As the war enters its 606th day, the main developments include:
This is the situation on Sunday, October 22, 2023.
finding
- Two missiles struck a postal distribution center in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, on Saturday, killing six Ukrainian postal workers, Ukrainian public broadcaster reported.
- Russian troops shelled the Ukrainian-controlled town of Nikopol from the home of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, killing one man, Governor Serhiy Lysak announced on Saturday. He said Nikopol’s emergency services were working to assess the damage.
- Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Friday that Russia had fired hundreds of shells into Ukrainian-controlled areas of the southern Kherson region. “Russian troops attacked residential areas in residential areas of the region. As a result of the Russian invasion, one person was killed and another was injured,” he said on Saturday.
- A 60-year-old man was killed Friday night when a Russian missile hit an industrial facility in President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown of Kryvyi Rih, according to a Telegram post by Mayor Oleksandr Virkul. The man’s wife was hospitalized with serious shrapnel injuries, Virkle said.
- Ukraine’s air force said Sunday that six Russian-launched attack drones and one cruise missile were destroyed by Ukraine’s air defense systems overnight, out of nine aircraft launched into Ukraine.
politics
- A Russian court is scheduled to rule on the pre-trial detention of Russian-American journalist Ars Kurmasheva on Monday. Kurumasheva, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has been held in a temporary detention center since her arrest on Wednesday. The Russian government announced that she failed to register her as a “foreign agent” when she visited Russia in May for a family emergency.
diplomacy
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After speaking with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President Zelensky said on Saturday that Turkey would take part in talks aimed at finding a way to end the conflict in Ukraine. “We discussed the next round of official peace negotiations, which will take place in Malta. Turkey will participate adding its authoritative voice and position,” President Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. Malta announced on Friday that it would host peace talks on October 28 and 29, after similar meetings were held in Jeddah and Copenhagen earlier this year.
weapons
- Russia’s upper house of parliament is scheduled to consider a bill to withdraw from the Nuclear-Test Ban Treaty on Wednesday, before asking Russian President Vladimir Putin to sign it. The bill passed Russia’s lower house of parliament last week by 415 votes to zero. Ukraine called on the international community to respond to the Russian government’s “provocations” in the field of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.