Ukraine Daily
Saturday, October 8
Russia’s war against Ukraine
Abandoned military vehicle is seen after the attacks in Izium district of Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine on October 07, 2022. (Photo by Sofia Bobok/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Zelensky: Ukraine’s military has liberated 776 square kilometers over past week. In a video address on Oct. 7, President Volodymyr Zelensky said 29 settlements have been liberated, including six in Russian-occupied Luhansk Oblast. In total, over 2,400 square kilometers and 96 settlements have been liberated since the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. “The liberation of all our land is the basis of peace and security for all Ukrainians,” Zelensky said.
ISW: Reports of fractures within the Kremlin undermine appearance of stability of Russian regime. The Institute for the Study of War citing information obtained by U.S. intelligence reported that a member of Vladimir Putin’s inner circle directly criticized his “extensive military shortcomings” during the war in Ukraine, and other Western and Kremlin-affiliated officials noted rising criticism of Putin’s mishandling of the war and mobilization. “Word of fractures within Putin’s inner circle have reached the hyper-patriotic and nationalist military blogger crowd,” the ISW found, adding that it undermines the impression of “strength and control that Putin has sought to portray throughout his reign.”
Ukraine’s military: Kamikaze drones arrive in Belarus. Ukraine’s Territorial Defense Forces “West” reported that at least 20 Iranian Shahed-136 drones were delivered to Belarus’ Luninets airfield, located around 50 kilometers from Ukraine’s Rivne Oblast. The group warns that this may indicate future attacks on western or central parts of Ukraine.
Russian forces strike downtown Kharkiv with missiles. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that Russia targeted downtown Kharkiv, hitting a hospital early on Oct. 8. The building caught fire. There is no information on casualties at the time of the publication.
Financial Times: Ukrainian troops report Starlink outages, hindering counteroffensive. Ukrainian troops have encountered issues with their Starlink communication devices on the frontline, leading to a “catastrophic” loss in communication, reports the Financial Times, citing unnamed Ukrainian officials. The outages were reported in eastern and southern Ukraine, especially in Russian-occupied parts, where Kyiv is conducting its counter-offensive.
Ukraine to ask UN, EU countries to set up international tribunal for Russian crimes. The Ukrainian parliament has approved a resolution appealing to the U.N., the European Union, and the Council of Europe to create a special international tribunal to prosecute Russia for its crimes against Ukraine, according to lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak. If the international community puts pressure on the Russian leadership, “Russia will stop its armed aggression against Ukraine much sooner,” reads the resolution.
Podolyak criticizes splitting of Nobel Peace Prize with Russian, Belarusian nominees. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the President’s Office, said the Norwegian Nobel Committee has an “interesting understanding of the word ‘peace,’” if it split the award with two countries that have attacked Ukraine. “Neither Russian nor Belarusian organizations were able to oppose this war,” he said. The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Ukrainian human rights organization Center for Civil Liberties, Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski, and the Russian human rights organization Memorial.
CNN: Pentagon says Putin has not made decision on nuclear weapons. U.S. Defense Department press secretary Patrick Ryder said “we don’t assess that President Putin has made a decision to use nuclear weapons at this time,” reports CNN. “Many people in our government and in the international community… have highlighted the fact that this nuclear saber-rattling is reckless and irresponsible,” Ryder said. “Right now, the US does not have any information to cause a change in “strategic deterrence posture,” he added.
Fire at the Kerch bridge
Fire breaks out at the Kerch bridge. Ukrainian media reported an explosion at the Kerch bridge in Crimea at around 6 a.m. on Oct. 8. The explosion took place while a train was crossing the bridge, although it was not immediately clear what caused it. Images on social media appear to show a portion of the roadway of the vehicle and rail bridge had fallen into the waters below it. Flames were seen burning from rail cars above. The bridge is highly symbolic to Russia and is also an important logistical supply route for Russian forces in Crimea and in Russian-occupied southern Ukraine.
Photo: Courtesy
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Ukraine war latest: Ukrainian counteroffensive continues on Putin’s 70th birthday. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday on Oct. 7 is hardly happy: Ukrainian forces keep advancing in the country’s east and south, while public criticism against the military commandment is mounting in Russia.
Photo: Alexander Nemenov/AFP via Getty Images
How likely is Putin to nuke Ukraine? When Russia’s Vladimir Putin is in trouble, he threatens to start a global nuclear holocaust. The Russian president has a long history of nuclear brinksmanship, always implicit in his rhetoric yet never manifesting in reality.
Photo: CORBIS
Zaporizhzhia responds to Russia’s annexation claims: ‘We have broken up with Russia forever.’ On Sept. 30, residents of Zaporizhzhia woke up to the horrendous news of a bloody Russian strike on a convoy of civilian cars in their city overnight. The attack with S-300 missiles killed 31 civilians and wounded 88 more.
Photo: Marina Moiseyenko/AFP via Getty Images
Power Lines: From Ukraine to the World — Ep. 2: History and Context. In episode 2 of our podcast, the Kyiv Independent team speaks to Ukrainian historian and writer, Olesya Khromeychuk, to discuss what Ukraine’s complicated and significant history in the century before the fall of the Soviet Union can tell us about its modern identity.
Photo: Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
The human cost of Russia’s war
Update: Death toll of Russian Oct. 6 strike on Zaporizhzhia rises to 14. Rescuers have found the bodies of two more civilians under the rubble following the Russian attacks on Oct. 6, reports Acting Mayor of Zaporizhzhia Anatolii Kurtiev.
Russian forces shell Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, killing civilian. Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Governor Valentyn Reznichenko reported that a 37-year-old man was killed and a 42-year-old man was injured in the region’s Nikopolskyi District during Russia’s attack on Oct. 7.
General Staff: Russia has lost 61,680 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 7 that Russia had also lost 2,466 tanks, 5,093 armored fighting vehicles, 3,862 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,455 artillery systems, 344 multiple launch rocket systems, 177 air defense systems, 266 airplanes, 233 helicopters, 1,067 drones, and 15 boats.
Russia’s attacks kill 2 in Donetsk Oblast, injure 8 in Kharkiv Oblast. In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed two civilians and wounded seven in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha, reported the oblast governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko. Russia also shelled Kharkiv Oblast, injuring eight people, said the oblast governor, Oleh Syniehubov.
International response
Von der Leyen: Ukraine to receive 2 billion euros of macro-financial assistance. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Oct. 7 that the tranche will be allocated in the coming days. The European Commission said on Oct. 4 that Ukraine will receive 5 billion euros from the EU in three tranches.
Macron: France creates 100-million euro fund for Ukraine to purchase weapons. French President Emmanuel Macron said the fund, worth an initial $98 million, will allow Ukraine to directly buy weapons and other necessary materials to counter Russia’s war, reports France24. Macron added that the fund will allow Ukraine to “work with France’s defense industry base” and “demonstrates our will to act as Europeans and to align ourselves with this collective effort” to help Ukraine.
Iran claims it never supplied kamikaze drones to Russia. Tehran “has never sent and will never send” any weapons to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine, Tashim News Agency reports, citing Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian. Over the last weeks, Russian troops have regularly used Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones to attack Ukrainian cities. According to Ukraine’s Air Force spokesman Yurii Ihnat, Iran could have sold “several hundred” kamikaze drones to Russia.
In other news
Nova Poshta opens first branch abroad. Ukrainian privately-owned postal service Nova Poshta, which has over 9,300 branches across Ukraine, has opened its first foreign branch in Warsaw, Poland. The company expects to add four Polish cities to its roster by the end of the month: Krakow, Wroclaw, Rzeszow, and Poznan.
Ukraine’s IT services export 16% up in 2022. For eight months of 2022, IT exports have grown by 16% year over year, according to the monitoring service Opendatabot. The tech sector currently accounts for almost half of Ukraine’s export of services and is one of the very few export fields in Ukraine that show positive dynamics.
Parliament approves Andrii Pyshnyi as Ukraine’s new central bank chief. The Verkhovna Rada has voted to appoint former head of state bank Oschadbank Andrii Pyshnyi as the new head of Ukraine’s National Bank, according to lawmaker Yaroslav Zhelezniak. The previous NBU head Kyrylo Shevchenko resigned on Oct. 4, citing “health reasons.”
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