Ukraine Daily

Tuesday, October 18

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Ukrainian firefighters works on a destroyed building after a drone attack in Kyiv on October 17, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. - Ukraine officials said on October 17, 2022 that the capital Kyiv had been struck four times in an early morning Russian attack with Iranian drones that damaged a residential building and targeted the central train station. (Photo by Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP via Getty Images)

Russia launches first-ever kamikaze drone attack on Kyiv, kills 4. Russia launched its first-ever attack on the Ukrainian capital using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones early on Oct. 17, Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko reported.

Russia hits infrastructure facility in Odesa. Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” reported that Russia launched a Kh-59 missile from an Su-35 aircraft coming from the Black Sea on Oct. 17. No casualties have been reported yet.

PM Shmyhal: Hundreds of settlements cut off from electricity after Russia’s recent attacks. Russian forces hit energy infrastructure in three Ukrainian regions in the morning of Oct. 17, causing power outages in “hundreds of settlements,” according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Apart from attacks on Kyiv, Russia also fired missiles at critical infrastructure in Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy oblasts, said Shmyhal.

Zelensky: ‘Enemies can attack our cities, but they won’t break us.’ President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the kamikaze drone attack in Kyiv on Oct. 17. “All night and all morning, the enemy was terrorizing civilians. Kamikaze drones and missiles are attacking all of Ukraine,” he said. “The occupiers will get only fair punishment and condemnation of the future generations. And we will get our victory.”

11 more Iranian-made drones downed, official number rises to 37. Air defense destroyed nine more Iranian-made kamikaze drones Shahed-136 with anti-aircraft missile units and fighter aircraft, Ukraine’s Air Forces reported. Ground forces destroyed at least two kamikaze drones. Early on Oct. 17, Ukraine’s military reported it shot down 26 Iranian-made Shahed-136 kamikaze drones launched overnight.

Reuters: Iran again denies supplying kamikaze drones to Russia. “The published news about Iran providing Russia with drones has political ambitions and it’s circulated by western sources. We have not provided weaponry to any side of the countries at war,” Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said on Oct. 17, according to Reuters. The statement came after Russia’s deadly attack with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones on central Kyiv on Monday morning.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry: Iran has become an accomplice in Russian aggression. The ministry called on Iran to stop supplying weapons to Russia. “Providing weapons for waging a war of aggression in Ukraine and killing Ukrainian citizens makes Iran complicit in Russia’s aggression, war crimes, and terrorist attacks against Ukraine,” the Foreign Ministry said.

Protesters gather in front of Iranian embassy in Kyiv over arms sales to Russia. The demonstrators accused Iran of supporting Russian terrorism and killing Ukrainians. Some of the protesters, draped in Ukrainian flags, put candles in front of the embassy and painted “Stop terror” in red on white sheets, while others sang and held posters saying “Iran supports terrorism.” The protest follows a massive Russian attack on Kyiv using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones early on Oct. 17.

Explosions heard in Brovary, Boryspil, Sofiiska Borshchahivka. Users on social networks shared videos showing explosions in the sky over the towns of Brovary and Boryspil, as well as the village of Sofiiska Borshchahivka in Kyiv Oblast. Boryspil Mayor Volodymyr Borysenko and Brovary Mayor Ihor Sapozhko said that air defense was hitting targets in their towns. These reports follow a massive Russian attack on the Ukrainian capital using Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones early on Oct. 17.

Ukraine returns 108 women POWs in major prisoner exchange with Russia. President’s Office Head Andriy Yermak reported that 108 Ukrainian women were freed from Russian captivity on Oct. 17.

Zelensky: ‘We do not forget about any of our people, we have to return them all’. President Volodymyr Zelensky commented on the return of 108 Ukrainian women who were freed from Russian captivity on Oct. 17. In his address to the nation, he thanked every person involved in the successful operation and said that “the more Russian prisoners we have, the sooner we can free our heroes.”

President’s Office: Russia must be expelled from G20. “Those who give orders to attack critical infrastructure to scare civilians and who organize total mobilization to cover the front line with corpses can’t sit at the same table with leaders of G20,” said Mykhailo Podoliak, an advisor to the President’s Office, following Russia’s drone attacks on central Kyiv.

Zelensky: When Russia’s capacity for terror is neutralized, it will have no choice but to think of peace. During his nightly address on Oct. 17, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russia’s latest drone attacks are further proof that it “has no chance on the battlefield and is “trying to cover up its military defeats with terror.” Zelensky again appealed to Ukraine’s partners to provide additional air defense systems, saying that once “Russian capabilities for terror are neutralized by our joint efforts with our partners, Russia will have no choice but to think about peace.”

ISW: Wagner Group, affiliated social media accounts increasingly critical of Kremlin. In its latest update, the Institute for the Study of War said Russian-controlled mercenary Wagner Group financier and affiliated social media accounts are increasingly criticizing the Russian military and societal issues in Russia, which “may indirectly undermine the Kremlin’s rule.”

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Ukraine’s fight to get Russia designated as state sponsor of terrorism, explained. The Kyiv Independent spoke with Vladyslav Vlasiuk, secretary of the Yermak-McFaul sanctions group, lawyer, and deputy chief of the Ukraine Task Force policy group, about the chances of Russia being labeled a state sponsor of terrorism and what the label would bring.

Photo: Kostyantyn Chernichkin/The Kyiv Independent

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Ukraine war latest: Kyiv drone attacks, prisoner exchange, plane crash. Russia attacked Ukrainian cities with kamikaze drones on Oct. 17, killing civilians and leaving swathes of land cut off from electricity.

Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images

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Russia attacks Kyiv with 28 drones: ‘Seeing it turning toward me was terrifying.’ For the second Monday in a row, central Kyiv awoke to the sound of explosions caused by a Russian attack.

Photo: Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP via Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Mayor: Death toll from Russia’s Oct. 17 attack rises to 4. The rescuers have found the body of the fourth civilian killed by Russia’s drone attack on a residential building in the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv, according to the city mayor, Vitali Klitschko. Before that, he said three people were killed, including a woman who was 6 months pregnant. The search and rescue operation is still ongoing.

Russia’s attack on Sumy Oblast kills 3, injures 9. Russian troops fired three missiles at Sumy Oblast in the morning of Oct. 17, hitting a civilian infrastructure site in the Romenskyi district, said Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the oblast governor. The strike killed three people and wounded nine. There are still people under the rubble; the rescue operation is ongoing, according to the official. Over 1,500 residents are left without electricity.

Russia fires at Sumy Oblast nearly 300 times in one day, 5 killed. Russia fired three missiles at infrastructure in Sumy oblast overnight, Sumy Oblast Governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi reported on Oct. 17 on Telegram. Five people were killed and 14 were hospitalized as a result of Russian attacks in the oblast. Rescue operations are ongoing, Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said.

Russia strikes Mykolaiv overnight, 1 killed. Russian forces launched S-300 missiles at Mykolaiv overnight on Oct. 18, hitting a two-story building, Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaliy Kim reported on Telegram. A man’s body was found under the rubble, Kim said.

Media: Death toll in Russian military plane crash rises to 6. The information was provided by Russia’s Emergency Situations Ministry, as cited by state news agency TASS. Earlier on Oct. 17, Russian media shared a video of the aftermath of a Russian Su-34 military aircraft crashing into a residential building in the town of Yeysk, Krasnodar Krai.

Police: 187 bodies exhumed at mass burial site in Lyman, Donetsk Oblast. Oleksandra Havrylko, a spokesperson for Donetsk Oblast police, said that 35 of the exhumed bodies are soldiers, and the rest are civilians. Some were killed by explosions but others could have been murdered, she said. The exhumation work is still ongoing; about 40 graves remain unexamined. Those buried at the site were killed during the Russian occupation of Lyman before it was liberated by Ukrainian troops in early October.

International response

EU raises its military assistance for Ukraine to 3.1 billion euros. The European Union has also agreed to launch the Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine to provide individual, collective and specialized training to Ukraine’s Armed Forces, according to EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell on Oct. 17. “Russia’s latest indiscriminate attacks will not shake our determination to support Ukraine, it will only reinforce it,” said Borrell.

Politico: Pentagon, EU consider funding Ukraine’s access to Starlink. The Pentagon is mulling over funding Ukraine’s use of Elon Musk’s SpaceX Starlink satellite network with the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, a fund that the U.S. uses to supply military assistance to Ukraine over the long term, two U.S. officials involved in the deliberations told Politico. EU countries are also discussing whether to contribute funding to the service to keep it working in Ukraine, Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis told Politico.

Minister: Ukraine to receive first NASAMS air defense systems from US soon. Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov added that the U.K. and the Netherlands had also promised to provide more surface-to-air missiles. Ukraine is also in talks on acquiring Crotale air defense systems from France, he said.

Italy to provide new military aid package to Ukraine. Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov made the announcement on Twitter on Oct. 17. Reznikov did not provide details about what the package would include.

Politico: US to strengthen sanctions against Iran. Washington plans to impose further sanctions against Tehran for helping Russia in the war against Ukraine, Politico reported, citing an undisclosed U.S. official.

Canada imposes fresh sanctions against Russian propagandists. Canada imposed on Oct. 17 sanctions on 34 individuals and one entity “complicit in the dissemination of Russian disinformation and propaganda,” Canada’s Foreign Affairs Ministry said. “These individuals and entity assist the Russian regime in undermining the principles of state sovereignty and are responsible for spreading false narratives that serve as pretexts for the Russian regime’s unjustifiable war,” the ministry said.

EU Parliament to vote on recognizing Russia as state sponsor of terrorism. The EU Parliament voted in favor on Oct .17 of a proposal put forth by the Sweden Democrats European Conservatives & Reformists to hold a debate on adopting a resolution to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. The resolution is scheduled for a vote at the end of November.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Denys Krasnikov, Dinara Khalilova, Oleg Sukhov, Alexander Query, Lili Bivings, and Anastasiya Gordiychuk.

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