Thursday, October 19

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A residential building in Zaporizhzhia damaged after a Russian missile attack on Oct. 18, 2023. Four people were killed, three were injured, and three are reported missing. (Elena Tita/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)

NYT: US delivered 20 ATACMS to Ukraine. The U.S. has provided around 20 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) to Ukraine, the New York Times reported on Oct. 18, citing two Western officials. The delivery was secret to preserve an element of surprise and due to concerns Russia would attack the shipment.

Putin calls ATACMS transfer to Ukraine ‘mistake,’ admits missiles pose ‘additional threat.’ Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Oct. 18 that the U.S. made a “great mistake” by providing Ukraine with ATACMS long-range missiles, which have reportedly dealt significant damage to Russian forces in a recent attack.

Media: SBU drones attack Russian military camp in Russia’s Kursk Oblast. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) hit a Russian military camp near the Khalino airbase in Russia’s Kursk Oblast overnight with at least 18 drone strikes, Ukrainska Pravda reported on Oct. 18, citing its source within SBU.

Lavrov thanks North Korea for its help in war against Ukraine. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov thanked North Korea for its “fundamental, unequivocal support” in the war against Ukraine, Russian-state media outlet Ria Novosti reported on Oct. 18.

Ukraine’s Education Ministry to include drone operation courses in school curriculum. The courses, a part of the “Defense of Ukraine” discipline in Ukrainian schools, involve lessons on a variety of different aspects relating to drone operation, ArmyInform reported on Oct. 18, citing Ukraine’s Education and Science Ministry.

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Zelensky, Romanian PM meet in Kyiv, discuss military support, grain transit. “Thank you to Romania for supporting Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, and for the military aid packages that strengthened us on the battlefield,” Zelensky wrote on his Telegram channel.

EU official: Ukrainian refugees help European labor shortages. Ukrainians have reduced labor shortages and improved employment rates in many EU countries, according to European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit. The latest figures show that 1.87 million Ukrainians in 19 EU countries have signed an employment contract.

Putin speaks at Beijing summit, holds talks with Xi. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin spoke at China’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Oct. 18, where he claimed that every country has the right to its “own developmental model.”

Court announces sentences for riot police officers accused of killing EuroMaidan protesters. The Sviatoshyn District Court in Kyiv announced sentences for five former Berkut riot police officers on Oct. 18, who were accused of killing protesters in February 2014.

Media: Two men in occupied Crimea fined for listening to patriotic Ukrainian song. Two men in occupied Crimea were were fined 40,000 rubles each ($400) for listening to the song “Good evening, we are from Ukraine” in public, according to Russian court reports cited by the Russian independent monitoring group OVD-Info on Oct. 18.

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Ukraine war latest: Putin holds talks with Xi; Lavrov says North Korea will help Moscow win

Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke at China’s Belt and Road Forum in Beijing on Oct. 18, following remarks by Chinese leader Xi Jinping. At a press conference, Putin admitted that the newly provided ATACMS create an “additional threat” to Russian forces in Ukraine.

Photo: Grigory Sysoyev/Pool/AFP/Getty Images

She wanted to visit her sick father in occupied Crimea. Russia wants to imprison her for 20 years

Russia’s top propagandist, Olga Skabeeva, interrupted her talk show on May 16 to share “breaking news.” The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) uncovered a spy, Skabeeva said, who had been feeding information to Ukrainian authorities.

Photo: Screenshot from a video

Human cost of war

Russia drops aerial bombs on Kherson Oblast village, 1 killed. A Russian attack using aerial bombs on a village in Kherson Oblast killed one 63-year-old man overnight, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin reported on Oct. 18.

Missile attack on Mykolaiv Oblast kills 2, injures 1. Russian forces launched a missile attack at 8:30 p.m. local time, destroying a catering facility. Rescuers recovered two victims from the rubble, Ukraine’s Internal Affairs Ministry confirmed.

4 killed in Russian missile attack on Zaporizhzhia. The death toll of Russian overnight missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia on Oct. 18 has risen to four, as two more bodies were found in the rubble, the city’s Acting Mayor Anatolii Kurtiev reported.

Russian missile strike on Dnipro district kills 1, injures 4. Russian forces launched a missile strike against the Dnipro district in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Oct. 18, killing at least one person and injuring at least four, local officials reported.

General Staff: Russia has lost 290,050 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022. This number includes 620 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

International response

US sanctions Iranian drone producers. The United States imposed sanctions against 11 individuals and eight entities connected with Iran’s drone program, including those responsible for producing drones used in Russia’s war against Ukraine.

Hungarian official: Orban’s meeting with Putin ‘about peace’. Gergely Gulyas, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, said the meeting signified “the importance of talking about peace and the need to put an end to Russian aggression.”

In other news

Ukrainians can now officially open stores on Etsy online marketplace. Ukrainians can now officially open stores on the Etsy online marketplace following the launch of Etsy payment system in Ukraine, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on Oct. 18.

Almost 5,000 Ukrainian families in UK face homelessness. Around 8% (4,890) of Ukrainian refugee families taken in as part of the U.K.’s “Homes for Ukraine” refugee scheme have risked, or continue to be at risk of homelessness, according to a report by the U.K.’s National Audit Office released on Oct. 17.

Ambassador: 23 Ukrainians killed in Israel since Hamas attack. The number of Ukrainians killed in Hamas’s attack on Israel has risen to 23, Israel’s Ambassador to Ukraine, Michael Brodsky, said on Oct. 18.

Ambassador: Nearly 300 Ukrainians need to be evacuated from Gaza. The number of Ukrainians seeking evacuation from besieged Gaza has increased to 298, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniichuk, said on national TV on Oct. 18.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Elsa Court, Toma Istomina, Martin Fornusek, Dominic Culverwell, Nate Ostiller, Lili Bivings, Olena Goncharova, and Abbey Fenbert.

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