October 5, 2024
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 02:01 Russian elite units suffer immense losses in Wuhledar battles +++
As BBC News Russia reported on Friday, elite Russian troops suffered four times as many casualties during year-long fighting near Vuhledar in the Donetsk region as they did in the decade of the Second Chechen War. Kiev forces announced a withdrawal from the key settlement in Donetsk region on Wednesday after Russian troops overran the city’s flanks and entered Vuhledar itself. The Russian Armed Forces’ elite Brigades 155 and 40, also known as the Black Helmets, took part in the storming of the city. According to the BBC, at least 211 marines from the 155th Brigade were killed during the Battle of Wuhledar, with another 42 missing. This far exceeds the unit’s losses during the decade-long Second Chechen War (1999-2009), the report shows. BBC journalists were also able to document the deaths of 72 Russian soldiers from the 40th Brigade.
+++ 23:55 Opposition activists in Belarus convicted of sabotage attack – some 25 years in prison +++
A court in Belarus has convicted twelve opposition members who are said to be responsible for a sabotage attack on a Russian military aircraft in February 2023. The court in Minsk sentenced the twelve defendants to prison terms of two to 25 years because of their involvement in the “terrorist attack,” the public prosecutor’s office said. Only five convicts are in Belarus; the rest were convicted in absentia. Among those convicted abroad is the suspected mastermind of the attack, Nikolai Schwets, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison. He was able to leave Belarus in the summer as part of a prisoner exchange with Ukraine. In February 2023, pro-Ukrainian activists said they had destroyed a Russian military aircraft at the airfield in Machulishchi near Minsk. It was an A-50 reconnaissance aircraft.
+++ 22:19 Report: Russia wants to recruit 225,000 contract soldiers in three years +++
The Russian Defense Ministry reportedly plans to recruit at least 225,000 contract soldiers over the next three years. This is reported by the independent Russian online medium “Important Stories”. This emerges from the draft budget for the years 2025 to 2027. The equivalent of around $335 million is earmarked for one-off payments when contracts are signed each year.
+++ 21:44 Romania: Russian drone discovered in NATO territory +++
NATO member Romania reports the discovery of a Russian drone on its territory. The Ministry of Defense writes on X that fragments of a Russian drone were discovered in the area of the Litcov Canal near the border with Ukraine. These would be investigated. There had already been an incident with a Russian drone a week earlier. The ministry said the drone may have entered Romania’s airspace for a few minutes. The drone was involved in an attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Izmail. The place is located on the Danube, on the other side of which Romania is located.
+++ 21:10 Johnson: If Trump were president, Putin wouldn’t have started the war +++
From the perspective of former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, it is no coincidence that Russia did not invade Ukraine while Donald Trump was US President. “One of Trump’s virtues is his sheer unpredictability,” Johnson tells the Telegraph. He suggests that Russia would not have invaded Ukraine if Trump had been president. “From the Kremlin’s perspective, there was a real danger that Trump would have interpreted an attack on a European country as an affront to America and the global order and would have taken tough action.” According to the Telegraph, Johnson believes Trump’s unpredictability alone would have been enough to convince Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin not to risk going to war with a sovereign country.
+++ 20:03 Mayor: Russians are seven kilometers from Pokrovsk +++
Russian troops appear to be continuing to approach Pokrovsk. These are seven kilometers from the outskirts of the city, explains Mayor Serhii Dobriak on Ukrainian television. In the previous weeks there had been talk of less than ten kilometers. The mayor reports bomb attacks. Yesterday alone there were two bomb attacks on the city center. 80 percent of the city’s critical infrastructure is now damaged or destroyed. “The enemy is leaving us without electricity, water and gas. This is ‘preparation’ for winter.” According to him, more than 13,000 people are still waiting in Pokrovsk, including almost a hundred children. They did not heed the calls to evacuate. Before the war the city had 60,000 inhabitants.
All previous developments can beYou can read about it here.