Ukraine Expands Lyman Counteroffensive To Kharkhiv Oblast

Add northern Kharkiv oblast to the sectors where Ukrainian forces have thwarted Russian advance attempts and have begun counterattacking. JL

Mariia Kritsak reports in Gwara Media:

Ukrainian have expanded the Lyman counteroffensive to the Borova direction to push Russian forces back away from the Oskil River and to alleviate pressure on the town of Borova from the north. After recapturing the village of Zelenyi Hai, Ukrainian assault groups also began pushing north by infiltrating Vyshneve village. Ukrainian forces have counterattacked northeast of Borova.

Russian Orikhiv Assault Decimated As Initiative Shifts To Ukraine Counterattacks

Russia's southern strategy, based on attacks towards Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia oblast has been derailed, as Ukrainian infantry and drone operators again isolated Russian assault forces by cutting off their reinforcements and supplies. 

This drained the Russian offensive of momentum as they could not assemble the necessary force for a breakthrough. Ukrainian counterattacks have now seized the initiative and are pushing the Russians back. JL

RFU News reports:

Ukraine achieved a significant success in Orikhiv, where Russian forces have been pushed out of the city after nearly three months of brutal fighting. The town anchors Ukraine’s defenses south of Zaporizhia. Ukrainian forces are now pressing southward along the same approaches used by Russian assault groups. Ukrainian drone operators played a decisive role, as they didn’t concentrate on the Russians already inside Orikhiv, but attacked the reinforcements attempting to reach them. As a result, the Russian offensive began losing momentum, and despite continued attempts to reinforce, repeated casualties reduced the ability to concentrate sufficient forces for a breakthrough. The initiative around Orikhiv has shifted toward Ukrainian counterattacks

Nasdaq Loses $2.5 Trillion In Wipe Out As "AI Trade" Cracks

This time is different, all right, but not exactly in the way the Silicon Valley-AI hype machine meant. 

Like the blue tsunami that annihilated the Trump-MAGA coalition on Tuesday - and to which it is connected - the equity market wipe out had many different causes, none of which should have come as a surprise as they had been detailed for months: unrealistic financial projections, lack of discernible operating and economic improvements, slowing corporate uptake, dramatic increases in debt, refusal to acknowledge practical impediments to data center buildouts (aside from the rising political opposition) and the growing dependence of the economy and the markets on a shrinking core of AI companies. Markets are up slightly this morning, so this may either be a one-day freakout or a harbinger of more fundamental change, but either way, it is another warning that the prolonged AI trade is not likely to continue in the same way. JL 

David Uberti and colleagues report in the Wall Street Journal:

Thursday's stock-market wipeout left few corners of the tech sector unscathed. Asian chip makers, Texas power producers, New Jersey cloud-computing providers, Silicon Valley software makers, contractors and data-center developers all tumbled, in a selloff that appeared to feed on itself. Traders making highly leveraged bets got crushed, but so did those who doubted a recent pullback in AI stocks would get worse. It did, from the opening bell. cracks began to show in risky corners of the AI trade where companies amassed huge piles of debt to grow. Underwhelming earnings reports by Amazon and Alphabet sent tremors across trading desks. Then, the power shift in Washington, as well as the election of governors who promised data-center restrictions, exposed the stock market’s fragility. The yearslong bull market left the major U.S. benchmark indexes top-heavy and tech-dependent. The unwind of bullish bets using borrowed money compounded the pressure. 

decrease; down pointing triangleand Alphabet GOOGL -2.20%decrease; down pointing triangle sent tremors across trading desks.the power shift in Washington, as well as the election of several governors who have promised data-center restrictions, exposed the stock market’s fragility. The yearslong bull market left the major U.S. benchmark indexes top-heavy and tech-dependent.

Russia's Undertrained and Manned Motor Rifle Brigades Bear Brunt of Losses

The core of the Russian army is made up of Motor Rifle Brigades - motorized infantry. 

And they are being decimated by ineffective, often suicidal tactics, poor training, inadequate equipment and corrupt officers. Their casualties are staggering. JL

Amarsanaa Jegal reports in Medium:

"In the fifth year of the Russia–Ukraine war, the Russian force suffering the heaviest losses is its infantry. Motor rifle brigades, which bear the main burden of the Russian's offensive operations, are losing enormous numbers of soldiers.” The list of the heaviest losses is headed by the 15th Motor Rifle Brigade. Reports suggest its soldiers suffer not only in frontline combat but also as a result of violence, intimidation and demands for money by their commanders. The 30th Motor Rifle Brigade, based in Samara, came second. All five of the motor rifle brigades with the highest losses took part in the battle for Avdiivka, where Russia lost 16,000 men. The poor training of Russian motor rifle units had been highlighted early in the war.

On November 1, Russia Lost One Soldier Every 35 Seconds

The scale of Russian losses has become so enormous that they have become mind-numbing - at least for those who are not the casualties themselves. JL

Jimmy Rushton reports in the Kyiv Independent:

Russian Russian forces suffered a record 2,500 personnel losses on Nov. 1, approximately one every 35 seconds. "These are the enemy's largest daily losses during the entire full-scale war," October 2026 was the deadliest month for Russian troops since the start of the full-scale invasion. Russian forces suffered 54,400 personnel losses in October, roughly equivalent to the population of Vorkuta, a city in Russia.

North Korean Hackers' Fake Job Interviews, AI Made $6.3 Billion Binance Heist

There is a delicious irony in the fact that a crypto firm known for its attempts to evade regulation and taxes was hacked and ripped off by a North Korean government known for its expertise in exploiting in firms' security defenses. Karma. JL

Cris Tolomia reports in Quartz:

Binance said hackers from North Korea used fake job interviews and malicious software to steal $6.3 billion from the exchange. The attack began in June, when a staffer who builds Binance's wallets installed a doctored AI tool. Binance spotted the problem and swapped out the device, though the hacker learned the employee's role and those of others on the wallet team. In September, someone posing as a project director approached a second software engineer through a job hunting platform. That engineer took part in an interview on a social messaging app with someone posing as the CEO of an invented company, and was told to download an assignment that held a "malicious code repository." On Oct. 20, the attackers leveraged an internal AI along with the second engineer's infected computer to seize command of the devices belonging to two other engineers. On Oct. 29, the attackers logged in with stolen credentials and ran a malicious script that kicked off the theft,

Six KM Tunnel Allows Ukraine To Move Troops, Supplies Underground

A clever innovation by Ukrainian engineering troops, the tunnel permits the movement of men, supplies and medical evacuations with less risk from drone attack. JL

Valentyna Romanenko reports in Ukraine Pravda:

An underground tunnel nearly six kilometres long has been constructed in Donetsk Oblast for Ukrainian forces, ensuring the uninterrupted movement of personnel and vehicles, the supply of ammunition and provisions, and medical evacuation. The engineering structure ensures concealed movement. Devised by military engineers, the 81st Airmobile Brigade used an amphibious transport vehicle throughout the entire winter to conduct medical evacuations.