Wednesday, October 25

Russia’s war against Ukraine

The aftermath of a Russian artillery strike on Podoly, Kharkiv Oblast, on Oct. 24, 2023. (Oleh Syniehubov/Telegram)

Podolyak: Musk’s suggestion to ‘surrender Ukraine’ is ‘catastrophic mistake’.

Elon Musk’s suggestion that a ceasefire in Ukraine on terms favorable to Russia would prevent further war is a “catastrophic mistake,” said advisor to Ukraine’s Presidential Office Mykhailo Podolyak on Oct. 24.

Pro-Ukrainian candidate for House Speaker drops from race following hard-liners’ opposition. The Republican Party’s latest nominee for the House Speaker position, Minnesota Congressman Tom Emmer, dropped out of the race following opposition from the hard-line faction close to former President Donald Trump, CNN reported on Oct. 24.

Military: Russia decreases ground attacks at Avdiivka but launches heavy air strikes. Russia has decreased the number of ground attacks against Avdiivka but intensified its air strikes, dropping around 40 bombs at and near the town in just two nights, the Tavria group of forces’ spokesperson, Oleksandr Shtupun, said on Oct. 24.

Minister: 700,000 metric tons of grain exported via Ukrainian Black Sea corridor.

Ukraine’s temporary corridor through the Black Sea has managed to transport nearly 700,000 metric tons of grain, Minister of Agrarian Policy Mykola Solskyi announced during a meeting of the EU Council in Luxembourg, UkrAgroConsult reported on Oct. 24.

Minister: Around 1,000 civilians remain in Avdiivka. “Avdiivka – now, according to our data, about 1,000 people still live there,” Deputy Prime Minister and Reintegration Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on the air. The official called on people to leave the besieged town for their own safety.

NATO official: Protectionist tendencies from Ukraine’s allies hindering increase in shell production. The desire from individual countries to protect their local shell-manufacturing industry has caused prices to rise and hampered the institution of a NATO standard 155mm shell, Chair of the NATO Military Committee Admiral Rob Bauer said to Reuters on Oct. 24.

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FT: Ukraine repurposes US-supplied AIM-9s missiles for air defense. Ukraine has successfully converted redundant U.S.-provided air-to-air AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles into surface-to-air missiles, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Oct. 24, citing an unnamed Ukrainian official.

Zelensky: Full Ukrainian fire control over Crimea ‘only a matter of time.’ Ukraine will soon have fire control capabilities over occupied Crimea, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in an online address to the second parliamentary summit of the international Crimea Platform on Oct. 24.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia’s reliance on penal battalions shows lack of infantry capability. While Russian forces have often carried out an effective defense, the existence of Storm-Z units “highlights the extreme difficulty“ Russia faces in generating combat infantry capable of conducting successful assaults, the ministry wrote.

Nova Poshta to arrange additional bomb shelters in its post depots. Ukraine’s postal service Nova Poshta will arrange additional bomb shelters in its depots after a Russian strike on their facility in Kharkiv Oblast killed six people, the company’s co-founder said on Oct. 23, as cited by Ukrinform.

Ukraine to evacuate children from 23 Kherson Oblast settlements. Ukrainian authorities ordered a mandatory evacuation of 802 children from 23 settlements in Kherson Oblast subjected to regular Russian attacks, the Reintegration Ministry announced on Oct. 23.

Read our exclusives

Ukraine war latest: Zelensky vows full Ukrainian fire control over Crimea

A series of Ukrainian attacks on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea have degraded Russia’s defense networks on the peninsula, President Zelensky said, and although Ukraine does not currently have complete control of the skies over Crimea, it is only “a matter of time.”

Photo: President’s Office

Record Russian armor, personnel losses in failed attempt to take Avdiivka by storm

Starting on Oct. 9, dozens of Russian armored vehicles backed by thousands of infantry personnel, artillery, and air power, were launched at the flanks of the city of Avdiivka, a Ukrainian stronghold city still standing since 2014 just outside occupied Donetsk.

Photo: Ozge Elif Kizil/Anadolu via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Official: 2 Ukrainian children killed in missile attack on Gaza. A missile attack against the Gaza Strip killed two children with Ukrainian citizenship on Oct. 24, Maksym Tokin, an official within Ukraine’s Representative Office to the Palestinian National Authority, told Suspilne news outlet.

Russian strikes in Kherson Oblast damage hospital, fire station, injure 2. Russian forces attacked Kherson Oblast on Oct. 24, causing damage to a hospital and fire station, as well as injuring two, local authorities said.

General Staff: Russia has lost 295,510 troops in Ukraine since Feb 24, 2022. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 24 that Russia had also lost 5,105 tanks, 9,669 armored fighting vehicles, 9,447 vehicles and fuel tanks, 7,081 artillery systems, 828 multiple launch rocket systems, 552 air defense systems, 320 airplanes, 324 helicopters, 5,363 drones, and 20 boats.

Russian attacks kill 2, injure 20 in Ukraine over past day. Russian attacks against Ukraine in the past 24 hours killed two civilians and wounded another 20, including a child, regional authorities reported on Oct. 24.

International response

Reuters: EU to present favorable assessment of Ukraine’s membership bid on Nov 8. The European Commission is expected to issue a positive evaluation of Ukraine’s accession bid on Nov. 8, although additional conditions may be raised, Reuters reported on Oct. 24, citing three official sources.

PM Shmyhal meets Scholz in Germany. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and discussed support for Ukraine during an official visit to Germany on Oct. 24, the government’s press service reported.

Shmyhal: Rheinmetall to open joint Ukrainian-German facility in Ukraine.

German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall will join forces with Ukraine’s state-owned defense company Ukroboronprom to repair and maintain Western-produced military vehicles and ultimately to produce them domestically in Ukraine, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Oct. 24.

In other news

Poland’s opposition, victorious in elections, proposes new government. The three largest opposition parties in Poland, having defeated the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party in parliamentary elections on Oct. 15, are ready to form a government, opposition leader Donald Tusk said on Oct. 24.

Bloomberg: Stoltenberg says Sweden should join NATO by November. Stockholm seems to be getting closer to entering the alliance as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed a protocol on Sweden’s NATO accession on Oct. 23, leaving a ratification by the Turkish parliament as the final step.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Nate Ostiller, Lili Bivings, Dinara Khalilova, Martin Fornusek, Dominic Culverwell, Francis Farrell, Oleksiy Sorokin, Toma Istomina, and Rachel Amran.

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