Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 981

As the war enters its 981st day, these are the main developments.

Here is the situation on Saturday, November 2:

Fighting

• At least two people were wounded in an overnight Russian drone attack on the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. Debris from downed drones hit three city districts, damaging residential buildings and starting fires, according to Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration.
• A Russian missile strike on Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, hit a location used by police, killing at least one officer and wounding 40 people, the prosecutor general’s office said. Nine civilians and a rescue worker were among the injured, the office said on the Telegram messaging app.
• Kharkiv Governor Oleh Syniehubov said an earlier attack on the city had damaged an apartment block and several private houses.

North Korean troops in Ukraine

• North Korea’s Foreign Minister Choe Son Hui said her country will “stand firmly” by Russia until victory in Ukraine.
• Choe’s visit to Moscow comes as the United States warned that thousands of North Korean soldiers are at the Ukrainian border and are readying to enter combat in the coming days.
• Choe pledged that North Korea would continue to develop its nuclear arsenal, with Pyongyang widely suspected of wanting nuclear technology from Russia in exchange for military support.
• Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lauded “very close ties” between their countries’ “armies and special services”, without mentioning the troop deployment, during his meeting with Choe.
• In his nightly address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy criticised Kyiv’s allies for inaction amid the deployment of North Korean troops. The president has, for months, been urging his Western allies to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia and increase pressure on Moscow to end the war.
• “We know where these North Korean troops are gathering in Russia. We could act preemptively if we had the means – long-range capability. Yet, America, the UK, and Germany watch,” he posted on social media platform X.

Diplomacy

• The US announced an additional $425m in military assistance to Ukraine. The new aid package includes air defence interceptors and munitions for rocket systems and artillery, and brings the total amount of military assistance the US has provided Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 to $60.4bn.
• Japan and the European Union announced a sweeping new security and defence partnership in Tokyo amid escalating tensions with Russia, North Korea and China. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell hailed it as a historic and “very timely” step, adding it would help “tackle emerging threats”.
• Days before the US presidential elections, Lavrov warned in an interview with Turkish newspaper Hurriyet that Washington and Moscow are on the brink of a “direct military” clash as he criticised US President Joe Biden.
• Asked about next week’s US presidential election, Russia’s top diplomat said his country had “no preference” between Republican candidate Donald Trump and Democratic contender Kamala Harris, adding that “whoever wins the election, we can see no possibility of the United States changing its Russophobic course”.
• China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Lin Jian said growing ties between North Korea and Russia are not its concern and “how they develop bilateral relations is their own matter.”
• South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul, asked whether Seoul could send weapons to Ukraine in response to North Korea aiding Russia, said all possible scenarios were under consideration.

Courts

• Russia sentenced two men in occupied Crimea to 14 and 16 years in prison on treason charges, accusing them of working for Ukraine’s security services.
• A Russian court said a student will face trial this month for treason on behalf of Ukraine, after the 20-year-old was jailed in Chechnya for allegedly burning the Quran. Nikita Zhuravel, who is from Crimea, was arrested in May 2023 for allegedly burning the religious book in the southern city of Volgograd.
• A Russian former employee of the US consulate in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok has been sentenced to four years and 10 months in prison for “secret collaboration with a foreign state”, Russian agencies said.