October 26 2024

A new artillery barrel plant will be opened in the UK. The plant will produce 120mm L55A1 barrels for the Challenger 3 tank and 155mm barrels for artillery systems, specifically the RCH 155. It is estimated that the plant will create 400 new jobs.


A U.S. Army warehouse in Busan, South Korea caught fire. The warehouse was undergoing renovation at the time and was empty.


Ukraine has begun producing cheap thermal imaging cameras for drones. The camera is called the Kurbas 256. It was developed by a Ukrainian company called Odd Systems, which developed FPV drones and components. Bulk orders of 500 get the price down to $250 per camera, and it only costs $150 apiece when ordering 5,000 of them. Other cameras of similar resolution and quality can cost twice as much. The Kurbas 256 has a resolution of 256×192 pixels and has a horizontal field of view of 50°.  Image contrast can be altered mid-flight and there is also a false color mode, both enabling better visibility in changing conditions. The camera is also weather-sealed, so moisture doesn’t get inside and affect image quality. The company also claims the video quality of this camera will be less choppy and prone to disruption than competitors.


A poll conducted by the Razumkov Center shows that more than 78% of Ukrainians see Belarus as complicit in Russia’s war and 68% support completely ending relations with Belarus, banning Belarusian citizens from entering the country. This ban would have an exception for those seeking political asylum. Only 11.2% reported opposing such a ban.


Ukraine ratified the Rome Statute on August 24 and announced that it has officially submitted the paperwork to the UN. Ukraine will officially become a member of the treaty on January 1, 2025. The Rome Statute is the treaty that created the International Criminal Court and created 4 kinds of international crime: Genocide, Crimes against humanity, War crimes, and Crime of aggression. Ukraine, while not officially having ratified it, accepted the court’s authority and placed itself within the Court’s jurisdiction in 2013. 124 states have officially ratified the Rome Statute.


Seven men were sentenced for evading military service on October 25. One man was sentenced to 4 years in prison, while another was sentenced to 5 years. So far in 2024, 26 people have been charged as draft dodgers, and an additional 51 were charged with related offenses.


Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin announced that 6 prosecutors resigned after it came to light that they may have been engaging in fraud. Kostin himself resigned a few days ago but remains in office until he is officially dismissed. The scandal revolves around prosecutors wrongfully obtaining disability certificates which guarantee them better pension benefits and would exempt them from military service. In the Khmelnytskyi region alone, at least 50 prosecutors are believed to have obtained fraudulent disability benefits and paperwork. 64 state medical commissioners have so far been officially notified that they are under suspicion of being involved in the scheme. Multiple commissioners have been found with hundreds of thousands of illegally obtained dollars. The head of Ukraine’s Security Service said that approximately 4,000 fraudulent disability certificates have been canceled.


President Zelenskyy rejected the offer of a visit from UN Secretary-General António Guterres after he participated in the BRICS conference in Kazan, Russia.  Zelenskyy felt Guterres' actions undermined international law and the warrant issued for Putin’s arrest issued by the International Criminal Court. Guterres did not attend the Peace Summit in Switzerland organized by Ukraine back in June. Notably, no wanted war criminals were present at the Peace Summit.


Polish President Andrzej Duda said that Poland will not provide Ukraine with the arms and equipment that Poland has purchased from South Korea.


Dmytro Lubinets, Ukraine's human rights commissioner, said that Qatar has provided Ukraine with lists of missing soldiers and letters from soldiers being held in Russian custody. Lubinets and a representative from Ukraine also discussed ways to assist Ukrainian citizens, such as helping them recover personal documents.


The Wall Street Journal reports that Russia helped Yemen's Houthi rebels by giving them targeting information, enabling them to attack Western ships in the Red Sea.


Alexander Lukashenko said Putin didn't ask for permission to attack Ukraine from Belarusian territory at the start of the full-scale invasion. He claims he was told it was a normal movement of troops back to Russia after training exercises had been completed.


North Korea has sent 20,000 containers of ammunition to Russia, potentially containing up to 9.4 million shells, if all the artillery ammunition was 152mm shells. Despite this large supply, South Korea believes North Korea still has enough weapons for one to three months of conflict against them. North Korea has about 200 munitions plants that are reportedly operating at full capacity. South Korea has limited information on North Korea’s military production capabilities because much of North Korea’s arms manufacturing facilities are built underground.


Bloomberg, citing sources in Ukrainian and South Korean intelligence, reported that 60% of the artillery shells Russia has used recently were produced in North Korea. Another 10% were produced in Iran. Only about 30% were domestically produced inside of Russia.

Russia plans to provide the North Korean troops in its service with one interpreter and 3 Russian servicemen for every 30 North Korean troops, in an attempt to accommodate them and make their service with the Russian military easier.

South Korean Defense Minister Kim Yong Hyeon called the North Korean troops sent to Russia “cannon fodder” and said that North Korea is participating in “an illegal war of aggression.” He said that they may wear Russian uniforms, they will operate under the commands of the Russian military, and have no authority or autonomy of their own. The North Koreans don’t have any control in the chain of command, and may even be fighting with Russian insignia and flags. 

 

A councilor from the United Russia Party, Nikolai Malyshev, has been arrested for enslaving three men and forcing them to work without pay at his car wash from February 2022 to October 2024. He is accused of forming a criminal group for human trafficking and fraud and using violence to control the victims. Additionally, they stole over $10,000 from one of the men who was a veteran of the war in Ukraine.


After the attack on the oil depot in Feodosia, Crimea, on October 7,  the number of military fuel tanker trucks going to and from the oil depot in Inkerman has increased significantly.  Reportedly, 3-4 times as many trucks are making the journey.  Russia is reportedly changing its fuel supply routes for military units on the peninsula due to the attack. Fuel is now also being transported by rail. Russia is also possibly attempting to bury fuel tanks underground at another depot in Sevastopol to protect them from attack.


Olaf Scholz has called for a diplomatic solution to Russia's war against Ukraine and called upon India to support a just, lasting peace as well. He restated the importance of Ukraine maintaining its national sovereignty and territorial integrity. He said India has strong ties to both sides of the conflict and they can play a role as a mediator to bring the war to an end. Ukraine has also reportedly viewed India as a potential peace mediator.


Putin stated that Russia is willing to enter peace negotiations with Ukraine, but only if Ukraine agrees to give up territories currently occupied by Russia. He claims Ukraine is not willing to negotiate. In June, he made his demands for peace clear, and they included Ukraine withdrawing all troops from and surrendering Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. He demanded Ukraine even hand over territory that Russia never managed to take control of. He said that Ukraine must accept the “realities on the ground.”


Türkiye expressed support for Ukraine regaining control of all of the internationally recognized territory, including Crimea. According to Deputy Speaker Bekir Bozdağ, they believe this is possible through diplomatic means. Bozdağ called the war horrific and said Ukraine was defending itself.

President Zelenskyy's communications adviser, Dmytro Lytvyn, stated that Ukraine did not ask Turkey to negotiate peace with Russia, contrary to claims made by Putin at the BRICS summit. Lytvyn accused Putin of seeking excuses to prolong the war and refusing to engage with Ukraine's peace proposals.


According to First Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s agricultural sector has lost  $82 billion due to Russia’s war. The grain industry suffered $500-$600 million in losses alone. In October of 2024, so far, Russia has done $30-$40 million in damage to port infrastructure. The number is inexact as attacks are ongoing.


Tyhran Ohannisyan and Mykyta Khanhanov, two teens from Berdyansk were accused of terrorism and kidnapped, tortured, killed, and buried in secret graves, according to their relatives. They were accused of planning to sabotage a railway in Berdyansk. The Russian occupation authorities tormented the children for about 6 months, including kidnapping, electric shocks, being kept in poor conditions, being subjected to mock executions, and beatings before being finally killed.


A Russian shahed struck an apartment building in the Solomianskyi district of Kyiv. A 15-year-old girl was killed in the attack. Debris blasted off of the building landed on and damaged parked cars. The building is 25 stories tall. Photos show damage to the 16th-19th floors, with the 16th and 17 floors catching fire.


Ukraine published a video showing the destruction of a Uragan 220mm MLRS system. It was hit by an FPV drone equipped with what appears to be an RPG-7 warhead. The vehicle burned heavily, but the video did not show any rockets cooking off.


Deputy Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan, Roman Vassilenko, stated that while his country has not joined the sanctions regime against Russia, it does not want its territory used for the evasion of sanctions. Deputy Prime Minister Serik Zhumangari said that Kazakhstan has not joined in on the sanctions officially, it obeys them out of economic necessity; their country is too small and economically weak to easily handle secondary sanctions being applied to them. However, he added, the country won’t follow the sanctions if doing so harms the economy. Kazakhstan has imposed banking limitations and limitations on shipping products into Russia.


The Border Guard of Finland has announced that two temporary border crossings will be permanently closed. These crossings are on the border with Russia in Parikkala and Inari. The Inaris crossing has been closed since November 1, 2021, and the Parikkala crossing was closed on April 19, 2022. The closure is now being made permanent, and checkpoints and road signs will be removed.



General Syrskyi reported on the losses Russia has sustained during the Kursk campaign. He said that Russia has lost 17,819 in total. 10,446 were wounded, 6,662 were killed, and 711 Russian troops were taken prisoner.  


As part of the Drone Coalition, the UK has opened tenders for drone manufacturers to enter bids to receive funding to make drones for Ukraine. It is reported that 26% of applicants are Ukrainian drone manufacturers. Ukrainians became eligible to enter bids for these tenders in September. So far the UK is looking for manufacturers to produce drones with autonomous capabilities and drones that can function as interceptors.  Entries for autonomous FPVs closed last week, but interceptor drone manufacturers have until November 11 to submit applications.


German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall has provided Ukraine with 20 additional Marder infantry fighting vehicles. Ukraine has been provided with/pledged more than 100 Marder M1A3s.

The CEO of Rheinmetall reported that 10 Lynx infantry fighting vehicles will be delivered to Ukraine before the end of the year.


Ukrainian soldier officeralex_33:

“Regarding Selidove, unfortunately, things are as I mentioned. The enemy is having success in the center and has already taken several high-rise buildings. They're slipping in like cockroaches, gradually into every house.

Watching footage of the fighting and the state of the city's buildings, I sadly have to say that the battles for Selidove resemble the battles for Novogrodivka… There's little good to say.
…
“At the moment, the city of Selidove is the epicenter of fighting not only in Donbas but across the entire front. Battles are raging in practically every part of the city, with assaults coming from all directions.

These battles are characterized by the enemy infantry slipping through every gap and moving forward without securing positions, creating a total gray zone. However, this doesn’t work to our advantage either.

For example, yesterday the enemy posted a video of a flag on a high-rise building. Later that same day, it was hit, but our units did not secure the area either.
…
Heavy fighting continues in Selydovo, do not try to look for any information on maps, because no map will reveal the real situation to you, and it is close to critical, the wording: "difficult, but controlled" does not fit here.

Solid mass and hell, the [Russian] FPVs work almost in swarms of 10 units per one of our armor. Our crews are also working to exhaustion, only one crew of my friend worked 116 drones in a day.”

Ukrainian soldier Stanislav Osman:

“The [Russians] broke through to Vyshneve (Selydove direction), the situation is critical.
…
There are so many [Russians] there... and so few of us.
It's like a bunch of mice running to the grain and one cat that doesn't know what to do.
…
Comrades report strong mechanized enemy pressure in the direction of Shakhtarsk and Velika Novosilka.
Previously, during the day, forces of the size of a regiment take part in assaults.
…
Vyshneve is now under our control, the enemy has reached the railroad, our guys did not let them go further, they are chasing them with drones.”

Quote of the Day:

“Wisdom, compassion, and courage are the three universally recognized moral qualities of a hedgehog.”

― Confucius