Ukraine Conflict Monitor
Update
Ukraine war situation update | 22 – 28 November 2025
Overview of political violence and conflict events in Ukraine from 22 to 28 November 2025
Key stats
1,557 political violence events
6% increase compared to last week
116 incidents of violence targeting civilians
23% increase compared to the previous week
At least 60 fatalities from civilian targeting
29% decrease compared to last week
Key events
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23 Nov.
Dnipropetrovsk — A Russian-recruited teenager detonates two explosives in Dnipro city, killing a civilian and wounding an emergency officer
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23 Nov.
Kharkiv — Russian drones kill six civilians and wound 17 others in Kharkiv city
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25 Nov.
Kyiv — Russian drones and missiles kill seven civilians and wound over 20 others in Kyiv city
Key trends
- In the Donetsk region, Russian forces seized four villages, advancing in and near Pokrovsk, in and near Kostiantynivka, and toward Lyman. Russian forces also gained ground in the area of Huliaipole in the Zaporizhia region and in the directions of Kupiansk and Borova in the Kharkiv region, occupying at least one village in each region.
- During offensives near Huliaipole in the Zaporizhia region and west of Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region, Russian forces infiltrated Ukrainian positions and executed over a dozen unarmed surrendering servicemen.
- Russian forces launched at least 30 long-range missile and drone attacks, including on the western region of Khmelnytskyi and the capital city of Kyiv.
- Russian strikes killed at least 45 civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Sumy, and Zaporizhia regions, as well as in Kyiv city and the eponymous region.
Spotlight: Ukraine begins hunting down Russian shadow fleet vessels
On 28 November, Ukrainian naval drones struck two Gambian-flagged tankers in the Turkish exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the Black Sea. Both tankers are on the European Union’s sanction list for transporting Russian oil and were heading to an oil terminal in the Russian port of Novorossiysk, which has been the target of Ukrainian drone strikes on at least three occasions throughout November.1 The strikes damaged both ships, and the Turkish coast guard evacuated their crews. In the following days, a Russia-flagged ship also reported a Ukrainian naval drone attack off the coast of Turkey.2 While wartime operations in foreign EEZs are permissible, Turkey has condemned the attacks, claiming they have posed “serious risks to navigation, life, property, and environmental safety in the region.”3
The latest censure comes on the back of further criticism of such operations by importers of Russian oil and points to a wider Ukrainian focus on Russia’s international oil trade. During the same week, Kazakhstan criticized Ukraine over recent strikes on the terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium that supplies oil to the country. It said these were impermissible attacks on “an exclusively civilian facility.”4 Back in August, Hungary and Slovakia also voiced criticism over Ukraine’s attacks on the Druzhba oil pipeline.
The operation of Russia’s shadow fleet has itself been associated with notable maritime safety concerns around Europe. Russia uses hundreds of vessels registered in third states not only to evade sanctions placed on its oil industry that continues to fund the war in Ukraine but also to conduct sabotage activities against Ukraine’s allies. Mirroring prior events throughout the war, ACLED records several shadow fleet-linked acts of sabotage in 2025. In February, Swedish police launched an investigation into yet another instance of damage to an undersea telecoms cable connecting Finland and Germany.5 Meanwhile, a Benin-flagged Boracay tanker is suspected of launching drones that forced the closure of airports in Denmark in September this year.6 Overall, ACLED records 25 incidents of sabotage and espionage in Europe connected to Russia-linked vessels since February 2022.
Explore the ACLED Conflict Exposure Calculator to assess the numbers of people affected by armed violence, disaggregated by locations, time period, and actors involved.
