Residents collect drinking water from public taps in Shevchenko Park after Russian missile attacks on Kyiv, Ukraine, October 31, 2022 (Brendan Hoffman/New York Times)

Jump to Original Entry

Ukraine: Another Dangerous Escalation as Putin Blocks Grain Exports

EA on BBC: Bombs and Ballots — The Latest from Ukraine to Brazil

Monday’s Coverage: Kyiv — Russian Heavy Artillery Withdrawing in Kherson

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1736 GMT:

The Russian proxy administration in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine has moved out of Kherson city.

The administration is relocating further south in Skadovsk.

UPDATE 1632 GMT:

Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko says 1,000 heating points are being prepared to ensure electricity, water, and warmth even amid Russia attacks.

The city purchased electric generators, stocked up on water and everything necessary for these heating points to be used by people. You will be able to warm up, drink tea, recharge your phones, and get the necessary help.

UPDATE 1356 GMT:

A snapshot from the occupied Kherson region in southern Ukraine:

UPDATE 1249 GMT:

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says Iran intends to send more than 200 attack and surveillance drones.

The Ministry said the Shahed-136, Mohajer-6 and Arash-2 drones “will be delivered via the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan”. The UAVs will be delivered in parts and reassembled by Russian forces who will put on applied Russian markings such as “Geranium-2”.

The Ministry says Russia has deployed 400 of 2,500 drones provided by Iran, with more than 300 intercepted by air defense.

UPDATE 1244 GMT:

The latest Russian attacks across the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine have killed one person and injured two in Bakhmut.

Russian forces have tried for weeks to overrun the city.

Russia also fired missiles on Kramatorsk, shelled villages in the Ocheretyn area and near Kurakhovo, and destroyed houses in Kurdyumiyka and Nelipiyka.

UPDATE 0944 GMT:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on Israel to lift its ban on military assistance to Ukraine.

In an interview on Israeli TV, Zelenskiy referred to Russia’s use of hundreds of Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones to attack Ukrainian infrastructure and civilian sites.

We are fighting against [a] new big union, Russia and Iran, and now I hope that Israel will help us, and will strong[ly] react to this.

Maybe, let’s think together how many they can use, not only on Ukraine.

The Israeli Government reiterated last week that it will not provide weapons to Kyiv. However, Zelenskiy noted a “positive trend” with Israel’s provision of intelligence about the Iranian drones.

He said in Monday’s interview:

We are fighting against Iran each day, 400 attacks of Iranian drones on our people, civilians, infrastructure. We gave information to Israel and we said, “Help us with air defenses”….

We can join against this evil on air defense. Israeli military infrastructure or institutions also have drones which also could help us in this attack.

UPDATE 0934 GMT:

Billionaire businessman Oleg Tinkov has renounced his Russian citizenship.

“I can’t and won’t be associated with a fascist country that started a war with their peaceful neighbor and killing innocent people daily,” Tinkov posted on Instagram.

Tinkov founded the TSC group, the parent company of Tinkoff Bank. In April, he sold his 35% stake in TSC to a firm controlled by Russian billionaire Vladimir Potanin.

Tinkov was among 65 individuals and entities sanctioned by the UK on March 24 for “supporting Russia’s illegal invasion”. However, he repeatedly condemned Russia’s “insane war” against Ukraine.

UPDATE 0923 GMT:

The European Union has condemned the forced conscription of Crimean Tatars by the Russia military.

The EU said that, amid the Russian occupation of Crimea since 2014, the Tatars are being “deliberately and disproportionately targeted in the implementation of Russia’s mobilization order and reportedly forcibly involved in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, their traditional homeland”.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry says the current conscription campaign in Crimea is the 16th since 2015, with a total of 36,000 Ukrainians forced into Russian military service.

Under Soviet rule, Crimean Tatars suffered mass deportation, with tens of thousands perishing during the transport and in exile.

UPDATE 0914 GMT:

Kyiv Major Vitaly Klitschko says water and electricity supply has been restored.

However, there are still blackouts “because the deficit in the power system, after the barbaric attacks of the aggressor, is significant”.

UPDATE 0900 GMT:

Overnight Russian strikes have killed at least one person, an elderly woman, in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

The missiles partially destroyed the buildings of educational institutions and completely destroyed a two-story building. Private houses were damaged, and a fire broke out in a five-story residential building.

UPDATE 0719 GMT:

In his nightly address to the nation, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy spoke of Ukrainian withstanding the latest Russian strikes:

Currently, restoration work is still ongoing in those regions where Russian missiles hit today. We are doing everything possible to restore energy and water supply. And we will restore it.

Russian terrorists do not have such missiles that could hit the Ukrainian desire to live, live in a civilized manner and take care of each other. And if someone over there in the Kremlin listened to their crazy propagandists and decided that the darkness in Ukraine would help put pressure on Ukrainians, then let them not be surprised at their losses when they see how Ukrainians conduct “negotiations” in the dark.

UPDATE 0711 GMT:

Turkey has assured Ukraine that it will help maintain the movement of Ukrainian grain exports, despite Russia’s threat to reimpose a blockade on Black Sea ports.

Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar told Ukraine’s Defense and Infrastructure ministers that the deal is “of great importance” should be kept separate from the Russia invasion.

The Turkish Defense Ministry emphasized that 10 million tons of grain have been shipped since the July deal, brokered by Ankara and the UN. “All problems can be resolved through cooperation and dialogue,” it declared.

Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said Monday that 12 ships with grain left from ports on Monday. Ten inspection teams from the UN and Turkey were processing 40 other ships.

UPDATE 0705 GMT:

Russian proxy officials have expanded the zone for movement of Ukrainians in the occupied Kherson region.

The head of the proxy administration, Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed head of the region, said the area in southern Ukraine is being expanded by an additional 15km (9 miles), including seven more settlements.

The official lied that Ukraine is preparing a “massive missile attack” on the Kakhovka hydroelectric power dam on the Dnipro River, to cause widespread flooding. The statement contradicted his assurance last Wednesday that it would be “practically impossible” to destroy the dam and that, even if it was breached, the Dnipro’s water level would only rise 2 meters.

Saldo said last weekend that the transfer of 70,000 residents of Kherson city had been completed, as a Ukrainian counter-offensive closes on one of the first areas seized by Russia’s February 24 invasion.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Residents in Kyiv are coping with shortages of electricity and water after Monday’s Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s capital.

The attacks initially left 80% of residents without water and 365,000 apartments without electricity. By evening, repairs reduced the figures to 40% without water and 270,000 without power.

But in parts of the city, people are having to queue for water from public spaces such as fountains. There are scheduled and emergency blackouts. Those who still have power are being urged to conserve use.

Ukraine Army Commander-in-Chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said Russia launched 55 cruise missiles, with 44 downed by air defenses, and dozens of other munitions at civilian targets across the country. The missiles were fired from Russian Tu-90 and T-60 aircraft flying north of the Caspian Sea and Russia’s Rostov region.

Among the areas attacked were Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Mikolaiv, Lviv, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, and Chernivtsi. Seven regions implemented blackouts.

Presidential advisor Oleksiy Arestovich said the bombardment was “one of the most massive shellings of our territory by the army of the Russian Federation”. Because of improved air defenses, “the destruction is not as critical as it could be”.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba summarized: