Published 15 hours ago

Russian airstrikes killed at least seven people and injured dozens in Ukraine, hours after Vladimir Putin concluded a BRICS summit. The G7 has said Russian assets will be used to aid Ukraine. Follow DW's roundup.

G7 leaders on Friday finalized an agreement to provide some $50 billion (€46 billion) in bilateral loans to Ukraine over the next three years, funded from frozen Russian sovereign assets.

The aid is scheduled to begin as early as December 1 and continue until the end of 2027.

"These loans will be serviced and repaid by future flows of extraordinary revenues stemming from the immobilization of Russian Sovereign Assets," read a statement from G7 finance ministers.

"The loan proceeds will be disbursed through multiple channels to support Ukraine's budgetary, military and reconstruction assistance," the statement added.

The US this week promised to contribute $20 billion in loans to Kyiv as part of the package. The timing of the US loan is seemingly meant protect it from Donald Trump potentially reversing aid to Ukraine should he win the upcoming presidential election. Trump, who is seen as a friend of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has repeatedly threatened to cut all support for Ukraine if reelected.

Outgoing President Joe Biden said the loans would be repaid with interest earned from frozen Russian assets. He said the plan allows the US to support Ukraine "without burdening taxpayers."

Ukraine was subjected to a night of Russian missile and drone strikes that witnesses and authorities say lasted nearly 8 hours.

In all, at least six people were killed — including women and children — and dozens more were injured as Russian forces attacked the capital Kyiv, the central city of Dnipro, and a village in the Kherson region.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fumed on social media, posting images of burning and bombed-out buildings on X, formerly Twitter. Zelenskyy, referencing the BRICS summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin posted: "After everything said in Kazan, Russian murderers have resumed their usual business."

"In Dnipro," Zelenskyy wrote, "one of Ukraine’s most important hospitals, the Mechnikov Hospital, was damaged, along with ordinary residential buildings. Tragically, three people were killed, including a child."

"This war has continued for three years now," the Ukrainian leader added, "and there is only one culprit—Moscow." 

Friday's strikes came less than 48 hours after fellow world leaders urged Putin to end his war of aggression, which began with Russia's February 24, 2022 invasion.

https://www.dw.com/en/ukraine-updates-russia-hits-kyiv-dnipro-after-brics-event/live-70608107

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The past week in the Ukraine conflict has seen intensive fighting along the front line, with active combat continuing in the border areas of Russia’s Kursk Region, as well as in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), where Moscow has reported making new gains.

The Russian military announced that it had secured two communities in the north of the republic: the village of Serebryanka, located immediately north of the town of Seversk, as well as Novosadovoye, an abandoned settlement adjacent to the border with the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR).

The latter gain marks a new milestone in Russia’s advance towards the town of Krasny Liman, which was re-captured by Kiev during its autumn 2022 offensive. The liberation of Serebryanka could potentially signal a change of the tide in the vicinity of Seversk, which has seen medium-to-high intensity combat throughout most of the ongoing conflict. 

Donbass advance continues 

The main frontline events in the DPR continued to unfold near the city of Pokrovsk (also known as Krasnoarmeysk), the last major population center under Ukrainian control in the west of the region.

The Russian military has taken control of Nikolayevka, a village located some 10km to the southeast of the city. It is located only 2km away from Myrnograd, a major town which effectively forms one agglomeration with neighboring Pokrovsk.

Moscow’s forces have also continued to expand their zone of control to the south of Pokrovsk, liberating the village of Zoryanoye. Control over the village likely spells trouble for the Ukrainian garrison in Gornyak, a larger village to its northwest, which is reportedly already under the partial control of Russian forces. 

Intense combat has been reported in Selidovo, a sizeable town located some 15km to the south of Pokrovsk. The Russian military reached it in mid-September but opted not to pursue a frontal assault, advancing on the town’s flanks instead.

Unverified footage circulating online suggests that roughly half of the town has already fallen under Moscow’s control, with Russian troops seen unfolding their country’s flag on a high-rise block located at the center of Selidovo. The buildings in the vicinity appear to be largely intact, suggesting that the advance was made without much fighting. Ukrainian forces in the town have reportedly become largely disorganized due to consistent flanking attacks, with the Russian assault teams sipping through the fragmented defenses. 

On Friday, multiple Ukrainian online outlets reported a large Russian force breaking into Vyshnevoye, a small nearby village west of the town. The partial encirclement is expected to further aggravate Ukrainian logistics in the area, with the whole town now supplied via a single road, which has been coming under repeated shelling by the Russian troops.

Ukrainian units encircled in Kursk

The Russian military has continued its effort to dislodge Kiev’s forces from the border areas of Kursk Region, which Ukraine invaded in early August. Most active hostilities have continued in the northwest of the area, namely in the vicinity of the villages of Daryino, Zeleny Shyakh, Nizhny Klin, Novoivanovka, Lubimovka and other locations. 

On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin said some 2,000 Ukrainian servicemen had wound up encircled in Kursk Region. The troops are trapped in an area measuring 6 by 15 km and Russian forces are working to eliminate the pocket, the president revealed.

Putin did not elaborate on exactly where the Ukrainian forces were encircled and the military is remaining silent on the matter. The pocket is likely located to the south of the villages of Olgovka and Kremyanoye, apparently stretching to the southeast and presumably centered on a small forest some 2.5 km in diameter. 

The servicemen who ended up encircled are likely the remnants of disorganized Ukrainian units that had retreated from the aforementioned villages. While being severed from any solid logistics routes, the units trapped in the pocket presumably still have a remote chance of connecting with the forces controlling the village of Malaya Loknya, some 17km to the southeast of Olgovka, through a system of minor dirt roads running across open fields. 

https://www.rt.com/russia/606449-kursk-encirclement-donbass-offensive/

MEANWHILE:

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The Ukrainian army has lost over 350 servicepeople, 14 armored vehicles as well as two US-made HIMARS rocket launchers in the Kursk region over the past day, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Saturday, adding that eight Ukrainian military personnel surrendered.
"Over the past day, the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces amounted to more than 350 servicepeople, 14 armored vehicles were destroyed, including four infantry fighting vehicles, one of them a Swedish-made CV90, and 10 armored combat vehicles, as well as two US-made HIMARS launchers and two transport-loading vehicles to them, three mortars and six cars. Eight Ukrainian military surrendered," the statement read.

Since the fighting started in the Kursk region, Ukraine lost more than 26,900 troops, 177 tanks, 97 infantry fighting vehicles, 105 armored personnel carriers, 1,013 armored combat vehicles, 229 artillery guns, 40 multiple rocket launchers, including 11 HIMARS and six multiple launch rocket systems and other military equipment, according to the ministry.

https://sputnikglobe.com/20241026/ukraine-loses-over-350-servicepeople-in-kursk-region-over-past-day---russian-military-1120685197.html

"The enemy's losses amounted to over 740 servicemen, two combat armored vehicles, four cars, a 152-mm D-20 gun, a 122-mm D-30 howitzer, one US-made 105-mm M119 gun, and one UK-made 105-mm L119 gun. An ammunition depot of the Ukrainian armed forces was destroyed," the ministry said in a statement.

The Yug group of forces also repelled one counterattack by the Ukrainian armed forces, the ministry added.

At the same time, Russia's Tsentr (Center) group of forces repelled six Ukrainian counterattacks in the past 24 hours, with Kiev losing up to 545 soldiers and two combat armored vehicles, the statement said.

Russia's Zapad (West) group defeated the manpower and equipment of five Ukrainian brigades in various areas of the Kharkov Region and the Lugansk People's Republic, and repelled one counterattack, with Kiev losing up to 510 soldiers over the past day, according to the statement

https://sputnikglobe.com/20241026/russian-forces-liberate-alexandropol-settlement-in-dpr--defense-ministry-1120684531.html

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