No one can stop Russia’s economy or undermine political stability, says Lavrov
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attends a ceremony to receive credentials of newly appointed foreign ambassadors at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, September 20, 2022.
Pavel Bednyakov | Sputnik | Reuters
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said no one can stop the Russian economy or undermine political stability in the country, according to state media.
In a message to a conference focused on economic cooperation, Lavrov told participants that “it is safe to say that no one will ever be able to stop the Russian economy or undermine domestic political stability,” according to a state news agency report cups
Lavrov said that despite international sanctions, imposed on Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, Russia was able to overcome the economic difficulties it faced.
“We have faced sanctions before. The experience of the past decades helps us to overcome the challenge,” said the official, who insisted that Russia was not isolated internationally.
“We have many friends all over the world. We constantly promote relations with a wide range of CIS countries, in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Latin America,” he said, also adding that “it was not the choice of Russia “cut mutually beneficial ties” with the West.
—Holly Elliott
Zelenskyy calls for Western aircraft to help fight Russia
A US Air Force F-16 fighter jet (above) arrives to land at a US Air Force base in Osan, south of Seoul.
Lee Jae-Won | Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called for more sophisticated aircraft to fight the Russian invasion, in particular, ordering F-15 and F-16 fighter jets.
“The Air Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are heroically fighting against the enemy who is significantly superior,” Zelenskyy said on Facebook on Tuesday.
“They do it with outdated equipment inferior to the new occupants’ air vehicles. They have already lost at least 500 helicopters and planes, but these victories come at a high cost,” he said.
Next to Zelenskyy’s message was a video in English about the work of Ukrainian military pilots. The Ukrainian government video said modern air defense systems and Western aircraft, particularly F-15 and F-16 jets, would help tip the balance of power in Ukraine’s favor.
—Holly Elliott
More grain ships leave Ukrainian ports despite Russian suspension
A photo taken on October 31, 2022 shows cargo ships loaded with grain at the anchorage area of the southern entrance to the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Ozan Kose | Afp | Getty Images
Three outbound ships had left Ukrainian ports by midday on Tuesday under the Black Sea grain export agreement, the UN-led coordination center said, the second day of sailing after Russia suspend participation in the initiative.
The statement said the movement of the ships was agreed by the delegations of Ukraine, Turkey and the UN at the Istanbul-based Joint Coordination Center (JCC) and the Russian delegation had been informed.
Amir Abdulla, the UN coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, “continues his discussions with all three sides of member states in an effort to resume full participation in the JCC,” the statement said.
The export deal was agreed by Russia and Ukraine and negotiated by Turkey and the United Nations in July to ease a global hunger crisis caused in part by Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and earlier blockade of its ports .
Twelve ships left Ukrainian ports on Monday, the biggest day of exports since the program began, while two arrived.
President Vladimir Putin has said Russia’s decision to suspend participation in the program was a response to a drone attack on Moscow’s fleet in Crimea on Saturday that it blamed on Ukraine. Moscow said on Monday it was “unacceptable” for shipping to pass through the corridor.
Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for the attack and denies using the grain program’s security corridor for military purposes. The UN said on Saturday that no grain ships were using the Black Sea route.
— Reuters
Russia expands the evacuation zone in the Kherson region
Officials installed by Russia in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine are expanding an evacuation zone.
Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Russian-installed partially occupied region, told Telegram on Monday evening that he was expanding an evacuation area in the region and called on civilians on the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, to divides the Kherson region, which leave their homes.
People arriving from Kherson await another evacuation deep into Russia inside the Dzhankoi railway station in Crimea on October 21, 2022.
Stringer | Afp | Getty Images
Saldo repeated a claim — which Kyiv says is unfounded and false — that Ukrainian forces plan to destroy the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric dam to flood parts of Kherson. Kyiv says Russia could be planning such an attack and looking to blame Ukraine.
“There is an immediate danger of flooding the territories due to the planned destruction of the Kakhovskaya HPP dam and the release of water from a cascade of power plants upstream of the Dnieper. [the Dnipro river]Saldo said.
“In this situation, I made the difficult but correct decision to announce the organized movement of the civilian population of Berislav, Belozersky, Snigiryovsky and Aleksandrovsky municipalities to the left bank of the Dnieper,” he said.
Reuters reported that the expanded evacuation area is equivalent to an additional area of nine miles.
“We will bring the civilian population to the left bank in an organized manner, stage by stage,” Saldo said.
Officials installed by Russia in Kherson have already moved thousands of people in the Kherson region into Russian territory, and Ukraine has told residents not to comply with what it considers forced relocations.
—Holly Elliott
Multiple torture chambers and illegal prisons discovered in liberated territories, police say
The entrance to a basement allegedly used as a torture chamber in a house where prisoners were held, discovered by Ukrainian police in downtown Pisky Radkivsky, Ukraine, on October 6, 2022.
The Washington Post | The Washington Post | Getty Images
Ukraine’s National Police said it has discovered 34 locations where it believes Russian forces have illegally detained and tortured people.
“Thirty-four places where the Russians illegally detained and tortured citizens in the unoccupied zones: Kharkiv region – 24, Kherson region – 3, Kyiv region – 3, Sumy region – 2, Donetsk, Chernihiv regions – 1 each,” the press service of the National Police posted on Telegram, according to a translation by the Ukrinform news agency.
A man claiming to be a former prisoner, tortured with electric shocks by the Russian military, surveys the debris inside a destroyed Russian command center on September 29, 2022 in Izium, Ukraine. On September 9, Ukrainian armed forces struck the facility known as a prison and torture chamber.
Paula Bronstein | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Ukraine’s police force and international investigators continue to uncover and document evidence of multiple alleged war crimes by Russia’s occupying forces, including widespread rape and torture and mass killings that Ukraine says are war crimes
Russia says it targets civilians despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary with daily shelling of residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
Forensic experts collect evidence at the district police department allegedly used by Russian occupiers for torture, Balakliia, Kharkiv region, northeastern Ukraine.
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
As of Oct. 31, Ukrainian police have initiated 40,742 criminal proceedings for alleged crimes committed by Russian service members “and their accomplices” in Ukraine, Ukrinform reported.
—Holly Elliott
Russia is moving a large ballistic missile to Belarus to send ‘a message’ to the West, UK says
Russia is likely to have moved large ballistic missiles to Belarus as a “message to the West”, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
In an intelligence update on Twitter, the ministry said it is likely that Russia deployed AS-24 Killjoy missiles (air-launched ballistic missiles) to Belarus “primarily to send messages to the West and to portray Belarus as an accomplice more and more of the war.”
Belarus is a strong ally of Russia, although it is considered subservient to Moscow. Although not directly involved in the conflict in Ukraine, it has aided Russia during the war and missiles have been launched into Ukraine from Belarus.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) shakes hands with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko during their meeting in Sochi on February 22, 2021.
ALEXEI DRUZHININ | AFP | Getty Images
The ministry said Moscow has “very limited stocks” of AS-24 Killjoy missiles and “continues to expend its advanced long-range munitions against targets of limited operational importance.” However, basing such weapons in Belarus would give Russia “little added advantage in terms of striking additional targets in Ukraine.”
Britain said evidence that Russia was deploying these missiles to Belarus came after footage showed two MiG-31K Foxhound interceptor aircraft “almost certainly stationed at Belarus’ Machulishchi airfield on October 17 , with a large container stored nearby within a protective earthen berm.”
“The canister is likely to be associated with the AS-24 Killjoy air-launched ballistic missile, a large munition that the MiG-31K variant is adapted to carry.”
He noted that Russia had not previously deployed such weapons to Belarus, and while it has occasionally launched such weapons during the Ukraine war, “stockpiles are probably very limited.”
“It continues to expend its advanced long-range munitions against targets of limited operational importance,” he noted, and with a series of…