2023-10-03 11:32:03
► Ukraine says it has shot down 29 Russian drones and a missile
The Ukrainian air force said on Tuesday October 3 that it had shot down 29 drones and a missile launched by Russia during a new series of night attacks on its neighbor.
Ukrainian air defense has “destroyed thirty aerial targets in the south and east” of the country: 29 Iranian-made Shahed 131/136 drones as well as an Iskander-K cruise missile, the air force said on Telegram.
In total, Russia launched 31 drones and one missile from Crimea, the Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014, the air force added.
In September, Moscow used more than 500 Shahed drones against Ukraine, a record, according to the Ukrainian consulting group Defense Express, which predicts even more active use by Moscow of these cheap but depleting aircraft.
► Zelensky visiting the front in the east of the country
The Ukrainian president announced Tuesday that he was on the Eastern Front, in the area of the localities of Kupiansk and Lyman, the target of an offensive by Russian troops.
Today, we are visiting our brigades that are fighting in one of the hotspots, the Kupyansk-Lyman direction where Russian occupiers constantly try to attack our positions. The 103rd Territorial Defense Brigade, the 68th “Oleksa Dovbush” Jeager Brigade, and the 25th “Sicheslav”… pic.twitter.com/9cF4tw5Fxs
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Volodymyr Zelensky (@ZelenskyyUa) October 3, 2023
“Today we visit our brigades fighting in one of the hottest zones”, assured Volodymyr Zelensky. The Ukrainian president posted a video on Telegram in which he can be seen with soldiers in what looks like a fortified shelter.
Since June, Ukrainian forces have been leading a slow counter-offensive in the East and South, but in the Kupiansk sector, it is Russian troops who are on the attack.
► Agreement between Warsaw and kyiv on the transit of Ukrainian grain
Warsaw and Kiev announced on Tuesday a decision involving Lithuania which will speed up the transit of Ukrainian grain to other countries, a first agreement between the two countries since the announcement in mid-September of a Polish embargo on imports.
“We have agreed on an important issue”declared the Polish Minister of Agriculture. “From tomorrow, controls at the Ukrainian-Polish border for grain transiting through Lithuania will be carried out on Lithuanian territory, in a Lithuanian port.”
► Ukraine eases monetary restrictions to strengthen its war-torn economy
Ukraine’s central bank allowed limited fluctuation of its national currency, the hryvnia, from Tuesday for the first time since the start of Russia’s invasion in 2022 in order to strengthen the country’s economy.
From Tuesday, “the National Bank moves to a regime of controlled exchange rate flexibility” of the hryvnia, in order to “strengthening the resilience of the Ukrainian economy”announced the monetary institution in a press release published Monday evening.
► Under the effect of sanctions, the ruble falls again
The Russian currency fell again on Tuesday morning and was trading at more than 100 rubles to the dollar, despite action by the Central Bank to counter inflation and the weakening of the national currency. On the Moscow Stock Exchange, it was 100.11 rubles for 1 dollar and 104.65 rubles for 1 euro.
Under the effect of international sanctions imposed since the invasion of Ukraine, the ruble has been struggling for months, weighing in particular on the purchasing power of the population.
This is the ruble’s biggest fall since that recorded in mid-August when the ruble had already exceeded 100 per dollar. A first since March 2022 and the collapse of the Russian currency in the wake of the offensive in Ukraine.
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