Overview
- A commander with the call sign Lavrik said Russian units began clearing Kupyansk’s West-Second microdistrict, searching basements and utility spaces for Ukrainian servicemen who may have been left behind.
- Russian commanders reiterated that Rog in the Donetsk region was fully cleared on November 14 and that Yablokovo in Zaporizhzhia was taken on November 15, with fighters in Yablokovo offered a chance to surrender before force was used against those who refused.
- The FSB said it thwarted an assassination attempt at Moscow’s Troekurovskoye cemetery, and the newspaper Moskovsky Komsomolets reported the alleged target was Security Council secretary Sergey Shoigu.
- In a Moscow trial over a 2024 car bombing, the defense for Evgeny Serebryakov argued he was deceived and manipulated by Ukrainian handlers, while prosecutors requested a 28-year sentence.
- EU enlargement commissioner Marta Kos warned that corruption in candidate countries signals weak institutions after Ukraine’s ‘Midas’ probe, and Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said European doubts about further funding for Kyiv are justified.