Russian maps at Abu Dhabi talks clash with battlefield evidence

Zelensky said members of the Russian delegation believed their army had occupied half of the remaining part of Donbas held by Ukraine. Ukrainian representatives showed them footage and other evidence, he said. He added that the American delegation confirmed Kyiv’s account of the front line.

The Ukrainian president suggested Russian leader Vladimir Putin may be receiving false information. Another possibility, the report says, is that Moscow is deliberately making unrealistic claims to shape future negotiations over a demarcation line. A Russian state agency map published on Wednesday, 11 November 2026, showed Lyman and Sviatohirsk as captured, despite the front being more than 30 kilometres farther east at that point, according to the report.

The same discrepancy appears near Lyman. Russian military blogger Rybar reported Ukrainian attacks south of the Zherebets river, around Zarichne, Torske and Yampil, saying Ukrainian forces were trying to push back Russian units and shrink their bridgehead. Ukrainian and independent sources have not confirmed those attacks. The report says a more likely explanation is that Rybar is revising earlier maps that showed Russian forces in positions it now appears to concede they do not hold. OSINT accounts Playfra and Black Bird Group depict the villages as grey zones or near the front line; Rybar marks all three as Russian-controlled.

Fighting also continues in Kupiansk. Ukrainian account Petrenko reported Russian troops in several parts of the city and in nearby Myrove, while saying the front line had not changed significantly. Its map, however, expanded the grey zone across nearly all of Kupiansk.

Russian sources also claimed their forces shot down four US AGM-188A Rusty Dagger cruise missiles over Russian territory. The missile, whose development began in summer 2024, was designed as a relatively cheap weapon for strikes inside Russia. It carries a 227-kilogram warhead, has stealth features and is designed to resist electronic jamming. The claims do not establish whether the weapon had been used in earlier attacks.

Separately, the report lists visually confirmed equipment losses compiled by Oryx. By 9 November, Russia had lost 24,275 pieces of heavy equipment, including 4,456 tanks; Ukraine had lost 12,346 pieces, including 1,473 tanks. Oryx counts only losses documented in photographs or video, and the figures do not represent all losses.