October 18 2024


The Israeli military has found modern Russian-made weapons at Hezbollah bases in Lebanon, which violates a 2006 UN Security Council resolution allowing only the Lebanese Armed Forces to have weapons south of the Litani River. Weapons discovered include 9M131FM (thermobaric) and 9M131M missiles from the Metis-M ATGM, 9K32M Strela-2 manpads, and RPG-29 Vampire and RPG-27 Tavolga rocket launchers. Hezbollah is also using Soviet-made Tu-143 Reis reconnaissance drones.


Ukrainian MP Petro Poroshenko has donated €1,000,000 worth of equipment to the Ukrainian Defense Forces, including a batch of FPV drones.

The List of equipment provided:

- 2 mobile tire shops for wheel repair
- 2 excavators for engineering and assault teams
- 1,600 FPV drones
- Mavic drones
- 257 Vanilla Tsukorok drone detectors
- 22 Shatro trench electronic warfare systems
- ATVs
- DAF Leland trucks with a manipulator for artillerymen and a UAV control center
- Computer equipment

On 17 October, Russia struck the border areas of Sumy Oblast 81 times, resulting in 146 explosions and injuring a local resident. The attacks targeted the hromadas of Stepanivka, Mykolaivka, Khotin, Yunakivka, Myropillia, Bilopillia, Krasnopillia, Velyka Pysarivka, Putyvl, Shalyhine, Esman, Svesa, Druzhba, and Seredyna-Buda. Bilopillia was hit by FPV drones and mortars.


On Thursday, President Zelenskyy spoke with Donald Trump about Ukraine's need for NATO membership, mentioning Ukraine’s decision to give up nuclear weapons in the 1990s. Shortly after, a report from Bild, citing an unnamed source, claimed that Ukraine was ready to develop nuclear weapons to use against Russia. Zelenskyy responded to that report saying that Ukraine has no intention of building nuclear weapons and views NATO as its main security option. Following this, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi denied the claims from Bild, stating that Ukraine has been committed to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons since 1994 and continues to respect its obligations and treaties, unlike Russia.


Switzerland will donate three more GCS-200 mine clearance vehicles to Ukraine to support humanitarian demining efforts. The company Global Clearance Systems (GCS) will train Ukrainian servicemembers on how to operate and maintain them before they are delivered to Ukraine. The first will be delivered to Ukraine in December 2024, and the remaining two will be delivered in February 2025.


Germany has updated their list of military equipment delivered to Ukraine. These were delivered in the past four weeks. It includes:

    • 8 Leopard 1A5 main battle tanks with spare parts
    • 20 Marder 1A3 infantry fighting vehicles with spare parts
    • Ammunition for Marder IFVs
    • Ammunition for Leopard 1 and Leopard 2 tanks
    • 4 Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles
    • One additional Iris-T SLS system
    • One additional Iris-T SLM system
    • Additional missiles for Iris-T SLS and SLM
    • Sea Sparrow missiles
    • 6 Panzerhaubitze-2000 self-propelled howitzers with spare parts
    • 24,000 155 mm artillery shells
    • 30 Vector reconnaissance drones with spare parts
    • 1 Beaver bridge laying tank with spare parts
    • 2 Wisent-1 mine clearing tanks with spare parts
    • 100 H-PEMBS portable mine clearing systems
    • 90 mine detectors
    • 1 Mine ploug
    • 2 mobile antenna mast systems
    • 57 laser rangefinders
    • 3000 RGW-90 MATADOR man-portable anti-tank Systems
    • 25,000 rounds of 40 mm ammunition
    • 75,000 tourniquets
    • 150,000 chest seals
    • 460 MK-556 assault rifles
    • 90 HLR-338 precision rifles
    • 30 CR-308 rifles
    • 3000 SFP9 pistols

Germany also pledged to deliver AIM-9L/I-1 Sidewinder missiles, 2 TRML-4D radars, 4000 strike drones, 361 Songbird reconnaissance drones, 42,000 rounds of 40mm ammunition, and winter clothing.


Google, Meta, and TikTok have banned accounts belonging to an industrial enterprise in Tatarstan, Russia, that was involved in recruiting young women from foreign countries to produce drones. The removed accounts had at least 158,344 subscribers and one TikTok page had over 1 million likes in total.


President of the United States, Joe Biden, has arrived in Berlin, Germany, on a brief visit. He will meet with the leaders of Germany, France, and the UK to discuss Ukraine.


During a podcast interview on October 17, Donald Trump blamed U.S. President Biden and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy for Russia's invasion of Ukraine, asserting that the war could have been prevented if he had been in office. Trump criticized the amount of military aid provided to Ukraine and suggested that the conflict should have been resolved before it began. Trump said, “That doesn't mean I don't want to help them because I feel very badly for those people. But [Zelenskyy] should never have let that war start."


A member of Ukraine’s Parliament named Iryna Allakhverdiieva has been charged with illegally enriching herself by over $485,000 from 2021 to 2022. The Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office revealed that her official income and savings during this period totaled only $65,000, and if convicted, she could face up to 10 years in prison and lose the right to hold certain positions for up to three years. Allakhverdiieva is a member of the Servant of the People party.


The deaths of 2 Russian pilots have been confirmed. Commander Anton Leonidovich Nazarov and Navigator Belozerov Alexander Evgenievich were killed when their Su-34 crashed on the 12th of October. This is the Su-34 that was rumored to have been shot down by an F-16. This rumor remains unconfirmed. Various Russian sources deny the plane was shot down by an F-16, but cannot provide a definitive explanation why the plane went down.


Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban criticized Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's five-point victory plan as "more than terrifying," urging Olaf Scholz and Emmanuel Macron to negotiate with Russia “as soon as possible on behalf of the entire European Union so that we can find a way out of this situation."


On October 17, President Zelenskyy signed a bilateral security agreement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. This is the 25th bilateral security agreement Ukraine has signed. The Greeks also agreed to provide additional resources to accelerate the training of Ukrainian F-16 pilots and technical personnel.

Norway will soon provide six F-16 fighter jets to the Ukrainian Air Force. Denmark will provide 19 aircraft, the Netherlands will provide 24, and Belgium will provide 30. Norway, Denmark, and the Netherlands are preparing to supply Ukraine with F-16s equipped for “longer-range strike capabilities.”  

The Dutch Minister of Defense, Ruben Brekelmans, once again reiterated that Ukraine has the right to strike targets anywhere on Russian territory with the F-16s delivered by the Netherlands for defensive purposes under international law.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the U.S. will switch to training young Ukrainian cadets to fly F-16s instead of experienced pilots, potentially delaying Ukraine’s ability to have a fully operational F-16 squadron until spring or summer of 2025. This decision stems from a shortage of experienced pilots with English skills and the belief that younger cadets adapt better to Western training methods. Some pilots with experience on MiG jets “resisted western training methods.” Training will occur in the UK, France, Arizona, and Romania. While some experienced pilots are still being trained, challenges with language proficiency and adapting to new methods have been reported.

On October 17, the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control announced new sanctions targeting two Chinese entities called Limbach and Redlepus, and one Russian company, TSK Vektor, along with a Russian national, Artem Yamshchikov. These individuals and entities are implicated in the production of Garpiya drones and cooperating with IEMZ Kupol, which is a subsidiary of Almaz-Antey, a major Russia-owned weapons manufacturer. Russia reportedly collaborated with China on the development program for the Garpiya drone.


On the night of October 18, 2024, Ukraine faced an attack involving 135 Russian drones, primarily shaheds. Ukrainian defenses shot down 80 drones, 44 were “lost”, and 2 flew to Belarus. The Kyiv City Military Administration called this attack “one of the most massive drone attacks on the civilian population and infrastructure of Ukraine.”

At the time of writing, some shaheds were still airborne. One Shahed is flying towards Starkon. Another Shahed is heading from the Zhytomyr region to the Khmelnytsky region, while two Shaheds in the south of Zhytomyr are moving west. A Shahed in the Bucha area is heading north towards the Chornobyl zone, and another is in the Cherkasy region heading southwest. Additionally, one Shahed from the Poltava region is flying to Cherkasy.


On October 17, President Zelenskyy signed a bill to reform Ukraine's State Customs Service, aimed at reducing corruption and losses from smuggling. Smugglers in Ukraine are estimated to avoid around $2.4 to $3 billion in customs payments each year. The law goes into effect on November 1. It was created due to pressure from Western partners and Ukrainian businesses and is essential for Ukraine's accession to the EU. Key changes include selecting the new head through an independent committee, external audits, and a one-time vetting of all employees to improve transparency and increase state revenue.


The Netherlands has ordered 6 new 155 mm DITA self-propelled howitzers from the Czech Republic for Ukraine. The DITA self-propelled howitzer can fire 155 mm artillery shells up to 39 km away and is built on a Tatra truck chassis. The DITA has a rate of fire up to 6 rounds per minute for short bursts, and 5 rounds per minute for prolonged firing and requires only a two-person crew to operate, and has a 40-round ammunition capacity. It has a spare seat to carry a third crewman if needed, and it has an autoloader, allowing the crew to stay safe inside the cab of the truck. It only takes 45 seconds for the DITA to switch from firing mode to traveling mode.


The Netherlands along with Denmark announced in a joint statement that they will order new 155 mm artillery shells from the Czech defense industry. Dutch Minister of Defense Ruben Brekelmans reported that they will invest €271 million to purchase the artillery shells, which will boost Ukraine's artillery shell supplies for 2025. Additionally, it will be an incentive for the Czech defense industry to scale up production to complete future contracts quicker and allow for larger contracts to be ordered. There are also discussions ongoing to order 152 mm soviet caliber artillery shells, as Ukraine still has many artillery systems that can fire them. This will also incentivize the Czech defense industry to continue producing them.


Norway will provide €254 million to support Ukraine’s energy infrastructure to help the Ukrainian people through the upcoming winter as it draws closer. €93 million will be provided to procure power equipment to ensure electrical capacity for about 1.5 million Ukrainians and industrial activities in Ukraine. Norway is contributing to efforts to rebuild power stations in the Dnipro region, Odesa, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Lviv. The latest procurement via the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will make it possible to deliver equipment to the Dnipro region, which will enable an additional 80 MW of electricity to be provided to the national grid. €62 million of this will be provided to the Nansen Support Program to help people in need, as the UN estimates that there are 14.6 million people in Ukraine who are in need of humanitarian assistance. The Norwegian government has proposed to provide an additional €423 million under the Nansen Support Program, and if it’s approved, €127 million of it will be allocated towards supporting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in preparation for the winter.


Ukrainian soldier officeralex_33:

“An assault on Maksymilianivka and Gostre with a tank and 6 infantry fighting vehicles was hit by drones and artillery. 4 infantry fighting vehicles escaped. Part of the infantry unloaded. They are being finished off.
…
Maksymilianivka has not been taken by the [Russians]. Despite all the statements of the Katsapstan Ministry of Defense, the settlement is half under the control of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, paratroopers repelled the assaults with more than 10 units of heavy armor today.

Kurakhove direction.”

Ukrainian milblogger war_home:

"What does "lost to radar" mean in the reports from the Air Force?

In addition to Shahed drones, the enemy also launches decoy drones. Besides the Gerbera, there is another type of serial drone shown in the photo. These drones do not have warheads; instead, they carry a 3D-printed sphere (Lüneburg lens) wrapped in foil, which mimics a larger target (like the Shahed) in the radar range. When they run out of fuel, they simply fall anywhere without exploding (since they lack a warhead), causing them to lose radar tracking. Recently, their numbers can account for up to half of all launched devices. They are used to exhaust air defense systems and distract from real targets (attack drones)."

Quote of the Day:

‘Wisdom comes alone through hedgehogs.”

― Aeschylus