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Russia has fired 4,500 missiles throughout Ukraine war, Zelenskiy says
The war in Ukraine has seen Russia launch more than 8,000 air strikes and fire 4,500 missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed.
Standing beside the wreckage of a downed Iranian drone, he vowed that Putin’s attacks on power plants would not break Ukrainian spirits.
Russia had aimed dozens of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukraine’s electricity network causing widespread power cuts over the last two weeks, with Ukraine shooting down 23 drones in the last two days alone.
“Shelling will not break us – to hear the enemy’s anthem on our land is scarier than the enemy’s rockets in our sky. We are not afraid of the dark,” Zelenskiy said.
Key events
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said that the “partial mobilisation” Russia announced in September was complete.
Speaking at a meeting with president Vladimir Putin broadcast on state television, Shoigu said that 82,000 mobilised recruits were in the conflict zone, with a further 218,000 in training.
Dozens of Iranians have gathered in Kyiv in protest of Iran’s government allegedly delivering drones to Russia.
The demonstrators gathered in the city’s Maidan Square holding signs reading “the Iranian people stand with Ukraine”, and waving both countries’ national flags.
Ukraine and the west have accused Iran of supplying Russia with military equipment to use in attacks against citizens – claims which Iran has rejected.
A former Russian president has told Elon Musk to pull his internet service Starlink in Ukraine.
Dmitry Medvedev, now the deputy chair of Russia’s security council, was congratulating the businessman on his recent takeover of Twitter when he made the request.
“Good luck in overcoming political bias and ideological dictatorship on Twitter. And quit that Starlink in Ukraine business,” he said.
Good luck @elonmusk in overcoming political bias and ideological dictatorship on Twitter. And quit 👋 that Starlink in Ukraine business
— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) October 28, 2022
Starlink has proved vital for Ukraine’s communications with officials praising the program, which Musk previously said costs $20m per month.
Musk and Medvedev last month shared an exchange in which the billionaire asked the Russian official how things were going in Bakhmut – a strategic town in the east Donbas region – to which he replied: “See you in Moscow on Victory Day!”
At least four killed and 10 wounded in attacks near Zaporizhzhia power plant
At least four people have been killed and 10 wounded in the latest attack from Russian troops, Ukraine has said.
Several towns neighbouring the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia power plant across the Dnieper River were hit by shelling, a statement from the presidential office said.
Dozens of residential buildings were damaged and power lines cut leaving thousands without a supply.
Damaged flats at a residential building are seen in Nikopol, Ukraine.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has plunged Europe into an era of insecurity, Germany said, a day after the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, predicted a “dangerous” decade ahead.
The German president, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is from a wing of Germany’s Social Democrats that long argued for closer economic ties to Moscow, said the invasion had ruptured those hopes.
“When we look at the Russia of today, there is no room for old dreams,” he said, referring to the former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev’s dream of a “common European home”.
“It has also plunged us in Germany into another time, into an insecurity we thought we had overcome: a time marked by war, violence and flight, by concerns about the expansion of war into a wildfire in Europe,” he said.
“Harder years, rough years are coming.”
Germany, which has joined European sanctions against Russia and weapons deliveries to Ukraine, has recorded the arrival of more than a million Ukrainian refugees and warned of possible energy shortages this winter after cuts in Russian gas supplies, Reuters reported.
Charlotte Higgins
In a war, there are many fronts and many forms of resistance. Ievgen Klopotenko, a Ukrainian chef, is fighting his war with soup.
In defiance of the Russian cruise missile and drone attacks that have hit Kyiv recently, Klopotenko was last week presiding over his bustling city centre restaurant. On the menu were dishes such as beetroot and herring salad with smoked pear from the Odesa region, venison from the Carpathians, and a dessert named “Kherson is Ukraine”.
Alongside a citrus semifreddo, the pudding included watermelon that he had bought last season in Kherson and fermented. The region, which Vladimir Putin claimed to have annexed last month but is now the site of fierce fighting, is famous for the fruit.
And, of course, Klopotenko was serving borscht. In this case, with a touch of plum jam to balance out the sourness of the beetroot. For a hint of smokiness, it had been cooked slow and low in a wood-fired oven, as if “under a duvet”.
Ukraine has shot down more than 300 Iranian-made drones – spokesman
Ukraine has shot down more than 300 Iranian Shahed-136 ‘kamikaze’ drones so far, an air force spokesperson, Yuriy Ihnat, told a briefing on Friday.
The drones have become a key weapon in Russia’s arsenal during its war in Ukraine and have often been used in the past month to target crucial energy infrastructure.
Iran has denied Ukrainian and western accusations that it is supplying drones to Russia.
Standing in the dark beside the wreckage of a downed drone, Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed that widespread Russian attacks on power plants would not break Ukrainian spirits.
The Ukrainian president made his daily address outside after Russia aimed missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukraine’s electricity generating network over the last two weeks, causing major damage and triggering blackouts.
“Shelling will not break us – to hear the enemy’s anthem on our land is scarier than the enemy’s rockets in our sky. We are not afraid of the dark,” Zelenskiy said.
The US and its allies condemned Russia for wasting the time of the UN security council and spreading conspiracies by again raising its accusation that the US has ‘military biological programmes’ in Ukraine.
“How much more of this nonsense do we have to endure?” the UK’s ambassador to the UN, Barbara Woodward, asked the council.
Russia has previously raised at least twice at the security council the issue of biological weapons programmes in Ukraine – while Washington and Kyiv say they do not exist. Russia is pushing for a formal inquiry.
Summary
It’s 1pm in Kyiv – here are the day’s events so far.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy claims Russia has launched 8,000 air strikes and fired 4,500 missiles throughout the war. He vows the attacks will not break Ukraine’s spirits as “to hear the enemy’s anthem on our land is scarier than the enemy’s rockets in our sky”.
The US dismisses Russian accusations it is helping Ukraine engage with banned biological weapons. It claims Russia is attempting to “distract from the atrocities” being carried out in Ukraine, calling the allegations “pure fabrications brought forth without a shred of evidence”.
Russia has bolstered its troops with “mobilised reservists” west of the Dnieper River, the UK’s MoD says. Over the past six weeks, its ground forces have transitioned to a “defensive posture” on the frontline, likely due to being “severely undermanned” and “poorly trained”.
The EU appoints Polish general Piotr Trytek to lead a new training operation with Ukrainian troops. Trytek, 51, was chosen by the bloc as part of its pledge to step up military support for Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin’s first deputy chief of staff visits the Russian-held Ukrainian city of Kherson. Sergei Kiriyenko stopped at the ferry port where hundreds of people were being removed after a warning from authorities.
A Russian official’s threat to “strike” western satellites aiding Ukraine has raised concerns among space lawyers and industry executives about the safety of objects in orbit. No country has carried out a missile strike against an enemy’s satellite.
The UN nuclear inspectors are expected to reach conclusion on “dirty bomb”. Investigators are being sent to two locations in Ukraine where Russia alleged the activities were taking place, and are expected to reach a conclusion “in days very fast”.
Russia claims only 3% of food exported under the UN-brokered Black Sea export deal has gone to the poorest countries. Several tonnes of grain have left blockaded Ukrainian ports since the contract was signed, however, Russia says Ukraine has failed to deliver humanitarian food assistance.
The US is sceptical of Putin’s claim to have no intention of using nuclear weapons. Putin had played down a nuclear standoff insisting Russia had not threatened to use nuclear weapons, and had only responded to nuclear “blackmail” from western leaders.
That’s all from me, Zaina Alibhai, today. My colleague Tom Ambrose will continue to bring you the latest from Ukraine.
Only 3% of food exported under a UN-brokered deal has gone to the poorest countries, Russia has claimed.
Since the Black Sea grain export contract was signed in July, several tonnes of corn, wheat, sunflower products, barley, rapeseed. and soya have left the blockaded Ukrainian ports.
However, Russia has accused Ukraine of failing to deliver humanitarian food assistance. “The geography of the recipients of these cargoes has turned out to be completely inconsistent with the initially declared humanitarian objectives,” a statement read.
“Needy states such as Somalia, Ethiopia, Yemen, Sudan, (and) Afghanistan have received just 3% of food, mostly from the World Food Programme.”
Russia has previously complained of problems with the export deal raising fears it could pull out altogether unless its demands are met.
Russia has fired 4,500 missiles throughout Ukraine war, Zelenskiy says
The war in Ukraine has seen Russia launch more than 8,000 air strikes and fire 4,500 missiles, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed.
Standing beside the wreckage of a downed Iranian drone, he vowed that Putin’s attacks on power plants would not break Ukrainian spirits.
Russia had aimed dozens of missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles at Ukraine’s electricity network causing widespread power cuts over the last two weeks, with Ukraine shooting down 23 drones in the last two days alone.
“Shelling will not break us – to hear the enemy’s anthem on our land is scarier than the enemy’s rockets in our sky. We are not afraid of the dark,” Zelenskiy said.
The US has dismissed accusations from Russia that its defence department was helping Ukraine engage with banned biological weapons.
Calling the allegations “pure fabrications brought forth without a shred of evidence”, the US claimed Russia was attempting to “distract from the atrocities” being carried out in Ukraine.
“Ukraine does not have a biological weapons program. The United States does not have a biological weapons program. There are no Ukrainian biological weapons laboratories supported by the United States,” the US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said.
Russia’s United Nations ambassador said the country would pursue an investigation that both the US and Ukraine violated the convention prohibiting use.
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