“Ukraine – Russia”

Israeli defense minister Benny Gantz announced this week that Israel would maintain its policy of not supplying weapons to Ukraine. This drew criticism, including charges that Israel has a moral obligation to help Ukraine and is instead foolishly prizing its relations with Russia. Critics also note that Israel’s archenemy Iran is providing weapons and advisors to Russia. They further point out that Israel’s Ukraine arms embargo puts it out of step with Israel’s most important partners in the West, especially the United States.

Russian-installed authorities ordered all residents of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to leave “immediately” ahead of an expected advance by Ukrainian troops waging a counteroffensive to recapture one of the first urban areas Russia took after invading the country.

In a post on the Telegram messaging service, the regional pro-Kremlin administration called on civilians to use boat crossings over a major river to move deeper into Russian-held territory, citing a tense situation on the front and the threat of shelling and alleged “terror attacks” by Kyiv.

The pro-war consensus seems to be weakening

Even as “kamikaze” drones rain down on Kyiv, the mood over Ukraine is shifting in the US. Between May and September, the share of Americans who are extremely or very concerned about a Ukrainian defeat fell from 55% to 38%. Among Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, 32% say the US is providing too much support for the war — up from 9% in March.

But rifts are emerging within the American establishment as well. The list of high-profile media and policy figures who are starting to question the wisdom of the US strategy in the conflict grows longer every day.

The cost to Ukraine of downing the “kamikaze” drones being fired at its cities vastly exceeds the sums paid by Russia in sourcing and launching the cheap Iranian-made technology, analysis suggests.

A total of 161 Shahed-136 drones, one larger Shahed-129 and four even larger unmanned attack vehicles known as Mohajer-6s have been shot down by Ukrainian air defences in the last month.

With the price of the Iranian-made Shahed-136s standing at €20,000 to €50,000 for each vehicle, the total cost to Russia of the failed drone attacks unleashed on Ukraine in recent weeks is estimated by military analysts at the NGO Molfar to be between $11.66m (£10.36m) and $17.9m (£15.9m).

Russian missiles have destroyed a third of Ukraine’s power stations, President Zelensky said today as citizens were warned to brace for hardship this winter.

Zelensky said the damage had been done in only eight days and had led to “massive blackouts across the country”. On October 10, Russia launched its biggest salvo of missile attacks on Ukraine since the start of the war.

#Ukraine: A powerful Ukrainian 2S7 Pion 203mm self-propelled howitzer seen firing a rare 3O14 cluster projectile, each of which dispenses 24 1.3kg HE FRAG submunitions.

There is a ~90 meter kill radius for uncovered standing targets, at ranges of up to 30km. pic.twitter.com/fJepbGZ4rL

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) October 18, 2022

Ukrainian forces have recently retaken much of the ground that was captured by Russia in the first months of this year, and the Russian government and military response has looked increasingly panicked. Hundreds of thousands of civilian men have been drafted, with large numbers fleeing the country to avoid conscription, and dozens of cruise missiles fired at civilian targets in Ukrainian cities, killing at least 11 people.

Most alarmingly, perhaps, Vladimir Putin has discussed the possibility of using nuclear weapons and his subordinate, the Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, has called for the use of a “tactical” nuclear weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine.

There’s been little backsliding so far but a serious energy crisis looms

Can Ukraine sustain a war effort that is proceeding far better than most military analysts ever expected? Part of that answer, of course, depends on the extent to which the Ukrainian army can keep their troops in the field equipped, supplied, and motivated. That challenge comes as the Russian military increasingly relies on so-called “kamikaze drones” to strike deep into Ukrainian territory (on October 17, a Russian drone attack killed four people in Kyiv during the morning rush hour).

A top official with Siemens Canada defended the energy company’s handling of sanctions involving repair work on turbines belonging to the Russian Nord Stream 1 pipeline before a parliamentary committee on Monday.

Arne Wohlschlegel, Siemens Canada’s managing director, testified that the moment Canada imposed sanctions on Gazprom, the Russian natural gas provider, it immediately halted work on the multi-million-dollar turbine compressor, stored the unit at its Montreal facility and informed the RCMP.

Justin sucking and blowing at the same time.