Ukraine war latest: Ex-PM press secretary reportedly injured in Moscow car explosion

Key developments on Nov. 13:

• Ex-PM press secretary reportedly injured in Moscow car explosion
• Russia's advance in Ukraine has slowed significantly, Air Assault Forces commander says
• Russia strikes Zaporizhzhia, injures 50, including 8 children
• Ukraine, Russia launch 'new format' for evacuating civilians from occupied territories, ombudsman says
• Ukraine seeks explanation on Starshield speed restrictions from US

A car exploded on Kirovogradskaya Street in Moscow's southern Chertanovo District on the morning of Nov. 13, injuring Sergei Zavorotny, a former press secretary to ex-Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Russian media reported.

Zavorotny served as press secretary during the presidency of Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine and fled to Russia in 2014 after Yanukovych's ouster following the Euromaidan Revolution.

In Russia, he continued to publicly broadcast pro-Kremlin and anti-Ukrainian positions, opened his own media outlet, and wrote a book titled "Yanukovych Surrendered, the State Department Accepted: How Russia Lost Ukraine," claiming the Euromaidan Revolution was a coup orchestrated by Western intelligence agencies, according to the independent Russian Moscow Times.

Azarov also fled to Russia in 2014 and founded the Ukraine Salvation Committee in July 2015, an organization that presents itself as a Ukrainian government-in-exile.

According to Russian Telegram channels, the car, a black Toyota Fortuner registered to the 72-year-old Zavorotny, drove for about 200 meters before a blast hit the driver's side and blew out the left-side doors, the Moscow Times added.

The blast reportedly blew Zavorotny onto the road. Bystanders started first aid, and he was taken to hospital with a brain contusion, broken ribs, an open fracture of the tibia, and the loss of his left arm, the Moscow Times reported.

Several Russian media outlets reported that the explosion was possibly caused by an improvised explosive device (IED) planted on the underside of the car, while Russian state-controlled media Kommersant said the explosion was likely caused by a magnetic mine.

Kommersant also said that Russian authorities opened an investigation into the case as attempted murder.

Russia's advance in Ukraine has slowed significantly, Air Assault Forces commander says

Russia's battlefield advance has slowed significantly, as heavy casualties have limited Moscow's ability to sustain its offensive despite its manpower advantage, Maj. Gen. Oleh Apostol, commander of Ukraine's Air Assault Forces, said at a closed-door meeting with journalists.

"It has slowed down very significantly," Apostol said of Russia's offensive, saying that the capture of small areas of territory does not necessarily translate into meaningful military gains.

"If they capture one tree line in a month, that's hardly an operational success they can build on," he said.

His assessment comes as Russian forces continue offensive operations near Dobropillia, Pokrovsk, and Kostiantynivka in Donetsk Oblast, but have struggled to achieve significant territorial gains.

According to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), Russian forces suffered a net territorial loss of approximately 27 square kilometers (10 square miles) in October, marking the second consecutive month in which Moscow lost more territory than it gained in Ukraine.

Apostol also described how Russian troops plant flags in contested areas to create the impression of territorial gains, even when they have not established control over those positions.

Apostol suggested that the practice was partly driven by inaccurate battlefield reports within Russia's military command, with lower-ranking officers potentially misleading their superiors about the situation at the front.

The Ukrainian General Staff, meanwhile, reported that Russia suffered 54,400 casualties in October alone, its highest monthly total since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Apostol acknowledged that Russia continues to rely on its numerical superiority to sustain offensive operations, but argued that its heavy losses have undermined its ability to achieve breakthroughs.

The commander also pointed to Ukrainian counteroffensive operations, saying Ukrainian forces had regained control of more than 800 square kilometers (309 square miles) of territory across two operations.

Apostol said the military had revised some earlier figures for liberated territory after changing how it counted areas where Russian troops had infiltrated Ukrainian positions without establishing lasting control.

Russia strikes Zaporizhzhia, injures 50, including 8 children

A Russian morning attack on the southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia injured 50 people, including eight children, and damaged residential buildings, local authorities said on Nov. 13.

The attack struck a multi-story residential building in the Kosmichnyi district, Ivan Fedorov, co-chair of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast Defense Council, said. Apartments on three floors were damaged, and fires broke out on the second and third floors.

Rescuers freed 17 people who had been trapped in their apartments following the strike, Ukraine's State Emergency Service said. Fires broke out in the building's apartments and a nearby car, while the Russian attack also damaged apartments and the facade of another five-story residential building.

Local authorities later on Nov. 13 reported that a rescue worker from the Cobra emergency service was killed when a concrete slab fell on him while he was clearing debris from a building damaged in the Russian attack.

Emergency service psychologists provided assistance to 31 residents, including two children. Search and rescue operations are ongoing, authorities said.

Ukraine, Russia launch 'new format' for evacuating civilians from occupied territories, ombudsman says

Kyiv and Moscow have launched a "new format" of cooperation to evacuate civilians from Russian-occupied territories, allowing people from vulnerable groups to return to Ukrainian-controlled territory every week, Ukraine's human rights ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Nov. 13.

The statement follows an evacuation of civilians from the town of Oleshky in Kherson Oblast, during which Russian and Ukrainian forces observed a ceasefire in the area, with U.S. First Lady Melania Trump helping broker the deal. Moscow had previously blocked efforts to establish a humanitarian corridor, while numerous civilians were killed trying to flee the city on their own.

The arrangement provides for weekly evacuations of older people, people with limited mobility and those in need of medical assistance, with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) assisting the process, Lubinets said at a meeting of a parliamentary investigative commission.

According to the ombudsman, 16 Ukrainians were returned on Nov. 12 under the new arrangement.

"We bring people back from all occupied territories, but we receive the most requests from Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. We have also had successful cases of returns from Kherson Oblast," Lubinets said.

Lubinets said the arrangement was reached through talks with Russian Human Rights Commissioner Yana Lantratova.

Ukraine seeks explanation on Starshield speed restrictions from US

Ukraine seeks an explanation from the U.S. following reports of speed restrictions on the Starshield satellite communications system, the militarized version of Starlink, a source in the Ukrainian Defense Ministry told journalists on Nov. 13, as SpaceX denies these reports.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Nov. 13 that Defense Minister Yevhenii Khmara and Armed Forces Commander-in-Chief Mykhailo Drapatyi were in contact with the U.S. side.

Ukraine's military is once again experiencing significant disruptions to the system for several days, Zelensky said on Nov. 12. Restrictions limit Starshield's operating speed to 161 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour), Zelensky wrote on X following briefings by Khmara and Drapatyi on Nov. 12.

"Unfortunately, this is helping the Russians kill more Ukrainians and carry out more accurate strikes against Ukraine," Zelensky said.

SpaceX, which operates the system, denied the existence of such restrictions in comments to Ukrainian media and Axios.

"This is false. There has been no change," SpaceX told Axios.

Zelensky said on Nov. 13 that the restrictions applied over Russian-occupied territory and along the front line, making it "impossible" to use interceptor drones against Shahed-type drones.

The defense ministry source also said that speed restrictions applied only over Russian-occupied territory, not across Ukraine.

"As of today, specialists from Ukraine's Defense Ministry and the Ukrainian Armed Forces have recorded a restriction of 161 km/h over the entire territory of Ukraine temporarily occupied by the Russians. At the same time, restrictions on the territory controlled by Ukraine have not been recorded," the source told journalists.

Zelensky said that some Russian strikes had already succeeded because Ukrainian interceptor systems could not reach the necessary speed to catch the targets in time.