Friday, October 18

Russia’s war against Ukraine

(L-R) Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda speaks with President Volodymyr Zelensky, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo, and European Council President Charles Michel prior the start of an EU Summit in the Europa building on Oct. 17, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. (Thierry Monasse/Getty Images)

‘First step to World War’ — North Korea preparing 10,000 soldiers to join Russia’s war, Zelensky confirms. According to military intelligence, North Korean officers are already in the occupied territories of Ukraine.

Victory plan includes Western-supplied missile package to force Russia toward talks, Zelensky says in Brussels. President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 17 that the victory plan includes placing conventional missile capabilities in Ukraine that would either force Russia to accept negotiations or destroy its military targets.

Getting out of ‘protracted’ war with Russia ‘almost impossible,’ Zaluzhnyi says. “We end in a state of protracted war. In my personal opinion, a way out of which protracted war seems… almost impossible,” said Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine’s former commander-in-chief and recently appointed ambassador to the U.K.

Zaluzhnyi: NATO armies built on Korean War-era military principles. “There will be no war of the 1953 model. I am talking about Korean War. It ended in summer 2023 in Ukraine, when two professional armies of more than a million personnel each faced each other in the battlefield.”

Ukraine’s draft system burdened with Soviet heritage, fixing it will take time, Zaluzhnyi says. Ukraine had to change its approach to mobilization as it carries Soviet influences, but much more time is needed for a proper reform, Zaluzhyni said at an event on Oct. 17 in response to a Kyiv Independent reporter.

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Ukraine signs bilateral security agreement with Greece. “Greece is ready to continue meeting Ukraine’s most urgent defense needs,” President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X.

Loss of coal mine near Pokrovsk could halve Ukraine’s steel production. Pokrovske coal mine, the largest coking coal producer in Ukraine and one of the largest in Eastern Europe, is located 10 km (6 miles) west of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine’s southern forces release footage of strike on Russian training facility. Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces uncovered and struck a military training facility of Russian troops, the unit said on social media on Oct. 15, publishing footage of the attack.

Russian ships ineffective for missile strikes, used to distract Ukraine’s defenses, Navy says. Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, said that if Russia deploys several cruise missile carriers to the sea, it does not mean they will be used for an attack.

US revising F-16 training to focus on younger pilots, WSJ reports. The shift could extend the training program by months, delaying the Ukrainian squadron’s battlefield readiness even further.

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Ukraine war latest: Zelensky says he told Trump that either Ukraine will join NATO or pursue nuclear weapons

President Zelensky later clarified the comments, saying Ukraine is not pursuing developing nuclear weapons and that the only viable option for ongoing protection is full NATO membership.

Photo: Pier Marco Tacca/Getty Images

Coming of age amidst war: The journey to adulthood for Ukraine’s youth during Russia’s war

For young Ukrainians, the universal concerns of adolescence — school, friendships, and future ambitions — are eclipsed by the harsh realities of air raid sirens, daily attacks, and the loss of loved ones.

Photo: America House Lviv / The Kyiv Independent

Human cost of war

Russian attacks injure 9 in Donetsk, Kherson oblasts. Ukrainian air defenses downed 22 of the 65 attack drones launched overnight, the Air Force reported. Two drones flew in the direction of Belarus, and 27 were lost to electronic warfare means.

General Staff: Russia has lost 674,270 troops since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 1,420 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Opinions and insights

Opinion: Trading territories means trading people

“This is not an abstract issue; it’s about the lives of real people. To leave them under Russian control is to condemn them to countless tragedies, burying them under the guise of ‘peace,’” writes Danylo Mokryk, a reporter with the Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigation Unit.

Photo: Ed Ram/The Washington Post via Getty Images

International response

US announces new sanctions against Chinese, Russian producers of drones used in Ukraine. The two Chinese companies — Limbach and Redlepus — have been working in tandem with IEMZ Kupol, a subsidiary of the Kremlin-owned weapons company Almaz-Antey, to create the drones, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said in a statement.

US, South Korea, Japan launch multinational group to monitor North Korea sanctions. The move came after Russia and China have blocked monitoring activities at the United Nations. In March, Moscow vetoed the annual renewal of the panel of experts monitoring U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang over its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

German fighter jets scrambled due to Russian spy plane over Baltic Sea. Germany’s Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft were scrambled due to a flight of a Russian Il-20 reconnaissance plane in over the international waters of the Baltic Sea, the German Air Force said on Oct. 16.

Orban calls Zelensky’s victory plan ‘terrifying,’ urges negotiations with Russia. “What (Zelensky) outlined yesterday in the Ukrainian parliament is more than terrifying,” Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban wrote, urging EU leaders to start talks with Moscow “as soon as possible.”

Trump blames Zelensky, Biden for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. While Trump was quick to blame U.S. and Ukrainian leadership for the full-scale war during an interview on Oct. 17, he made no mention of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

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