Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 10-19-2024

Major Dmitry Pervukha was killed in the center of Russian-occupied Luhansk

Russian Major Dmitry Pervukha was killed in the center of Russian-occupied Luhansk when his car exploded at about 11:40 a.m. on Friday, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR) reported Saturday.

Pervukha had served in the 273rd Intelligence Center (military unit 53847) of the Russian army, HUR wrote.

Despite all the talk of peace in exchange for Ukraine’s ceding territory, the reality is that Moscow will not be satisfied unless it control Kyiv. This would be disastrous for the West.

If Donald Trump succeeds in being elected president of the United States in November, he has promised to quickly end the Russia-Ukraine war by mediating an agreement between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky. While Trump has not disclosed any specific details of a potential agreement, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance, has hinted at what a potential Trump peace draft might entail.

In a somber Sept. 11 interview with Shawn Ryan, Vance sketched out an arrangement which would allow Moscow to maintain control over all Ukrainian territory presently occupied by Russian forces. Additionally, Ukraine would have to forfeit NATO membership and pledge to international neutrality.

The Russians attacked a fire department and energy infrastructure, causing blackouts throughout the Sumy region city of Shostka.

One man was killed and eight people were wounded after the Russians struck the center of the Sumy-region-city of Shostka just after midnight, Ukrainian officials reported.

A man's body was found under the rubble of a destroyed building, the Sumy Regional Prosecutor’s Office reported Saturday afternoon.

Barrot also warned the involvement of North Korean soldiers fighting for Russia carried a “huge threat of further escalation” and risked the war “going beyond the current borders and boundaries.”

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot warned in Kyiv on Saturday that if Russia defeats Ukraine on the battlefield it would sow “chaos” in the international system.

His visit, underlining Paris’s unflinching support for Ukraine, comes at the end of a week in which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled his “victory plan” to defeat Russia and called for beefed-up Western backing.

My latest focus groups in Nevada and Wisconsin

ASK AMERICAN VOTERS what is on their mind as election day looms, and you soon learn what to expect: rising prices, chaos on the border, Israel and Iran, healthcare and college costs, homelessness, jobs, tariffs, crime, taxes and climate change will probably all feature. But for many women, one issue – abortion, or ‘reproductive rights’ as the issue is usually referred to here – is likely to top the list. It is perhaps the biggest obstacle between Donald Trump and the White House.

Though he hardly embodied their values, Trump was able to win the support of evangelical voters in 2016 by pledging to appoint conservative judges to the Supreme Court. He kept his promise, and two years ago the court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, ruling that the U.S. Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Since then, in the absence of a national law, the issue has been a matter for state governments.

The Bryansk plant makes parts for weapons like the Pantsir air defense systems and Iskander missile systems

An overnight drone strike in Bryansk reportedly set ablaze the Kremniy El microelectronics plant – one of Russia’s largest – Russian and Ukrainian media reported Saturday morning.

Although local authorities didn’t officially confirm the strike on the plant, the ASTRA Telegram channel had photos and video of explosion and fire reported to be Kremniy El.

Kurakhove, home to about 20,000 people before Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, lies south of Pokrovsk, a logistic hub.

Russia on Saturday said it has taken the village of Zoryane in eastern Ukraine, enabling its troops to approach the industrial hub of Kurakhove.

Kurakhove lies west of Donetsk city, which is already under Russian control. Russia's defense ministry said: "The locality of Zoryane... has been liberated."

Trump’s comments go beyond mere irresponsibility. They are dangerous because they shift the blame from the aggressor to the victim and cloud the international discourse.

Former US President Donald Trump’s recent comments blaming Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for the war in Ukraine are not only absurd but also extremely dangerous.

In a podcast with commentator Patrick Bet-David, Trump claimed that Zelensky “should never have allowed this war to happen” and called him a “loser,” while at the same time accusing President Joe Biden of “encouraging” the war.

It was the body’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense

G7 defense ministers started talks on Saturday against a backdrop of escalation in the Middle East and mounting pressure on Ukraine as it faces another winter of fighting.

Italy, holding the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven countries, organized the body’s first ministerial meeting dedicated to defense, staged in Naples, the southern city that is also home to a NATO base.

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

At least 33 people have been killed in Israeli air strikes on the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza, Hamas-run authorities say. Israel has not commented. Israeli forces have been besieging the densely-populated camp in recent weeks, saying it's trying to prevent Hamas fighters from regrouping. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar's death this week raised hopes of an end to the war, but Iran's supreme leader says the group will "remain alive". Meanwhile, Benjamin Netanyahu's office says a drone was launched towards the Israeli PM's home in Caesarea, northern Israel, but he wasn't there at the time. Fighting is continuing in Lebanon, where Israel's military says it killed about 60 Hezbollah fighters and destroyed its regional command centre. Hezbollah says it fired rockets at the Israeli city of Haifa and areas to its north - BBC

Kamala Harris and Donald Trump visited one of the nation’s only Muslim-majority cities on Friday as the dueling presidential contenders fought for a small but pivotal bloc of Arab American voters in swing-state Michigan. In a rare reference to Israel’s fight against Hamas and Hezbollah, Harris said, “This year has been very difficult, given the scale of death and destruction in Gaza and given the civilian casualties and displacement in Lebanon.” She said the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar “can and must be a turning point…Everyone must seize this opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza, bring the hostages home and end the suffering once and for all,” she said. Trump, meanwhile, avoided any specifics about his plans for the Middle East, but he said he didn’t think the Arab American community would vote for Harris “because she doesn’t know what she’s doing.” - AP

It could either become a NATO member or develop nuclear weapons.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made it plain in Brussels on Oct. 17: if his country does not get a NATO invite immediately, it will develop nuclear weapons.

Facing the press after his participation at the EU summit, Zelenskyy was asked how he hoped to convince the US President, whether Kamala Harris or Donald Trump, that Ukraine should receive an official invitation to join NATO “right now”.

Substantial progress has been made on a historic agreement that will consolidate the main areas of bilateral cooperation for the long term.

According to the Ukrainian President’s Office, on Friday, Oct. 18, officials from Ukraine and the United Kingdom held the third round of negotiations on concluding a bilateral agreement on transition to a stronger and deeper partnership, discussing changes to the draft and approving its structure.

"In furtherance of the understandings between the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, and the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Keir Starmer, reached during the President's recent visit to London, Ukraine and the United Kingdom held the third round of negotiations on a bilateral agreement on transition to a stronger and deeper partnership", the press release reads.

Influential Russian media figure appears to be floating what reads like an implicit Kremlin trial balloon.

On Oct. 16, Konstantin Remchukov, owner and editor of Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta, published an important article in his newspaper. The BBC’s Moscow correspondent Steve Rosenberg drew deserved attention to it. In his magistral article “About Putin and Russia Today,” Remchukov appears to lay out a Kremlin proposal for peace negotiations in Ukraine.

Remchukov is close to the Kremlin, but a smart intellectual. I used to know him quite well when he was a professor of economics at the Patrice Lumumba People’s Friendship University in Moscow. He then became Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska’s skillful political consultant for many years.

Kyiv Post sources fluent in Korean have confirmed that the language, with an accent atypical in the South, was spoken in two videos alleging Pyongyang troops’ presence in Russia.

Kyiv Post sources have confirmed that Korean was spoken in two separate videos alleging Pyongyang troops’ presence in Russia. 

Both videos began circulating on Friday evening. One was taken in an open field, where troops could be seen running on a dirt path in formation, while another depicted troops picking up supplies in a room, ostensibly before their combat deployment. 

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• Russia has maintained pressure in the east of Ukraine's Kharkiv oblast. Russian forces are highly likely within several hundred metres of the Oskil river in a narrow salient approximately 20km south of the town of Kupiansk.
• It is likely that continued Russian attacks are complicating Ukrainian operations on the east bank of the Oskil. On 15 October 2024, regional Ukrainian authorities ordered the civilian evacuation of several population centres in the area. Russia will likely continue to make gains in the area in coming weeks.
• Russian forces have been making sporadic attempts to regain control of Kupiansk since losing the town in a Ukrainian counter-offensive in September 2022. The town is situated on the Oskil river and is a rail hub supporting Ukrainian operations in the area.

The security of Europe depends on Ukraine, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot said.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot arrived in Kyiv Saturday on a two-day visit aimed at expressing his country’s unflinching support for Ukraine.

Barrot arrived in the capital when it was on alert for Russian drone strikes. He will spend the weekend in Kyiv and meet with counterpart Andriy Sybiha.

Donald Trump, who claims he “got along well” with Vladimir Putin, believes he can work with Russia. Meanwhile, Kamala Harris sees Russia as a national security threat to the US.

As the 2024 US presidential election enters its full swing, Republicans and Democrats are working tirelessly to ensure that their candidate is elected as the next president of the United States. Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Harris are touring the country trying to sway the opinions of millions of voters. But as their campaigns work vigorously, another matter will be at play.

According to multiple reports, the Russian Federation intends to interfere in the US presidential election. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines stated that the Russians are “eroding trust in [US] democratic institutions, exacerbating sociopolitical divisions in the United States, and degrading Western support to Ukraine.” Meanwhile, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence announced that the Russians are using artificial intelligence to spread disinformation by making fake photos and audio messages. Finally, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby recent argued that the United States should “expect the worst out of [Russia]” during the 2024 presidential election.

Despite the war, macroeconomic and financial stability is being preserved in Ukraine, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva stated.

The IMF’s executive board approved a $1.1 billion payout for Ukraine on Friday, which it says will be used to provide budget support to the war-torn country.

The loan disbursal is the latest tranche of funding the International Monetary Fund has released to Ukraine as part of an ongoing 4-year, $15.5 billion program approved last March. 

Among those free was human rights activist Maksym Butkevych.

Ninety-five Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) were returned from Russian captivity for an equal number of Russians in a prisoner swap Friday.

Among those freed were soldiers who defended Mariupol and Azovstal, Donetsk region, Luhansk region, Kharkiv region, Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, and Kherson region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote in an overnight Facebook post.

As another soldier’s death is marked in a small western Ukrainian city, tensions about Ukraine’s death toll and controversial mobilization process remain.

On a sunny and chilly Friday morning, hundreds of residents gathered on the main square of their Ukrainian town to pay their respects to the latest of their neighbors to lose his life since Russia’s February 2022 invasion. The somber scene perhaps masked the growing tensions in society in the 33rd month of the full-scale war in Ukraine.

With more than a dozen black-robed priests, a camouflaged military honor guard and many flag-bearers in attendance, Rohatyn laid to rest the 65th of its residents to die defending Ukraine, Volodymyr Olifer, on Oct. 18.

Following debates between the Ministry of Finance and lawmakers, Ukraine has scaled back its ambitious tax raising goal – to raise hundreds of billions in Hryvnia – by more than 80%. What’s next?

Almost three years into Russia’s war in Ukraine, state budgets and funding for Ukraine’s defense have come under increasing strain. The West has delayed ammunition and financial aid due to political backlashes and the slow pace of decision-making. In the face of continued Russian aggression and North Korean soldiers now bolstering Russia’s offensive drive, it is clear that Ukraine must rely on its own resources as much as possible.

Ukraine spent $121 billion on defense in 2023, according to state budget statistics on OpenBudget. Germany, by comparison, spent $67 billion in the same year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute report.

As every week of the war with Russia passes, it seems that Ukraine unveils yet another innovation that could make its drone armada ever more lethal.

A video posted on the “Ukraine News Live” X / Twitter site on Thursday showed a newly developed drone fitted with a revolver-style bomb-release system. Bomb-dropping drones are nothing new but this latest model takes the technique another step forward.

This drone is fitted with an integrated drum mechanism that can hold five munitions; in the video these are mortars. Once the drone is launched and a target is identified the operator can choose when and how many of the bombs to release – singly, sequentially in a bomb train, or in a salvo of all five.