Ukraine War Situation Update: 23

1015 political violence events

2% increase compared to last week

52 incidents of violence targeted at civilians

20% decrease compared to last week

At least 24 fatalities from civilian targeting

62% decrease compared to last week

Key trends

In the Donetsk region, Russian forces occupied four settlements south of the key city of Pokrovsk. Russian forces also occupied a settlement northeast of the town of Velyka Novosilka.
In the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian forces pushed Russian forces from the suburbs of Kupiansk. Russian forces continued to advance along the Kharkiv-Luhansk administrative line, seizing one village.
ACLED records 34 Russian long-range missile and drone strikes, including in the western regions of Lviv, Volyn, Ternopil, and Vinnytsia. Ukrainian forces also intercepted strikes in at least 38 further instances.
Russian shelling, missiles, and drones killed at least 19 civilians across Ukraine, almost half of them in the Kherson region.

Key events

24 Nov. | Zaporizhia – Russian forces execute five Ukrainian prisoners of war near Novodarivka
25 Nov. | Mykolaiv – A Russian FPV-drone strikes a humanitarian aid distribution site in Solonchaky, killing a civilian
26 Nov. | Kherson – Russian shelling of a bus stop kills four civilians in occupied Nova Kakhovka

Spotlight: Russian strikes on energy infrastructure disrupt electricity grid and nuclear power plants

Russian forces continued to deliberately target energy infrastructure across Ukraine, triggering massive power cuts and disconnecting nuclear power plants from the grid. On 26 and 28 November, Russian airstrikes hit energy infrastructure in western and central regions of Ukraine, disrupting power supply to most households and facilities in Ternopil, as well as Lviv, Volyn, Khmelnytskyi, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Zhytomyr regions.¹ Despite the interception of most drones and missiles, the Ukrainian military and civilian authorities acknowledged the range and deep impact of the attacks on the energy sector,² as the national grid operator was forced to introduce emergency power outages, including some of up to 12 hours.³ In addition, Russian forces continued to target energy workers during the week, as exemplified by the 26 November drone strike against energy workers during repair works in the Dnipropetrovsk region.

In light of the forced outages and repeated strikes, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reiterated its warning about the danger posed to global nuclear safety by the attacks on substations and power lines near Ukrainian nuclear power plants, which need reliable connections to both distribute electricity and cool their reactors.⁴ The warning follows several appeals from the UN Secretary General and the OHCHR to the Russian Federation to cease attacks against all energy infrastructure in Ukraine, especially nuclear sites and energy workers.⁵ The country faces an already acute energy crisis, as the Russian strikes have halved Ukraine’s energy production capacity and fractured the distribution network.⁶

Explore the ACLED Conflict Exposure tool to assess the numbers of people affected by armed violence, disaggregated by locations, time period, and actors involved.