10/24/2022
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 06:09 Blinken calls Moscow’s claim about the radioactive bomb wrong +++
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken dismisses Russia’s claim that Ukraine is planning to detonate a “dirty bomb” on its own territory. Blinken tweeted that the allegations were false. He spoke about it with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba and promised him continued support from the United States. According to his ministry, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu had told the European nuclear powers Great Britain and France that Kyiv was planning to detonate a radioactive bomb to discredit Moscow. The Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar also received a call from Shoigus. British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said after his phone call with Shoigu that he had denied the allegations and warned that such allegations should not be used as a pretext for further escalation.
+++ 02:35 General Prosecutor’s Office: 430 children killed in Ukraine since the beginning of the war +++
According to Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s Office, 430 children have been killed and more than 820 injured since Russia’s war of aggression began on February 24. As the Ukrainian newspaper “Kyiv Independent” reports, 419 children were injured or killed in Donetsk Oblast. 260 children were killed or injured in Kharkiv Oblast and 116 in Kyiv Oblast. The actual number is likely to be even higher: As the newspaper writes, the statistics of the General Prosecutor’s Office do not include the number of victims in the Russian-occupied and still contested areas. According to the report, 326 educational institutions in Ukraine have been completely destroyed and 2,663 damaged since the start of the Russian invasion.
+++ 00:41 Shmyhal: Ukraine has enough gas for the winter +++
According to Denys Shmyhal, with over 14.2 billion cubic meters of natural gas, Ukraine has enough reserves to get through the winter. This is reported by the Ukrainian newspaper “Kyiv Independent”. “Ukraine has enough natural gas to get through the winter,” the newspaper quoted the Ukrainian prime minister as saying. After Russian troops increasingly fired rockets at the Ukrainian infrastructure, the country is struggling with power outages and supply problems.
+++ 23:22 Iran delivers 40 gas turbines to Russia +++
Iran announces it will supply Russia with 40 gas turbines to support Russia’s gas industry due to Western sanctions. This is reported by the British newspaper “Guardian”, citing local Iranian media. Iran’s industrial successes are not limited to the manufacture of missiles and drones, Reza Noushadi, CEO of Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company, is quoted as saying, according to a statement by the Iranian Oil Ministry. “Currently, 85 percent of the plants and equipment required by the gas industry are built domestically,” Noushadi said, “and a contract was recently signed to export 40 Iranian-made turbines to Russia.” However, he does not specify when the contract was signed and when the turbines should be delivered.
+++ 22:50 media report: Iranian drone trainers sighted in Belarus +++
As the Ukrainian newspaper “Kyiv Independent” reports, citing a special unit in Ukraine, Iranian drone trainers have been sighted in Belarus. According to the Ukrainian unit, trainers from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps are training Russian forces in Belarus and coordinating the launch of Iranian-made drones.
+++ 21:27 Russian propagandist wounded in Ukraine +++
Russian war blogger and propagandist Semyon Pegov has been wounded in Ukraine, according to his online project WarGonzo. Pegov was injured in the leg by a so-called “butterfly mine” near the village of Vodyanoye in the Donetsk region, according to the Telegram channel “WarGonzo”. His life is not in danger.
+++ 20:42 Zelenskyj: Russia is preparing something dirty +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the world community to resist any further escalation of the war by Russia. When Moscow accuses Ukraine of wanting to throw a so-called dirty bomb, it is preparing something dirty itself. Zelenskyj said that in his evening video speech. He spoke of a “phone carousel” between the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the ministers of the NATO countries France, Great Britain, Turkey and the USA. In it, Shoigu warned of alleged plans by Ukraine to use a nuclear-contaminated bomb. “If someone can use nuclear weapons in our part of Europe, then there is only one – and this one ordered Comrade Shoigu to call there,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin. The world must make it clear that it is not ready to swallow this “dirt”.
You can read earlier developments relating to the Ukraine war here.