Ukraine Latest: Putin Congratulates China’s Xi on Third Term

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Russian President Vladimir Putin was quick to congratulate Xi Jinping on Sunday after the Chinese leader secured a third term as head of the country’s ruling Communist Party. Putin said he looked forward to further developing a “comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction” between the countries.

Russian annexation authorities issued an evacuation order for the city of Kherson telling civilians to depart immediately ahead of an expected counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops. Moscow’s troops are withdrawing from the western Kherson region. Ukraine has said that Russia intends to blow up a major hydroelectric dam upstream from Kherson to flood the Dnipro River and slow its advance.

On Saturday, Russian forces launched dozens of rockets and drones against Ukraine in a “massive attack” on Saturday, said President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Missiles hit energy targets in at least nine regions. About 30% of Ukraine’s energy facilities have been damaged over the past two weeks. Saturday’s strikes at one point left over 1.5 million people without electricity; efforts to fully restore power continue.

(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)

Key Developments

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Russia Hits Ukraine’s Power Grid, Causing Widespread Blackouts
Ukraine Crop Deal Fears Boost Food Costs and Slow Shipments
Ex-Moscow Investment Banker Takes Top Job in War-Torn Region
The Private Jet That Took 100 Russians Away From Putin’s War

On the Ground

Ukraine shot down 16 drones on the night of Oct. 23, its defense ministry said Sunday, after Moscow’s troops attacked positions in the south. Eleven drones were destroyed in Mykolaiv region alone. That follows Russia’s extensive missile and drone attacks on Saturday targeted at Ukraine’s electrical grid. Russia is attempting offensives in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, Ukrainian army spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun said. Kremlin troops continue to shell Ukrainian positions along the line of contact and conduct aerial reconnaissance. Russian forces continued on Saturday to withdraw from Ukraine’s western Kherson region “while preparing to conduct delaying actions that will likely be only partially effective,” said the Institute for the Study of War.

(All times CET)

Putin Congratulates China’s Xi on Third Term (10:20 a.m.)

Vladimir Putin told China’s Xi Jinping he looks forward to “continuing our constructive dialogue and working closely together to develop a comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction” between the two nations, according to a Kremlin statement.

Russia’s leader was among the first to sent regards after Xi secured an historic third term as head of the country’s ruling Communist Party.

Weeks Left to Straighten Out Russian Oil Logistics (8:30 a.m.)

Traders, tanker companies and the world’s most powerful governments are becoming increasingly fixated upon one question in the oil market: can the petroleum industry’s supply chain handle the harshest sanctions on Russian exports in history, due to start in another six months.

In the meantime, a vast shadow fleet of tankers is being amassed to service Moscow’s interests. Intense US-led diplomatic wrangling to soften aggressive European Union sanctions has been going on for months, but time is ticking.

Read more: Russian Oil Logistics in Chaos With Weeks Until Sanctions Bite

Ukraine’s PM Asks Germany for Urgent Military Aid (8 a.m.)

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal asked Germany to provide further military aid as soon as possible, in particular to defend against repeated Iranian-made drones, according to an interview with Germany’s Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung and reported by DPA.

Ukraine is “impatiently” waiting for new ammunition, which is needed “right now,” Shmyhal said. “It is literally a matter of days.”

Separately, Shmyhal said Ukraine may be left without salaries and pension payments if the European Union stops providing promised funding. “We have already exhausted all possibilities of saving,” he said.

Ukraine Says Russian Troops Flee in Kherson Area (1 a.m.)

Russian troops continue to leave the Kherson region amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive, the general staff in Kyiv said on Facebook. Russian officers left the town of Beryslav, 77 kilometres (48 miles) east of Kherson up the Dnipro river, according to the account.

US-based analysts at the Institute for the Study of War said Kremlin troops have abandoned their positions in Charivne and Chkalove. Medics as well as offers have reportedly evacuated from Beryslav, they said.

Russian forces are removing patients from the Kakhovka Hospital on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, “likely to free up hospital beds for Russian military casualties that may result from the withdrawal across the river,” ISW said.

Annexation Officials Order Rapid Kherson Evacuation (6 p.m.)

Russian-installed authorities ordered all civilians in the southern city of Kherson to leave “immediately” ahead of an expected advance by Ukrainian troops and take “documents, money, valuables and clothes” with them.

In a Telegram post that added urgency to previous statements, the pro-Kremlin administration called on civilians to use boat crossings over the Dnipro River to move deeper into Russian-held territory, citing a tense situation at the front.

There was no immediate comment from Ukrainian authorities. Kyiv has warned that Russia has mined and may attempt to blow up the Kakhovka dam on the Dnipro River above Kherson, causing massive flooding to the city and dozens of other settlements downstream.