Battle Day at a Glance
Ukraine loses a third of its power plants – NATO pledges drone protection
10/18/2022, 8:20 PM
Russia wants to cut off electricity to Ukraine — and, according to Kiev, it also relies on cheap Iranian kamikaze drones. Selenskyj laments the massive destruction of domestic power plants within a week. NATO pledges swift assistance to strengthen air defenses One expert sees Kiev’s attacks halted. A look at the 237th day of the war.
Stoltenberg promises swift air defense support
After several Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance would provide anti-drone defense systems to Kiev “in the coming days.” It will help the country defend itself against Iranian-made drones that Russia uses to destroy critical infrastructure in Ukraine.
Power outages: Selensky complains of “difficult situation”.
According to its own reports, Ukraine is currently in a dangerous situation. “The situation across the country is now dire,” the president’s office in Kyiv said. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia destroyed 30 percent of Ukraine’s power plants within a week. According to state emergency services, more than 1,100 locations are without power. Meanwhile, up to 4,000 locations have been without power since October 7 due to the attacks. More than 70 people were killed and 240 injured in these attacks. Local electricity distributor DTEK announced that there were daytime interruptions in electricity and water supply in parts of the capital Kyiv.
The Russian Ministry of Defense launched attacks on Ukraine’s military and energy infrastructure with high-precision long-range weapons. All targets were hit. According to Ukrainian sources, the Russian military also used Iranian kamikaze drones in the attacks. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Facebook that he proposed to President Zelensky to sever diplomatic ties with Tehran. In a press conference, Kuleba announced that he would ask Israel to immediately provide military aid and air defense systems.
Iranian threats: Kremlin pretends not to have a clue
When asked by a journalist, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had “no information” about the use of Iranian drones in Ukraine by the Russian military. The US State Department has previously threatened sanctions against companies and countries involved in Iran’s drone program.
Iran has already pledged to deliver more drones and surface-to-surface missiles, according to government and diplomatic sources in Tehran. The agreement was already reached on October 6. At the time, Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Moghar and other Tehran officials were in Moscow negotiating with the Russian government over arms sales, according to four Iranian officials familiar with the matter.
Kiev’s military intelligence sees Russia’s missile reserves depleted
The Ukrainian military intelligence service HUR considers that the Russian stockpile of several types of missiles has reached an extremely low level. “Russia’s defense sector cannot produce enough new missiles, and the ones they went to war on February 24 are already exhausted,” HUR head Brigadier General Kyrillo Budanov said. news. “For many commodities, that number has already fallen below the critical level, the 30 percent level,” he added. Budanov, for example, noted that Russian exports of Iskander cruise missiles have fallen to 13 percent of normal levels.
Military expert sees turning point in war
According to military expert Carlo Masala, the war between Russia and Ukraine has reached another turning point. In the “Stern” podcast “Ukraine – the situation”, the professor of politics at the Bundeswehr University in Munich said that “the war is now returning”. Ukraine is coming under pressure in many places: “We are fighting in the east, we are fighting in the south, we have a second Belarusian front, so to speak, we are shelling big cities,” Masala explained. “The Ukrainians have lost the initiative,” and their counteroffensive in the occupied territories has “basically stopped.”
However, according to Masala, this will not change the massive problems of the Russian armed forces. It is a paradoxical situation that while the Ukrainians have modern equipment, they are now relying on simply built Iranian drones. And “another sign that the Russians are running out of material”.
Kremlin troops announce capture of Kharkiv
In the afternoon, the Russian army launched attacks on Kharkiv to the northeast and Mykolayiv to the south. According to their own reports, they recaptured the village of Korobivka near the Russian border in the Kharkiv region. It was the first time the Ukrainian army had captured a city since a successful counteroffensive in the area in September.
On September 21, Putin ordered the partial mobilization of hundreds of thousands of reservists to bolster his army. The Kremlin has now said that the partial mobilization is not yet complete, but has already been completed in some parts of the country.
15 killed in fighter jet crash in Russia
A Russian military plane crashed in Yeysk on the Sea of Azov on Monday, killing 15 people, according to new information from the governor of Russia’s Krasnodar region. The plane crashed into a residential complex in what investigators believe was a “technical fault” with the engine on a training flight near Ukraine.
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