Hour in Review — 2026-11-02 07:00 UTC 25 sources
The hour's throughline is Ukraine's position weakening on several fronts at once. The six-day humanitarian ceasefire in Oleshky, which ran from 27 October to 1 November, has ended 1. Roughly 800 people were evacuated, according to Melania Trump 2, but Ukraine's General Staff says Russian forces used the pause to rotate troops and bring in ammunition 3. Within hours of the truce lapsing, both Moscow and Kyiv reported their public warning apps had been hacked, and Kyiv warned fighting could intensify 4,5. Overnight, Ukraine downed or jammed 154 of 193 Russian drones, with hits recorded at 26 locations 6,7. Separately, power shortages halted some of Kyiv's electric transit 8. Zelensky says he is ready to meet Putin in Turkey but rules out ceding Donbas or recognizing Crimea as Russian 9. Meanwhile, Washington is reportedly proposing that Europe resume Russian gas purchases through an American company 10. In Bulgaria, Iliana Iotova won the presidency with 57.66% against Andrey Gyurov's 39.38% 11, becoming the country's first woman president 12. Her win strengthens Prime Minister Rumen Radev 13, who halted weapons deliveries to Ukraine and withdrew Bulgaria from the coalition of the willing after taking office in May 11. Ahead of the November 3 US midterms, Trump's push for gains is adding pressure on Ukraine 14. A federal judge ordered the administration to stop intimidating election officials, finding a likely Voting Rights Act violation; the DOJ has appealed, and the order expires November 16 15. On AI, Alphabet's CFO signals spending could top $300 billion as cash flow turns negative 16, and Anthropic plans to sell $3.5 billion of IPO shares to Japanese investors 17. A Supreme Court survey found eight in ten South Korean judges have seen cases citing fake AI-generated precedents 18. Two other items should not be missed. First, whistleblower filings to the SEC allege that Merck, Eli Lilly, Novartis and AstraZeneca paid Russian distributors bonuses of 15% to 35%, which allegedly funded kickbacks for public contracts 19. Second, Binance says it has covered 95% of the $6.3 billion stolen on October 29 20,21, and Bitcoin ETFs saw $643 million in outflows in the first session after the hack 22. In the Gulf, Ryanair is cutting costs to offset a €2 billion fuel rise, which it attributes to Middle East conflict pushing up oil prices 23. The Houthis claimed strikes on Ras Tanura and a Riyadh airport 24, and Gulf states are pressing for a US-Iran diplomatic off-ramp 25.
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