Ukraine Daily

Monday, October 24

Russia’s war against Ukraine

KAM’YANKA, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 23: Buildings lie in ruins after being destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian occupying forces, on October 23, 2022 in Kam’yanka, Kharkiv Oblast. President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of launching a massive attack on his country’s energy grid causing around 1.5 million households to be left without electricity. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Russian defense minister makes unproven claim about Ukrainian ‘dirty bomb.’ Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu made the claim in his phone conversations with U.K. Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu, and Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar. On the morning of Oct. 23, Russian state-owned agency RIA Novosti reported, citing sources, that Ukrainian forces were planning to use a “dirty bomb” or a “small nuclear bomb.” Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the head of Ukraine’s President’s Office, called Shoigu’s claims “absurd.”

FM Kuleba: ‘Russia’s ‘dirty bomb’ misinformation campaign might be aimed at creating pretext for false-flag operation.’ Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken following Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s claims that Ukraine could escalate the situation with a dirty bomb — a device that uses explosives to scatter radioactive waste. Russia provided no evidence to substantiate its allegation.

ISW: Russia’s scare-mongering calls with NATO on ‘dirty bombs’ likely aim to slow or suspend Western military aid to Ukraine. The Insitute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment that Russian Defense Minister’s calls to certain NATO countries claiming that Ukraine is preparing to conduct a false-flag attack using a dirty bomb are likely intended to intimidate Western states into cutting or limiting support for Ukraine.

Russian occupiers cut internet, mobile connection in Kherson to ‘isolate’ city. According to the National Resistance Center, Russian troops in occupied Kherson are “dismantling telecommunication equipment” in an attempt to stop the city’s resistance from sharing the information with Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Russian forces plan to leave the city without mobile connection, television and radio broadcasting to create an information blockade in Kherson during Ukraine’s counter-offensive.

Minister: Russia’s war destroys 90% of wind power, 50% of solar power facilities in Ukraine. The bulk of green energy is located in Ukraine’s southern regions, and their losses are currently the largest, Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said on television. The share of green energy in Ukraine’s energy system was about 10-11% before the full-scale Russian invasion, the minister said.

Official: Russians abduct 12 children with disabilities from Kherson Oblast. Russian illegal occupation authorities in Kherson Oblast are kidnapping children with disabilities from the Oleshky boarding school and transporting them to a psychiatric hospital in occupied Crimea, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak said.

Ministry: Ukraine’s grain exports hindered by Russian sabotage. Due to Russia’s efforts to block a UN-brokered deal to export Ukrainian grain, Ukraine’s Black Sea ports in Odesa Oblast have been working only at 25-30% of their capacity in recent days, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Ministry said.

Shmyhal: Ukraine has enough gas to get through winter. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said on Oct. 23 that Ukraine has 14.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas in storage, which he says is enough to last the winter. “In Ukraine, despite the shelling, the heating season has started,” Shmyhal said.

Special Operations Forces: Iranian drone instructors, officers spotted in Belarus. Instructors from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are training Russian forces in Belarus and coordinating the launches of Iranian-made drones, Ukraine’s Special Operations Forces said. According to information from Belarusian partisans, these instructors coordinated Shahed-136 drone strikes on infrastructure facilities in Kyiv Oblast, as well as on northern and western regions of Ukraine.

Russian forces build fortifications in Kursk Oblast on border with Ukraine. Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Russia’s Kursk Oblast, said that two defense lines had been built. Russia’s Defense Ministry and Border Guard are aiming to build a third defense line by Nov. 5, he said. On Oct. 22, the governor of Russia’s Belgorod Oblast said that Russian forces were building fortifications there as well. According to the UK Defense Ministry, Russia is also making a significant effort to prepare defenses in-depth behind the current front line in the Donbas, likely to deter any rapid Ukrainian counter-offensives.

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Ukraine war latest: Pressure mounts for Russians in Kherson as Ukraine presses forward. Russia withdraws from Kherson as Ukraine’s counteroffensive advances, the southern military command said on Oct. 23. Ukraine liberated 88 settlements in Kherson Oblast as of Oct. 21.

Photo: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP via Getty Images

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The human cost of Russia’s war

Prosecutor General’s Office: Russia’s war has killed 430 children, injured over 820 since Feb. 24. The highest number of casualties was documented in Donetsk Oblast, where 419 children have been killed or injured. In Kharkiv and Kyiv oblasts, 260 and 116 children have been killed and injured, respectively. These numbers, however, do not include casualties in the Russian-occupied territories and areas where hostilities are ongoing. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, 326 educational facilities in Ukraine have been completely destroyed and 2,663 have been damaged due to Russian aggression.

Governor: 3 killed in Russia’s overnight shelling of Kurdiumivka, Donetsk Oblast. Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said that Russian troops shelled the village of Kurdiumivka with artillery, destroying two residential houses and killing three people overnight on Oct. 23.

General Staff: Russia has lost 67,470 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 23 that Russia had also lost 2,584 tanks, 5,284 armored fighting vehicles, 4,039 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,667 artillery systems, 374 multiple launch rocket systems, 189 air defense systems, 245 helicopters, 270 airplanes, 1,361 drones, and 16 boats.

In other news

SBU detains Motor Sich head suspected of supplying military equipment to Russia. Ukrainian authorities detained Viacheslav Bohuslaiev, the head of Motor Sich, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of aircraft engines based in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine’s Security Service reported on Oct. 23. Bohuslaiev is suspected of collaborating with Russia, allegedly supplying it with aircraft engines, which Russia used for the “production and repair” of its attack helicopters Mi-8, Ka-52, and Mi-28.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Denys Krasnikov, Daria Shulzhenko, Oleg Sukhov, Alexander Khrebet, Teah Pelechaty, Natalia Datskevych, Brad LaFoy, and Olena Goncharova.

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