Ukraine Counteroffensive Update for Oct 20 (Europe Edition): Russian Forces 'Overwhelmed'

Overview:

• US President rallies Americans to keep supporting Ukraine and Israel
• Foreign Minister believes longer-range ATACMS missiles are coming
• AFU pushes further inland from Dnipro River, controls several houses
• Ukrainian troops gain ground near Bakhmut
• VIDEO: Commander-in-chief visits Avdiivka and Kupyansk

In televised address, Biden says “we cannot let tyrants like Putin win”

In a special televised address to his nation and amid waning congressional support for Ukrainian aid, US President Joe Biden urged Americans on Thursday night “not to let Putin win.”

A faction of right-wing politicians in Washington forced a deal to cut spending for Ukraine and ousted their somewhat moderate Republican leader, Kevin McCarthy, who was more open to compromise with Democrats. Since then, the US House of Representatives has had no speaker, meaning no legislation can be passed to authorize more foreign aid.

“We can't let petty partisan angry politics get in the way of our responsibility as a great nation,” the Democratic president said. “We cannot and will not let terrorists like Hamas and tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen.”

“If we walk away from Ukraine, if we turn our backs on Israel, it's just not worth it,” Biden continued. “America is a beacon to the world. Still. Still.”

US will send ATACMS with almost twice the range, Kuleba hints

As reported earlier on Thursday by Kyiv Post, Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba believes the United States soon will send ATACMS missiles with a range of 300 km, as opposed to the ones that arrived a few days ago in Ukraine with a maximum range of 165 km.

Speaking to a television journalist on Thursday, the foreign minister deciphered the language of President Zelensky’s nightly address, saying that lines in his speech recounting his talks with President Biden indicated that a more robust package of the ATACMS will be on its way.

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Kuleba added that he believes future shipments will be continuous and with more missiles than the previous allotment of 20.

Operations: Kherson region

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported that the Ukrainian naval forces who crossed the Dnipro River earlier this week captured at least one village on the east bank on Thursday, and have advanced to other scattered positions, “overwhelming” Russian troops in much of the area.

One Russian military blogger cited by the ISW claimed on Thursday that the marines from the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) gained a foothold in the village of Krynky, about 2 km inland from the river banks and about 30 km east of the city of Kherson. The blogger observed that AFU troops have overtaken a number of houses in the area, while a separate Russian milblogger claimed that Ukrainian forces “used more manpower in attacks on Krynky than in previous attacks.”

Several Russian sources, the ISW pointed out, including Kherson regional occupation head Vladimir Saldo, insisted that Russian forces pushed Ukrainian soldiers back from the Poyma-Pishchanivka-Pidstepne area (15km east of Kherson city) to the shoreline and to positions under the Antonivsky railway bridge.

Geolocated footage seems to corroborate those claims, the ISW said.

VIDEO: Commander-in-chief visits soldiers in Avdiivka

The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Valerii Zaluzhny, posted a video of his visit to troops on the frontlines of Avdiivka and  Kupyansk on Thursday.

“There are no easy front lines in war. There are only those that are more difficult,” Zaluzhny said. “Now [the more difficult one] is Avdiivka. Here, the enemy does not stop trying to break through our defensive lines and encircle the town. The enemy is actively using assault units, throwing a large number of armored vehicles at us, using aviation and artillery… Our men and women are firmly holding their ground in extremely difficult conditions.”

Operations: Bakhmut and Western Zaporizhzhia

A boots-on-the-ground Ukrainian observer posted that AFU forces made unspecified gains near Klishchiivka (7 km southwest of Bakhmut), Andriivka (10 km southwest of Bakhmut), and Kurdyumivka (13 km southwest of Bakhmut) on Thursday and advanced into the Russian defensive line towards Opytne (3 km south of Bakhmut), the ISW reported.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Eastern Group of Forces Spokesperson Captain Ilya Yevlash confirmed the day before that his troops crossed a contested railway line south of Bakhmut. Russian sources also corroborated those reports.

Additionally, the General Staff and other Ukrainian military sources reported that counteroffensive attacks were successful south of Robotyne and southwest of  Verbove (10 km east of Robotyne), as featured in a video post to Facebook.