Russia’s refineries are leveraging spare capacity to blunt Ukrainian drone damage — Reuters Meduza breaks down today’s biggest Russia-related news stories, November 13, 2025

🗞️ Top story from Reuters: Russian refineries use spare capacity to blunt Ukrainian drone damage ⛽

Despite Ukraine launching its biggest drone attacks to date, Russia’s overall oil processing has fallen by only about 3 percent this year. Refineries have avoided a steeper drop in fuel production by tapping large amounts of unused refining capacity and rapidly repairing damaged units, according to industry sources and Reuters data.

• The strategy: Russian refineries were operating well below their total capacity of about 6.6 million barrels per day before the strikes. This slack allowed operators to restart idle units at both damaged and unaffected plants, bring repaired units back online within weeks, and shift processing to unaffected facilities.
• The impact: At the height of the second wave of strikes between August and October, drone attacks and planned maintenance took 20 percent of Russia’s refining capacity offline. However, this only resulted in a 6-percent drop in total refining volumes, down to about 5.1 million barrels per day.
• The long-term risk: While coping for now, the drone strikes are costly, and Western sanctions complicate the procurement of spare parts. It remains unclear how long Russia can rely on its spare capacity if attacks continue at this summer’s pace. | Reuters

🔍 Zelensky: Ukraine’s survival rests on seizing frozen Russian assets 💰

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned that Ukraine’s resources are nearing exhaustion, saying that new E.U. funding — particularly money drawn from frozen Russian assets — is “critical for our survival” as U.S. support remains halted.

• The funding gap: The E.U. has delayed until December a decision on using frozen Russian state assets to assemble a €140-billion ($162-billion) loan package. Belgium and Slovakia remain key holdouts, and Kyiv needs the money early next year to unlock further IMF support and keep its economy functioning.
• A “fair” solution: Zelensky argued that using the frozen assets is the only way to fund air defenses and domestic drone production, stating that “Russia has to pay for this war.”
• War aims: Zelensky noted that the current Russian offensive in the eastern city of Pokrovsk is intended to convince President Trump that Ukraine should withdraw from the Donbas region. | Bloomberg

💥 Geopolitics & War

🔍 Analysis: Russian agents penetrate anti-Kremlin groups 🕵️ | Russia’s intensive intelligence operations have not only penetrated but also destabilized the Russian exile community, Andrei Soldatov and Irina Borogan warn in a new article. The case of Igor Rogov — a low-level activist arrested in Poland who admitted he was recruited by the FSB before fleeing Russia — shows how even minor operatives can infiltrate major opposition networks and assist sabotage efforts in Europe. Rogov gathered information on Russian activists as well as Polish Foreign Ministry staff, illustrating how Moscow uses exiles as conduits for intelligence and operations, while fueling deeper security scrutiny of the entire exile community. | CEPA

🎯 Elite Russian ‘Rubikon’ unit hunting Ukraine’s drone warriors 🪖 | A dynamic new Russian unit known as Rubikon has overturned one of Kyiv’s biggest tactical advantages by systematically hunting down Ukrainian drone operators — not just drones — before they can launch. Rubikon is described as more than a unit, but a well-funded center with roughly 5,000 personnel focusing on research, the development of tactics, and the cutting off of logistics up to 10 kilometers (about six miles) behind Ukrainian lines. Its emergence is piling pressure on Ukrainian forces, with one soldier near Pokrovsk calling it “our main problem.” | Financial Times

300+

The number of foreign companies, including major brands, that have had their trademarks targeted by legal threats in Russia since the start of 2024.

3%

The marginal drop in Russia’s total oil processing volume this year despite Ukrainian drone attacks.

🏛️ Civil life & business

🛍️ Brands like Armani and Amazon targeted by Russian trademark poachers 🛒 | More than 300 foreign companies — from Armani and Amazon to Victoria’s Secret and Nokia — have had their trademarks threatened with legal action in Russia since early 2024. Under Russian law, unused trademarks can be seized cheaply, and opportunistic challengers are exploiting the exit of Western brands. Several companies have already lost their rights, and even those with no plans to return risk having their brands repurposed in Russia. | Bloomberg

🔍 Chechen woman dies mysteriously after forced return from Georgia 🏳️‍🌈 | Crisis group “SK SOS” reports that Aliya Ozdamirova, who fled Chechnya after threats from relatives over her sexual orientation, was deceived or forced into leaving Georgia and crossing back into Russia on November 9. She stopped communicating immediately after crossing the border, and her funeral was held just three days later. While her family claims she died of natural causes, rights activists fear she may have been the victim of an “honor killing.” | Mediazona

🏫 Voronezh students threatened with exam ban over state messenger app 📱 | Students at a vocational technical school in Voronezh were reportedly threatened with ineligibility for final exams if they refused to install Max, Russia’s government-backed messenger app. The issue surfaced after internal school statistics (leaked by a student activist) showed that fewer than 30 percent of the school’s roughly 800 students had registered on Max. Administrators demanded written explanations from homeroom advisors whose classes had especially low uptake. | 7×7

✊ Primorsky Krai protests new car tax 🚗 | Russia’s Primorsky Krai region — heavily reliant on used imports from Japan — has led nationwide protests against a federal decision to raise the vehicle utilization (recycling/scrappage) fees on December 1 by adding engine power to the formula, a change that will sharply increase prices for imported cars and even many Russian models, threatening local auto dealers and hitting the Far East especially hard. | 7×7 

From the Meduza Archive

‘The putsch made us famous’ | The life and death of TV2, Siberia’s top independent television channel. Under editor-in-chief Viktor Muchnik, the Tomsk station gained notoriety for covering the 1991 August Putsch and continued reporting through years of pressure, ultimately being forced to shut down a week into the 2022 full-scale invasion. Former staff migrated to “Eyewitnesses,” an oral history project recording the war’s fallout from exile. | Read the story