Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 22:17 Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced that new military aid would be provided to Ukraine in the near future. He specified that "we are talking about artillery, air defense, armored vehicles, ammunition and other important weapons."
21:16 The United States has identified about 8,000 North Korean soldiers in the Kursk region who could take part in combat operations in the coming days, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Overall, the US estimates that there are about 10,000 North Korean troops in Russia. "If these troops take part in combat operations or operations in support of combat operations against Ukraine, they will become legitimate military targets," Blinken emphasized.
17:29 Zelensky said in an interview with the South Korean TV channel KBS that after the DPRK troops enter the war, Ukraine may file a request for the arrest of Kim Jong-un in the International Criminal Court, as was done with Putin. He also said that Kiev will officially ask Seoul for military assistance - in particular, artillery, air defense systems, etc. According to the president, Putin is now checking how the West will react to the participation of DPRK troops in the war against Ukraine. If the reaction is weak, Moscow will attract even more North Korean troops, Zelensky predicts.
He also stressed that if Trump, if elected US President, wants to end the war by forcing Ukraine to cede its territories, he will not succeed. As for the Kursk operation, according to Zelensky, Ukraine is ready to use it to end the war, diplomatic steps or military tactical steps on the battlefield, if it has an influential effect.
16:48 The first point of the internal "strengthening plan" that Zelensky recently ordered to be developed is the fight against disinformation, said the president's communications adviser Dmitry Lytvyn. "If people do not understand what is happening, or if partners do not understand Ukraine's position, then other points will be difficult to implement," Lytvyn explained. He added that the Main Intelligence Directorate, the Foreign Intelligence Service, and the Security Service of Ukraine will work on this point.
The second point, according to Litvin, is that "the state's activities should be understandable both for our people and for our partners." Litvin announced that the first draft of this plan could be presented in two weeks.
15:57 In Toretsk, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have stabilized the situation and are not allowing the Russians to advance, said Anastasia Bobovnovkova, spokesperson for the Luhansk operational-tactical group. At the same time, she added that the number of shellings is not decreasing, despite the smaller number of assaults.
14:24 In Kharkiv, the death toll from the Russian airstrike on a high-rise building at night has risen to three - rescuers have recovered the body of a 15-year-old teenager, the State Emergency Service reported. Another 36 people were injured, and rescue operations are ongoing.
13:41 In Kharkov, the death toll from the Russian airstrike on a multi-story building at night has risen to two - rescuers have recovered the body of the deceased, the State Emergency Service reported. Another 36 people were injured, and rescue operations are ongoing.
13:33 Norway's new €500 million aid package to Ukraine will include not only F-16s, but also NASAMS air defense systems, said Gennady Kovalenko, Director of the Defense Ministry's Department of International Defense Cooperation. In addition, according to him, Norway is ready to invest in the Ukrainian defense industry following Denmark's example.
12:06 Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that a partnership agreement between Russia and Iran will be signed in the near future, and will confirm "the parties' desire for closer cooperation in the field of defense and interaction in the interests of peace and security at the regional and global levels."
12:02 Ukraine and Hungary are preparing a document on bilateral relations, which, in particular, will include a clause on joining NATO, Zelensky said. He clarified that Kyiv is asking Budapest not to block an invitation to the Alliance: "That is, not to support, not to vote for us, but not to block. Today, this clause is in our proposals, we would very much like Hungary not to block even such a clause. This is important for us."
11:34 The Russian army is preparing for an offensive in the Zaporizhia region and is conducting exercises with armored vehicles at one of the training grounds in the occupied territories, said Vladislav Voloshin, spokesman for the Southern Defense Forces. According to him, the Russians are planning to use this equipment in the areas of two populated areas.
11:25 Zelensky said that Ukraine had agreed with NATO to send planes to Poland so that it could hand over old MiG-29 fighters to Kiev, but Warsaw did not do so: "These are NATO planes. We really wanted to get MiGs from Poland, but they could not give them to us because they did not have enough of their own. Therefore, we agreed with NATO that they would provide them with a police mission, like our Baltic friends... And what after that? Did Poland give us planes? No. Was there another reason? Yes."
11:17 At night, Russians shelled Kramatorsk and Slavyansk in Donetsk Oblast, the heads of the city's military administrations, Oleksandr Goncharenko and Vadim Lyakh, reported. In Kramatorsk, the strike was aimed at the industrial zone, and in Slavyansk, at the administrative building of the Donfish Combine in the village of Mirny. In both cases, no one was hurt.
10:51 The General Staff claims that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have repelled enemy attacks on Myrolyubovka, Promin, Myrnohrad, Lysovka, Sukhoi Yar, Novogrodovka, Krutoi Yar, as well as Vyshneve and Selidovo in the Pokrovsk direction. OSINT analysts previously reported the capture of the latter two.
10:26 Syrsky reported that he discussed the situation at the front with the commander of the US Armed Forces in Europe Christopher Cavoli. According to Syrsky, the Russian army, taking advantage of its numerical advantage in personnel and equipment, continues intensive assault operations in several directions. Heavy, high-intensity battles are taking place along the entire front line.
09:39 "Authorities" of occupied Berdyansk in Zaporizhia Oblast have announced an attack by Ukrainian kamikaze drones on the port. Schools and kindergartens in the city will not work today, residents are asked to stay home. Gauleiter of the occupied part of Zaporizhia Oblast Yevhen Balitsky said that three people were injured in the attack.
09:24 In the Kherson region, over the past day, as a result of Russian shelling, one person was killed and six were injured, reported the head of the OVA, Oleksandr Prokudin.
09:03 Five people were killed in Donetsk Oblast as a result of Russian shelling on October 30: two in Zarechnoye, one each in Druzhkovka, Berestki and Uspenovka. Three more people in the region were injured in the past 24 hours, said OVA head Vadim Filashkin.
08:50 On the evening of October 30, the Russian Armed Forces launched a strike on the Saltovsky district of Kharkiv. An air-dropped munition landed between the third and fourth floors of a nine-story residential building. According to the prosecutor's office, a 12-year-old child was killed and 35 more people were injured, including an 11-year-old child. According to preliminary information, the city was struck by a FAB-500. OVA chief Oleg Sinegubov reported that 14 apartment buildings were damaged as a result of the shelling.
In addition, the previous day, Russians shelled the village of Kucherivka in the Kupyansk region - one person was killed, one was wounded.
08:38 At night, Russians attacked the bridge across the Dniester estuary in Zatoka, Odessa Oblast, with two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles and eight Kh-59/69 guided air missiles, two of which were shot down, the Air Force reported. The enemy also struck Kramatorsk, Donetsk Oblast, with two Iskander-M/KN-23 ballistic missiles.
In addition, during the night attack, the Russian Federation used 43 drones - attack UAVs of the Shahed type and of an unspecified type. Of these, 17 were shot down in the Odessa, Kyiv, Cherkasy, Kirovograd, Kharkov, Zaporizhia, Dnipropetrovsk, Donetsk and Poltava regions. Another 23 drones were lost in location, three Russian UAVs flew in the direction of the Russian Federation and the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.
07:54 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of October 31:
personnel - about 694,950 (+1310) people,
tanks - 9156 (+19),
combat armored vehicles - 18,450 (+17),
artillery systems - 20,013 (+58),
MLRS - 1243 (+1),
air defense systems - 994 (+8),
aircraft - 369 (+0),
helicopters - 329 (+0),
Operational-tactical level UAVs - 18,063 (+84),
cruise missiles - 2627 (+2),
ships/boats - 28 (+0),
submarines - 1 (+0),
automotive equipment and tank trucks - 27,961 (+121),
special equipment - 3570 (+3).
07:01 At night, Russia again attacked Kiev with drones, all of them were neutralized, said the head of the Kyiv State Air Defense Forces Sergey Popko. In the Podolsk district of the city, as a result of falling debris, a fire broke out in an open area, which was quickly extinguished. Windows in two two-story residential buildings and one administrative building were also damaged. A high-voltage power line was damaged, no information about casualties was received.
According to KGVA, the enemy attacked the capital with drones 20 times during October. Over the 31 days of the month, only one day was the alarm not declared in Kyiv. On average, sirens sounded in the city twice a day.
05:25 A DPRK military contingent of up to 12,000 people is undergoing training at five training grounds in the Eastern Military District of the Russian Armed Forces. This contingent includes at least 500 officers from North Korea, including three generals from the General Staff, Ukraine's Permanent Representative Serhiy Kyslytsya said at a meeting of the UN Security Council. He also named the generals: Deputy Chief of the General Staff for Special Operations, Colonel General Kim Yong Bok; Deputy Chief of the General Staff - Chief of Intelligence Lee Chang Ho; Chief of the Main Operations Directorate, Major General Shin Ham Chol.
According to the Ukrainian diplomat, it is planned to subsequently form at least five units or formations from the DPRK military personnel, each with 2,000 to 3,000 servicemen. One such unit is equivalent to a motorized rifle regiment.
It is assumed that the DPRK servicemen will wear Russian uniforms and will be provided with Russian identification documents. According to Kislitsa, in order to conceal the presence of the DPRK servicemen, they will be integrated into Russian units staffed by representatives of ethnic minorities from the Asian part of the Russian Federation. Among them, for example, is the "special Buryat battalion" of the 11th separate airborne assault brigade of the Airborne Troops of the Russian Armed Forces.
According to Kislitsa, from October 23 to 28, at least seven aircraft transported up to 2,100 troops from the Eastern Military District to the Russian border with Ukraine. The number of North Korean soldiers expected to be transferred from the Primorsky Krai of the Russian Federation by the end of October could reach 4,500. They will likely begin direct participation in military operations against Ukraine as early as November, the permanent representative added.
01:39 Pyongyang sent its troops to Russia in exchange for technologies related to nuclear weapons, the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, reconnaissance satellites and nuclear submarines, according to South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong.
00:06 Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState reports that the Russian army has occupied Selydove in Donetsk Oblast, as well as Vyshneve in Selydove urban community of Pokrovsky district and Zoryanoye in Maryinsky urban community of Pokrovsky district. In addition, the enemy has advanced near Novoukrainka, in Novodmitrovka and Kurakhovka in Donetsk Oblast.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent] Armored vehicles of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the march.
Almost a third of the fighting is taking place in the Kurakhovsky direction. The occupiers are making their main efforts in the Antonovka area - they have already carried out 10 assaults.
Since the beginning of the current day, 79 combat clashes have occurred on the front. The enemy is most active in the Limansky, Pokrovsky and Kurakhovsky directions, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported in a report as of 16:00 on Thursday, October 31.
Thus, in the Kharkov direction, there is currently an enemy attack in the area of Volchansk. Two attacks have already been repelled in the same location.
In the Kupyansk direction, the Russians launched attacks seven times near Petrovpavlovka, Kolesnikovka, Zagryzovo, Lozovoye, Berestovo and Vishnevoye. Six clashes are ongoing.
In the Liman direction, the invading army carried out 12 assaults in the direction of Yekaterinovka, Stepnoye, Grekovka, Terny and in the Serebryansky forest. Eight combat clashes have ended, four are ongoing.
In the Toretsk direction the enemy tried twice to improve its position. Our soldiers gave a worthy rebuff.
In the Pokrovsky direction, the occupiers have already made 10 attempts to push back the Ukrainian Armed Forces units near Luch, Lisovka and Vishnevoye.
In the Kurakhovsky direction, 22 enemy attacks were recorded in the areas of Novoselidovka, Kremennaya Balka, Novodmitrovka, Ostrovsky, Maksimilyanovka, Antonovka and Yelizavetovka. The occupiers are making their main efforts in the Antonovka area - they have carried out 10 assaults, three of which are ongoing.
In the Vremevsky direction, two combat clashes continue near Bogoyavlenka and Trudovoye. Two attacks have already been repelled today.
In the Orekhov direction, the Russians attacked twice in the direction of Novodanilovka.
In the Dnieper direction, two enemy assaults were successfully repelled.
Let us recall that 145 armed clashes took place on the front over the past 24 hours, the hottest of which was in the Kurakhovsky direction. The Ukrainian Armed Forces repelled 41 attacks by the occupiers there.
It was also reported that on October 30, Russian troops lost more than 1,300 fighters. Russia's total losses since the beginning of the war are approaching 700,000 people.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[Korrespondent) Russians have been storming Toretsk for several months now.
The number of Russian artillery attacks are not decreasing, despite the smaller number of assaults, the Lugansk OTG noted.
Ukrainian military managed to stabilize the situation in Toretsk, Donetsk region. The enemy is not advancing, said Anastasia Bobovnikova, press secretary of the operational-tactical group (OTG) Lugansk, on the air of the telethon on Thursday, October 31.
"The enemy is not advancing in Toretsk either, the line of conflict has not changed for a long time. We have stabilized the situation thanks to the units that are stationed in Toretsk," she said.
At the same time, Bobovnikova noted that although the Ukrainian Armed Forces are not allowing the enemy to advance, the number of Russian shellings is not decreasing, despite the smaller number of assaults.
"The enemy uses both aviation and artillery. And we do not see a reduction in these resources," she said.
According to her, the enemy still remains on the eastern outskirts of Toretsk.
Let us recall that back in late July, information was spreading on social networks that Russian troops had allegedly "entered Toretsk" and that "fights were already underway in the city itself." But these statements were not true.
And in today's report, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported two enemy assaults in the Toretsk direction. Our soldiers gave a worthy rebuff. Now this direction is one of the calmest on the front.
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[EngMilRu] The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.
In Kharkov region, units of the Sever Group of Forces inflicted losses on formations of the 57th Motorised Infantry Brigade of the AFU and 112th Territorial Defence Brigade near Volchansk and Okhrimovka (Kharkov region).
The AFU losses amounted to up to 55 troops, two motor vehicles, and two 122mm D-30 howitzers.
Units of the Zapad Group of Forces improved the tactical situation and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the 14th, 30th, and 116th Mechanised brigades of the AFU near Kupyansk, Petropavlovka, and Golubovka (Kharkov region).
Six counterattacks launched by assault detachments of the 28th and 44th Mechanised brigades of the AFU were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 610 troops, one tank, five armoured fighting vehicles, four pickup trucks, one Polish-made 155mm Krab self-propelled artillery system, one 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, one 122mm D-30 howitzer, one 100mm Rapira anti-tank gun, one U.S.-made 105mm M-119 gun, two U.S.-made AN/TPQ-50 counter-battery radars, and two Anklav-N electronic warfare stations. Three AFU field ammunition depots were destroyed.
Units of the Yug Group of Forces continued advancing to the depth of the enemy's defences and inflicted losses on formations of the 24th, 33rd, 54th, 72nd Mechanised brigades, 46th Airmobile Brigade, 79th Air Assault Brigade, 10th Mountain Assault Brigade of the AFU, and 18th National Guard Brigade near Annovka, Zaliznyanskoye, Chasov Yar, Dalneye, Romanovka, Kurakhovo, Nikiforovka, Seversk, and Slavyansk (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack launched by units of the AFU 25th Mechanised Brigade was repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 810 troops, one tank, one infantry fighting vehicle, one Kozak armoured fighting vehicle, nine motor vehicles, one U.S.-made 155mm M-777 howitzer, two U.S.-made 105mm M-119 guns, one 152mm D-20 gun, two 122mm D-30 howitzers, one Israeli-made ieMHR radar station, one Anklav-N electronic warfare station, and three ammunition depots.
Units of the Tsentr Group of Forces took more advantageous lines and inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the 59th Motorised Infantry Brigade, 93rd, 100th, 151st Mechanised brigades, 25th Airborne Brigade of the AFU, 35th Naval Infantry Brigade, and 119th Territorial Defence Brigade near Vozdvizhenka, Dzerzhinsk, Kurakhovka, Zarya, Krasnoye, and Dimitrov (Donetsk People's Republic).
Eleven counter-attacks launched by formations of the 93rd Mechanised Brigade of the AFU and 15th National Guard Brigade were repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 565 troops, five armoured fighting vehicles, two motor vehicles, one 152mm Msta-B howitzer, three 152mm D-20 guns, and two 122mm D-30 howitzers.
As a result of active and decisive operations, units of the Vostok Group of Forces liberated Yasnaya Polyana (Donetsk People's Republic).
Losses were inflicted on formations of the 58th Motorised Infantry Brigade and 152nd Jaeger Brigade of the AFU near Velikaya Novosyolka and Razdolnoye (Donetsk People's Republic). One counter-attack launched by units of the 37th Naval Infantry Brigade was repelled.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 100 troops, two armoured fighting vehicles, six motor vehicles, and one French-made 155mm CAESAR self-propelled artillery system.
Units of the Dnepr Group of Forces inflicted losses on manpower and hardware of the 110th Mechanised Brigade of the AFU, 121st, 124th, and 126th Territorial Defence brigades near Belozyorka, Kazatskoye, Tokarevka (Kherson region), and Kherson.
The AFU losses amounted to up to 90 troops, three motor vehicles, one 152mm Msta-B howitzer, two 152mm D-20 guns, one 122mm 2S1 Gvozdika self-propelled artillery system, one U.S.-made 105mm M-119 gun, and two Anklav-N electronic warfare stations. Three AFU field ammunition depots were destroyed.
Operational-Tactical Aviation, attack unmanned aerial vehicles, Missile Troops and Artillery of the Russian Groups of Forces delivered strikes at infrastructure of military airfields, ammunition and POL depots, as well as engaged manpower clusters and military hardware in 135 areas.
Air defence units shot down 11 U.S.-made HIMARS MLRS projectiles, two French-made Hammer guided aerial bombs, and 95 fixed-wing unmanned aerial vehicles.
In total, since the beginning of the special military operation, 647 aircraft, 283 helicopters, 34,945 unmanned aerial vehicles, 584 anti-aircraft missile systems, 18,927 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,482 MLRS combat vehicles, 17,059 field artillery guns and mortars, and 27,781 units of support military vehicles have been neutralised.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the operation to neutralise an enemy group, which broke into the territory of Kursk region.
Units of the Sever Group of Forces continued offensive actions and inflicted losses on formations of the 22nd, 41st, 115th Mechanised brigades, 17th Tank Brigade, 82nd, 95th Air Assault brigades, 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 103rd, 112th, and 129th Territorial Defence brigades of the AFU near Daryino, Nizhny Klin, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Novoivanovka, and Plyokhovo.
Units of the Sever Group of Forces repelled four counter-attacks of the enemy in the direction of Daryino, Novoivanovka, and Plyokhovo. The AFU losses amounted to up to 30 troops killed and wounded, two armoured fighting vehicles, and two motor vehicles.
Moreover, an attempt of the AFU to break through the state border of the Russian Federation in the direction of Novy Put was thwarted. The AFU losses amounted to up to 10 troops killed and wounded.
Army Aviation and artillery strikes inflicted losses on manpower clusters and hardware of the 21st, 41st, 47th, 61st Mechanised brigades, 17th Tank Brigade, 80th, 82nd, 95th Air Assault brigades, 36th Naval Infantry Brigade, 1st Special Operations Brigade, 103rd, 112th, 129th Territorial Defence brigades of the AFU, and 17th National Guard Brigade near Aleksandriya, Viktorovka, Guyevo, Daryino, Kolmakov, Kruglenkoye, Leonidovo, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Mikhaylovka, Nizhny Klin, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Nikolsky, Novoivanovka, Novy Put, Plyokhovo, Sverdlikovo, Sudzha, and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye.
Operational-Tactical Aviation and Missile Troops delivered strikes at concentration area in Sumy region and reserves of the 21st, 22nd, 41st, 61st, 115th Mechanised brigades, 17th Tank Brigade, 95th Air Assault Brigade, and 129th Territorial Defence Brigade of the AFU near Basovka, Zhuravka, Loknya, Miropolye, Obody, Pavlovka, and Khoten.
Over the past 24 hours, the AFU losses amounted to more than 300 troops, four armoured fighting vehicles, eight artillery guns, four mortars, one Israeli-made RADA radar station, and nine motor vehicles.
Since the beginning of hostilities in Kursk region, the AFU losses amounted to more than 28,600 troops, 180 tanks, 101 infantry fighting vehicles, 106 armoured personnel carriers, 1,059 armoured fighting vehicles, 768 motor vehicles, 248 artillery guns, 40 MLRS launchers including 11 of HIMARS and six of MLRS made by the USA, nine anti-aircraft missile launchers, seven transport-loading vehicles, 58 EW stations, 12 counter-battery warfare radars, four air defence radars, 25 of engineering and other materiel, 13 counterobstacle vehicles, one UR-77 mine clearing vehicle, five armoured recovery vehicles, and one command post vehicle.
The operation to neutralise the AFU units is in progress.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.
[NewsFront] 23:58 Official summary of the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC from 00:00 10/31/2024 to 00:00 11/01/2024.
24 cases of armed attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces were recorded by the DPR Representative Office in the JCCC over the past 24 hours.
There were no reports of civilian casualties.
DAMAGED:
One bus,
One residential building,
Three civil infrastructure facilities.
One artillery attack in the Donetsk direction,
A total of 22 artillery attacks in the Gorlovka direction,
One artillery attack in the Avdeevka direction.
A total of 77 units of various ammunition were fired.
19:27 Ukrainian monitoring channels reported on strikes by Geranium drones on targets in the Sumy and Poltava regions.
19:15 Units of the Russian Armed Forces liberated Kremennaya Balka and also entered Voznesenka.
18:34 During reconnaissance activities, servicemen of the North military group in the area of the settlement of Volchansk in the Khar'kov region discovered accumulation of Ukrainian Armed Forces manpower in a shelter.
After analyzing the received intelligence data, a decision was made to fire at the enemy. The crew of the heavy flamethrower system of the "North" group of troops destroyed the personnel of the Ukrainian militants who were in cover.
18:06 Critical situation took shape for the Ukrainian army in the Kurakhovsky direction. Russian flanks are moving deeper into the rear of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, creating a "half-cauldron," RT military correspondent Vlad Andritsa said on Channel One.
According to him, the 150th Motorized Rifle Division very quickly, in just one and a half weeks, passed the "postcard" from Maksimilyanovka to Kurakhovo (this is about six km). Now there is a thorough artillery preparation before the battles in the city itself.
“The guys are acting boldly, brazenly... The initiative is now on our side,” Andritsa noted.
He emphasized that Kurakhovo is a hub city, with railway, energy and transport hubs passing through it.
17:20 Canadian multipurpose armored personnel carrier Senator worth 43.7 million rubles was shot down by FPV drone "Skvorets" in Kherson region –video.
16:55 Enemy reports: "The Russian Armed Forces have reached the Oskol River. Control over Kruglyakovka allows the Russian army to cut the Ukrainian group on the left bank of the river and establish control over an important logistics route for the Ukrainian Armed Forces across the river to the south of Kupyansk. The Russian Armed Forces will continue to break through towards Borovaya."
16:46 Mortar crews of Novorossiysk paratroopersare being dismantled» dugouts and fortifications of the Ukrainian Armed Forces
The servicemen inflicted fire damage and destroyed the personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at a stronghold in the Orekhov direction in the Zaporizhia region.
16:31 Another captured armored vehicle from Turkish partners Kirpi –video.
16:00 Stormtroopers of the 68th Army Corps they are cleaning up forest belt near Yelizavetovka from the Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers located there. UAV operators provide support to the assault forces with airdrops.
15:54 Crew of the 152mm 2A36 Giatsint-B cannon of the separate guards motorized rifle brigade of the Center group struck Ukrainian Armed Forces manpower in positions and dugouts in the Donetsk direction.
15:40 Footage of strike on the Ukrainian Armed Forces' air defense post in Petropavlovka.
15:05 Destruction of temporary deployment point and command post of the battalion of the Territorial Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Sumy Oblast.
14:55 The battle is underway in Ilyinka near Artemovsk. According to unconfirmed information, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are starting to retreat.
14:28 By liberating the village of Yasnaya Polyana in the southwest of the DPR, Russian troops are "cutting off" the logistics of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the village of Velikaya Novosyolka, which is a powerful fortified area of the enemy. This was reported by the security forces.
14:10 At night, the Ukrainian Armed Forces tried to secretly withdraw armored vehicles of Western manufacturers from the inevitable “cauldron” near Sudzha.
Last night, three Bradley IFVs and two Turkish IFVs were destroyed. Russian artillery also opened and destroyed two Leopard tanks.
13:59 The Uragan of the West troop group in the Kupyansk direction “destroyed” another position of the Ukrainian Armed Forces –video.
13:10 They report rapid advancement of our motorized riflemen and armored vehicles in the area of Grigorovka and Novoalekseevka. Russian BMD-4Ms are using fast flank attacks and leaving the enemy no chance, reports Frontovaya Ptichka.
12:25 Su-34 crew destroyed personnel and a stronghold of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the border area of ??the Kursk region.
The strike was carried out using aerial bombs with a universal planning and correction module.
12:08 The Russian Armed Forces repelled a counterattack by units of the Ukrainian National Guard east of Kolesnikovka, destroying 30 people and one armored fighting vehicle.
11:27 Enemy reports: “in the Ugledar direction, the Russian Armed Forces have advanced in the direction of the village of Razliv, located next to the key highway leading to Constantinople.
There are six km left until Razliv of the Russian Armed Forces. It is reported that the Russian Armed Forces are approaching Maksimovka, located to the east of Yasnaya Polyana, which is already occupied by the Russians.
In addition, Russian troops “began to cling to Trudovoye” – a village in the direction leading to Kurakhovo from the south.
Also, Novoukrainka was completely taken under control by Russian units.”
11:20 The Russian Armed Forces have improved their positions to the north and south of the settlement of Vishnevoe, reported military correspondent Yuri Kotenok.
10:54 Servicemen of the assault units of the 2nd Guards Taman Motorized Rifle Division of the West Group of Forces erected flag over the village of Kruglyakovka in the Khar'kov region, liberated from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, located 20 kilometers south of Kupyansk.
10:42 Road Chasov Yar - Konstantinovka controlled by the special forces battalion "Akhmat" of the 4th Brigade. The assault troops advanced three km beyond the Seversky Donets Canal.
10:32 In the Kherson direction, FPV pilots destroy enemy equipment –video.
10:15 At night, the Russian Armed Forces attacked the road and railway bridge in Zatoka, Odessa region; this information was confirmed by Ukrainian Telegram channels.
The bridge is the only railway line connecting the west of the region with the main territory of Ukraine, and is used to transport Western weapons and equipment.
09:56 In Petropavlovka by Russian aviation destroyed deployment sites and control point of the UAV of the 30th Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The enemy lost up to 30 people who occupied five private houses.
08:12 Artillery units of the Southern Group of Forces, armed with heavy self-propelled mortars 240mm 2S4 "Tulip", continue to "smash" the enemy in the Chasovyarsk direction -video.
08:09 Naval infantry of the Black Sea Fleet showed broken Ukrainian Armed Forces equipment in the Kursk region.
08:07 On the approaches to Krasnoarmeysk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine dug under the forest plantation there was an entire underground city, where dozens of Ukrainian militants were located.
08:05 Enemy reports: “The Russian Armed Forces have taken control of Selidovo, Vishnevoye, Zvezdnoye, and have also advanced near Novoukrainka, in Novodmitrovka and Kurakhovka.”
08:00 Pinpoint strikes by UAV crews on Ukrainian Armed Forces strongholds. Destroyed several dugouts with enemy personnel in the Khar'kov region.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Sergey Adamov
[REGNUM] The Russian army is close to achieving one of the goals of the SVO - the complete liberation of Donbas. Ukrainian troops are forced to retreat along the entire line of contact, while the Russian Armed Forces are increasing the pace of the offensive that began a year ago.
In the fall of 2023, the decisive assault on Avdeevka, the last major fortified area of the Ukrainian Armed Forces located in close proximity to Donetsk, began. With the fall of the city and the retreat, Ukrainian troops were unable to organize a stable line of defense. The defense of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was consistently broken through along the Durnaya and Vovchya rivers, as well as along the so-called "Poroshenko Line" - a system of fortifications created back in 2015.
By the beginning of autumn 2024, the pace of the Russian troops' advance had increased: in September-October, the Russian Armed Forces occupied more territory than in the whole of 2023. Moreover, in the last week of October, the Russian army took control of the largest area of territory in the entire period of military operations, reports the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
In addition, analysts note that in August 2024, the Russian army took control of 478 square kilometers in Donbas. Such a pace of advance was last recorded in March 2022.
As a result, Ukrainian troops retreated to the city of Pokrovsk, trying to organize defense in its suburbs - the villages of Novogrodovka, Grodovka, Selidovo and Ukrainsk. However, again unsuccessfully. Now the Ukrainian Armed Forces are preparing for a battle for Pokrovsk itself - their last stronghold in the western part of Donbas.
According to the latest information, engineering equipment is being brought into the Pokrovsk area, Ukrainian troops are digging trenches, blocking city streets with minefields and "dragon's teeth". At the same time, the Russian army can bypass the city and cut the enemy's defense into separate fragments.
"In Avdeevka and other areas, we do not give them the opportunity to create a monolithic defense. As a rule, the Ukrainian Armed Forces fortify themselves in industrial zones and urban areas, but we do not storm them head-on, but rather we wedge ourselves into weak spots at the junction of fortified areas and force them to retreat. This tactic has been well-developed and can be used in the future," an informed source in the region told Regnum.
Success in the Avdeevka-Pokrovsk direction predictably led to the Ukrainian troops also leaving Ugledar, a city that allowed the Ukrainian Armed Forces to maintain control over a large area of territory southwest of Donetsk.
In general, Ukrainian troops are now less and less likely to cling to populated areas and are increasingly rolling back without offering serious resistance.
According to Ukrainian media, in light of the recent failures, the Ukrainian Armed Forces Command “recommended” the military not to use the words “retreat,” “withdrawal,” or the expressions “the enemy has wedged in” or “we had to abandon our positions” when speaking to the media. Instead, the military is being asked to talk only about successes, “stabilization” of the front line, and counterattacks.
However, it cannot be said that over the past months the Ukrainian Armed Forces have tried to counterattack only in the press.
KURSK ADVENTURE
In August, the Ukrainian Armed Forces command decided on a risky offensive and opening a new front in the Kursk region. Ukrainian troops entered the territory of the Sudzhansky district and tried to occupy the largest possible area as quickly as possible.
Elite units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were involved in this operation, including units of marines and airborne troops, equipped with the best Western-made armored vehicles: Leopard 2 tanks, Stryker and Bradley armored vehicles, and other equipment.
However, the breakthrough was quickly stopped, after which Russian troops began to push the enemy out of the Kursk region. The Ukrainian Armed Forces miscalculated by relying on weapons supplied by NATO countries, military expert Alexander Mikhailovsky told the Regnum news agency.
"As we can see, Kiev's bet on a miracle weapon did not work out again. The wheeled armored vehicles sent to the Kursk region turned out to be too heavy for off-road conditions and were unable to maneuver actively. As a result, the advancing forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were left without armored support, and the breakthrough was stopped. So Kiev will be wary of planning such operations in the border area or on the line of combat contact in the future," the expert is sure.
The F-16 fighters transferred to Kyiv, which were planned to be used to gain dominance in the skies, and in the future - to strike at Russian territory, did not bring success to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. F-16s did not appear near the front, moreover, it is known that one of the fighters crashed "for technical reasons."
As a result, the few American-made aircraft were relocated to airfields in the western regions of the country - away from Russian fighters and air defense systems.
During the raid into the Kursk region, Ukrainian troops suffered heavy losses among motivated and qualified soldiers, Mikhailovsky notes. Kyiv had kept these forces in reserve since the spring of 2024, intending to use them in a counteroffensive in one of the critical areas. As a result, the front in Donbass was left without support and, as expected, began to collapse.
WHAT AFTER DONBASS
If we leave aside the operation in the Kursk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces, after the loss of Avdiivka, did not make a single serious attempt to turn the situation at the front in their favor.
At various times, it was assumed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could either try to break through again in the Zaporizhzhya direction, or try to attack in the north of the LPR, or counterattack Russian troops advancing from Avdiivka.
But the reserves for the offensive, formed in the spring and summer of 2024, were lost in the Kursk region or scattered across separate sections of the front. Kyiv was unable to create a powerful strike force. With the arrival of autumn rains and muddy roads, Ukrainian troops will lose their last opportunity to counterattack - until the spring of next year. At the same time, the Russian army, of course, will not wait for the weather to give Kyiv the opportunity to attack.
"In strategic terms, we see a complete loss of initiative by Ukrainian troops. Attempts to turn the situation to their advantage have failed, counterattacks in Donbass are being repelled with losses for the enemy. The current situation for Kiev can be described as a systemic crisis. Not a collapse yet, but somewhere close," believes Alexander Mikhailovsky.
He notes that in recent weeks, Kyiv has launched another wave of mobilization, which has caused a storm of discontent in Ukrainian society and the media. In response, the Ukrainian leadership has introduced criminal penalties for documenting cases of the use of force by the military, catching recruits on the streets, in shopping malls and other public places.
But, the source of IA Regnum adds, even if mobilization allows for the necessary number of recruits, they will be able to go to the front in a month at best. By that time, reinforcements may simply be late.
Foreign media outlets also report on the grave situation for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, according to which Kyiv is beginning to prepare the Zaporizhzhya and Dnipropetrovsk regions for defense. Pokrovsk and the large Slavyansk-Kramatorsk agglomeration are still under the control of Ukrainian troops in Donbass. However, given the trends of the last year, the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to hold this last line of defense.
What a shameless and cowardly act by the government of Russia to require its blogosphere to provide personal information to the government.
Bastards.
Not really surprising though, surely.
[PGPlaw] A law has been passed obliging bloggers who have an audience of more 10,000 users to report information about themselves to Roskomnadzor.
Pepeliaev Group advises that, on 30 July 2024, the State Duma (the lower chamber of Russia’s Parliament) passed in its third reading Law No. 647048-8 “On amending the Federal Law “On communications” and certain legislative instruments of the Russian Federation” (the ‘Law”). The Law provides for amendments to be made to particular federal laws, including Federal Law No. 149-FZ “On information, information technologies and the protection of information” and Federal Law No. 38-FZ “On advertising”.
REQUIREMENTS FOR BLOGGERS
1. The Law introduces amendments to article 106 of the Federal Law “On information” (“On the specific aspects of how information is distributed on social networks”) which is proposed to be supplemented with the following provisions: if the audience of a blogger’s personal webpage is over 10,000 users of a social network, the blogger must submit to Roskomnadzor (the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and the Mass Media) information that allows for him or her to be identified. The Russian Government will establish the composition of such information and how it should be submitted.
Currently, there are no clarifications as to what an “audience” will mean and how the volume of the audience will be determined (for example, by the number of subscribers or the number of views of the content on a personal webpage). It is also unclear whether the requirements of the Law extend to companies’ corporate webpages on social networks.
We believe that, for the purposes of the Law, “social networks” may mean resources that have been included in Roskomnadzor's Register of social networks. These include, among others, Telegram, VKontakte, YouTube, Rutube, or Dzen. However, there are no official clarifications on this matter either.
The Law’s provisions concerning a blogger submitting his or her information to Roskomnadzor (para 3 of article 3(2)(b) of the Law) come into effect on the date on which the Law is officially published.
2. A blogger whose personal webpage has an audience exceeding 10,000 users must not allow for the subsequent distribution (reposting) on his/her webpage of information posted on another blogger's personal webpage which has not been included in the special register of bloggers that Roskomnadzor will maintain. This requirement (para 4 of article 3(2)(b) of the Law) comes into effect on 1 January 2025.
In particular, Roskomnadzor will maintain a list of personal webpages whose audience exceeds 10,000 users (the “List”). This means that the List will include personal webpages of bloggers who simultaneously:
meet the above criteria (i.e. they have submitted information to Roskomnadzor regarding themselves, and they do not repost information from other bloggers’ pages, which, in turn, have not been included in the List);
do not disseminate information in violation of the requirements of Russian legislation or information that is prohibited from being disseminated in Russia.
The second requirement is extremely broad and requires a blogger to thoroughly evaluate all information that he/she disseminates on his/her webpage in terms of whether it complies with Russian legislation.
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited. by Ivan Lizan
[REGNUM] At the end of October, Russian developers were banned from developing the Linux operating system kernel. Now Russians are cut off from developing the OS, which occupies 5% of the desktop market, 30% of the server market, and is used in a host of other devices - from routers to smartphones and portable gaming consoles.
The news shook the information space, as it became not only a striking example of discrimination based on nationality, but also a precedent when sanctions affect open source software, which until now was considered immune to politically motivated restrictions.
Globally, software is divided into two parts depending on the availability of its source code: closed and open.
Closed, or proprietary, software is subject to restrictions on the use, copying, and modification of the source code. A clear example is the Windows OS: you cannot distribute it as you wish, you do not have access to its source code, and you do not have the right to modify it. Such software is the property of the developer, who sets the rules for use.
Open source software can be freely used and modified. It appeared as a counterweight to proprietary software in the mid-1980s thanks to the American Richard Stallman, who united around himself in the NGO Free Software Foundation developers guided by the idea of creating free software, for the use of which you do not need to pay.
Regardless of the goals that open source developers are guided by, they still enter into legal relations with each other, automatically accepting the terms of the license. Those, in turn, come in several types.
Reciprocal - oblige the developer to distribute the modified program under the same conditions as the original. Such licenses include all types of GPL (General Public License), LGPL and AGPL.
Permissive — allow the creation of proprietary software based on the original program, but do not allow the author of the original code to control the fate of the modified version of the software. Permissive licenses include BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution License), MIT, and Apache.
Thus, open source software, in turn, is divided into two more types depending on the order: license - its use for free (distributed under mutual licenses) and Open Source (distributed under permissive licenses).
In the case of Linux and Russia, the GPL license is important. Now we need to figure out how Open Source developers interact with each other — the movement.
At the core is a repository — a cloud storage with project files containing the source code, which are usually GitLab or Launchpad portals. Contributors, i.e. participants in the Open Source movement, work with these files. They copy the repository for themselves, creating a fork (clone), and make their own changes to it that do not affect the main repository. The edits made to the fork are called commits. After that, contributors submit a pull request to the repository administrators — a request to merge their copy of the repository with its original. If the administration approves the request, the original repository is updated.
In the case of Linux, a large operating system with many variants, worked on by hundreds of different teams, there is an internal division of developers. Over the years, the most competent and responsible members of the community have been promoted to maintainers, allowing them to work with the operating system kernel. And at the head of the entire movement are three people: Linus Torvalds, Greg Kroah-Hartman and Huah Han.
And here, at the intersection of law and the internal hierarchy of Open Source developers, the inevitable bureaucracy arises in the form of the non-profit consortium The Linux Foundation.
LINUX FOUNDATION VS. RUSSIA
The consortium does not develop the operating system or its components, but promotes their development by coordinating and protecting community members, including providing them with legal services. The organization itself unites 130 corporations and thousands of individual members. Naturally, The Linux Foundation is a legal entity.
Thus, jurisprudence and corporate bureaucracy come into conflict with the interests of the Open Source community. In 2022, US President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14,071, which prohibited Russians from developing or using GPL-licensed software created in the US. Formally, the order does not apply to all Russian citizens, but only to those who are either on the sanctions lists or work for companies included in the US Treasury's sanctions lists. However, the order only came into force on September 12, 2024 - companies had 90 days to comply with it.
The Linux Foundation did the only possible thing, taking into account the letter of Decree No. 14 071, by excluding from its ranks developers who were important to the entire community and who suffered because of their Russian citizenship and mailboxes in the RU domain zone. No one explained anything, no one was warned about anything.
Moreover, when a storm of indignation arose in the community, the Finn Linus Torvalds, whose father was a communist until 2014 and then became a nationalist, accompanied the removal of Russians with a specifically Russophobic comment.
"Okay, a bunch of Russian trolls are on their way out. It's pretty obvious why this change was made and it won't be reversed," Torvalds wrote, identifying 11 highly respected community members as trolls.
In essence, the consortium's management and the founding father of Linux, Linus Torvalds himself, did not have a choice between conflict with the US and preserving the principles of Open Source. But instead of a civilized farewell, Torvalds and company simply kicked out the Russians, who, out of pure enthusiasm, spent thousands of hours of their time creating the program on which dollar millionaire Torvalds is now promoting himself.
THE RUSSIANS ARE ALREADY HERE, THE CHINESE ARE NEXT
Overall, this story suggests several local and global conclusions.
Firstly, the United States has once again extended its national legislation to those areas that were previously not subject to any legal regulation, and in principle did not need such regulation.
Secondly, any formalized international projects managed by a legal entity or coordinated through an NPO are vulnerable to sanctions. Russia was expelled from hundreds of different organizations and associations after 2022, from medical associations to the Large Hadron Collider. If they could have been expelled from ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) without the collapse of the Internet — they definitely would have.
And the bureaucracy that imposes sanctions is indifferent to internal rules, goals, principles and hierarchy. Its interest is in inflicting maximum harm on the party that they designate as guilty.
At first, The Linux Foundation will suffer from this story only in terms of reputation - they will find someone to replace the 11 Russian maintainers. But now the Russians have been excluded, and tomorrow the Chinese will take their place. And then it will turn out that the development of various Linux forks is being carried out without exchanging changes and technologies due to sanctions and the stupidity of the main maintainers. And after some time, instead of one Linux Foundation, a couple more will appear - the number of forks will multiply, the differences between them will increase. Moreover, such an example already exists.
In 2019, the US banned Huawei from using Google services (GMS). At the time, it seemed like a fatal blow, but instead of dying, Huawei made its own services (HMS), including an app store. As a result, Huawei's Android fork, which differed from the original version only in its shell, evolved over five years into a separate operating system that has nothing in common with Android.
Now it's time to move on to the global trends that Linux fits into.
DEGLOBALIZATION IS PAINFUL AND EXPENSIVE
Due to the inertia of human thinking, the current round (it is neither the first nor the last) of deglobalization is perceived as a tragedy, especially when it comes to the digital sphere, which for decades was considered a space of freedom.
In reality, there was no such freedom, there were simply no reasons to tighten the screws. But after 2014, they appeared. First, it turned out that Russia needed to be forced into submission, and then China, which had set its sights on competing with the US in the high-tech sector. At that point, software and various digital services turned into weapons. And since IT is entirely based on American technologies, the US began to openly abuse sanctions.
At first, the stated goal was to cause damage to bring it into submission. With ZTE, which came under attack from Washington due to the supply of telecommunications equipment to Iran, it worked: the corporation paid a fine and replaced part of the board of directors. As a result, ZTE's position was greatly weakened.
But with Huawei, it didn’t work out: the initial blows, the deprivation of access to GMS and the ban on chip production in Taiwan were spread out over time, which allowed them to adapt and survive. At the same time, from 2019 to 2022, American companies sold chips to Huawei under general licenses. In 2022, Washington changed its approach and immediately began to strike hard.
But this did not help either. Having banned the sale of electronic design automation equipment to China in 2022, the United States faced the fact that China imported them — with the help of the same Huawei. The ban on the supply of lithographs, including to the world leader, the Dutch ASML, led first to a sharp increase in orders from China, and then to the strongest collapse of the company's shares in 26 years, dragging down the shares of other Asian high-tech brands. At the same time, China is working on import substitution of lithographs.
The beauty of globalization was the maximum possible division of labor, which allowed the development of technology and technology with minimal costs and the highest possible pace. If the development of the 16-nm process technology cost Taiwan's TSMC $1.1 billion, then for 3-nm they will spend $4-5 billion only on development and $15-20 billion on the construction of a new plant. Deglobalization will lead to a slowdown in the pace of progress and an increase in costs in already extremely expensive sectors of the economy.
With "software" the story is different. There is no need to build factories for it, but it is easier to ban it. However, it is possible to bypass bans, including through complete substitution - if there is a desire. And it will definitely appear, considering the Linux case and the behavior of Washington clerks together with Finnish millionaire-Russophobes.
#1
Russians have been prolific hackers since the dawn of the computer age, second only to the Chinese. We must be honest. However sympathetic I may be for the Russian cause in Ukraine, I trust Torvalds' judgement in this case.
What? You think I should convert my computer back to Windows? LOL.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
11/01/2024 11:51 Comments ||
Top||
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
