Ukraine Daily
Friday, October 21
Russia’s war against Ukraine
BORODYANKA, UKRAINE: Tetyana Safonova, 61, sits with her cat Asya as she looks at her mobile phone during a power outage on October 20, 2022 in Borodyanka. Tetyana wasn’t able to buy candles in town because of the sudden demand given the unpredictable power cuts that the government has imposed around Ukraine. Restricted power supplies and limited electricity started today so that energy companies could repair power facilities hit by a wave of recent Russian air strikes. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Zelensky: ’Ukraine didn’t order Crimean Bridge attack.’ President Volodymyr Zelensky told the Canadian CTV news outlet that Russian domestic conflicts could cause the explosion. “We definitely did not order that, as far as I know,” Zelensky said. A day after the Oct. 8 explosion, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin accused “Ukrainian intelligence” of damaging the bridge connecting Russian-occupied Crimea and Russia over the Kerch Strait.
Blinken says Putin has no interest in ‘meaningful diplomacy.’ The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told ABC News that Russian President Vladimir Putin “is rational, but the decisions he’s making—or maybe better put, his objectives—are not rational. What we’ve seen thus far is no interest on the part of Putin in meaningful diplomacy.”
Dutch parliament supports launching special tribunal for Russian crime of aggression. The lower house of the Dutch parliament approved a proposal to set up a special tribunal in The Hague to prosecute Russian leadership for the crime of aggression against Ukraine.
New York Times: US believes Ukrainian military has opportunity to make gains against Russia’s army. American officials interviewed by the New York Times believe that the upcoming few weeks, while the weather holds, could allow Ukraine’s military to press forward in Donbas and potentially retake Kherson. The officials, most of whom spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive or classified assessments of the war, warn that there is “little chance of a widespread collapse in Russian forces” that would allow Ukraine to take another huge swath of territory, similar to what it claimed in September during the Kharkiv counteroffensive.
White House says Iranian troops in occupied Crimea support Russian drone strikes against Ukraine. Iran sent “a relatively small number” of Revolutionary Guard Corps members to Russian-occupied Crimea to help Moscow launch Shahed-136 kamikaze drones at Ukraine’s critical infrastructure and civilians, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Oct. 20.
Minister: In past 10 days, Russian troops carried out 300 strikes on Ukraine’s energy system. Ukraine is preparing for new attacks on its power system, according to Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko. Since Oct. 10 Russia has carried out about 300 strikes on the country’s energy system. Halushchenko called on Ukrainians to reduce electricity consumption by at least 20% to avoid power cutoffs.
ISW: Russian forces likely setting conditions to remove military, occupation elements from the Dnipro River’s west bank. The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment that a number of reports emerged on Oct. 20 indicating that Russian forces are moving military equipment, as well as some stolen fire trucks, civilian cars, and other miscellaneous household items across the Dnipro River further south to the city of Hola Prystan and east to Nova Kakhovka.
General Staff: Russia may withdraw experienced forces from Kherson. Oleksiy Hromov, a top officer at the General Staff, said that the Russian command might keep only freshly mobilized troops on the right bank of the Dnipro River. Ukraine’s General Staff understands Russia cannot resist Ukrainian forces as they continue advancing, Hromov said.
National Bank: Inflation in Ukraine to reach 30% in 2022. Inflation remains under control amid the full-scale Russian invasion that has taken a severe toll on the Ukrainian economy, the National Bank reported. In 2023, inflation will decrease to 20.8%, according to National Bank’s estimates.
Read our exclusives here
In this episode of our podcast “Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World,” co-produced with Message Heard, the Kyiv Independent team speaks to Alexander Clarkson, lecturer for German and European Studies at King’s College London, about how Ukraine’s geography has defined the war and what it means for its relationship with the European Union in the future.
‘Freedom on Fire’ brings personal stories from Ukraine’s war onto the big screen. Director Evgeny Afineevsky is best known for bringing to the screen one of the most pivotal moments in the modern history of Ukraine – the EuroMaidan Revolution – in the film known as “Winter on Fire.” Now he is putting a spotlight on Russia’s full-scale invasion.
Photo: Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom
Ukraine war latest: Zelensky accuses Russia of preparing to blow up dam in Kherson Oblast, causing ‘historic disaster.’ President Volodymyr Zelensky on Oct. 20 accused Russia of planning to blow up a major dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station in the occupied territory of Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine.
Photo: Carl Court/Getty Images
The human cost of Russia’s war
Police: 146 bodies found at mass burial site in liberated Lyman. Donetsk Oblast Police Department reported that the bodies of 111 civilians and 35 soldiers were found in the mass burial site in the recently liberated town. The killed people were buried in trenches, and some graves were unmarked, police said.
Russia’s attacks kill 1, injure 5 in Donetsk Oblast. In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed one and wounded five civilians in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha, the oblast governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, reported on Oct. 20. In Kharkiv Oblast, Russia hit several settlements, injuring a 78-year-old man and destroying a grocery store.
International response
Amnesty International says Russian attacks on critical energy infrastructure amount to war crimes. Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said in a statement on Oct. 20 that Russia’s targeting of Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities, is unlawful since “the morale of the civilian population is not a lawful target.” As much as 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure has been seriously damaged due to Russia’s recent attacks, according to Oleksandr Kharchenko, an adviser to the energy minister.
EU reportedly approves sanctions against Iran for selling drones to Russia. The European Union countries have decided to freeze the assets of three Iranian individuals and one entity responsible for kamikaze drone deliveries to Russia, the Czech Presidency of the European Union Council reported on Oct. 20. According to it, sanctions will come into force after publication in the EU Official Journal “this afternoon.”
Scholz: Germany to train 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers by spring. The training will take place as part of the Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine, which aims to prepare about 15,000 Ukrainian soldiers, AP reports, citing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. “With this, we are underlining our readiness to participate in the long-term building of strong Ukrainian Armed Forces, hand in hand with our partners,” said Scholz.
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