Thursday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy Presents “Victory Plan”
Vic
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1733 GMT:
Ukraine air defenses downed 80 of 135 Iran-type attack drones launched by Russia overnight.
Another 44 UAVs disappeared from radars because of electronic counter-measures. Two flew towards Belarus.
Up to 10 drones were in the airspace of central Ukraine, but the Ukrainian military did not report any casualties or damage.
UPDATE 1715 GMT:
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk says the Ukraine Victory Plan will be assessed after the US Presidential election on November 5.
Tusk said there is a lack of consensus among European leaders over the Plan, and its realism is difficult to assess that “much depends on the outcome” of the election between Donald Trump — who has indicated he would cut aid to Ukraine — and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Tusk emphasized that Poland’s support for Ukraine’s NATO membership has not changed: “We stand in solidarity with Ukraine on this issue.”
UPDATE 1505 GMT:
Complementing reports from Ukrainian counterparts and officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service says North Korea has dispatched troops to assist Russia in its 32-month invasion.
The NIS said Russian warships transferred 1,500 North Korean special operation forces to the port city of Vladivostok between October 8 and 13: “The North Korean soldiers…are expected to be deployed to the frontlines as soon as they complete their adaptation training.”
The troops were given Russian military uniforms and Russian-made weapons, and were issued with fake ID cards of residents of the Yakutia and Buryatia, two regions in Siberia.
The NIS published satellite and other photos showing Russian navy ship movements near a North Korean port and suspected North Korean mass gatherings in the past week in the cities of Ussuriysk and Khabarovsk in far eastern Russia.
The agency said more North Korean troops are expected to be sent to Russia soon.
Citing anonymous sources, South Korean media said Pyongyang has decided to dispatch to Russia a total of 12,000 troops, formed into four brigades.
Ukraine’s head of military intelligence Kyrill Budanov said on Thursday that almost 11,000 North Korean troops are in Russia and will be “ready to fight” in Ukraine by November 1.
Budanov said the first group of 2,600 soldiers will be deployed to the Kursk region in western Russia, where Ukraine holds territory after a cross-border incursion that began on August 6.
A North Korean KN-23/24 missile launched by Russia in September contained components made by at least nine Western manufacturers, Ukraine’s Independent Anti-Corruption Commission reported on Thursday.
Microelectronics made by companies from the US, Switzerland, the UK, and the Netherlands were found in the missile shot down near the villages of Myrne and Bilyky in the Poltava region in south-central Ukraine.
Most of the microelectronic components have the markings of American companies, including Analog Devices Inc. and Broadcom Inc.
UPDATE 1443 GMT:
Writing for The Guardian, Emma Graham-Harrison and Artem Mazhulin describe the Russian drones hunting and attacking civilians in Kherson city in southern Ukraine.
Two years into Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, civilians living in the frontline city of Kherson are grappling with the new threat from small civilian drones adapted to carry explosives.
On social media, Russian soldiers openly boast that their objective is anyone or anything that moves. Since the drones began swarming the city in July, there have been thousands of attacks each month, killing 24 civilians and injuring hundreds more.
“The hunt has started,” urged one Telegram post above a satellite image of an ordinary van. “Any black minivan must be destroyed no matter where are they going.”
They have dropped grenades on buses and people waiting at bus stops, civilians on bikes and queueing for humanitarian aid, or, like Ustenko, just walking home with shopping.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Addressing the European Council on Thursday, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy put a priority on Kyiv’s involvement in NATO as part of the Victory Plan to defeat Russia’s 32-month invasion.
Zelenskiy urged European leaders to issue an “immediate invitation” as he outlined the five-point initiative: “If we start now and follow the Victory Plan, we can end this war no later than next year,”
The President put the invitation in the context of a “deterrence package” which “would either force Russia to participate in real peace negotiations, or allow for the destruction of their military targets”.
The package would include the placement of conventional missile capabilities,, bolstered air defenses, and permission for long-range strikes inside Russia.
The President said that upon the defeat of Russia, Ukraine can replace US soldiers stationed in Europe.
After this war, Ukraine will have one of the most experienced and largest military contingents. By replacing certain US contingent with the Ukrainian contingent, the United States will be able to use its released troops to perform other security tasks outside Europe.
“It’s the peace-through-strength approach,” Zelenskiy explained.“Putin must just see that his political calculations are worthless,”
NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, who met Zelenskiy on Thursday, said he could not commit to a timetable for Ukraine to become the 33rd member of the bloc. NATO members would have to study the Victory Plan in detail, he said.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz resisted Zelenskiy’s entreaty: “You know Germany’s position on the issues involved. This will not change.”