2023-10-19 09:38:51
Russian bombings on Ukraine left two new dead on Wednesday October 18, according to the Ukrainian emergency service. In a statement, local authorities said that a Russian missile attack left two dead and one injured in the Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, in the south of the country.
Wednesday at 8:30 p.m. (Ukrainian time), “the enemy launched a missile attack on one of the [localités] from Mykolaiv district. Two people died and one person was injured under the rubble of a catering establishment,” the emergency service said on Telegram messaging.
According to the region’s governor, Vitaliy Kim, the strike targeted the village of Stepove, some 45 kilometers northeast of Mykolaiv. “As a result of the impact, residential buildings and an agricultural business were also damaged,” added the same source.
Russia says it shot down two Ukrainian missiles targeting Crimea
For its part, Russia indicated on Wednesday that it had shot down two Ukrainian missiles in flight which were targeting Crimea, a peninsula annexed in 2014 by Moscow and regularly targeted by strikes by Kiev’s forces.
In a message published via its Telegram channel, the Russian Defense Ministry states that “Russian air defense systems intercepted two Ukrainian missiles in flight. Fragments of the intercepted targets fell in a deserted area and then exploded on the ground.” . The ministry specifies that the attack caused no victims or damage.
Biden to address Americans Thursday on support for Ukraine, Israel
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Joe Biden will address Americans from the Oval Office on Thursday evening on the “response [des Etats-Unis] Hamas’s terrorist attacks against Israel and Russia’s brutal aggression against Ukraine,” its spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said on Wednesday. A speech scheduled for 8 p.m. local time from the Oval Office.
According to a source close to the discussions interviewed Tuesday by AFP, the White House wants to ask Congress for a huge envelope of 100 billion dollars for Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and the migration crisis on the border with Mexico.
Macron assures Zelensky of European support
French President Emmanuel Macron and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky spoke by telephone on Wednesday October 18. The French head of state assured that the return of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the heart of international attention would not affect European support for Ukraine.
“The multiplication of crises will in no way weaken French and European support for Ukraine, which will remain as long as necessary,” he stressed, according to the Elysée. The two leaders also discussed the military capabilities of Ukraine, which expects a new Russian bombing campaign during the winter, and its “needs” as this season approaches, the two presidencies indicated.
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The two presidents “also took stock of the Ukrainian peace initiative and questions relating to food security”, specifies the French presidency. They also discussed the Black Sea corridor intended for grain exports that Ukraine wants to put in place despite the Russian blockade, according to Volodymyr Zelensky.
I had a call with @EmmanuelMacron.
Ukraine highly values France’s military aid. President Macron and I focused on the next steps to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense, long-range, and naval capabilities.
We also discussed the Black Sea grain corridor and ways to protect it, as…
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) October 18, 2023
For his part, the Ukrainian head of state stressed on long-range SCALP missiles.
In eastern Ukraine, the mayor of Avdiïvka expects “an escalation”
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The Russian army is preparing an “escalation” of its offensive against the town of Avdiivka, in eastern Ukraine, its mayor, Vitali Barabach, said on Wednesday. A statement made a week after the start of Moscow’s assault on this industrial city located on the front line since 2014.
Speaking on Ukrainian television, the councilor indicated that if the situation was “calmer” in recent days, it was because Russian forces were preparing a new attack after having been stopped by the Ukrainians. Avdiïvka is an industrial city in Donbass which found itself on the front line well before the Russian invasion of February 2022. Since 2014, separatist forces led by Moscow have tried in vain to conquer it and maintain control.
Russia thanks North Korea for support
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Traveling to North Korea for an official visit, the head of Russian diplomacy Sergei Lavrov declared on Wednesday that Russia “greatly appreciates” the support of the dictatorship in the context of the offensive in Ukraine.
“We greatly appreciate your principled and unambiguous support for Russia’s actions within the framework of the special military operation in Ukraine,” Sergei Lavrov said, quoted by the Russian news agency Ria Novosti. He notably thanked Pyongyang for its recognition of the annexation claimed by Moscow in September 2022 of four occupied Ukrainian regions, North Korea being the only country in the world to have done so.
Washington announces sanctions against Iranian drone and missile programs
The US Treasury Department announced on Wednesday that it would impose sanctions on eleven individuals, eight entities and a ship accused of being involved in the development of Iranian missile and drone programs. The intended targets are in Iran, Hong Kong, China and Venezuela.
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“Iran’s reckless choice to pursue [dans la voie de] the proliferation of destructive drones and other weapons prolongs many conflicts around the world,” said the US Under Secretary of the Treasury for Financial Intelligence and Terrorism, Brian Nelson, in a statement.
An announcement supplemented by a press release from American Secretary of State Antony Blinken, denouncing in particular “the destructive results of Iran’s transfer of deadly drones to Russia to target essential civilian infrastructure and kill civilians in Ukraine”.
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