Ukraine's Air Force reported on Oct. 19 that Ukraine had downed a total of 223 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones since Sept. 13 (when the first drone was shot down). Two days ago, on Oct. 17, Russia attacked Ukraine with 43 drones, 37 of which were destroyed. The country used 28 drones to attack Kyiv that day.
According to Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhii Haidai, Ukrainian forces repelled several Russian attacks on Oct. 18, including the one near the recently-liberated village of Bilohorivka. Russia shelled Bilohorivka along with Stelmakhivka, Hrekivka, Nadiia, and Novoiehorivka in Luhansk Oblast on Oct. 18, Haidai said. "(Russian troops) continue to shell the liberated settlements, turning them into ashes," said Haidai.
According to the recent intelligence update by the U.K. Defense Ministry, four out of five Russian generals "with direct operational command of elements of the invasion in February 2022" have already been dismissed, but their replacements have done little to improve Russia's battlefield performance. "Major elements of Russia's military leadership are increasingly dysfunctional," the report reads.
According to Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, people were killed in Kurakhovo, Bakhmut, Kurdiumivka, and Siversk. Also, the bodies of eight more civilians were found in liberated Lyman, Kyrylenko added.
Ukraine's General Staff reported on Oct. 19 that Russia had also lost 2,554 tanks, 5,235 armored fighting vehicles, 3,999 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,637 artillery systems, 372 multiple launch rocket systems, 189 air defense systems, 269 airplanes, 242 helicopters, 1,286 drones, and 16 boats.
The National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) reported on Oct. 18 that Ukrainian property developer and ex-lawmaker Maksym Mykytas attempted to bribe Dnipro Mayor Borys Filatov. According to the investigation, Mykytas offered Filatov a bribe for signing a contract for the construction of the metro in Dnipro with the companies controlled by him without undergoing a tender. This is one of the record sums of the offered bribe, which was recorded by Ukraine's law enforcement.
Russian forces shelled the village of Yunakivka near the Ukrainian border on Oct. 18, killing two and wounding one civilian, according to Deputy Head of President's Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko. There were 14 explosions; the attack damaged a grocery store and several buildings dround it, said Tymoshenko.
Authorities have exhumed the bodies of four children at a mass burial site in liberated Lyman, as well as the body of one more boy buried by his mother in her yard, Ukraine's National Police in Donetsk Oblast reports. According to preliminary information, they all died from shrapnel wounds after Russian strikes.
The victims were employees of the critical infrastructure facility in Kyiv hit by Russian troops in the morning on Oct. 18, said Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko. The critical infrastructure site suffered significant damage; the restoration works are ongoing, according to Klitschko.
The Estonian parliament condemned Russia's illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories and voted to declare Russia "a terrorist regime" on Oct. 18. "Putin's regime, with its threats of a nuclear attack, has turned Russia into the biggest danger to peace in Europe and in the whole world," reads the statement submitted by 85 Estonian lawmakers.
This tranche, aimed at supporting the economic stability of Ukraine, will help cover "urgent budgetary expenses, in particular, in the social and humanitarian fields," said Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal on Oct. 18. This is the first tranche of the 5 billion euros package. In total, Ukraine received 4.2 billion euros of macro-financial assistance from the European Union in 2022, according to Shmyhal.
According to Ukraine's Security Service, unnamed employees of state company Antonov prevented Ukraine's authorities from organizing anti-aircraft and ground protection of the airfield. This led to the destruction of the world's largest cargo aircraft AN-225 Mriya by Russian forces on Feb. 27. "(They) did not take adequate measures to preserve the plane, despite warnings from authorities," the SBU reported.
Rescuers have found the body of an elderly woman killed by Russia’s drone strike at a residential building in central Kyiv on Oct. 17; the search and rescue operation is still ongoing, according to the city mayor, Vitali Klitschko. This is the fifth victim of the first-ever Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.
Russian missile strike at a power supply facility in Kyiv's Desnianskyi district on the morning of Oct. 18 has killed two people and wounded one, according to the Prosecutor General's Office in Kyiv. More information about casualties in Kyiv will be published later, reads the report.
Russian forces in occupied Enerhodar have kidnapped Oleh Kostiukov, the head of information technology service at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, and Oleh Osheka, the assistant director general, according to state nuclear company Energoatom. The officials said nothing is known about the workers' whereabouts and how they are treated.
As Russian forces have been suffering from battlefield defeats since August, they have intensified "long-range strikes against targets across Ukraine," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 18. "It is highly likely that a key objective of this strike campaign is to cause wide-spread damage to Ukraine's energy distribution network," reads the report.
Some districts of Dnipro, as well as the towns of Synelnykove and Vasylkivka in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, have been left without electricity after Russia hit an energy infrastructure facility twice on Oct. 18, Valentyn Reznichenko, the oblast governor, reports. One of the pumping stations of the "Dniprovodokanal" water utility company has been cut off from electricity, which caused problems with water supply on Dnipro’s left bank.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 18 that Russia had also lost 2,548 tanks, 5,219 armored fighting vehicles, 3,985 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,622 artillery systems, 372 multiple launch rocket systems, 188 air defense systems, 268 airplanes, 242 helicopters, 1,276 drones, and 16 boats.
Two Russian strikes at a power supply facility on Oct. 18 caused power and water outages in Zhytomyr, according to the city mayor, Serhii Sukhomlyn. Information on the damage and casualties will be given later, said Sukhomlyn. Russia struck the power supply facility twice. The State Emergency Service is at the site of the attack.
Russian forces have fired three missiles at a power supply facility in Kyiv's Desnianskyi district on the morning of Oct. 18, Deputy Head of the President’s Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko and Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported. Further details will be reported later, Klitschko said.
Russian forces struck energy infrastructure in the city of Dnipro twice, Deputy Head of President's Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko reported on Telegram. There is "serious damage," Tymoshenko said, adding that more details were forthcoming. The State Emergency Service is already on site, Tymoshenko said.
President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the return of 108 Ukrainian women who were freed from Russian captivity on Oct. 17. In his address to the nation, he thanked every person involved in the successful operation and said that "the more Russian prisoners we have, the sooner we can free our heroes."
The demonstrators accused Iran of supporting Russian terrorism and killing Ukrainians. Some of the protesters, draped in Ukrainian flags, put candles in front of the embassy and painted “Stop terror” in red on white sheets, while others sang and held posters saying “Iran supports terrorism.” The protest follows a massive Russian attack on Kyiv using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones early on Oct. 17.
The information was provided by Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry, as cited by state news agency TASS. Earlier on Oct. 17, Russian media shared a video of the aftermath of a Russian Su-34 military aircraft crashing into a residential building in the town of Yeysk, Krasnodar Krai.
Ukraine's Air Force said that the drones had been shot down by the Central Air Force Command, which includes Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast. The country’s air defense also shot down two Kalibr cruise missiles coming from the Black Sea.
The ministry called on Iran to stop supplying weapons to Russia. “Providing weapons for waging a war of aggression in Ukraine and killing Ukrainian citizens makes Iran complicit in Russia's aggression, war crimes, and terrorist attacks against Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry said.
Washington plans to impose further sanctions against Tehran for helping Russia in the war against Ukraine, Politico reported, citing an undisclosed U.S. official.
The information was provided by Anna Minkova, a deputy governor of Russia's Krasnodar Krai. Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said earlier that 21 people had been injured. Earlier on Oct. 17, Russian media shared a video of the aftermath of a Russian Su-34 military aircraft crashing into a residential building in the town of Yeysk, Krasnodar Krai.
The information was provided by Brovary Mayor Ihor Sapozhko. Explosions were also reported in other locations in Kyiv Oblast.
Users on social networks shared videos showing explosions in the sky over the towns of Brovary and Boryspil, as well as the village of Sofiiska Borshchahivka in Kyiv Oblast. Boryspil Mayor Volodymyr Borysenko and Brovary Mayor Ihor Sapozhko said that air defense was hitting targets in their towns. These reports follow a massive Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones early on Oct. 17.
Kyiv Oblast Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said air defense is hitting targets in the region. He urged the region’s residents to stay in shelters.
Russian media shared a video of the aftermath of a Russian Su-34 military aircraft crashing into a residential building in the port city of Yeysk, located on the Sea of Azov in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed the crash was due to a fire breaking out in one of the plane’s engines during takeoff.
