Due to a shortage of high-precision weapons, Russia has changed its tactics in Ukraine, attacking only critical infrastructure sites – not military bases, according to Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat. As Russia's stock of Iskander ballistic missiles has run out, the Kremlin started trying to buy missiles from Iran and North Korea, Ihnat said.
The Institute of the Study of War said in its latest assessment that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin continues to reject the idea of Ukrainian sovereignty in a way that is fundamentally incompatible with serious negotiations. During a speech at the Valdai Discussion Club on Oct. 27, Putin said that the “single real guarantee of Ukrainian sovereignty” can only be Russia, which “created” Ukraine.
Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter was shot down in the Beryslavskyi district in Kherson Oblast at around 5 p.m. on Oct. 26, according to the "South” Air Command.
Military commissariats are conducting covert mobilization to conscript truck drivers and mechanics in Belarus' Gomel region to maintain Russia's military equipment, according to the National Resistance Center. On Oct. 16, the Belarusian Defense Ministry said about 9,000 Russian soldiers would be stationed in Belarus as part of what Minsk called a "regional grouping" near the Ukrainian border.
The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment that Russian officials are increasingly attempting to rhetorically align Russia’s war in Ukraine with religious concepts ostensibly accessible to both Christians and Muslims. The experts note that it is likely done in order to cater to religious minority groups within the Russian Armed Forces.
The United Nations Security Council will hold closed-door private discussions on Oct. 25 on Russia’s unproven claims that Ukraine has plans to create a “dirty bomb,” CNN reported citing two anonymous UN diplomats familiar with the matter.
As a result of the shooting, a 14-year-old boy and his father died, and a 5-year-old girl was injured, Oleshky Mayor Yevhen Ryshchuk said on Oct. 25. Ryshchuk added that Russian troops are “very nervous” about being pushed out of Kherson Oblast and “shoot at everyone who they think poses a threat to them.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also talked about security assistance for Ukraine, deliveries of air defense systems, and ammunition, according to Kuleba. “The secretary reaffirmed enduring U.S. support for Ukraine in the face of continued Russian aggression, atrocities, and rhetoric surrounding so-called 'dirty bombs' in Ukraine,” the U.S. Department of State wrote.
About 1,500 bulletproof vests and 1,500 helmets produced in Iran are already in storage in Russia, ready to be supplied to the Russian army, reports Ukraine's Defence Ministry. According to it, the supply of body armor from Iran is response to a severe shortage of basic personal military equipment with which to supply hundreds of thousands of conscripts mobilized by Russia in the past month.
Russia has two missile carriers in the Black Sea with 24 Kalibr missiles, and five in the Mediterranean Sea with 76 Kalibrs, according to the Ukrainian Navy. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 22 that Russian forces launched 40 missile strikes over 24 hours and attacked Ukraine with 16 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones. Russian forces hit infrastructure facilities in nine Ukrainian regions.
Ukraine's Air Force reported on Oct. 23 that 14 Iranian-made "Shahed-136" kamikaze drones were shot down in Mykolaiv Oblast overnight. Two more kamikaze drones were destroyed in Ukraine's eastern and northern regions.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine that Russia wanted Ukraine to have “a cold winter when many people could literally freeze to death.” This may lead to a “planned humanitarian catastrophe such as Europe has not seen since the Second World War," he said, adding that Ukrainians may flee to Europe en masse due to Russian strikes on energy infrastructure.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told Die Welt that his country does not want to "act alone", meaning that other Western countries should also send such tanks if Germany does. Scholz also said that 20-30% of Germans don’t agree with the sanctions against Russia and arms deliveries to Ukraine. Scholz has been repeatedly accused of blocking arms supplies to Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 22 that Russia had launched 36 missiles on Ukraine earlier on Oct. 22, and most of them had been shot down. Zelensky also shared a picture of an energy facility on fire, saying it was “an example of how the enemy tries to break us.” “These are vile strikes on critical infrastructure facilities, typical terrorist tactics,” Zelensky said.
Lviv Oblast police received anonymous calls around noon on Oct. 22 about explosive devices allegedly placed in shopping malls and supermarkets in Lviv, local media reported. Employees and visitors have been evacuated, and the police are working there with the help of demining teams and bomb-sniffing dogs.
Vladimir Leontiev, the head of the Russian occupation government in Nova Kakhovka in Kherson Oblast, said that “the discharge of water has been increased over the past week, so that in the event of a negative development, the amount of water flowing downstream would be smaller," Russian newspaper Kommersant reported. The "negative development" was an apparent reference to an explosion at the Russian-occupied Kakhovka Hydropower Plant in Kherson Oblast.
According to the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ukraine's Supreme Court has rejected an appeal by the pro-Russian Socialist Party of Ukraine against its ban. The party was banned due to its explicit support for the Kremlin and its efforts to popularize Russia's aggressive anti-Ukrainian policy, the SBU said. Previously 11 other pro-Russian parties had been banned.
Lutsk Mayor Ihor Polishchuk said on Oct. 22 that it's currently impossible to restore the facility. He did not specify what facility he was referring to.
Kherson Oblast's illegal occupation government said that civilians must leave Kherson due to the tense situation on the front, shelling, and possible "terrorist attacks." President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 20 that Russia was planning to blow up the dam at the Russian-occupied Kakhovka Hydropower Plant in Kherson Oblast as part of a false-flag operation and blame Ukraine.
Russian attacks on Ukraine's energy infrastructure on Oct. 22 cut off power supplies to 672,000 households in Khmelnytskyi Oblast, 188,400 in Mykolaiv Oblast, 102,000 in Volyn Oblast, 242,000 in Cherkasy Oblast, 174,790 in Rivne Oblast, 61,913 in Kirovohrad Oblast, and 10,500 in Odesa Oblast, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a deputy chief of staff for President Volodymyr Zelensky. Repairs in these regions are underway, he added.
The Ka-52 Alligator was downed on Oct. 22 in the region's Beryslav District, the southern operational command of Ukraine’s Air Force reported. Ukraine has shot down 243 Russian helicopters since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, according to the General Staff.
The list includes air defense system Iris-T SLM, 167,000 rounds of ammunition for fire arms, and five additional armored recovery vehicles.
The drones were reportedly shot overnight.
In the past 24 hours, Russia lost 320 troops, 6 tanks, one plane, 15 vehicles and fuel tanks, and more, according to Ukraine.
Oleksandr Hranovsky, a former member of parliament from ex-President Petro Poroshenko's party, was charged with abuse of power for alleged embezzlement at the Odesa Portside Plant, the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) said. The corruption scheme caused losses worth Hr 93.3 million ($2.5 million) in 2015, according to the NABU. Hranovsky, whose whereabouts are currently unknown, has denied the accusations.
In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that a line of 150 vessels had emerged due to Russia slowing down Ukrainian exports by all possible means.
Belgorod Oblast Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said water and power supply had been partially cut off in the area.
Hensoldt, a German company, reported that it had supplied four TRML-4D radars for cutting-edge IRIS-T systems, which include both surface-to-air and air-to-air versions. The radars are able to detect and track 1,500 targets within a radius of up to 250 kilometers. They can also differentiate between various types of air targets, focusing on high-speed and low-flying cruise missiles, as well as aircraft and helicopters.
Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration of Kryvyi Rih in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, warned Ukrainians not to ignore the air raid alert.
Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that Russian troops had mined the dam at the Russian-occupied Kakhovka Hydropower Plant in Kherson Oblast. If the dam is blown up, more than 80 settlements will be flooded, affecting hundreds of thousands of people, he said. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 20 that Russia was planning to blow up the dam as part of a false-flag operation and blame Ukraine.
KAN, an Israeli radio station, cited an unnamed Ukrainian source. Iranian citizens who trained Russian troops to use Iranian-made combat drones have been killed over the past week in Russian-occupied parts of Kherson Oblast and in Russian-occupied Crimea, KAN reported. Tehran has denied the accusations of supplying Russia with Shahed-136 combat drones despite abundant evidence of their use by Russian troops.
According to a letter signed by the countries' UN envoys, Russia's use of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones in the war against Ukraine violates a UN Security Council resolution approving the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, Reuters reported. Under the deal, Iran scaled down its nuclear program to get relief from economic sanctions.
