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Two reports from 31 December 2025
Summary
A look back at a sanctions licence for a Serbian refinery and a deadly drone strike in occupied Kherson Oblast, both reported on the final day of the year.
What did the last day of 2025 reveal about how far the war's effects reach? On 31 December 2025, two separate reports pointed to very different corners of the conflict.
In the first, the United States issued a temporary licence allowing Naftna Industrija Srbije, the majority-Russian-owned Serbian oil company, to resume refinery operations until 23 January. The licence came despite sanctions linked to the Russo-Ukrainian war. Its short duration meant the arrangement was set to expire within weeks.
In the second, Russian authorities reported that at least 24 people had been killed, including a child, and dozens more injured in a Ukrainian drone attack on a hotel and a restaurant in Khorly. The town lies in Russian-occupied Kherson Oblast, Ukraine. The casualty figures came from Russian authorities.
The two items were unconnected in the reporting. Together they show sanctions policy and battlefield violence continuing to run in parallel as the year ended, one measured in licence deadlines, the other in casualty counts.
