Ukraine says it agrees with much of the provisions of the revised peace plan that Europeans have developed. Russia says Ни за что.
It seems to me that Ukraine agreeing to limit the size of the armed forces to 800k is not much of a concession since Ukraine already has huge manpower problems. Of course, this is all moot since Russia is not going to go along with anything short of surrender.
Ukraine launched Neptune missiles at the Beriev aviation plant and the Molniya UAV production facility in the Russian city of Taganrog.
The strike bagged a Russian A-100 AWACS-style plane and an unusual prize — a Russian Beriev A-60, described as a flying laboratory to test laser weapons. Only two of these — designated 1A and 1A2 — were ever produced by the Soviets and they carried a laser mounted in the nose of an IL-76 MD.
The 1A burned up in the 1990s, so if the plane burning at the Taganrog plant today is an A-60, it is likely the 1A2.
It supposedly has been parked for years since the Russians gave up on the program. It should have been in a museum. Now it’s garbage.
It is odd that Russia has left this plane sitting in the open at an airport that is only about 100 km from the Ukrainian border. It is also odd that Ukraine hadn’t blown it up already. OTOH the plane might have been completely unusable for a long time.
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💥 Russia: Ukraine successfully struck the Beriev Scientific and Technical Center, a major military aircraft factory in Taganrog.
Direct impact on the maintenance hangar for Tu-95 strategic bombers which are used to launch X-101 long-range missiles at Ukraine.
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— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko.bsky.social) November 24, 2025 at 8:18 PM
The A-100LL was an experimental plane.
The first flight of the A-100LL took place on October 26, 2016. The aircraft was used for testing as part of the Vega Concern and Beriev TANK.
The A-100LL is based on the A-50 aircraft, which in turn is based on the IL-76MD and was used to test the onboard radio equipment of the future A-100 aircraft, including a new radar with an active phased array.
It is not a combat aircraft in the literal sense and is not intended for mass production. It is an experimental aircraft that was used exclusively for technology development.
The aircraft served as a transitional stage between the outdated A-50 long-range radar detection aircraft and the new generation A-100 Premier.
Russian aviation blogger Fighterbomber says it was no big deal.
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Fighterbomber, a Z‑propaganda blogger affiliated with the ru air forces, claims they didn’t need any planes stationed in Taganrog anyway, that they were only there to be utilized.
The aircraft fuel that went up like a freaking Pompeii was probably also there to be utilized? 😉
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— Kate from Kharkiv (@kateinkharkiv.bsky.social) November 25, 2025 at 8:50 AM
Ukraine’s drone campaign targeted several sites along the Black Sea coast and reportedly scored a hit on a Russian landing ship, which are also used to transport military equipment. I haven’t seen any assessment of what damage might have been inflicted.
This errant Russian air-defense missile struck a high-rise apartment building in Gelendzhik, which is on the Black Sea coast southeast of Novorossiysk.
Russian air defense seems to be firing willy-nilly in all directions. All those rounds have to come down somewhere.
More Ukrainian strikes.
• Sontsivka — a temporary base and ammunition storage of Russian UAV strike crews
• Dokuchaievsk — a Russian ammunition depot • Rybynske — logistics facilities of the “Vostok” grouping
Close combat in the woods of the Slobozhanskyi region in northeast Ukraine.
Ukraine reported that at least six drones penetrated Moldovan and Romanian airspace.
Russia continued its campaign against Ukrainian high-rise apartment buildings.
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Those with me last night will already know about the missile attack on Kyiv.
This morning city authorities have confirmed 6 deaths
Another 14 have been injured in Ukraine's capital, 8 of whom are in hospital.
Here, one of the housing complexes in the city, hit in the attack:
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— Tim White (@twmcltd.bsky.social) November 25, 2025 at 2:15 AM
This is an excellent analysis from journalist Farida Rustamova that includes a section on why Russian oligarchs fear a peace agreement.
— You told 1843 that the elite and the government in Russia are preoccupied with how the war will end. Why is this such a big concern for them?
— Part of the reason is that a lot of them have adapted to this new reality over the past four years. They don’t know what the new rules are, but they have adapted to the situation in Russia, which has become more chaotic and unpredictable. From conversations with my sources, I’ve gathered that no one knows how the war will end, and they are afraid of it bringing more chaos.
For example, the people who work in the Russian government are very anxious about the return of the hundreds of thousands of people who are currently fighting on the battlefield. Generally, they’re afraid of how the war will end (on what terms) and how Russian society will react. What if those ultra-conservatives — who are more pro-war than Putin himself — plot a mutiny like [Yevgeny] Prigozhin? They are a minority in Russian society, but there are still a lot of them. The [people in the] Russian system remember Prigozhin’s mutiny very well: it was literally a traumatic moment when they [realized] that Putin doesn’t control everything and chaos is very close.
A lot of them also fear losing their position after the war ends. What if there’s a search for scapegoats? What if they decided to punish people for the failures on the battlefield? The list goes on. The fact is that they’ve already adapted to the circumstances of the war, and its end is another new reality that might bring a lot of unexpected consequences.
— One recurring theme in your reporting is that Russian elites are skeptical about peace talks and inclined to believe that Putin will escalate. Is this still the prevailing attitude among your sources at this juncture in the war?
— Yes, I would say so. People who work with Putin and know him very well know that the main thing for him is always his image, and that in an effort to save face, he — the leader of a nuclear power — won’t stop at anything. This is the major argument.
People whom I talk to about peace talks are convinced that there should be a negotiation and some sort of compromise with Putin. While a lot of people in the West think there should be no compromise with Putin, they are convinced that he will not end this war [unless] at least some of his requests are satisfied. This is the main point I try to [convey] in my reporting. It’s not my personal view, but it’s what people inside the system say. They think the war cannot be stopped without some substantial negotiations with Putin and a substantial rethinking of the global security system.
Russia redeploys bombers from the Far East to the Olenya airbase in the Arctic region near Murmansk.
The scenic tour of the Ukrainian countryside from the cockpit of a Mig-29.
Vovchansk remains a killing field.
Russia’s military contingent in the West African country of Mali is endangered after the regime they have been propping up is teetering. A civil war has been raging in Mali for several years pitting the government in the capital of Bamako against Tuareg militia in the northern part of the country and several jihadist al Qaeda-linked groups.
There is a good analysis of the situation in Mali at this site.
A warning from a Ukrainian commander.
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Deputy Commander Maksym Zhorin warns that while everyone is busy dissecting the Geneva talks, the front is deteriorating fast. He says the Russia's recent gains are the most rapid he’s seen in a long time, and without urgent action, some areas could reach critical condition.
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— NOELREPORTS (@noelreports.com) November 24, 2025 at 2:19 PM
Let’s check in on the Russian economy.
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More signs the Russian economy is crumbling amid manipulated official data.
Almost 70% of Russians reported having ZERO savings in the first 2 weeks of November. This despite claims income is up.
Something's definitely up, but it's not income. And it's sure not the economy.📉💥
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— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) November 24, 2025 at 2:23 AM
The Russian-controlled refinery in Serbia has shut down and Serbian President Vucic seems disappointed in “our Russian friends.”
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Serbia painfully learned you cannot trust the Russians as NIS refinery closes.
"For nine months, we simply copied everything our Russian friends asked us to do and signed all their requests, which resulted in our country finding itself in a very difficult situation." -- Vučić
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— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) November 25, 2025 at 9:15 AM
How bad is it when Russia is apparently unable to build a rail line and needs to ask China for help?
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Russia becoming more of an economic vassal of China.
They can't afford to build railways due to the war costs, so they are offering rare-earth deposits to China in exchange for a railway being built.
Apparently now they're China's mine since the gas station ran out of gas.🪨⛏️
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— Maria Drutska (@mariadrutska.bsky.social) November 25, 2025 at 2:19 AM
akutsk is one of those Russian regions that could easily support itself if it wasn’t part of the Russian Federation.
Sounds like a number of Russians are preparing their Plan B in case they need to get the hell out of the country fast.
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Finland is concerned about mass apartment purchases by Russians.
Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen is worried that Russians might be circumventing the ban on buying real estate by purchasing apartments through shares in housing companies, writes YLE.
— SPRAVDI - Stratcom Centre (@stratcomcentre.bsky.social) November 24, 2025 at 6:37 AM
She was in jail for a month and left the country as soon as she was released.
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Pretty good joke here: "Russia in 2011: Good news! Muse, Metallica, and J.Lo are coming on tour. / Russia in 2025: Good news! The girl who was performing Russian songs on the street won’t go to prison, but she fled the country after a few weeks in jail."
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— Kevin Rothrock (@kevinrothrock.me) November 24, 2025 at 4:09 PM
Russian Orthodox priests party like it’s 1799.
