November 5 2024


Russia's Kazan Higher Military Tank Command School, Russia’s only tank training school, has begun training tank crews on how to operate turtle/shed tanks, which are tanks with large, improvised superstructures meant to protect the vehicles from drone attacks. The Russian military insists that they have shown effectiveness in combat. They claim that one turtle tank survived more than 100 FPV drone strikes. Individual units are still making these turtle/shed tanks in the field, limiting their effectiveness and uniformity.


Russia is providing North Korea with food and military support in exchange for troops. North Korea is receiving 600,000 to 700,000 tons of rice to help with its food shortage. North Korea produces 4 million tons of grain per year but needs 5 million tons to feed its population. Each North Korean soldier sent to fight for Russia expects to receive a monthly salary of $2000. At least in the short term, North Korea is expected to come out ahead in this deal.


Zelenskyy met with Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi and Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, to discuss frontline supply issues with particular attention paid to the Pokrovsk, Kurakhiv, Toretsk, and Kupyansk areas. He said there was a notable increase in supply levels from international partners, especially regarding artillery. Zelenskyy recently said that Ukraine has only received about 10% of the U.S. aid approved by Congress in April 2024. Umerov talked to Zelenskyy about Ukrainian-made drones, and Zelenskyy instructed Umerov to increase drone orders.


U.S. Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget A. Brink said that the U.S. State Department has funded 800 mobile air defense fire teams in 2024 and these teams have shot down at least 200 drones since January 1, 2024. Zelenskyy reported that Ukraine was attacked with over 2,000 shaheds in October.


Czech President Petr Pavel approved 60 applications from Czech citizens to join the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 181 Czech citizens submitted requests for permission to join the Ukrainian military, though you can apply for a permit retroactively. Karel Kučera, a Czech volunteer who was killed fighting for Ukraine was posthumously awarded the Medal for Heroism on October 29.

Slovak President Peter Pellegrini has rejected every application from Slovak citizens asking for permission to fight in Ukraine. It is a criminal offense to fight in a foreign country’s military without permission.

According to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, it would cost Germany more to stop providing aid to Ukraine than it costs to continue providing aid. The amount of military aid Germany has provided since 2022 amounts to €10.6 billion, roughly an average of €4 billion per year. This is roughly equal to 0.1% of Germany’s GDP. When humanitarian aid is factored in, the total amount of assistance reaches about 0.14% of Germany’s GDP per year. Germany’s support for the first Gulf War in 1991 was equal to about 0.6% of its GDP. Other European countries contribute a much larger portion of their GDP to helping Ukraine, Denmark provides 0.65% of its GDP, Estonia 0.57%, and Latvia provides 0.43% of its GDP. When considering all forms of aid, including military, financial, and humanitarian, Germany provides 0.14% of its GDP. In comparison, Canada provides 0.15%, the UK 0.17%, and Poland provides 0.24% of its GDP.

Ending support would cost 1-2% of its GDP, somewhere around 10-20 times as much as helping Ukraine costs. Ending aid would likely lead to an influx of 1.9-3.8 million refugees, Germany would have to invest more in its own defense and NATO, Germany would suffer from loss of trade with Ukraine and loss of investments in Ukraine, and Germany would live under conditions of significantly weakened deterrence against aggression from Russia and its allies.


The NASAMS system purchased by Canada will be delivered by the end of 2024, according to Zelenskyy. It was supposed to be delivered earlier, but Canada delayed paying for it, which prevented the order from being placed.


Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Laurinas Kaschyunas visited Kyiv and he delivered 230 pickup trucks and 240 mine detectors to the Ukrainian military. These were delivered as part of the Mine Action Coalition.


Ukraine and Lithuania signed a memorandum on the joint production of drones, ammunition, and electronic warfare systems.


German defense company Rheinmetall is close to finishing construction on their second facility in Ukraine, according to NATO General Secretary Mark Rutte and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Previously, the CEO of Rheinmetall, Armin Papperger, said there will be 4 facilities constructed in total.


Germany has completed the training of the fourth group of Ukrainians to operate the Patriot air defense system.


NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte said that North Korean troops in Russia only increased NATO's commitment to support Ukraine in its fight against the invasion. He also said that NATO will deepen cooperation with Indo-Pacific partners, such as South Korea and Japan.


Zelenskyy reports there are now 11,000 North Koreans serving in the Kursk region.

Putin met with North Korean Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui at the Kremlin.


Yevgeny Pervyshov has been appointed as the interim head of Tambov Oblast. He claims to have fought in Ukraine in a Russian Combat Army Reserve unit called  BARS Kaskad. However, BARS Kaskad is reported to be a unit for state officials and the UK’s military intelligence says it is stationed well behind the front lines.


Two boys were hospitalized after an explosive detonated near the village Husarivka near Izium. The boys, 11 and 12, suffered blast and shrapnel injuries to their legs.

Police captain Oleksandr Viter was killed in explosions while demining a private residence in Kherson Oblast. Viter was responding to a report of an explosive device being left behind after a Russian drone attack. Viter was 41 years old and had been on the police force for 10 years.

Three people were killed and one was injured when Russia attacked the village of Kivsharivka, Kharkiv Oblast with a FAB-500 bomb. Houses, a medical facility, and an ambulance were also damaged in this strike.

On November 3, a Russian strike on Kharkiv injured 15 people, including 4 officers from Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs, and caused damage to two supermarkets, four retail pavilions, twenty-one kiosks, one shopping mall, one café, and one laboratory.

On November 4, Russia launched a missile and drone attack on Ukraine using an Iskander-M ballistic missile and 80 Shaheds. 50 of the shaheds were intercepted and 27 were reported as “lost.” The missile targeted Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Debris from drones fell in Kyiv's Obolonskyi and Desnianskyi districts without causing injuries or damage.


Russia has granted citizenship to 3,344 foreign nationals in exchange for fighting in Ukraine. It’s unclear if this is just those that served, or if family members of foreign service members are included in this 3,344.


Jaguar Land Rover, a British automotive manufacturer, has sold its Russian branch. It was purchased by VSKD Motors LLC. Jaguar Land Rover halted deliveries to Russia early in 2022, causing its annual revenue to plummet by more than $60 million.


At the start of Russia's full-scale invasion, Russia created a potential treaty dated March 7, 2022, which outlined conditions of Ukraine’s capitulation that was presented during the third round of negotiations in Belarus's Bialowieza Forest.

Some of the things it included were conditions such as:

    • Ukraine was required to reduce its military to 50,000 personnel, including only 1,500 officers, with just four ships, 55 helicopters, and 300 tanks remaining.
    • Ukraine was to refrain from developing, purchasing, or deploying missile weapons with ranges over 250 km, including those capable of striking the Crimean Bridge.
    • Russia reserved the right to ban Ukraine from developing any future weapons based on scientific advancements.
    • Ukraine was required to recognize the independence of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk "republics," even though Russia controlled only parts of these regions.
    • Ukraine was to bear the costs of rebuilding the Donbas region, which had been destroyed since 2014.
    • The proposal demanded the lifting of all sanctions against Russia and the withdrawal of international lawsuits filed by Ukraine since 2014.
    • Russia insisted on granting Russian the status of a state language in Ukraine and restoring property rights to the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate).
    • Russia demanded the re-legalization of Soviet and communist symbols in Ukraine.
    • Several Ukrainian laws related to WWII remembrance and the rehabilitation of victims of communist repression were labeled as promoting "Nazification" and were to be repealed.

Ukraine’s General Staff reports that Russian losses in the war now exceed 700,000


74 settlements in Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kyiv, and Chernihiv were left without power due to stormy weather. Repair work is ongoing.


Ukraine's Security Service has charged three Ukrainian citizens with treason for joining the Russian army and fighting against Ukraine. The men were part of a Russian naval brigade and were captured after launching a field attack on Ukrainian positions in Kursk. They could face life imprisonment if convicted.

Viktor Orbán said that Europe must reconsider its support for Ukraine if Donald Trump is elected president. He said that Europe cannot remain “pro-war” if the US becomes “pro-peace.” North Korea has commended Orban for his statement and said that the EU was trying to overthrow his government and install a puppet government in Budapest.


ChrisO_wiki reports that Russian Railways plans to remove 100,000 freight cars from operation due to a labor crisis caused by employees leaving for military service in Ukraine. Russian military service offers dramatically higher pay. This problem is compounded by a shortage of spare parts caused by sanctions. A leaked recording of the head of Russian Railways, Oleg Belozerov, reveals he ordered his subordinates to reduce the working fleet to 1.1 million train cars, and an even lower number was discussed. He said, “There is simply nothing left to carry in them, the volume of transportation is constantly decreasing." ChrisO_wiki said it is more likely that the train cars are just wearing out due to a lack of parts, such as replacements, and high-quality bearings. Uralvagonzavod was the main manufacturer of train cars of all types has switched over to focusing on tanks and armored vehicles instead.

This situation poses a serious threat to the Russian economy because it relies heavily on the railways to move freight and people, and is likely to adversely affect small companies linked to Russian Railways, while oligarchs may manage to survive through corruption and connections. The “electronic consignment note system” is being subjected to “total corruption” to grant favors to powerful and influential business owners.


In Russia, butter prices have increased by 25.7% since December. Russia has started importing butter from the UAE and Türkiye for the first time. This price spike has led to increased rates of butter shoplifting in stores. Some stores are starting to lock butter in protective cases or remove it from shelves altogether and you have to ask an employee to retrieve it for you from the back of the shop. Butter imports from Latin America are about 10% of what they used to be in 2014. The UAE has shipped 90 metric tons of butter to Russia so far.


Andrii Kovalenko, the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, reported that North Korean troops have begun to enter combat in Kursk.


Despite being the largest truck manufacturer in Russia, in 2024 KamAZ reported a net loss of $39 million in the first nine months, and a $10.5 million sales loss, compared to a net profit of $160 million in 2023. Truck sales fell from 28,200 units to 18,460, a drop of 22%. This loss may demonstrate a production decline that threatens Russian military logistics as a typical Russian motorized rifle regiment requires around 500 vehicles.


Ukrainian partisans from the Atesh group identified a Russian military command facility in Crimea known as Object No. 221 and Alsu-2, which was abandoned shortly after construction began in 1977. They observed Russian military personnel, equipment, a checkpoint, a camouflaged armored personnel carrier, and armed patrols. The surrounding forest has been cleared for better visibility making it harder to monitor the location unobserved. The checkpoint's coordinates are 44.51812, 33.70264.


British farmers donated 38 more off-road vehicles to the Ukrainian military through the Pickups for Peace initiative. Pickups for Peace has donated a total of 400 or more vehicles delivered since 2022.


American company Eleview International Inc. and its executives, Oleg Nayandin and Vitaliy Borisenko, are accused of illegally exporting more than $6 million worth of American technology to Russia in violation of sanctions. They are facing charges of conspiracy under the Export Control Reform Act, with allegations that they used tax evasion schemes to bypass sanctions and face up to 20 years in prison if convicted. Between March 2022 and June 2023, the company shipped goods through Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Finland.


Australia will transfer 14 high-speed rigid hull boats to Ukraine as part of a $14 million military aid package. The announcement did not say which boats will be provided, but Australia previously supplied Sentinel 830R RHIBs. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, Australia has provided over $1.3 billion in military and humanitarian aid to Ukraine.



Quote of the Day:

"We must have a hedgehog. Stress cannot exist in the presence of a hedgehog."

-David Mamet