NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg urged NATO Allies to provide air defense systems to Ukraine; he called it the "top priority" for those who attend meetings of NATO Defense Ministers and the U.S.-led Contact Group for Ukraine in Brussels on Oct. 12-13. "The horrific indiscriminate attacks against Ukrainian cities… demonstrate the urgent need for more air defense for Ukraine," said Stoltenberg.
Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile units shot down at least four Russian attack helicopters (presumably Ka-52) in southern Ukraine from 8:40 a.m. to 8:58 a.m. on Oct. 12, Ukraine’s Air Force reported. Ukraine was trying to hit two more Russian helicopters, which means the number of confirmed downed helicopters may increase, according to the military.
Belarus has sent the first batch of 20 T-72 tanks to the Belgorod region, Ukraine's General Staff reported on Oct. 12. The Belarusian defense industry is already involved in repairing some of the Russian military equipment damaged during the war in Ukraine, the General Staff stated.
Russian troops struck the central market in Avdiivka in the morning, killing at least seven people and wounding eight, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Oct. 12. "There was no military logic in this attack – only an unbridled desire to kill as many of our people as possible and frighten others," said Kyrylenko.
The Russian-ocucpied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has lost its external power for the second time in five days; it receives electricity from its backup diesel generators, according to Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The power outage happened due to Russian strikes at the Dnirpovska electrical substation in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, according to Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom.
Polish pipeline operator PERN has discovered a leak on one of two strands of the western section of the Druzhba pipeline, through which crude oil from Russia is transferred to Germany. Mateusz Berger, Poland's top official in charge of strategic energy infrastructure, said there's currently no reason to assume that it was an act of sabotage, according to Bloomberg.
Iranian-made drones that Russia uses in Ukraine are "slow and fly at low attitudes"; they have a small explosive payload and can't fulfill "the deep strike function which Russia probably aspired to use it for," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Oct. 12. "The lack of a reliable, sustainable, and accurate operational-level strike capability is likely one of Russia’s most significant capability gaps in Ukraine," reads the report.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 12 that Russia had also lost 2,505 tanks, 5,181 armored fighting vehicles, 3,927 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,507 artillery systems, 355 multiple launch rocket systems, 182 air defense systems, 268 airplanes, 235 helicopters, 1,129 drones, and 15 boats.
In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed six civilians and wounded one in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha, reported the oblast governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, on Oct. 12. Russia also fired seven S-300 missiles at Zaporizhzhia Oblast, hitting a football field and damaging residential buildings, two educational institutions, and a medical institution.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet in Kazakhstan on Oct. 13, Russian state-controlled news agency Interfax reported, citing Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov. They will discuss Ukraine and their countries' relations, said Peskov.
Ukrainian comedian, politician, and volunteer Serhiy Prytula said that he and activist Serhii Sternenko had raised nearly $10 million in one day to buy RAM ІІ kamikaze drones for the army. The "revenge" crowdfunding campaign was announced shortly after Russia's mass missile attack on Ukraine on the morning of Oct. 10.
Russian troops have kidnapped Valerii Martyniuk, deputy head of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, holding him in an unknown place and allegedly torturing him, according to state nuclear company Energoatom. Russian forces are trying to get information about the plant staff from Martyniuk "to force (the plant's) personnel to work for (Russia's nuclear corporation) Rosatom as soon as possible," Energoatom stated.
When rescuers were working at the spot after the first attack in the morning on Oct. 11, Russian forces struck the Ladyzhyn Thermal Power Plant again with kamikaze drones, according to energy company DTEK. Six people were injured, and the energy equipment was damaged again, according to DTEK.
Leader of the Belarus opposition in exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya said Ukraine could establish diplomatic and political relations with the United Transitional Cabinet, an executive body that aims to thwart Belarusian dictator Lukashenko. "We are proposing Ukraine and the Ukrainian people build an alliance with democratic Belarus, fight together and support the Belarusian resistance," said Tsikhanouskaya. "(We) are fighting on the same side against the same evil."
As of Oct. 10, Russia has brought 31 Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones to Belarus and plans to transfer eight more before Oct. 14, Ukraine's Defense Ministry reports. Belarus also intends to send to Russia 13 trains carrying ammo from the arsenals and storage bases of its armed forces, according to the ministry.
More than 300 settlements, however, remain without power after Russia's mass attack, Ukraine's State Emergency Service reports. On Oct. 10, Russian forces hit critical and civil infrastructure objects in 12 oblasts and Kyiv, causing more than 30 fires, according to the officials.
Russian forces struck Lviv on Oct. 11, hitting critical infrastructure again and leaving 30% of the city without electricity, said the city mayor, Andrii Sadovyi. Two neighborhoods are left without water.
Russian and Belarusian armies will unlikely attack Ukraine from the north, despite recent strongman Alexander Lukashenko's announcement that the two countries had agreed to deploy a strategic formation of Russian and Belarusian units, according to the ISW. Instead, the Kremlin "may seek to use additional Russian forces in Belarus to fix Ukrainian forces near Kyiv," reads the report.
Russia tries to "improve the delivery" of its war by appointing General Sergei Surovikin as overall commander of its Joint Group of Forces leading the war effort in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry reported. Surovikin "will likely have to contest with an increasingly factional Russian defense ministry which is poorly resourced to achieve the political objectives it has been set in Ukraine," reads the report.
"It likely was something they had been planning for quite some time. Now that's not to say that the explosion on the Crimean bridge might have accelerated some of their planning," John Kirby, White House national security spokesman, told CNN.
In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed six civilians and wounded eight in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha, according to the oblast governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko. Russia also fired 12 S-300 missiles at Zaporizhzhia in the morning, killing one person and hitting a car dealership and an educational institution, according to Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Oleksandr Starukh.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 11 that Russia had also lost 2,504 tanks, 5,162 armored fighting vehicles, 3,916 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,496 artillery systems, 353 multiple launch rocket systems, 181 air defense systems, 268 airplanes, 235 helicopters, 1,114 drones, and 15 boats.
In a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelensky on Oct. 10, U.S. President Joe Biden condemned Russia’s attacks on Ukraine and promised to continue providing Ukraine with assistance to defend itself from Russian aggression. Biden also reiterated his aim to “hold Russia accountable for its war crimes and atrocities.”
The Polish government said on Oct. 10 that its citizens should leave Belarus on the backdrop of tense relations between the two neighboring nations. "We recommend that Polish citizens staying on the territory of the Republic of Belarus leave its territory with available commercial and private means," the government said, according to Reuters.
The European Commission is currently working on a plan to provide Ukraine with sufficient budgetary support for the next year – 1.5 billion euros per month, undisclosed sources told Politico. PM Denys Shmyhal estimated Ukraine's budget gap to be around $3.5 billion per month next year; the U.S. has already pledged to cover $1.5 billion per month.
In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said 12 people were killed and over 80 injured by Russia's mass missile strike on Oct. 10. "The occupiers cannot oppose us on the battlefield, and that's why they resort to this terror," Zelensky said. "Well, let's make the battlefield even more painful for the enemy."
Ukraine is providing enough fuel to telecom companies to save or restore internet and mobile communication in Kharkiv and Sumy oblasts, according to the Digital Transformation Ministry. Russia's mass missile strike on Oct. 10 led to a significant deterioration of internet and mobile communications in the country.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken released a statement on Oct. 10 condemning Russia's mass attack on Ukrainian cities. Blinken wrote America would continue to provide economic, humanitarian, and security assistance to Ukraine. "It is not the time for abstentions, placating words, or equivocations under claims of neutrality," as "the core principles of the U.N. Charter are at stake," he said.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said none of his Western counterparts talked about negotiating with Russia during phone calls following Russia's massive attack on Ukrainian cities on Oct. 10. The Foreign Ministry has received requests from government agencies about Ukraine's needs; Ukraine is already working with partners willing to support the country, Kuleba said.
The German government plans to provide Ukraine with the first of four new IRIS-T SLM air defense systems in the coming days, Spiegel reports, citing German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht. "The renewed missile fire on Kyiv and many other cities makes it clear how important it is to deliver air defense systems to Ukraine quickly," said Lambrecht.
State-owned grid operator Ukrenergo will switch off electricity in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast for about two hours to balance Ukraine's energy system, according to energy company DTEK. It didn't specify when exactly it would happen. The outage will concern some industrial enterprises and household consumers; critical infrastructure such as hospitals, the Kyiv metro, and rescue services will work as usual, according to DTEK.
After multiple missile strikes on major Ukrainian cities on Oct. 10, which killed at least 10 civilians, Reuters reported the Red Cross paused its work in Ukraine "for security reasons." The Red Cross has denied reports about it halting its operations in Ukraine, calling them fake. "(After) today's rocket attacks on Ukrainian cities, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society is working in an intensified mode, providing assistance to the victims," the organization stated on Facebook.
