Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv says it ‘successfully’ hit Russia’s air defence system in Crimea overnight
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Ukrainian Armed Forces have said they “successfully hit a strategic object of the air defence system” in Crimea’s west.
The Russian Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems destroyed eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles over Crimea in a fresh assault on the territory which Kyiv claims is a strategic target in its counteroffensive push. Russian military bloggers speculated the US-provided Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) or longe-range guided missiles were behind the attack.
Several Russian sources said that the latest attack was carried out using “combined” long-range assault weapons like ATACMS, Storm Shadow missiles and sea drones between Sunday and yesterday.
If confirmed, this would be the first time Ukraine has used the top-tier missile system provided by the US to hit targets on the Crimean coast.
This comes as Russia significantly bulks up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in the east and has switched its troops from a defensive posture to taking “active actions”, a Ukrainian military commander said.
Russia captured Bakhmut, the scene of some of the most intense fighting of the 20-month war, in May. Ukraine has been on the counteroffensive since June to try to retake occupied land in the south and east, including the town.
Key Points
Ukraine ‘successfully’ hits Russia’s air defence system in Crimea
Belarus leader Lukashenko says Ukraine and Russia are locked in a ‘stalemate’
US says executing own soldiers is ‘barbaric'
Putin pushes more soldiers to frontline despite failing offensive
North Korea on course to be ‘significant supplier’ of arms to Russia
Russia tests its ability to deliver massive retaliatory nuclear strike
Russian drone strike in Khmelnitskyi region was likely targeting nuclear power station
What would happen if Putin died?
07:00 , Lydia Patrick
Thyroid cancer, Parkinson’s disease, leprosy or declining in the aftermath of a stroke - just a few of the many unproven ailments rumoured to have afflicted the Russian leader in recent years.
Just this week, the Kremlin were forced to deny rumours that Vladimir Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest in his bedroom, months after they were forced to deny that he had soiled himself.
Since gripping the reins of power in 1999, Putin has established himself as one of the most infamous politicians in modern history, with a vicelike grip over Russia.
His current term is set to expire next year, yet under sweeping changes to the constitution that were introduced in 2020, he could rule Russia until 2036.
Yet since his invasion of Ukraine and the loss of tens of thousands of his troops, the fallout of his military gamble has caused cracks to appear for the first time under his 20-year leadership. Speculation has also dogged the ageing tyrant that his health is failing, with the future of Russia uncertain upon his demise.
Read the full story from Holly Evans here...
If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia
Ukraine ‘successfully’ hits Russia’s air defence system in Crimea
06:04 , Arpan Rai
Ukraine’s Armed Forces have said they “successfully hit a strategic object of the air defence system” in Crimea’s west while Russian military bloggers speculated the US-provided Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) behind the attack.
And, the Russian Ministry of Defence said its air defence systems destroyed eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles over Crimea in a fresh assault on the territory which Kyiv claims is a strategic target in its counteroffensive push.
Several Russian sources said that the latest attack was carried out using “combined” long-range assault weapons like ATACMS, Storm Shadow missiles and sea drones between Sunday and yesterday.
If confirmed, this would be the first time Ukraine has used the top-tier missile system provided by the US to hit targets on the Crimean coast.
Citing Russian insiders and military bloggers, the Washington-based think-tank the Institute for the Study of War said that the alleged Ukrainian ATACMS strike damaged vehicles and radar systems near Olenivka and killed or wounded more than 20 Russian servicemen.
“The insider source also claimed that Russian officials did not report on the Ukrainian ATACMS strike but chose to instead issue statements about the downing of Storm Shadow missiles and drones,” it said in its assessment but did not verify the claims.
ICYMI - Ukraine bombards Russian forces with drones as Putin suffers losses in fight for Avdiivka
05:00 , Lydia Patrick
Ukrainian forces fired more than 30 drones in a renewed assault over the weekend as Russian forces lost at least an entire brigade in their push for the eastern town of Avdiivka, officials said.
The Russian air defence systems destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula, its defence ministry wrote on Telegram on Sunday, accusing Kyiv of carrying out a “terrorist attack”.
In a separate incident, local officials in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region near the Black Sea said an oil refinery was hit and set ablaze in the early hours of Sunday but did not explain what caused the fire. Several local media outlets said that the fire was caused by a drone strike or a crashed drone’s debris.
Officials in Kyiv have not issued a comment on the Russian defence ministry’s claims. The war-hit nation rarely acknowledges responsibility for attacks on Russia and Russian-occupied territories but has admitted that striking targets there helps its counteroffensive.
The recent months have seen drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions and illegally annexed Crimea peninsula as a regular part of the continuing military offensive.
Ukraine bombards Russia with drones as Putin suffers losses in fight for Avdiivka
House Speaker vows to bring Israel package to floor this week – without Ukraine funding
04:00 , Lydia Patrick
Newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson pledged on Sunday to put an aid package for Israel on the floor this week without aid for Ukraine.
Mr Johnson, whose Republican colleagues unanimously voted to make him speaker on Wednesday, called the package of support for Israel in the wake of a terrorist attack by Hamas that killed 1,400 people a “pressing and urgent need.”
“There are lots of things going on around the world that we have to address and we will. But right now, what’s happening in Israel takes the immediate attention, and I think we’ve got to separate that and get it through,” he said on Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.
GOP vows to bring Israel package to floor this week – without Ukraine funding
ICYMI - Putin ally Lukashenko calls for ceasefire in ‘stalemate’ Ukraine war
03:00 , Lydia Patrick
Russia and Ukraine were locked in a serious stalemate in Moscow’s continuing invasion of the country and needed to sit down for peace talks, Belarusian president and Vladimir Putin’s close ally Alexander Lukashenko said.
“There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position,” Mr Lukashenko said.
“They’re there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying,” he said over the weekend.
This marks the first time the Belarusian president has come forward seeking truce in the conflict and called for a “stop” command.
“We need to sit down at the negotiating table and come to an agreement,” Mr Lukashenko said in a question and answer video posted on the website of the Belarusian state news agency BelTA.
Putin ally Lukashenko calls for ceasefire in ‘stalemate’ Ukraine war
Zelensky says airport riot shows Russia cannot score ‘strategic’ victory
02:00 , Lydia Patrick
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that anti-Jewish unrest in Russia showed that Moscow’s moral foundation had become so contaminated by hate that it was no longer capable of scoring a “strategic” victory.
Zelensky said the storming on Sunday of an airport in southern Russia by protesters looking for Jewish passengers was the second time this year Moscow had lost control over events, after an abortive uprising by Russian mercenaries in June.
The airport riot in mainly Muslim Dagestan, Zelensky said in his nightly video address, showed Russia “had contaminated its own territory with such a level of hatred and degradation that for the second time this year in Russia, control over events is being lost.
“When insurgents head to Moscow and no one stops them and there is a breakdown of the power system in Dagestan, a real pogrom occurs,” he said, a reference to unrest targeting a specific group.
“These are all signals that Russia can, for the time being, sustain military action and increase pressure on the front lines in some places, but is not capable of withstanding this confrontation strategically,” he said, referring to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Kamala Harris to visit Rishi Sunak to discuss Israel and Ukraine
01:00 , Lydia Patrick
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will discuss the Israel-Hamas conflict and “consult on next steps in our support for Ukraine“ with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak during a visit to London later this week, a White House official said on Monday.
Harris will also attend a summit and deliver a speech on artificial intelligence.
US condemns violent antisemitic events reported in Russia
00:00 , Lydia Patrick
The United States on Monday condemned violent antisemitic events that have been reported in Russia threatening Israelis and Jews after rioters in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region stormed an airport to “catch” Jewish passengers on board a flight from Tel Aviv.
Videos obtained by Reuters from the airport at Makhachkala, the regional capital of Dagestan, showed the rioters, mostly young men, waving Palestinian flags, breaking down glass doors and running through the airport on Sunday evening.
Police said they had arrested 60 people in connection with the unrest and identified 150 of the most active participants.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Washington condemned the incident, and said he had seen videos of events he said “looked like a pogrom to me.”
“We call on Russian authorities to publicly condemn these violent protests, to hold anyone involved accountable and to ensure the safety of Israelis and Jews in Russia,” Miller said at a regular press briefing.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Russia blames Ukraine for antisemitic riot at airport in Dagestan
Monday 30 October 2023 23:00 , Lydia Patrick
Russia blame Ukraine after Rioters in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region stormed an airport to “catch” Jewish passengers on board a flight from Tel Aviv.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the violence was the result of “outside influence” and that “ill-wishers” had used images of suffering in Gaza to stir people up. Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian foreign ministry, accused Ukraine of a “direct and key role” in preparing the “provocation”.
At least 60 people have been detained after a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters entered the airport in search of Jewish passengers.
Moldova blocks access to Russian news websites
Monday 30 October 2023 22:00 , Lydia Patrick
Moldova blocked access to the websites of major Russian news media including the Interfax and TASS news agencies on Monday, accusing them of taking part in an information war against the country.
Moldova, a small country with a Romanian-speaking majority located between Ukraine and NATO-member Romania, has accused Moscow of trying to overthrow its pro-Western government since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. It holds local elections later this week.
Russian troops occupy a small, mainly Russian-speaking breakaway region, and Moldova’s main opposition parties have long had close ties to Moscow. Russia denies meddling in Moldova’s affairs and accuses President Maia Sandu of promoting animosity.
A decree published online by Moldova’s Intelligence and Security Service listed 31 websites to be blocked immediately for “online content used in the war of information against the Republic Of Moldova”, adding to 22 blocked earlier this month.
The new list included 14 Russian news sources, including prominent newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda and website Lenta.ru, as well as TASS and Interfax.
In a separate decree, Moldova also suspended the licenses of six domestic TV channels.
Moscow did not immediately respond. The Russian Foreign Ministry has previously described the decision to block websites as a hostile step aimed at denying Moldovans access to alternative news sources.
ICYMI -
Monday 30 October 2023 21:00 , Lydia Patrick
A senior Russian Rabbi on Monday urged the Kremlin to ensure that rioters in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region who stormed an airport to “catch” Jewish passengers on board a flight from Tel Aviv are harshly punished.
At least 60 people have been detained after a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an airport in Russia’s Dagestan region on Sunday, reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel.
Rabbi Alexander Boroda, the president of Russia’s Federation of Jewish Communities, called for a tough response.
In a statement, Boroda said that the riot had “undermined the basic foundations of our multi-cultural and multi-national state” and that anti-Israeli sentiment fuelled by events in the Middle East had become open aggression towards Russian Jews.
“Moreover, we see that local authorities were not prepared for such incidents and allowed large-scale violations of law and order and mass demonstrations with open threats to Jews and Israelis,” Boroda said.
“I call on the country’s leadership and law enforcement agencies to find and punish all the organisers and participants of these anti-Semitic actions in the strictest possible manner.”
Russians struggle to keep alive memory of Stalin's victims
Monday 30 October 2023 20:00 , Lydia Patrick
Russians came in dribs and drabs to lay flowers on Monday to the victims of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s purges, on an official day of remembrance largely shunned by an establishment keen to blank out reminders of Russia’s troubled past.
Natalia Anafonova came to St Petersburg’s Levashov Cemetery to honour her great-grandfather.
“It was a tragedy for our family,” she says. “Our (great-)grandmother, when her husband was shot, was left alone with four children. She was expelled to Uglich.
“He was shot in Moscow, but as we all live in St. Petersburg, we have made this memorial plaque here. So that we could come here, to honour his memory and remember him forever.”
Vladimir Putin has instead praised Stalin for saving the Soviet Union from Nazi invaders, and tried to channel that heroic spirit as his own forces seize parts of Ukraine in a war that he casts as a struggle against alleged Western attempts to destroy Russia.
The purge is estimated by historians to have killed between 700,000 and 1.2 million real or imagined enemies or rivals - from fellow Communists to military officers, intellectuals, professionals and peasants.
Zinaida Gerchikova said the day was sacred to her because she knew nothing about her father. “In fact, I only saw him once, when he picked me up from the maternity hospital,” she said.
“They don’t know where he was shot. Somewhere in Sverdlovsk region. I’ve been given some tips at the Big House,” Gerchikova said. The Big House is the nickname of the St Petersburg headquarters of Stalin’s NKVD secret police, which later became that of the Soviet KGB and now the Russian FSB.
It was to help people like Gerchikova that the Nobel Peace Prize-winning human rights group Memorial International was founded as the Soviet Union collapsed - to document Soviet political repression and help to rehabilitate its victims.
But the group was banned in Russia in 2021 and officially dissolved under a decades-long campaign to silence political dissent.
US made combat aircraft gifted to Ukraine
Monday 30 October 2023 19:30 , Lydia Patrick
The first U.S.-made F-16 combat aircraft the Netherlands is donating to Ukraine will arrive in Romania’s training centre within two weeks, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said.
“I expect the Patriot missiles to be delivered shortly, to aid Ukraine in the upcoming winter. And the same speed applies to the F-16s,” Rutte during a video conference with Ukrainian President posted on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
During our call, @MinPres Mark Rutte and I focused on strengthening Ukraine’s defense, European security, and the situation in the Middle East.
Our previous agreements are being implemented. Additional Patriot missiles, F-16 transfer preparations, patrol boats, and long-term… pic.twitter.com/rdSqFPVVto— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 30, 2023
“The first ones will be shipped to the training centre in Romania within the next two weeks so that day we will get ready for further training,” he added.
Denmark, Norway and Belgium have also announced they will give F-16 jets to Ukraine.
“What is happening now in Gaza and the terrorist attack on Israel and all the follow-up from that will not, shall not and cannot distract us from what is happening between you and Russia, the fact that you are fighting off the Russia aggression,” Rutte said.
“We have to make sure that the world is able to focus both on Ukraine and of course is involved very much of what is happening now in the Middle East.”
Two civilians dead as Russia pounds frontline Kherson region
Monday 30 October 2023 19:00 , Lydia Patrick
Russian shelling pounded the frontline region of Kherson in southern Ukraine, killing two civilians and hurting at least eight others, say local authorties.
The shells struck a bus, a critical infrastructure facility and cemetery, according to local authorities.
Regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said amongst the injured are two men and five women, adding some of the injuries are ‘severe’.
The bus had been at a crossroads when a shell exploded nearby, local prosecutors said. Images published by local officials online showed the floor of a badly-damaged bus covered in shards of glass and blood.
“Residential buildings, power lines, and vehicles were also damaged,” the prosecutors said on Telegram.
Prokudin said Russia also attacked an unspecified critical infrastructure facility in the region, leaving the residents of four small settlements without electricity.
A cemetery in the region’s village of Kindiyka also came under fire, killing one person and injuring a 62-year-old man, Prokudin said.
The city of Kherson also came under heavy overnight shelling, which killed an 85-year-old woman, Roman Mrochko, head of the city’s military administration, said on Telegram.
“In the central district of the city, high-rise buildings and one of the social institutions were hit,” Mrochko added.
Watch: Mob storms Dagestan airport ‘in search of Israel flight’
Monday 30 October 2023 18:30 , Athena Stavrou
Protesters stormed an airport in the southern Russian city of Makhachkala, Dagestan, on Sunday pouring onto the runway.
The crowd was reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel. All aircraft bound for Makhachkala were diverted to other airports, authorities said.
Local reports said demonstrators denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza had gathered at the facility. Footage showed large groups of protesters entering an air terminal and then storming various rooms inside.
Clips also showed young men among the protesters carrying Palestinian flags.
Moscow succession: What would happen if Putin dies?
Monday 30 October 2023 18:00 , Athena Stavrou
Thyroid cancer, Parkinson’s disease, leprosy or declining in the aftermath of a stroke - just a few of the many unproven ailments rumoured to have afflicted the Russian leader in recent years.
Since gripping the reins of power in 1999, Putin has established himself as one of the most infamous politicians in modern history, with a vicelike grip over Russia - but what would happen if he died?
You can read more below:
If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia
US House Speaker says Congress will pass 'stand-alone Israel funding bill' before supporting Ukraine
Monday 30 October 2023 17:30 , Athena Stavrou
Newly installed US House Speaker Mike Johnson said on Sunday he expects floor action this week to advance a funding bill to support Israel exclusively, even though President Joe Biden is pushing for a $106 billion aid package for Israel and Ukraine combined.
“We’re going to move a stand-alone Israel funding bill this week in the House,” Johnson said in an interview on Fox News, adding that he believes the measure will draw bipartisan support and that Republicans will back a similar measure in the Senate.
Members of the US House of Representatives, which Republicans control by a narrow majority, are scheduled to return from a recess on Wednesday.
Recap: Putin ally Lukashenko calls for ceasefire in ‘stalemate’ Ukraine war
Monday 30 October 2023 16:50 , Athena Stavrou
Russia and Ukraine were locked in a serious stalemate in Moscow’s continuing invasion of the country and needed to sit down for peace talks, Belarusian president and Vladimir Putin’s close ally Alexander Lukashenko said.
“There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position,” Mr Lukashenko said.
“They’re there head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying,” he said over the weekend.
This marks the first time the Belarusian president has come forward seeking truce in the conflict and called for a “stop” command.
Read more:
Putin ally Lukashenko calls for ceasefire in ‘stalemate’ Ukraine war
Russian Rabbi asks Kremlin to punish mob who stormed airport to ‘catch’ Jewish passengers
Monday 30 October 2023 16:10 , Athena Stavrou
A senior Russian Rabbi on Monday urged the Kremlin to ensure that rioters in the predominantly Muslim Dagestan region who stormed an airport to “catch” Jewish passengers on board a flight from Tel Aviv are harshly punished.
At least 60 people have been detained after a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an airport in Russia’s Dagestan region on Sunday, reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel.
Rabbi Alexander Boroda, the president of Russia’s Federation of Jewish Communities, called for a tough response.
In a statement, Boroda said that the riot had “undermined the basic foundations of our multi-cultural and multi-national state” and that anti-Israeli sentiment fuelled by events in the Middle East had become open aggression towards Russian Jews.
“Moreover, we see that local authorities were not prepared for such incidents and allowed large-scale violations of law and order and mass demonstrations with open threats to Jews and Israelis,” Boroda said.
“I call on the country’s leadership and law enforcement agencies to find and punish all the organisers and participants of these anti-Semitic actions in the strictest possible manner.”
Ukraine boosts grain deliveries to Black Sea ports as new export route working
Monday 30 October 2023 15:40 , Athena Stavrou
The success of Ukraine‘s new Black Sea export corridor has led to a sharp increase in the number of rail wagons heading to the ports of Odesa region, a senior railways official said on Monday.
Valeriy Tkachov, deputy director of the commercial department at Ukrainian Railways, said on Facebook that over the last week the number of grain wagons heading to Odesa ports increased by more than 50% to 4,032 from 2,676.
In August, Ukraine launched a “humanitarian corridor” for ships bound for African and Asian markets to try to circumvent a de facto blockade in the Black Sea after Russia quit a deal that had guaranteed Kyiv’s seaborne exports during the war.
Later, a senior agricultural official said the route - which runs along Ukraine‘s southwest Black Sea coast, into Romanian territorial waters and onwards to Turkey - would also be used for grain shipments.
More than 700,000 metric tons of grain have left Ukrainian ports via the new route since August. Ukraine shipped up to six million tons of grain per month from its Black Sea ports before Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.
Ukraine‘s first deputy farm minister said last week that grain shipments through the new corridor may exceed one million metric tons in October.
However, ministry data showed on Monday that overall grain exports fell by about 50% in October due to logistics difficulties.
Pictures: Russian shelling kills woman, 91, Ukraine says
Monday 30 October 2023 15:10 , Athena Stavrou
Ukraine says a “terrifying night” of Russian shelling has killed a 91-year-old woman in the southern Kherson region.
The overnight shelling set fire to a high-rise apartment building, blew out windows and reduced some apartments to rubble, according to video footage posted by Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
The woman died when an apartment wall fell on her, according to her daughter, who lived with her on the ninth floor.
The daughter of the woman killed in Kherson said the destruction caused by the missile blast enabled her to get out of the building alive.
“I don’t know how I would have gotten out if (the) doors hadn’t been blown out,” Nataliia, who gave no surname, told Radio Liberty. “I would have burned to death in there, too.”
Below are photos of the aftermath of the attacks:
Ukrainian presidential aide denies any Kyiv role in unrest in Dagestan
Monday 30 October 2023 14:40 , Athena Stavrou
A senior Ukrainian official said on Monday that Kyiv had nothing to do with anti-Israel unrest in Russia’s predominantly Muslim Dagestan region, rejecting an accusation by Russia to that effect as groundless.
“Of course, Ukraine has nothing to do with the latest large-scale surge of xenophobic sentiments on the territory of the Russian Federation,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters in a written statement.
Earlier on Monday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the storming of Makhachkala airport on Sunday was the result of a “provocation” orchestrated from outside Russia, with Ukraine playing a “direct and key role”.
Russia beefs up forces near Bakhmut, Ukraine says
Monday 30 October 2023 14:10 , Athena Stavrou
Russia has significantly bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in the east and has switched its troops from a defensive posture to taking “active actions”, a Ukrainian military commander said on Monday.
Russia captured Bakhmut, the scene of some of the bloodiest fighting of the 20-month war, in May. Ukraine as been on the counteroffensive since June to try to retake occupied land in the south and east, including the town.
“In the Bakhmut area, the enemy has significantly strengthened its grouping and switched from defence to active actions,” General Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of the ground forces, wrote on Telegram messenger.
Syrskyi described the situation in the east as difficult with Russian forces particularly active near the northeastern Ukrainian-held town of Kupiansk, where he said Moscow’s troops were trying to advance simultaneously in several directions.
Russian troops have suffered heavy losses, he said.
It comes following reports that Ukrainian forces made advancements near Bakhmut, according to war monitoring think-tank the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
UK government ‘re-examined’ intelligence work on Wagner group
Monday 30 October 2023 13:50 , Athena Stavrou
The Government said it has re-examined the “extent and scale” of its intelligence work on the Wagner Group, following a critical report by MPs.
PA reported that the Foreign Office also said that the death of Yevgeny Prigozhin may offer “new opportunities” to tackle the group.
The private military firm, whose former leader was killed in a plane crash over the summer, was proscribed as a terrorist group in September after the Commons Foreign Affairs Committee warned that ministers were not doing enough to counter the threat it posed.
In a response to the committee’s report, published on Monday, ministers backed or partially agreed with the vast majority of MPs’ recommendations.
It confirmed that a cross-government taskforce on the group had been created and told MPs: “We agree with the committee that intelligence gathering on Wagner’s activities is a priority and have re-examined the extent and scale of our effort.”
The Foreign Office also said it had “dedicated new resource to containing and countering Wagner” and other Russian private military companies, while also working with allies to “maximise our collective impact”.
Lunchtime roundup
Monday 30 October 2023 13:20 , Athena Stavrou
Here is the latest information from Ukraine this morning:
Ukraine ‘make advances near Bakhmut’
According to the war monitoring think-tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), geolocated footage indicated that Ukrainian forces advanced over a railway line south of Andriivka - 10km southwest of Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces continued assault operations south of Bakhmut and offensive operations in the Melitopol direction.
Russian foreign ministry says Ukraine played ‘direct, key role’ in Dagestan unrest
The Kremlin said on Monday that the storming of an airport in the southern Russian region of Dagestan by an anti-Israeli mob on Sunday was the result of “outside influence”.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharovawith added that Ukraine played a “direct and key role”.
Woman, 91, killed in “terrifying night” of Russian shelling
The woman died when an apartment wall fell on her, according to her daughter, who lived with her on the ninth floor in the southern Kherson region.
Russia mercenary group ‘specifically recruiting women’
A Russian state-backed private military company (PMC) is specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time, the UK’s latest defence intelligence update says.
Russian foreign ministry says Ukraine played 'direct, key role' in Dagestan unrest
Monday 30 October 2023 12:50 , Athena Stavrou
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Monday that the storming of Makhachkala airport in the Dagestan region on Sunday by an anti-Israeli mob was the result of a “provocation” orchestrated from outside Russia, with Ukraine playing a “direct and key role”.
At least 60 people have been detained after a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an airport in Russia’s Dagestan region, reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel.
Woman, 91, killed in “terrifying night” of Russian shelling
Monday 30 October 2023 12:20 , Athena Stavrou
Ukraine says a “terrifying night” of Russian shelling has killed a 91-year-old woman in the southern Kherson region.
The overnight shelling set fire to a high-rise apartment building, blew out windows and reduced some apartments to rubble, according to video footage posted by Kherson governor Oleksandr Prokudin.
The woman died when an apartment wall fell on her, according to her daughter, who lived with her on the ninth floor.
The daughter of the woman killed in Kherson said the destruction caused by the missile blast enabled her to get out of the building alive.
“I don’t know how I would have gotten out if (the) doors hadn’t been blown out,” Nataliia, who gave no surname, told Radio Liberty. “I would have burned to death in there, too.”
The victim was one of three Ukrainian civilians killed in the east and south of the country over the previous 24 hours, with at least five people hurt, Ukraine‘s presidential office reported on Monday.
Russia names paratroop commander Teplinsky to head military group in Ukraine
Monday 30 October 2023 11:50 , Athena Stavrou
The commander of Russia’s airborne forces, Colonel General Mikhail Teplinsky, has been named as the new commander of Russia’s Dnipro military group in Ukraine, the state-run TASS news agency reported on Monday, citing a source.
Teplinsky replaces Colonel General Oleg Makarevich, who will be moved to other duties, the newspaper Izvestiya reported separately.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that Makarevich’s dismissal could indicate that the Kremlin or Russian military command may be “sufficiently worried of his ability to repel recent larger-than-usual Ukrainian ground operations in east bank Kherson Oblast” according to Russian millbloggers.
Russia mercenary group ‘specifically recruiting women'
Monday 30 October 2023 11:20 , Athena Stavrou
A Russian state-backed private military company (PMC) is specifically attempting to recruit women into combat roles in Ukraine for the first time, the UK’s latest defence intelligence update says.
The information posted by the Ministry of Defence says that recent social media adverts have appealed for female recruits to join Borz Battalion, a part of Russian PMC Redut, to work as snipers and uncrewed aerial vehicle operators.
They added that Redut is likely directly sponsored by the Russian Main Directorate of Intelligence.
In March 2023, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that 1,100 women were deployed in Ukraine, which would equate to only around 0.3 per cent of its force. But, as Redut’s advert points out, they currently serve in mostly medical support and food service roles.
The Defence Ministry said that it “remains unclear” whether official Russian defence forces will seek to follow suit and open more combat roles to women.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 30 October 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/K1AEKNQsaC
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/1VEiUxiBYU— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 30, 2023
Eight Ukrainian missiles shot down, Russia says
Monday 30 October 2023 11:12 , Athena Stavrou
Russian air defence systems destroyed eight Storm Shadow cruise missiles launched at targets in Crimea by Ukraine, Russia’s defence ministry said on Monday.
Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Putin to discuss 'Western efforts to divide Russia' with top officials on Monday
Monday 30 October 2023 10:45 , Athena Stavrou
The Kremlin said on Monday that Russian President Vladimir Putin would hold a meeting with senior officials later on Monday to discuss what it called Western attempts to “divide” Russian society.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Russia’s defence minister and the heads of the intelligence services would attend the meeting.
It comes after Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the storming of an airport in the southern Russian region of Dagestan by an anti-Israeli mob on Sunday was the result of “outside influence”.
Latest map of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
Monday 30 October 2023 10:15 , Athena Stavrou
Here is a map, created by war monitoring think-tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), showing the latest update of the assessed control-of-terrain in Ukraine.
The map is accurate as of 3pm on Sunday 29 October.
Kremlin says Dagestan airport violence result of ‘outside influence’
Monday 30 October 2023 10:13 , Athena Stavrou
The Kremlin said on Monday that the storming of an airport in the southern Russian region of Dagestan by an anti-Israeli mob on Sunday was the result of “outside influence”.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “ill-wishers” had used widely seen images of suffering in Gaza to stir people up in the predominantly Muslim region in the north Caucasus.
At least 60 people have been detained after a huge crowd of pro-Palestinian protesters stormed an airport in Russia’s Dagestan region, reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel.
Investigators have identified 150 people who were the most active protesters, the RIA news agency reported early on Monday morning. Nine police officers sustained injuries in the incident, two of whom were being treated in hospital, the authorities said.
Zelenskyy reacts to Russian airport mob
Monday 30 October 2023 09:45 , Athena Stavrou
Protesters stormed an airport in the southern Russian city of Makhachkala, Dagestan, on Sunday pouring onto the runway. The crowd was reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel.
Responding to the reports, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the incident was “part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations”.
Appalling videos from Makhachkala, Russia, where an angry mob broke into the airport searching for Israeli citizens on the flight from Tel-Aviv.
This is not an isolated incident in Makhachkala, but rather part of Russia’s widespread culture of hatred toward other nations, which…— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 29, 2023
Ukraine ‘make advances near Bakhmut'
Monday 30 October 2023 08:55 , Athena Stavrou
Ukrainian forces advanced near Bakhmut amid continued offensive operations on Sunday, according to the war monitoring think-tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
They reported that geolocated footage indicated that Ukrainian forces advanced over a railway line south of Andriivka - 10km southwest of Bakhmut.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces continued assault operations south of Bakhmut and offensive operations in the Melitopol direction.
A prominent Russian milblogger also claimed that Ukrainian forces established control over unspecified positions in the Zaporizhia direction over the past week.
Two injured in Odesa shipyard attack, Ukraine say
Monday 30 October 2023 08:29 , Athena Stavrou
The governor of the Odesa region in Ukraine said two people have been wounded and buildings have been damaged in a Russian missile attack on a ship repair yard in the region.
While details are yet to be confirmed, Governer Oleh Kiper wrote on Telegram: “As a result of the attack, a fire broke out, which was promptly extinguished by our rescuers. The administrative building and equipment of the enterprise were damaged.
“Two people were injured. A man born in 1961 and a woman born in 1966 were taken to hospital in moderate condition. They are provided with all the necessary medical care.”
Watch: Mob storms Dagestan airport ‘in search of Israel flight’
Monday 30 October 2023 08:12 , Athena Stavrou
Protesters stormed an airport in the southern Russian city of Makhachkala, Dagestan, on Sunday pouring onto the runway.
The crowd was reportedly in search of a flight arriving from Israel. All aircraft bound for Makhachkala were diverted to other airports, authorities said.
Local reports said demonstrators denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza had gathered at the facility. Footage showed large groups of protesters entering an air terminal and then storming various rooms inside.
Clips also showed young men among the protesters carrying Palestinian flags.
Russia ‘ready’ for talks on post-conflict settlement of Ukraine crisis
Monday 30 October 2023 07:45 , Athena Stavrou
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said that Russia is ready for talks on the post-conflict settlement of the Ukraine crisis at a military forum in Beijing on Monday.
Speaking at the Xiangshan Forum, China’s largest annual military diplomacy event, Shoigu added that Russia is also ready for talks on further ‘co-existence’ with the West.
Russian state media also reported that he accused the West of wanting to expand the conflict in the Ukraine to the Asia-Pacific region.
Shoigu said NATO is covering up a build-up of forces in the Asia-Pacific region with an “ostentatious desire for dialogue”, Russia’s TASS news agency reported.
Russia arrests man in Crimea for passing secrets to Ukraine
Monday 30 October 2023 07:37 , Athena Stavrou
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Monday that it had detained a Russian man in Crimea on suspicion of treason, accusing him of passing military secrets to Ukraine, according to a state news agency.
In a statement quoted by RIA, the FSB said that the unnamed man had “collected and transmitted information about specified sites with reference to geographic coordinates to a representative of the Ukrainian military”.
Crimea, which is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, has been under de facto Russian control since 2014
Russia’s Gazprom continues shipping gas to Europe via Ukraine
Monday 30 October 2023 07:11 , Athena Stavrou
Russia’s Gazprom said that it would send 42.4 million cubic metres of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Monday, a volume in line with recent days.
Ukraine says it is ready to repel Russia's offensive actions in Bakhmut
Monday 30 October 2023 21:16 , Lydia Patrick
Kyiv military officials said on Monday that Russia has bulked up its forces around the devastated city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine and has switched its troops from defence to offence, but Ukraine has been preparing to repel the attacks.
Russia captured Bakhmut, theatre of some of the bloodiest fighting of the 20-month-old war, in May. Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in June aimed at retaking occupied land in the country’s south and east, including Bakhmut.
“In the Bakhmut area, the enemy has significantly strengthened its grouping and switched from defence to active actions,” General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Ukraine‘s commander of ground forces, wrote on Telegram.
Volodymyr Fityo, head of communications for Ukraine‘s ground forces command, said Russian forces had been preparing since early this month to retake positions around Bakhmut lost during the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
“We saw this, the intelligence reported everything. We had been preparing, strengthening our defensive positions, engineering fortifications and pulling up reserves,” Fityo told Reuters by telephone. “This does not come as a surprise for us.”
Moscow succession: What would happen if Putin dies?
Monday 30 October 2023 06:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Thyroid cancer, Parkinson’s disease, leprosy or declining in the aftermath of a stroke - just a few of the many unproven ailments rumoured to have afflicted the Russian leader in recent years.
Just this week, the Kremlin were forced to deny rumours that Vladimir Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest in his bedroom, months after they were forced to deny that he had soiled himself.
Since gripping the reins of power in 1999, Putin has established himself as one of the most infamous politicians in modern history, with a vicelike grip over Russia.
If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia
G-7 nations back strong supply chains for energy and food despite global tensions
Monday 30 October 2023 05:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Trade and economy officials from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies strengthened their pledge Sunday to work together to ensure smooth supply chains for essentials like energy and food despite global uncertainties.
The nations promised to maintain “a free and fair trading system based on the rule of law and enhancing economic resilience and economic security,” officials said in a joint statement.
Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa, who co-hosted the two-day event in the western city of Osaka, pointed to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war as the latest threats to stable energy and food supplies.
G-7 nations back strong supply chains for energy and food despite global tensions
Energy cooperation with EU is pointless, says former Russia president
Monday 30 October 2023 04:00 , Holly Evans
Russia’s former President, Dmitry Medvedev, was quoted as saying on Sunday that cooperation with Europe in energy matters was frozen or pointless as European countries had fallen on hard times and had poor growth prospects.
“Europe has castrated itself in bloody fashion and without anaesthesia by walking away from energy cooperation with our country,” Russian news agencies quoted Medvedev, now Deputy Secretary of the Security Council, as saying on social media. “This cooperation is either spoiled or frozen for some time.”
Medvedev, president from 2008 to 2012, has positioned himself as one of Russia’s most vocal hardliners
On Avdiivka’s wretched battlefield, Russian soldiers who refuse to advance face an impossible decision
Monday 30 October 2023 03:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
So brutal is the conflict in the heavily fortified battlefields around the city of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, that Western intelligence suggests some Russian commanders are now executing soldiers who refuse to advance into the tempest of rocket and gunfire.
Avdiivka, a scarred and jagged outpost of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk, has become the new focal point of Kremlin efforts to snatch something they can present as a victory. Despite severe censorship, Russians now understand that Vladimir Putin’s decision to launch a full-blown invasion has been a catastrophe, with casualties, by some estimates, topping more than a quarter of a million dead and wounded.
Soldiers who don’t follow the suicidal Kremlin orders now risk gunfire from both sides of the war, says Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine:
Russian soldiers who refuse to advance face an impossible decision
Russia to simplify inward investment for 'friendly' countries
Monday 30 October 2023 09:24 , Athena Stavrou
Russia’s Prime Minister said on Monday that Russia would create a simplified procedure for citizens and companies from “friendly” countries to invest there.
Mikhail Mishustin said entities from a list of 25 countries would be allowed to open bank accounts in Russia and make deposits via a simplified procedure.
“Creating more convenient conditions for foreign enterprises and entrepreneurs is an important part of the government’s systemic efforts to achieve financial sovereignty as part of the implementation of the national goals set by our president,” Mishustin said in a statement.
It said the procedure would apply to 25 “friendly” countries including China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Kazakhstan and Belarus.
Moscow defines “unfriendly” countries as those that have joined a barrage of Western-led economic sanctions in response to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in the war
Monday 30 October 2023 02:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Around 2,000 Ukrainians ran a one-kilometer race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number.
Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbors, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
The crowd cheered the runners, and many in the audience wept while waiting for participants at the finish line. Amid the lively backdrop of Ukrainian songs, joy and sorrow intermingled in the air as life carried on despite the war.
Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in the war
Russia accuses Ukraine of damaging a nuclear waste warehouse as the battle for Avdiivika grinds on
Monday 30 October 2023 01:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia accused Ukraine on Saturday of damaging a nuclear waste storage facility in a drone strike on the Kursk nuclear power plant while fighting raged on for the control of the key eastern city of Avdiivika, where Russians apparently suffered heavy losses.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said that three drones armed with explosives targeted the power plant on Thursday evening. 26, hitting both the station’s administration building and a warehouse storing nuclear waste.
The press service for the Kursk nuclear power plant confirmed the strike on Friday, but told journalists that there had been no significant damage or casualties and that operations were continuing as normal.
Russia accuses Ukraine of damaging a nuclear waste warehouse as the battle for Avdiivika grinds on
Putin’s many ‘heart attacks’ and why the rumours may be in his favour
Monday 30 October 2023 00:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
For years, the health of Vladimir Putin has been the subject of lurid speculation and rumours. Recent reports have included body doubles, secret chemotherapy, Parkinsons disease and claims that he fell down the stairs, landed on his coccyx and soiled himself.
Yet this week, the most drastic rumour of ill health began to circulate about the 71-year-old. According to shadowy sources, members of his security service were alerted to banging from his private bedroom, only to discover him convulsing on the ground.
Food and drinks were allegedly overturned, with doctors rushing to perform resuscitation while the news of his supposed cardiac arrest caused panic amongst his inner circle.
Putin’s many ‘heart attacks’ and why the rumours may be in his favour
Ukraine eyes global peace summit this year, says deputy foreign minister
Sunday 29 October 2023 23:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Ukraine aims to hold a global “peace summit” of world leaders this year, Deputy Minister Mykola Tochytskyi said on Sunday after international representatives met in Malta over the weekend to discuss Kyiv’s peace formula for its war with Russia.
“This aim remains necessary and possible ... it has been demonstrated that there is interest in this,” Deputy Minister Mykola Tochytskyi told Reuters by phone shortly after concluding his meetings. Heads of state and heads of government would attend the meeting, he said.
The Malta meeting on Saturday and Sunday was attended in person or online by representatives from 66 countries, Kyiv said, with over 20 more countries participating than at the last such meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in August.
The talks do not include Russia.
Tochytskyi said the Malta meeting discussed five points of the 10-point formula put forward by President Volodymyr Zelenskiy last year: Nuclear safety, food security, energy security, release of prisoners and deported persons, and territorial integrity.
Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in the war
Sunday 29 October 2023 22:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Around 2,000 Ukrainians ran a one-kilometer race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number.
Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbors, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
The crowd cheered the runners, and many in the audience wept while waiting for participants at the finish line. Amid the lively backdrop of Ukrainian songs, joy and sorrow intermingled in the air as life carried on despite the war.
Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in the war
A Russia without Putin? Be careful what you wish for...
Sunday 29 October 2023 21:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
As rumours swirl about the health of the Russian president, Mary Dejevsky explains what the death of Putin could mean for Russia, Ukraine and the rest of the world:
As if there were not enough uncertainty in the world at the moment, the week opened with new speculation about the health of Vladimir Putin. The Russian president, who recently turned 71, was said to have suffered a stroke at his residence outside Moscow and to be in intensive care or, at the very least, under the beady eye of his doctors.
A Russia without Putin? Be careful what you wish for... | Mary Dejevsky
Russia is executing its own retreating soldiers as Ukraine offensive fails, says US
Sunday 29 October 2023 20:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
In case you missed it...
The White House said it had information that Russia was executing its own soldiers who retreated from an offensive in Ukraine or refused to follow orders.
“We have information that the Russian military has been actually executing soldiers who refuse to follow orders,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told a media briefing on Thursday.
“It’s reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it’s barbaric,” Mr Kirby said.
Russia is executing its own retreating soldiers as Ukraine offensive fails, says US
War-weary mothers, wives and children of Ukrainian soldiers demand a cap on military service time
Sunday 29 October 2023 19:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Scores of protesters gathered on the streets of Ukrainian cities on Friday to demand a cap of 18 months on mandatory military service, amid new suggestions of possible Ukrainian and international weariness with the 20-month war.
Both the warring sides are striving to keep their military momentum, though neither side is able to land a knockout blow, and the fighting is expected to drag on deep into next year.
The 18-month service limit would be the same maximum as before the war. It is currently open-ended for draftees. The protesters, who are part of a loose national network, want the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, to consider possible alternatives on service time.
War-weary mothers, wives and children of Ukrainian soldiers demand a cap on military service time
Anchorage's oldest building, a Russian Orthodox church, gets new life in restoration project
Sunday 29 October 2023 18:15 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Russian Orthodox church on the outskirts of Alaska’s biggest city is packed with treasures for the Christian faithful: religious icons gifted by Romanov czars, panels of oil paintings and jewel-studded incense burners. But outside the hand-hewn log sanctuary, dozens of miniature Alaska Native spirit houses sit by aging gravesites alongside Orthodox crosses poking from the cemetery grounds.
The narrow church with white-framed windows near Anchorage is a vestige of Russia‘s nearly 150-year attempt to colonize Alaska and the Indigenous people who lived here. But over time, St. Nicholas Church became an important touchstone for Alaska Natives as well. The church lies within the Alaska Native village of Eklutna, and many are buried there.
Now, an extensive, three-year restoration project that began this month is bringing more attention to the tiny church that is a window into a complex, and often-forgotten, chapter of Alaska’s unique history.
Anchorage's oldest building, a Russian Orthodox church, gets new life in restoration project
Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in the war
Sunday 29 October 2023 17:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Around 2,000 Ukrainians ran a one-kilometer race on Sunday in Kyiv, wearing bibs displaying the name of a person instead of a number.
Each runner chose one person to whom they dedicated their run. Spouses, children, friends, siblings, neighbors, and colleagues ran for someone they knew who either was killed, taken captive or injured during Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.
The crowd cheered the runners, and many in the audience wept while waiting for participants at the finish line. Amid the lively backdrop of Ukrainian songs, joy and sorrow intermingled in the air as life carried on despite the war.
Thousands of Ukrainians run to commemorate those killed in the war
Latest update from the Ministry of Defence
Sunday 29 October 2023 15:05 , Holly Evans
In their latest update on social media, the Ministry of Defence said that it is likely Russia wishes to suppress negative perspectives on the ‘special military operation’ ahead of Putin’s bid for re-election in 2024.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 29 October 2023.
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/e5jfGrOgUe
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/BVP3h4wbpW— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) October 29, 2023
Moscow will confiscate EU assets if Brussels 'steals' frozen Russian funds, Putin ally says
Sunday 29 October 2023 13:11 , Athena Stavrou
Russia will confiscate assets belonging to European Union states it deems unfriendly if the bloc “steals” frozen Russian funds in a drive to fund Ukraine, a top ally of President Vladimir Putin said on Sunday.
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said on Friday that the EU executive was working on a proposal to pool some of the profits derived from frozen Russian state assets to help Ukraine and its post-war reconstruction.
“A number of European politicians, led by the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, have once again started talking about stealing our country’s frozen funds in order to continue the militarisation of Kyiv,” Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma and a close Putin ally, said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
“Such a decision would require a symmetrical response from the Russian Federation. In that case, far more assets belonging to unfriendly countries will be confiscated than our frozen funds in Europe,” he said.
Ukraine shoots down five exploding drones launched by Russia
Sunday 29 October 2023 12:14 , Holly Evans
In Ukraine, the country’s air force said on Sunday it had shot down five Iranian-made Shahed exploding drones launched by Russia overnight.
Close to the front line in the country’s east, where Ukrainian and Russian forces are locked in a grinding battle for control, four police officers were injured when a shell fired by Russian troops exploded by their police car in the city of Siversk, located in the partly occupied Donetsk province.
British intelligence assessed this weekend that Russia had suffered some of its biggest casualty rates so far this year as a result of continued “heavy but inconclusive” fighting around the town of Avdiivka, also in the Donetsk province.
Russia shoots down 30 Ukraine drones over the Black Sea
Sunday 29 October 2023 11:18 , Holly Evans
Russian air defense shot down over 30 Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea and the Crimean peninsula overnight Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Sunday.
“The air defense systems in place destroyed 36 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles over the Black Sea and the northwestern part of the Crimean peninsula,” the ministry wrote on Telegram.
Local authorities in the southern Krasnodar region bordering the Black Sea said that a fire broke out at an oil refinery in the early hours of Sunday, but did not specify the cause.
“The reasons for the incident are being established,” a statement from local authorities said, amid claims in local media outlets that the fire had been caused by a drone strike or debris from a downed drone.
Drone strikes and shelling on the Russian border regions and Moscow-annexed Crimea are a regular occurrence. Ukrainian officials never acknowledge responsibility for attacks on Russian territory or the Crimean peninsula.
Putin ally Lukashenko calls for sit down meeting for an end of war agreement
Sunday 29 October 2023 10:22 , Holly Evans
Belarus leader and Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko Lukashenko said that Ukraine’s demands for Russia to quit its territory needs to be resolved at the negotiating table “so nobody dies”.
“We need to sit down at the negotiating table and come to an agreement,” Lukashenko said in a video posted on the website of the Belarusian state news agency BelTA. “As I once said: no preconditions are needed. The main thing is that the ‘stop’ command is given.”
Belarus leader Lukashenko says Ukraine and Russia are locked in a ‘stalemate’
Sunday 29 October 2023 09:18 , Holly Evans
The authoritarian leader of Belarus has said that Russia and Ukraine are locked in a stalemate on the frontlines of their war and the two sides need to sit down and negotiate an end to the conflict.
Alexander Lukashenko, who is an ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, described the current state of the conflict as “head-to-head, to the death, entrenched. People are dying”.
“There are enough problems on both sides and in general the situation is now seriously stalemate: no one can do anything and substantively strengthen or advance their position,” he said.
Moscow succession: What would happen if Putin dies?
Sunday 29 October 2023 08:13 , Holly Evans
Thyroid cancer, Parkinson’s disease, leprosy or declining in the aftermath of a stroke - just a few of the many unproven ailments rumoured to have afflicted the Russian leader in recent years.
Just this week, the Kremlin were forced to deny rumours that Vladimir Putin had suffered a cardiac arrest in his bedroom, months after they were forced to deny that he had soiled himself.
Since gripping the reins of power in 1999, Putin has established himself as one of the most infamous politicians in modern history, with a vicelike grip over Russia.
Read the full article below
If Putin dies, this is what would happen in Russia
Experts reveal what the winter will bring for the Ukraine war – and why Putin will be banking on Trump
Sunday 29 October 2023 07:15 , Holly Evans
The Ukraine war may remain a “stalemate” throughout 2024, military experts have told The Independent, as hopes fade for a major breakthrough in this year’s counteroffensive against Russia.
Delays in Western military aid handed Moscow time to build heavily fortified defences which have largely held up against months of intense assaults – and constraints in ammunition and weaponry now mean both armies may struggle to sustain the current pace of the war, some analysts believe.
With the prospect of a Middle East conflict likely to further stretch Washington – Ukraine’s largest backer – ahead of a US presidential election in November 2024, Vladimir Putin’s strategy may now be to preserve the current state of the front line and “wait it out”, Western experts say.
Read the full article below
Experts on what winter brings for the Ukraine war – and why Putin is banking on Trump
Russia’s strike campaign ‘damaged 70 energy facilities last autumn and winter'
Sunday 29 October 2023 06:00 , Athena Stavrou
The head of Ukraine’s state grid operations said Russian strikes on energy systems damaged 70 large facilities last autumn and winter.
Volodymyr Kudrytskyi told Voice of America that about half of Ukraine’s power system was damaged in the campaign.
He said: “Any lower-level facilities were damaged in frontline areas by artillery strikes, small transformer points or regional substations. There are probably hundreds, thousands of them.”
On Avdiivka’s wretched battlefield, Russian soldiers who refuse to advance face an impossible decision
Sunday 29 October 2023 04:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Soldiers who don’t follow the suicidal Kremlin orders now risk gunfire from both sides of the war, says Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine:
So brutal is the conflict in the heavily fortified battlefields around the city of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, that Western intelligence suggests some Russian commanders are now executing soldiers who refuse to advance into the tempest of rocket and gunfire.
Russian soldiers who refuse to advance face an impossible decision
Ukrainian drone struck Russian nuclear waste facility, ministry says
Sunday 29 October 2023 03:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
A Ukrainian drone crashed into a nuclear waste storage facility at the Kursk nuclear power plant in western Russia on Thursday, damaging its walls, Russia’s foreign ministry said on Saturday.
The ministry said in a statement that Kyiv must have known that its actions could have caused a full-scale nuclear catastrophe.
Moscow said on Friday that it had thwarted the drone attack in the country’s south, where two news outlets said an explosion had damaged the facade of a warehouse storing nuclear waste.
A Russia without Putin? Be careful what you wish for...
Sunday 29 October 2023 02:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
As rumours swirl about the health of the Russian president, Mary Dejevsky explains what the death of Putin could mean for Russia, Ukraine and the rest of the world:
As if there were not enough uncertainty in the world at the moment, the week opened with new speculation about the health of Vladimir Putin.
The Russian president, who recently turned 71, was said to have suffered a stroke at his residence outside Moscow and to be in intensive care or, at the very least, under the beady eye of his doctors.
A Russia without Putin? Be careful what you wish for... | Mary Dejevsky
Peace plan talks involving 65 countries - but not Russia
Sunday 29 October 2023 01:00 , Katy Clifton
Talks on Ukraine‘s plan for peace kicked off in Malta on Saturday, with the participation of more than 65 countries — but not Russia, Maltese and Ukrainian officials said.
The two-day meeting of national security delegates is the third round of such talks in recent months. Ukraine sees them as an opportunity to win support for president Volodymyr Zelensky’s 10-point peace plan from countries across the globe, especially as the conflict in the Middle East risks shifting the focus away from Ukraine.
Russia, which wasn’t invited to any of the meetings, has dismissed the initiative as biased.
“Ukraine‘s diplomatic efforts are paying off, as international support for the Ukrainian peace formula is growing,” the head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on X — formerly known as Twitter — ahead of the opening session.
Russia recruits prisoners for Ukraine war as Putin replicates Wagner
Sunday 29 October 2023 00:01 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia has taken the wheel from Wagner as the Kremlin has recruited up to 100,000 prisoners to fight in Ukraine.
The practice was a trademark move of the late mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who filled his group’s ranks with convicted criminals.
The army unit, commonly known as Storm-Z, is reportedly seen as a disposable force in Vladimir Putin’s “special military operation”.
Russia recruits prisoners for Ukraine war as Putin replicates Wagner
On Avdiivka’s wretched battlefield, Russian soldiers who refuse to advance face an impossible decision
Saturday 28 October 2023 23:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Soldiers who don’t follow the suicidal Kremlin orders now risk gunfire from both sides of the war, says Askold Krushelnycky in Ukraine:
So brutal is the conflict in the heavily fortified battlefields around the city of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, that Western intelligence suggests some Russian commanders are now executing soldiers who refuse to advance into the tempest of rocket and gunfire.
Russian soldiers who refuse to advance face an impossible decision
From Stalin to Putin, abortion has had a complicated history in Russia
Saturday 28 October 2023 22:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
They were banned under Soviet dictator Josef Stalin but commonplace under later Kremlin leaders. Now, after less than a century, official attitudes about abortion in Russia are changing once again.
Although abortion is still legal and widely available, new restrictions are being considered as President Vladimir Putin takes an increasingly socially conservative turn and seeks to reverse Russia’s declining population.
Having embraced the Russian Orthodox Church, he is stressing “traditional family values” — often used as code words to differentiate his country from Western social attitudes toward LGBTQ+ rights and other policies.
From Stalin to Putin, abortion has had a complicated history in Russia
Dutch PM Rutte signals interest in NATO top job
Saturday 28 October 2023 20:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Outgoing Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said on Saturday he would be interested in succeeding Jens Stoltenberg as secretary-general of NATO, although he only saw a small chance of being picked for the job.
“Such a role would be interesting as it would offer the chance to contribute for a few years on the international stage in a period of dramatic global changes,” Rutte said in an interview with radio station Den Haag FM.
“But there is a very big chance, given the political support for it, that this job will go to a European woman, which would also be very good.”
Rutte, who unexpectedly announced his departure from Dutch politics in July soon after handing in the resignation of his fourth cabinet, said he did not know if he was considered a front-runner for role as head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and would not start a personal campaign.
Stoltenberg has been in post since 2014 and is due to step down in October 2024.
His term was extended in July for a fourth time, as the alliance’s 31 member countries opted to stick with an experienced leader rather than try to agree on a successor with Russia‘s war in Ukraine raging on NATO’s doorstep.
