Tuesday, October 24

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Pedestrians walk past flags commemorating fallen Ukrainian soldiers at Independence Square in Kyiv, on Oct. 23, 2023. (Roman Pilipey/AFP via Getty Images)

Washington Post: Ukraine conducts ‘high-value’ assassinations inside Russia. The Washington Post reported on Oct. 23, citing undisclosed official sources, that Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) was allegedly behind dozens of assassinations against Russian targets since February 2022.

SBU says ‘comments after victory’ following media report linking it to assassinations inside Russia. Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) refused to comment on today’s Washington Post article linking Ukrainian intelligence services to the killing of high-profile Russian military and pro-war figures in a comment for RBC Ukraine on Oct. 23.

General Staff: Russia launches major attack across entire eastern front. Russian forces are launching heavy attacks in many sectors of the eastern front, including in the Avdiivka, Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, and Marinka directions, the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Oct. 23.

DTEK: Russian strikes damage thermal power plant. Russian forces attacked a thermal power plant operated by Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK in the evening of Oct. 22, causing significant damage, the company said on Oct. 23.

Zelensky invites Saudis to Malta peace formula meeting in call with Crown Prince. President Volodymyr Zelensky held a phone call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Oct. 23 and invited a representative of Saudi Arabia to the upcoming peace formula talks in Malta, Zelensky announced on social media.

Your contribution helps keep the Kyiv Independent going. Become a member today.

Russian population set to decrease by more than 7 million in next 2 decades. The population of Russia is predicted to decline from the previous census count of 146.45 million in 2021 to 138.77 million in 2046, Russia’s Federal State Statistics Service reported. The projection incorporates the results from the previous Russian census completed in 2021, which included the close to 2.5 million population of occupied Crimea.

Kuleba supports allowing multiple citizenship for Ukrainians. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke in support of Ukrainians being able to legally hold multiple citizenships, excluding the citizenship of Russia or other “unfriendly countries,” Ukrinform reported on Oct. 23.

Over 800 businesses relocate from south and east of Ukraine since start of full-scale invasion. Since the start of the full-scale invasion, 840 Ukrainian businesses have moved away from regions most affected by the war under a government-supported relocation program, analytics website Opendatabot reported on Oct. 23.

Spanish police find archaeological treasures worth over $60 million stolen from Ukraine. Police in Madrid have seized 60 million euros ($63.7 million) worth of ancient gold artifacts that had been stolen from Ukraine, the Spanish Interior Ministry announced on Oct. 23. In a joint operation with the the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Spanish police seized 11 pieces of Scythian gold that had been “stolen and illicitly exported from Ukraine” in the first few months of 2016.

3 local residents arrested in Kherson for spying. Three local residents of Kherson Oblast were arrested for allegedly helping Russian forces target locations for strikes in the city of Kherson, the regional prosecutor’s office announced on Oct. 23.

Read our exclusives

Demographic disaster: Ukraine’s biggest post-war threat

The threat of a demographic crisis has been building in Ukraine for a while but Russia’s full-scale invasion has pushed it to the breaking point.

Photo: Artur Widak/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Ukraine war latest: Russia attacks in multiple directions on eastern front

There have been over 90 skirmishes with Russian forces recorded over the course of Oct. 22 on all fronts. The past few days saw a high number of clashes.

Photo: Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Official: 5 victims of Russian attack on postal depot in intensive care. Five of the people injured in a Russian attack on a postal depot in Kharkiv Oblast on Oct. 21 remain in intensive care, Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on air on Oct. 23.

General Staff: Russia has lost 294,700 troops in Ukraine. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Oct. 23 that Russia has lost 294,700 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24, 2022.

International response

Shmyhal: EU pays latest tranche of 15 billion euros in macro-financial assistance to Ukraine. Ukraine received another 1.5-billion-euro ($1.6 billion) installment of the European Union’s macro-financial assistance package, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal announced on Oct. 23.

US seeks to confiscate $300-million yacht of Russian oligarch Suleyman Kerimov. Suleyman Kerimov, sanctioned by the Treasury Department in 2014 and 2018 in response to Russia’s activities in Ukraine and Syria, reportedly purchased Amadea through front companies in 2021.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister: Russia using West’s focus on other crises to renew attacks on Ukraine. Russia’s renewed offensive shows that the Kremlin is “waiting for situations like this, where we draw our attention to somewhere else so they can renew their attacks,” Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said on Oct. 23.

Media: Hungary again blocks Ukraine aid over OTP Bank. Ukraine’s National Agency on Corruption Prevention provisionally removed OTP and five Greek shipping companies from the list in the hope that this would “lead to Hungary’s unblocking of 500 million euros of vital EU military aid for the Ukrainian people, and will also eliminate the possibility of Greece blocking the future EU sanctions package” against Russia.

Ireland planning to limit Ukrainian refugees’ access to state-provided housing. Ireland’s government is preparing a change to the country’s refugee policy concerning Ukrainians that would limit their access to state-provided housing to three months before they must secure their own living accommodations, the Irish Examiner said on Oct. 23, citing a government source.

Russian media: Trade between Russia and India grows to record levels. Trade between Russia and India in the first eight months of 2023 more than doubled from the previous year, reaching a record high of almost $44 billion, Russian state-run media RIA Novosti claimed on Oct. 23.

In other news

Ambassador: 337 Ukrainians request evacuation from Gaza. Ahead of reports that the Rafah border crossing into Egypt may open in the coming days, 337 Ukrainians have requested to be evacuated from the embattled Gaza Strip, Ukraine’s Ambassador to Israel, Yevhen Korniichuk, said on Oct. 23.

Russia sentences second detained US journalist to extended pre-trial detention. A court in the Russian city of Kazan sentenced Alsu Kurmasheva, a Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty journalist with dual U.S. and Russian citizenship, to extended pre-trial detention until Dec. 5, the news agency reported on Oct. 23.

Want to get the news faster? Follow our website: kyivindependent.com.

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

If you’re enjoying this newsletter, consider joining our membership program. Start supporting independent journalism today.