Tuesday, October 15

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A local resident stands near on a generator outside a restaurant on Oct. 14, 2024 in Odesa. As Russian forces continue to target energy infrastructure with bombings and temperatures drop, power outages are anticipated. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

Russia plans to involve North Korea in war in Ukraine this fall, Zelensky says. According to Ukraine’s military intelligence, Russia’s plans for the fall and winter include “the actual involvement of North Korea in the war,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 14.

Russian Tu-134 transport aircraft set ablaze over 1,000 km from Ukraine, military intelligence claims. “Such Soviet aircraft are used, in particular, to transport the leadership of the Russian Defense Ministry,” Ukraine’s military intelligence said.

Ukraine’s victory plan includes more Storm Shadow, ATACMS missiles, presidential advisor says. Ukraine’s victory plan includes a request for greater numbers of ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles and a permission to launch then against military targets in Russia, presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak told the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in comments published on Oct. 14.

Russia reportedly launches no Shahed drones against Ukraine overnight for first time in over month. The lull came after Russia attacked Ukraine with more than 1,300 Shahed kamikaze drones in September, targeting settlements across the country on a daily basis for an entire month. This daily trend has continued for the first days of October.

Russia claims capture of Zaporizhzhia Oblast village, Kyiv says ‘situation dynamic.’ When asked by the Kyiv Independent about the alleged seizure of Levadne, Voloshyn said that the situation “is developing quite dynamically” and each of the sides can regain the initiative.

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Putin submits treaty on strategic partnership with North Korea to parliament. Among the tenets of the treaty is a stipulation that either country must provide military assistance to the other in the case of an attack. The treaty was first signed by Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in June 2024.

First Ukrainian troops crossed into Kursk Oblast 2 days before incursion, commander says. One Ukrainian company sneaked in Kursk Oblast in groups of six soldiers and hid in the forest, Pavlo Rozlach, Ukraine’s 80th Air Assault Brigade’s commander, said.

70% of Russian oil shipped by shadow fleet, posing environment risk. Russia’s “shadow fleet” of older and poorly insured tankers transports 70% of the country’s seaborne exports, according to an analysis published by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Insititute on Oct. 14.

Over 110,000 residents of Kursk Oblast evacuated, Russia’s chief ombudsman claims. Speaking to the Kremlin-controlled outlet Argumenty i Fakty, the official said that this number includes 12,328 people placed at temporary facilities across Russia and around 100,000 living with relatives and friends.

Brazil must arrest Putin if he attends G20, Ukraine’s Prosecutor General says. In light of “information that Putin may attend the G20 summit in Brazil, I would like to reiterate that it’s an obligation for the Brazilian authorities as a state party of the Rome Statute to arrest him if he dares to visit,” Prosecutor General Andrii Kostin said.

Read our exclusives

North Korean soldiers are reportedly in Ukraine — here’s what we know

Regardless of whether or not North Korean troops are physically in Ukraine, there is plenty of other evidence to demonstrate the ever-deepening military ties between Moscow and Pyongyang.

Photo: Kim Won Jin / AFP via Getty Images

Road to Republican support of Ukraine runs through evangelicals

In the final weeks of campaigning for the U.S. election, a top focus of Donald Trump has been rebooting a wave of evangelical support that proved crucial to his victorious 2016 campaign.

Photo: Jim Watson /AFP via Getty Images

Russia’s milbloggers celebrate executions of Ukrainian POWs in Kursk region

Russian pro-war milbloggers have reacted to yet more reports of Ukrainian POWs being executed by Moscow’s forces by seeking to justify the killings, while some have even called for more.

Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov/Libkos/Getty Images

Ukraine’s victory can avert NATO-Russia clash, Estonian defense minister says in exclusive interview

The Kyiv Independent sat down with Minister Pevkur on Oct. 1 to discuss the current state of support for Ukraine and Tallinn’s preparation for a potential clash with Russia.

Photo: Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Russian drone attack on Kherson Oblast kills 2. A civilian vehicle with five people inside was targeted with an FPV drone, killing two women aged 72 and 56, as well as injuring a 72-year-old man and a 63-year-old woman, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.

Russian strike on Odesa port kills 1, injures 8, damages civilian vessels. The attack damaged two civilian vessels — NS Moon flying the flag of Belize and the Palau-flagged OPTIMA, Odesa Oblast Governor Oleh Kiper said. Russia targeted the latter last week on Oct. 7.

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 5, injure 8. Russian attacks against Ukraine killed five people and injured eight others over the previous day, regional authorities said on Oct. 14.

General Staff: Russia has lost 670,190 troops since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 1,260 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Opinions and insights

Opinion: Documenting war ethically means going beyond capturing suffering

“A camera can turn pain into spectacle. The ethical dilemma is capturing war without compromising the dignity of those involved or the audience’s perception,” film critic Sonya Vseliubska writes.

Photo: Screenshot, “20 Days in Mariupol” / Facebook

International response

US ready for talks with Russia, China, North Korea to reduce nuclear threat, Biden says. “There is no benefit to our nations or the world to forestall progress on reducing nuclear arsenals. Reducing the nuclear threat is important not despite the dangers of today’s world but precisely because of them,” President Joe Biden said.

EU sanctions Iran over missile shipments to Russia. The EU’s sanctions list newly includes individuals and entities responsible for the development and transfer of drones and missiles to Russia.

Russia could attack NATO by 2030, German intelligence chief says. Moscow’s ultimate goals are to “push the U.S. out of Europe,” roll back NATO boundaries to the 1990s, and create a “Russian sphere of influence” that will cement a “new world order,” said German intelligence chief Bruno Kahl.

NATO holding annual nuclear drills involving 2,000 troops, 60 aircraft. The two-week drills will involve over 2,000 military personnel and 60 aircraft from eight airbases. They will take place in Belgium, the Netherlands, and in the airspace over Denmark, the U.K., and the North Sea, with 13 NATO countries sending aircraft to participate.

German opposition leader would deliver Taurus to Ukraine after certain steps. At first, there should be an appeal to Russian President Vladimir Putin to stop attacking civilian targets in Ukraine. If Moscow does not concede, Ukraine should be free to use already delivered weapons without restrictions, said the German opposition leader.

In other news

Russia sentences French national to 3 years in prison over alleged foreign agents violation. Russian investigators claimed that beyond the violation of the foreign agents registration, Laurent Vinatier had plead guilty to illegally obtaining information about the military.

Threatening emails sent to Ukrainian organizations after media investigation into Russian security services. Hundreds of Ukrainian schools, businesses, embassies, and media outlets, including the Kyiv Independent, received bomb threats via email on Oct. 14, prompting evacuations. The threats were connected to a recent investigation by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty into Russian security services’ sabotage in Ukraine.

Kyiv rebukes Jared Leto over controversial remarks on Russia, war. “There can be no appeasement for Russia when it continues its attempts to solve the ‘problem’ of Ukraine’s very existence,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Kateryna Denisova, Martin Fornusek, Teah Pelechaty, Nate Ostiller, Abbey Fenbert, and Sonya Bandouil.

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