defense facilities, five command posts, six ammunition and fuel and lubricants depots, 14 artillery facilities at firing positions, and the enemy’s logistics center. The losses suffered by the enemy during this period include over 5,620 Russian occupants, 74 tanks, 111 armored combat vehicles, 126 artillery systems, eight multiple launch rocket systems, nine air defense systems, 137 drones, 161 vehicles, and 16 units of special equipment.

Ancient Scythian artifacts stored in the Netherlands for almost 10 years have been returned to Ukraine. The Customs Service of Ukraine transported the artifacts to the National Museum of History of Ukraine’s storage facility. The treasures will be stored there until Crimea is liberated. The artifacts had been loaned to the Allard Pearson Museum of Antiquities in Amsterdam after Russia illegally seized Crimea in 2014.

When the Amsterdam exhibition ended, Ukraine and Crimea museums claimed ownership of the artifacts. The artifacts remained in storage while a legal battle took place. Dutch courts ruled multiple times that the artifacts should be returned to Ukraine, and the Supreme Court of the Netherlands agreed in June 2023. In November, an agreement was signed between Ukraine’s acting Minister of Culture and the acting director of the University Library of the University of Amsterdam, finalizing the return of the artifacts.

Russian occupants hid a Soviet-made 152-mm divisional self-propelled howitzer, “Akacia” on the left bank of the Kherson Oblast. The Southern Ukrainian Defense Forces destroyed it using American-made Himars. The Southern Defense Forces of Ukraine reported this.

Russian forces reportedly complained about the vulnerability of Russian ground lines of communication (GLOCs) in the east (left) bank of Kherson Oblast amid continued complaints about weak Russian capabilities on the east bank.

A Russian milblogger claimed on November 26 that personnel of the Russian 70th Motorized Rifle Division (of the newly formed 18th Combined Arms Army) often write to him complaining about the vulnerability of Russian logistics in the east bank of Kherson Oblast near Krynky (30km northeast of Kherson Oblast and 2km from the Dnipro River) to Ukrainian drone strikes. The milblogger also agreed with another Russian milblogger’s previous claims that Russian forces in this area struggle with unit coordination as well as commanders’ negligence at the company and battalion levels.

The milblogger suggested that Russian forces near Krynky should create a separate anti-drone company staffed by personnel of the separate reconnaissance battalion of the 70th Motorized Rifle Division to protect Russian GLOCs. Russian GLOCs on left bank Kherson Oblast, such as the E58 Antonivka-Sahy highway (about 5-8km away from the Dnipro River), are located close to the Dnipro River shoreline, making them vulnerable to Ukrainian interdiction. ISW previously reported that Russian milbloggers have repeatedly complained about Russian forces near Krynky suffering from problems, such as insufficient fire support, unit coordination, electronic warfare (EW), counterbattery, and air defense, but has observed that these reported problems do not always translate into significant battlefield effects. Russian sources have continually claimed that Russian forces are unable to push Ukrainian forces out of Krynky and that Ukrainian forces are currently unable to make operationally significant advances in the east bank area.

Serhii Pavlichenko, a political prisoner of former Ukrainian President Yanukovych, died in the war. Pavlichenko was killed on November 18 near the village of Verbove in Zaporizhzhia Oblast as a fighter with the 78th Airborne Regiment. 

Pavlichenko was convicted along with his father for the alleged murder of a judge in the early 2010s. The Ultras Dynamo, to which Pavlichenko belonged, actively advocated for his release during his time in prison. In 2014, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided to release political prisoners, including Pavlichenko and his father, convicted of the judge’s murder. Pavlichenko’s passing brought sorrow to Ukrainian society; FC Dynamo Kyiv honored him as yet another defender of Ukraine lost to a cruel conflict.

“Having gained the long-awaited freedom, Serhii immediately began to study a lot and quickly found a job in an IT company as a Front End developer. Over the next 6 years, Sergiy grew to the level of Lead Angular developer in one of the Ukrainian IT companies. The last time we saw him was in the summer of 2021. He was tall, handsome, fit, athletic, and modest, just like in 2007 when we first played together, only now with a beard. Back then, he told us how he continues to study, improve himself, and master the field of artificial intelligence. This man is a role model. He did not break under the pressure of the system, found himself and became a professional in his field. A football player, a Dynamo Kyiv Ultras, a political prisoner, an IT specialist, a fighter in the Air Assault Troops – the path of a hero. The motherland has lost one of its best sons,” his friend Volodymyr Krolivets wrote on social media.

The funeral service for Serhii Pavlichenko will be held on November 29 at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery. The defender will be buried at the Military Cemetery in Lukianivka.

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• Ukraine’s Joint Forces Commander: Ukraine preparing for possibility of war spreading beyond its east and south
• UK intelligence: Russia moves air defense systems from “NATO-encircled Kaliningrad” to battlefield in Ukraine