(Bloomberg) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said nearly a third of the country’s power stations have been destroyed in Russian strikes since Oct. 10, triggering blackouts, while a report showed the nation’s power grid held steady.
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Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, urged residents in the capital to conserve electricity and water use as more critical infrastructure was damaged in further strikes. Zelenskiy expressed gratitude to troops who have intercepted attacking drones, saying “every destroyed drone is a life saved.”
Meanwhile, a number of Russian regions have already met their targets for President Vladimir Putin’s “partial mobilization,” which entails 300,000 additional troops for the Ukrainian front, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
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On the Ground
Six C-300 missiles hit storage facilities for humanitarian aid in Kharkiv this morning, according to a TV report citing local police. Explosions hit the city of Kryvyi Rih in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Tuesday morning, mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said on Telegram. Air raid sirens went off across most of Ukraine Tuesday morning, including Kyiv. Energy facilities were hit in strikes at Dnipro and Zhytomyr, according to the deputy head of the president’s staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, who cited “serious damage.” Some 20 civilians were killed by Russian attacks on Oct. 17, and 22 were injured, deputy head of presidential staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said on Telegram.
(All times CET)
Ukraine’s Top Envoy Calls for Breaking Ties With Iran (2:47 p.m.)
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba asked President Zelenskiy to break the country’s diplomatic ties with Iran over its continued support for Russian aggression. After Iranian drones caused massive damage to civilian infrastructure and many casualties, Iran may be planning to provide Russia with ballistic missiles, Kuleba said in an online video.
Ukraine Raises Military Spending by More Than $10 Billion (2:23 p.m.)
The Ukrainian parliament passed a law increasing budget spending by almost 387 billion hryvnia ($10.5 billion), primarily to finance the nation’s military and defense needs, according to the Rada’s website. The spending will be financed with a “corresponding increase in domestic borrowing,” it said.
Backlog of Ukrainian Grain Ships Eases (12:10 p.m.)
A logjam of vessels shipping Ukrainian crops eased as inspections sped up over the weekend, but the backlog remains high with just over a month of the grain-export deal left.
Shippers are rushing to export as much as possible through the Black Sea corridor before the current deal expires, with negotiations on extending it continuing.
Russia needs assurances from the US for the grain deal to continue, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said, speaking to AHaber TV in a live interview. Kalin said he conveyed Russian concerns to US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
McDonald’s Reopens More Restaurants in Ukraine Despite Shelling (11:25 a.m.)
McDonald’s reopened four restaurants in Ukraine’s western city of Lviv following the relaunch of its business in the country last month and despite a wave of missile and drone attacks from Russia on Ukraine’s cities, news service Interfax reported, citing the company’s press office.
Lviv became the second Ukrainian city, after Kyiv, where McDonald’s reopened its restaurants. Long lines have formed despite the invasion, with restaurants open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., with pauses during air-raid alerts.
Kremlin Reiterates Mobilization Covers 300,000 Troops (11:20 a.m.)
Putin’s order for a “partial mobilization” covers 300,000 troops and a number of Russian regions have already met their targets for recruitment under it, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“In the decree, it’s specified up to 300,000,” Peskov told a conference call, without explaining why the text of the order released by the Kremlin when Putin signed it last month doesn’t include that figure. The decree includes an article that’s classified, but officials have refused to comment on what it covers.
Putin on Friday announced that the mobilization, which has led to widespread anxiety in Russia and triggered an exodus of more than 300,000 people out of the country, would be completed within two weeks. This week, the heads of Moscow and several other regions announced they’d completed the call-up and suspended further recruitment, but fears have persisted that the mobilization may resume.
Kyiv Mayor Asks Citizens to Conserve Power, Water (11 a.m.)
More critical infrastructure was damaged in Kyiv by fresh Russian missile strikes, Mayor Klitschko said on Facebook. “Currently, electricity and water supply services is partially limited in many houses on the left bank of the Dnipro river in Kyiv” Klitschko said. He urged Kyiv residents to use electricity and water as sparingly as possible, and not to turn on powerful electrical appliances. “City services are doing everything needed to stabilize the situation and return vital services to citizens,” Klitschko said.
Zelenskiy Says Nearly a Third of Ukraine’s Power Stations Destroyed (10:25 a.m.)
Since Oct. 10, Russian strikes have destroyed 30% of the country’s power stations, Zelenskiy said on Twitter, adding this has left no room for negotiations with Moscow.
While the attacks have led to electricity outages in parts of the country, Ukrenergo has been able to blunt the impact by shifting power loads on its transmission system.
Russia’s Oct. 10 missile blitz originally knocked 2 gigawatts of power offline, equivalent to about 14% of electricity supplied the week before. But the Paris-based International Energy Agency said more than 1.3 gigawatts of generating capacity had been restored as of Monday.
Belarus Military Exercises Used to Distract Ukraine, Latvia Says (10:10 a.m)
Belarus’s joint military exercises with Russia are taking place to divert Ukrainian resources away from its eastern front, Latvia’s intelligence service said in a statement. Russia and Belarus will hold exercises that include live fire and anti-aircraft missiles, Valeriy Revenko, an assistant to the defense minister of Belarus, said on Monday.
Still, if Belarus were to enter the war, its main role would be to sever Western military supply lines, the Latvian service said. Any move could weaken the Belarus regime’s ability to suppress dissent since the public largely opposes the attack on Ukraine.
Nord Stream Missing About 50 Meters of Pipeline: Expressen (9:55 a.m.)
A section of Nord Stream spanning at least 50 meters seems to be missing in the area of the Baltic Sea where detonations caused a rupture in the gas pipeline last month, Swedish newspaper Expressen reported.
Expressen filmed the underwater pipeline using a drone operated by Norwegian company Blueye Robotics.
NATO Will ‘Defend Every Centimeter’ of Territory (9:45 a.m.)
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock vowed that NATO will defend “every centimeter” of the alliance’s territory should it be threatened by Russian aggression.
“The security of the Baltic and of eastern Europe is Germany’s security,” Baerbock said at a Koerber Foundation forum in Berlin. “And we will continue to support Ukraine intensively with weapons, because we’re not only supplying arms to Ukraine to save lives, but, I hope, with these deliveries comes a measure of trust and solidarity,” she added.
Norway Detains Four Russian Citizens Under Suspicion (9:06 a.m.)
Norwegian authorities took four Russian citizens into custody, accusing them of taking images of “objects subject to a photography ban” in the northern region of Nordland, police said.
The three men and a woman were detained on Oct. 11 after police found photography equipment and “relatively extensive” visual material in their car. No connection had been found with cases reported last week, which two Russian nationals were detained for illegally flying drones and taking footage. The Russian embassy referred to Norway’s actions as a “psychosis,” NTB newswire reported.
Two Nuclear Plant Officials Detained by Russia, Ukraine Says (8 a.m.)
Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom accused Russia of detaining two senior officials of the Zaporizhzhia plant — Oleh Kostyukov, the head of its information technology service, and Oleh Osheka, the station’s general director assistant. “We appeal to the director general of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, and the entire world community to make every effort and take all possible measures to release the ZapNPP workers,” the company said.
Death Toll From Russian Jet Crash Reaches 13 (6 a.m.)
Some 13 people died in Monday’s crash of a Russian Su-34 fighter jet in Yeysk, a southern Russian city on the Azov Sea across from Crimea, according to the country’s ministry of emergency situations. Another 19 where injured. Rescuers have finished searching the rubble, the ministry said.
The Defense Ministry told Interfax that one of the plane’s engines caught fire when it took off for a training flight.
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