[Korrespondent] 23:09 Against the backdrop of intensified missile attacks on infrastructure, the supply of air defense systems to Ukraine has become a top priority, German Foreign Minister Annalena Berbock said in an interview with Phoenix: "If we talk about tanks, they are already being supplied by other countries. In addition, thanks to the advance to the east, Ukrainian troops were able to capture a large number of Russian tanks. Therefore, now this issue is not as acute as the need for air defense."
23:05 Zelensky said that the key hot spots in the Donbass now are Soledar and Bakhmut, very heavy battles are going on there: "The invaders have thrown everyone they could against our forces, including 2000" prisoners "- they are among the mercenaries right there. And these are "zeks" with long sentences for serious crimes. They are kept at the front not only with money, but also with the promise of an amnesty. This is how the Russian state sponsors terror - it looks for murderers in prisons and promises them freedom if they kill again. Someone then the world still doubts whether it is worth officially recognizing Russia as a terrorist state?
23:03 Zelensky said that Ukraine now has the most meaningful relations with Saudi Arabia in 30 years: "There are serious agreements. Among other things, this is the partners' decision to provide a $400 million humanitarian support package. This is very important."
22:58 Zelensky said that Ukraine has already been able to export almost 8 million tons of food by sea - more than 300 ships. At the same time, 60% of the volume was sent to Africa and Asia. "We must do everything to ensure that Ukrainian grain exports only expand... This week, which begins, I expect new international results for our state," the president stressed.
22:51 Zelensky, in an evening video message, urged Ukrainians to be conscious of electricity consumption during peak hours: "This is an insignificant thing for every person's life - but very significant within the entire energy system. For example, this Saturday, residents of the Chernihiv region limited their electricity consumption by 20% "In the whole country - by an average of 10%. Kiev and the region - only by 7%. Please do more - if possible. From 17:00 to 23:00 we must reduce our electricity consumption. This is such a step, who, together with others, will ensure the defeat of Russian terrorist plans."
22:36 As a result of today's shelling from Russia, there were emergency shutdowns in the Sumy region, said the head of the OVA Dmitry Zhivitsky. So, at present there is not enough capacity for the Shostka district. Power engineers are trying to stabilize the grid, but they need help to speed up the process: the population is urged to limit electricity consumption today until the end of the day and tomorrow from 8:00 to 11:00.
22:27 The head of the Nikolaev OVA, Vitaly Kim, said that the Russians were attacking the region with Iranian drones, several of them were shot down, but there were also hits.
22:15 The Foreign Ministers of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania issued a joint statement calling on the EU, together with international partners, to help Ukraine create a Special Tribunal that will judge the top leadership of the Russian Federation.
21:53 The occupiers do not let people into the free territory of Ukraine: only 173 people left during the day, including 36 children, said the head of the Zaporizhzhia OVA, Alexander Starukh. According to him, the Russians continue to brutally shell Orekhov and Gulyaipole: 52 civilian infrastructure facilities in 20 settlements were damaged, 23 buildings were completely destroyed.
21:26 Belarus is reinforcing the border with Ukraine - "enlarged border detachments and mobile groups of territorial bodies of the border service" are being withdrawn there, the Border Committee of the Republic of Belarus said. The decision was made against the backdrop of "an increase in intelligence activity on the Ukrainian side."
20:07 On Monday, October 17, the EU Council will consider the ninth package of sanctions against Russia, said Latvian Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics: "The EU Foreign Affairs Council will call for greater support for Ukraine, work on the ninth package of sanctions against the Russian Federation, as well as the confiscation of frozen Russian state assets and the creation of a special tribunal for crimes committed by Russia."
19:48 The invaders are stepping up filtration measures in the Kherson region and have begun the process of evacuating the so-called "state institutions." According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, employees and property of banks and a pension fund are being taken from Kherson to Crimea.
18:43 Obama said that communication between the White House and the Putin administration is even weaker than during the Soviet era: "I think that now we are dealing with a type of Russian regime that is even more isolated and closed. Putin has consolidated the decision-making process to such degree, which we did not see even in Soviet times".
18:36 Washington will respond to Russia's use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, regardless of the scale of the strike, Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan said: "The use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine is the use of nuclear weapons on the battlefield, we are not going to make gradations" .
18:21 Peskov said that NATO "de facto has already got into the Ukrainian conflict, but this in no way affects all of our goals and assumptions, that is, the operation continues, and it will be brought to an end." According to him, NATO's participation "complicates" Russia's tasks, but it has enough resources to complete the "special operation."
17:30 France will supply Ukraine with Crotale short-range air defense systems, Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu said. According to him, they will be especially useful in the fight against drones and aerial bombardments.
17:23 Israeli Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai believes it's time for Ukraine to receive the same military assistance from Israel as from the US and NATO: "This morning there were reports that Iran is transferring ballistic missiles to Russia. There are no more doubt which side Israel should take in this bloody conflict."
16:44 In the southern direction, the ratio of losses among Ukrainian defenders and Russian occupiers is approximately 1 to 6.5. The commander of OK Pivden, Major General Andrey Kovalchuk, says that the critical limit of the loss ratio is 1 to 8, after which the enemy army will begin to psychologically "crumble".
16:17 Due to the strike on the Kerch bridge, the Russians have lost the opportunity to transfer weapons and equipment to the Crimea, said the speaker of the Operational Command Pivden Natalia Gumenyuk: "They are in a very critical condition with equipment, with supplies, with logistics. Because the reserves were really pulled up from there ", and almost 75% of these deliveries passed through the Crimean bridge. Now even the sea is on our side, even nature is against something functioning there, because they even stopped ferries. Because of the wind, it is impossible to communicate between points across the strait , so they really suffer because of the lack of equipment, ammunition, military equipment."
15:58 The aviation component of the regional group of troops has started arriving in Belarus from Russia, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Belarus has reported. It is also reported that the number of Russian military, which will be in Belarus as part of the deployment of the group, will be up to 9,000 people.
15:41 The missile attack on October 11-12 was planned with the participation of Russian power engineers - this is evidenced by the choice of targets in the Ukrainian power grids and its scale, said Volodymyr Kudrytsky, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo, in an interview with BIHUS info.
14:14 The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced that it guarantees the payment of 100 thousand dollars for the transfer of Igor Girkin (Strelkov) to Ukrainian captivity.
12:47 Iran is strengthening its commitment to supply weapons to Russia and is ready to transfer not only drones, but also ground-to-ground missiles, writes The Washington Post, citing US and allied security officials. According to Western intelligence, Iran's industry is preparing the first batch of Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar missiles, two well-known short-range Iranian ballistic missiles capable of hitting targets at a distance of 300 and 700 km, respectively. If the plan is implemented, this will be the first delivery of such missiles to Russia since the beginning of the war.
In addition, Iran is preparing new deliveries of unmanned aerial vehicles for Russia, including dozens of additional Mohajer-6s and more Shahed-136s.
12:16 Kyiv and the entire central region spent the evening of October 15 without forced restrictions on electricity consumption due to the fact that Ukrainians deliberately limited the use of electrical appliances in the evening. According to Ukrenergo, consumers in Kyiv and the region together reduced their consumption by 7%, and the residents of the Chernihiv region became the most conscious, their result is almost 20%.
11:40 The Egyptian Embassy in Ukraine called on its citizens to leave the country as soon as possible.
11:38 The air defense system worked over Belgorod, at least 16 explosions sounded, Russian media write.
11:33 Mayor of Melitopol Ivan Fedorov outlined the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in recent days in the Zaporozhye direction:
- an ammunition depot was destroyed near Hulyaypole and more than 20 invaders were wounded;
- in Tokmak, ten units of military equipment were destroyed and up to 40 Russian servicemen were wounded;
- in Pologi - up to 30 wounded invaders;
- in Kamenka-Dniprovska, seven units of military equipment were destroyed and about 40 enemy servicemen were wounded;
- the number of dead, which the invaders are trying to carefully hide, is being specified;
- in the areas of the settlements of Orekhov, Horse Discord and Tokmak, about 100 invaders were struck, among them more than 25 were just mobilized;
- in the Berdyansk region, four S-300 complexes were destroyed.
10:05 British intelligence notes that the Russian defense industry is probably not able to produce ammunition quickly enough. On October 10 alone, Russia fired more than 80 cruise missiles into Ukraine, of which more than half were shot down by air defense forces. The Russian defense industry is likely unable to produce advanced munitions at the rate they are used up, analysts conclude.
10:03 The General Staff announced the approximate losses of the enemy on the morning of October 16. The enemy suffered the greatest losses in the Krivoy Rog and Bakhmut directions.
- personnel - about 65,000 (+300) people liquidated,
- tanks - 2529 (+5),
- armored combat vehicles - 5193 (+14),
- artillery systems - 1589 (+7),
- MLRS - 365 (+0),
- air defense systems - 186 (+0),
- aircraft - 268 (+0),
- helicopters - 242 (+0),
- UAV operational-tactical level - 1224 (+14),
- cruise missiles - 316 (+0),
- ships/boats - 16 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tankers - 3959 (+8),
- special equipment - 143 (+1).
09:52 In the Kharkiv region, over the past day, the enemy has been shelling settlements near the collision line and the border with the Russian Federation in the Chuguevsky, Kharkov, Izyum and Kupyansky districts. In the Kupyansky district, three people were hospitalized with a wound, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the OVA, said.
09:43 The enemy attacked the Nikolaev region from the Bastion coastal missile system with one Onyx-type cruise missile from the territory of Crimea, there were no losses, OK Pivden reported. Also on October 15, during enemy shelling of the Resurrection community, one person was injured, a residential building and an administrative building of the railway station were damaged, Vitaly Kim, head of the Nikolaev OVA, said.
09:38 In the Pologovsky district of the Zaporozhye region, as a result of the morning shelling of the Russians, two schools were destroyed, the head of the OVA, Alexander Starukh, said. Also tonight, the enemy fired two rockets at a school in the village of Vozdvizhenka. The educational institution was almost completely destroyed. Another rocket hit a local park, damaging private houses around. Also, a school in the village of Dobropolye was destroyed by rockets, no one was injured.
09:32 In the Donetsk region, as a result of Russian shelling over the past day, one civilian was killed - in Bakhmut. In addition, the bodies of six more civilians killed by the Russians during the occupation were found in Liman. Three more people were injured yesterday, Pavel Kirilenko, head of the OVA, said.
09:30 The "DPR" stated that the building of the city administration of Donetsk was damaged as a result of shelling by Ukrainian troops.
09:01 The Chinese Foreign Ministry called on its citizens to leave Ukraine for security reasons.
08:02 Over the past day, units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine repelled enemy attacks in the areas of the settlements of Torskoye and Disputed in the Kramatorsk direction, Berestovo, Soledar and Bakhmut in the Bakhmut direction and Maryinka, Pobeda and Nevelskoye in the Avdievsky direction, the General Staff said in the morning report .
07:31 Russians at night fired from Gradov and heavy artillery at the Nikopol and Marganets community of the Nikopol district of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Nikopol suffered the most - as a result of the shelling, one person was wounded there, said the head of the UVA, Valentin Reznichenko.
05:15 The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) writes that PMC Wagner is trying to establish an advantage over the Russian Ministry of Defense, and its founder Yevgeny Prigozhin wants to curry favor with Putin and separate Wagner's forces from the conventional forces of the Defense Ministry.
02:28 It will be much more difficult for the Russians to fight in winter than the Armed Forces of Ukraine, because, compared to the Ukrainian troops, they are not well equipped, not ready and not trained, says Ben Hodges, ex-commander of the US Ground Forces in Europe.
00:37 The former "Minister of Defense of the DPR", the ex-leader of the Donetsk militants Igor Girkin (Strelkov), is probably fighting in Ukraine again - this follows from his wife's post on social networks. Ukrainian activist Sergei Sternenko wrote that he would give $10,000 from his personal savings to anyone who would take Girkin prisoner. After that, the leader of the Antitila group, Taras Topolya, announced that he would add another 10,000 to this money. Military writer Valery Markus also promised $10,000. They were joined by tennis player Serhiy Stakhovsky, as well as the head of the Luhansk OVA Serhiy Gaidai - each for 10 thousand dollars.
Thus, as of the beginning of Sunday, 50 thousand dollars have already been promised for the living prisoner Girkin. “I feel that the Buryats can bring it to us in the trunk,” summed up Sternenko.
00:08 Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian claims that his country does not supply drones to Russia: "The Islamic Republic of Iran has not supplied and will not supply weapons to any side involved in the war in Ukraine. We think that arming any side of the crisis will lead to prolongation of the war, therefore we did not and do not consider war to be the right decision either in Ukraine, or in Afghanistan, or in Syria and Yemen."