Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 10-11-2024

In Saratov, Azamat Iskaliyev, a former prisoner released to fight in Ukraine, killed his girlfriend after a breakup, one of 500 such incidents after nearly three years of war.

In the Russian city of Saratov, 35-year-old Azamat Iskaliyev went to a mobile phone shop to resolve issues with his girlfriend who wanted to break up with him. When she did not share his feelings, he coldly stabbed her to death an act that was captured by surveillance cameras, according to the Ukrainian state project “I Want to Live!”

Iskaliyev had been serving a prison sentence for killing his wife, who had tried to divorce him. In 2021, he was sentenced to nine years in prison but was released early after signing a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense. Apparently, the war did not reform him; it only allowed him to evade punishment and release him to commit another crime.

A former Australian Army and French Foreign Legion soldier, now with Ukraine’s International Legion, bears the callsign of a Ukrainian demon – Baba Yaga.

In the Ukrainian folk tale, the demonic ways of Baba Yaga – a child-eating and broom-flying witch – are defeated by the spirit of generosity and kindness. It’s therefore a somewhat ironic nom de guerre for an Australian fighting for Ukrainian forces, including in Kursk, who says he is “doing his bit for humanity.”

But Baba Yaga is not a typical guy. For a start, he’s 57-years-old, or only three years younger than the cut-off date for military eligibility in Ukraine.

Russia is showing all of the signs of having fallen into a quagmire with no strategy or hope of being able to get out

Zelensky has been seeking support on a two-day whirlwind tour of European capitals that earlier took him to London, Paris and Rome

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky voiced hope Friday that the war with Russia will end next year, speaking during a visit to Berlin to ask for sustained military support.

As Ukraine faces a grueling third winter at war, Zelensky has been seeking support on a two-day whirlwind tour of European capitals that earlier took him to London, Paris and Rome.

Vojislav Torden – a commander of the Russian far-right, neo-Nazi paramilitary Rusich group – was detained at Helsinki airport in July 2023.

Finnish officials said on Friday police suspected a Russian citizen of committing war crimes in Ukraine in 2014 and he was expected to face charges before the end of the month. 

Vojislav Torden – a commander of the Russian far-right, neo-Nazi paramilitary Rusich group – was detained at Helsinki airport in July 2023.

Almost 40 UK companies are being investigated for violating sanctions against Russian oil, implemented to limit the Kremlin’s profits during its war in Ukraine with no one having yet been penalized.

The UK is investigating several British companies under suspicion that they had been sidestepping sanctions applied against Russian oil – so far without penalty. 

The government is looking into at least 37 businesses. Details of the companies have not been released, but some are reportedly maritime insurance firms.

In little gatherings in lunch breaks and on the sidelines, schemes flowed back and forth from technologists to businesspeople and from these exchanges new inventions will sprout.

The INSCIENCE conference held in Kyiv was a chance for aspiring scientists, technologists and start-up entrepreneurs to exchange ideas and build new initiatives across Ukraine.

“And there are our penguins!” exclaimed the base commander, pointing into the distance. The birds were little black spots on the horizon, but there was indeed a small colony of penguins.

Ukraine's Ministry of Finance raised Hr. 30.3 billion for the state budget, mainly from UAH bonds. Bond Market Insight for Oct. 9

Hr. 30.3 billion is slightly below the June 2023 auction, when most proceeds came from FX-denominated bonds.

Four out of six UAH bonds were oversubscribed, and only 12-month and 3.5-year bonds saw demand below the UAH5bn cap.

Kyiv Post visited the training camp of the International Legion under Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR), a special unit, consisting of foreign volunteers.

The service ranged from $7,000 to $12,000 per conscript, and the suspects offered to remove the draft dodgers from military registration based on fake medical reports.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), alongside the National Police, have arrested six suspects involved in two draft evasion schemes in Kyiv and Kherson respectively.

The SBU said the suspects included lawyers and staff from Ukraine’s territorial recruitment centers (TRC) tasked by the government to mobilize conscription-age males. The SBU did not specify the dates of the arrests.

On Thursday evening milbloggers claimed a Russian breakthrough but twelve hours later fierce fighting on the perimeter of the Ukraine-controlled salient continues.

A powerful assault led by Russian paratrooper and marine infantry slammed into the front line of the areas held by Ukraine’s forces in the Russian Federation’s Kursk region on Thursday, Oct. 10, gaining ground and according to unconfirmed milblogger reports putting defending troops to flight. 

A Russian attack backed by armored vehicles seemed to overwhelm forward positions held by Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) troops near the villages of Novoivanovka and Zeleniy Shlyakh and tore a gap around three kilometers (2 miles) wide in the western flank of Ukraine’s 100+ kilometer (62.5 mile) defensive line, early reports on the assault said.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kremlin forces have engaged in widescale looting of cultural heritage in occupied territories where hundreds of artifacts have been stolen.

Artifacts of cultural value stolen by Russian troops from Ukraine have surfaced on the international black market, according to a Telegram post by the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO).

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Kremlin forces have engaged in widescale looting of cultural heritage in occupied territories where hundreds of artifacts have been stolen.

The 400 Russian Shahed kamikaze drones that were destroyed by a Ukrainian special forces attack on Oct. 9 were stored “offsite” away from their military launch site.

According to a report in Defense Express, Ukrainian Defense Forces have identified five sites that Russia regularly uses to launch Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV drone) attacks against Ukraine, some of which are being stored among the civilian populace.

The report listed the locations as: the Yeysk air base in the Krasnador region, Cape Chauda in occupied Crimea, Primorsko-Akhtarsk in Krasnodar Krai, and sites near Kursk and Orel.

Promised work-study hospitality programs, these women instead face harsh working conditions and long hours in munitions factories, often under constant surveillance and exposed to harmful chemicals.

Russia has been recruiting women from Africa, Asia, and Latin America under false pretenses offering them training and well-paid jobs only to end up assembling Shahed attack drones in Tatarstan, according to an Associated Press (AP) investigation.

Ads promised young women from countries like Uganda, Kenya, and Sri Lanka a work-study program in fields such as in the hospitality industries. However, upon arrival, they found themselves working long hours in factories making drones for use in Ukraine, under constant surveillance and exposed to harmful chemicals, the report says.

Kyiv’s HUR Cyber Corps attacked Russia’s North Caucasus University, destroying over 150 terabytes of data and weakening the training of technical specialists for Moscow’s military.

The Cyber Corps of Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) attacked the network infrastructure of the North Caucasus Federal University, which trains UAV operators, digital communication specialists, engineers, and physicists for the Russian armed forces, sources at Kyiv Post reported Friday afternoon , Oct. 11.

According to the HUR source, the university supports several educational institutions across multiple regions of Russia, including seven institutes. The attack damaged the internal information infrastructure of the target, destroying over 150 terabytes of enemy resources, including websites, databases, and file storage.

The US believes that Kyiv can hold territories in the Kursk region for at least several more months, although persistent Russian attacks in the Donbas raise concern.

American officials believe that Ukraine will be able to maintain control over the territory in Russia’s Kursk region for at least a few more months, according to Bloomberg.

Officials, who spoke to journalists on the condition of anonymity, reported that Ukraine currently faces no significant supply problems in the Kursk region. Russian forces have launched only limited counterattacks and are focusing on advancing in eastern Ukraine.

The outlet accused President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration on Wednesday of "exerting pressure" in order to influence editorial policy.

Ukraine's presidency was accused this week of exerting pressure on the country's respected Ukrainska Pravda news outlet, an allegation lawmakers urged prosecutors to "verify" on Thursday.

The outlet accused President Volodymyr Zelensky's administration on Wednesday of "exerting pressure" in order to influence editorial policy. 

A failed Ukrainian state would be a huge security risk for Europe

US VP hopeful JD Vance might well consider himself a genius for coming up with the idea of “neutrality” for Ukraine as the centerpiece of his plan to end Russia’s war on Ukraine. For Vance, this appears to be a truly Eureka moment. Unfortunately for Vance the concept of a neutral status for Ukraine is not new.

Vance might not be aware of the fact but Ukraine, de facto, had neutral status back in 2014 as until Russia’s annexation of Crimea, and is first invasion of Donbas in 2014, Ukraine had non-aligned status which near enough implied neutrality – actually back in 2014 Ukraine’s military doctrine saw the biggest threat from the West, not Russia.

Ukraine's economy is under strain, but every challenge brings a solution — Aleksandr Katsuba

In times of war and economic instability, Ukraine faces many challenges but also uncovers new opportunities for growth. In this interview, Aleksandr Katsuba, an IT investor and entrepreneur, discusses current economic trends, investment prospects, business issues, and the future of the country's energy sector.

Aleksandr, how would you assess the current state of Ukraine’s economy in light of the ongoing war?

47% of Russians said they believed the war has caused more harm than good. 72% said they were ready to support peace, but only 31% agreed with giving concessions to Ukraine.

According to a recent survey, the number of Russians who think that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has caused more harm than good has increased.

In September, 47% of Russian residents stated they saw more harm in the war, compared to 41% in May 2023, a survey by the Levada Center found.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

The strike, which targeted a two-story building in the region on the evening of Thursday, Oct.10, hit what local media described as a farm.

A Russian missile attack on Odesa claimed the lives of four people, according to Oleh Kiper, head of the military administration of the Odesa region.

The strike, which targeted a two-story building in the region on the evening of Thursday, Oct.10, hit what local media described as a farm. Among the victims were two women, a 22-year-old man and a 16-year-old girl. Emergency services rescued four people from the rubble.

Zelensky is seeking a military and financial boost during a 48-hour trip to London, Paris, Rome and Berlin, amid fears of dwindling support if Donald Trump wins the US presidency next month.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will on Friday meet Pope Francis and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as he ends a whirlwind tour of Europe aimed at drumming up support ahead of a tough winter.

Zelensky is seeking a military and financial boost during a 48-hour trip to London, Paris, Rome and Berlin, amid fears of dwindling support if Donald Trump wins the US presidency next month.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from ISW:

• Ukrainian forces reportedly struck a Shahed drone storage facility in Krasnodar Krai and an ammunition warehouse in the Republic of Adygea on October 9 and 10.
• Russian forces have reportedly struck three civilian vessels docked in Ukrainian ports since October 5, likely as part of intensified Russian military, political, and economic pressure to undermine confidence in Ukraine's grain corridor, Western support for Ukraine, and push Ukraine into premature negotiations.
• An unspecified senior US defense official stated on October 9 that Russian forces have suffered over 600,000 casualties since the start of the full-scale invasion in February 2022 — a stark increase from a prior US intelligence assessment that Russian forces suffered about 315,000 casualties in Ukraine as of December 2023.
• An Iranian outlet affiliated with former Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) Commander Major General Mohsen Rezaei claimed on October 8 that Russia provided Iran with an S-400 air defense system and a squadron of Su-35 fighter jets but provided no evidence for this claim.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Toretsk. Russian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast and near Chasiv Yar, southeast of Pokrovsk, and southwest of Donetsk City.
• The Russian military appears to be increasingly recruiting older Russian volunteers in order to sustain ongoing crypto-mobilization efforts. 

Victoria Roshchyna, who would have turned 28 this month, disappeared in August last year after travelling to Russian-held east Ukraine for a report.

A Ukrainian journalist who was captured by Moscow while reporting from occupied east Ukraine has died in Russian detention, a Ukrainian official said Thursday.

Victoria Roshchyna, who would have turned 28 this month, disappeared in August last year after travelling to Russian-held east Ukraine for a report.

Military commentators are puzzling over the reasons why Russia has moved two of its MiG-31K fighter aircraft, which carry the Kinzhal high velocity ballistic missile, to Belarus this week.

On Wednesday evening, Oct. 9 the Belarusian Hajun military monitoring group reported the arrival of a Russian Aerospace Forces’ MiG-31K at the Machulishchy airfield, 12 kilometers (6.5 miles) south of Minsk, caused interest among military correspondents. When Hajun followed this up by reporting the arrival of a second aircraft on Thursday afternoon the martial cognoscenti became abuzz with speculation on Moscow’s motive for the move.

The MiG-31K is a two-seater, all-weather, long-range fighter capable of carrying the Kh-47M2 Kinzhal aeroballistic missile, which has not lived up to its reputation as a hypervelocity projectile but has outmatched much of Ukraine's air defense capabilities other than the Patriot and SAMP-T air defense systems of which Kyiv has limited numbers.

The military tax remains at 1.5% for military personnel but will rise to 5% for all other citizens.

Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, passed a draft law in the second reading that increases taxes, including a hike in the military levy, People’s Deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak reported via Telegram on Thursday.

Several amendments were adopted during the second reading of draft law No. 11416d – which was supported by 247 deputies – including one that keeps the military levy at 1.5% for military personnel while raising it from 1.5% to 5% for all other citizens.