Live blog: Russian missile hits central Ukraine, kills one — official

Friday, October 20, 2023

1836 GMT — A Russian missile targeted homes in Kryvyi Rih in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk, killing one man and leaving a woman in serious condition, the regional governor said on the Telegram messaging app.

"The enemy aimed a rocket at a dacha cooperative," Serhiy Lysak, the governor of Dnipropetrosk region, wrote. Dachas are traditional cottages usually outside of towns.

He said a 60-year-old man was killed and the 57-year-old woman in serious condition had suffered shrapnel injuries and was in hospital. Rescue workers extinguished a fire caused by the attack, Lysak added.

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1803 GMT — Ukraine repels new Russian onslaught on eastern front: Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces had repelled a new Russian onslaught on the eastern town of Avdiivka and were holding their ground in heavy fighting.

Zelenskyy and top military commanders visited the southern region of Kherson, where they discussed the situation there and around Avdiivka and Kupiansk, a town north of Avdiivka where Russian forces have also intensified attacks.

"Thanks to all our boys, who powerfully hold the defence and destroy the occupier day after day," Zelenskyy said in a video posted on the Telegram messaging app.

"These days, the Russian losses are really staggering, and it is precisely losses by the occupier that Ukraine needs."

Zelenskyy's office said Russia's assault on Avdiivka had resulted in "record losses" of personnel and equipment, but gave no further details of the extent of the losses.

1619 GMT — Biden requests $106B package, including Ukraine, Israel funds

US President Joe Biden urgently requested military aid for Ukraine and Israel in a massive $106 billion national security package, but Republican paralysis in Congress means it hit an immediate wall.

Biden's demand came a day after he drew a direct link between the Hamas attack on Israel and Russian President Vladimir Putin's attack against Ukraine to convince Americans that the United States must show global leadership.

The 80-year-old Democrat argued in an impassioned Oval Office speech that the huge sums involved - a total of $105.85 billion, including $61 billion in military aid for Ukraine and $14 billion for Israel - would secure US interests for generations.

1337 GMT — Russia says Ukraine trying to cross Dnipro river in Kherson

Russia's defence ministry said it had thwarted attempts by Ukrainian troops to establish a foothold on the Russian-controlled bank of the Dnipro river in south Ukraine.

"The enemy conducted a number of unsuccessful attempts to establish a foothold on the islands and left (eastern) bank of the Dnipro river," Russia's defence ministry said in a daily briefing.

However, Russian military bloggers said Ukrainian troops had managed to cross the river and were still in position on the Russian-controlled side.

Russian and Ukrainian forces have been standing off on opposite sides of the vast river in the Kherson region for almost a year, following a Russian withdrawal from the river's right-western bank last November.

1133 GMT — UN probe finds new evidence Russia committed war crimes and 'indiscriminate attacks' in Ukraine

A United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it had found additional evidence that Russian forces had committed "indiscriminate attacks" and war crimes in Ukraine, including rape and the deportation of children to Russia.

"The Commission has found new evidence that Russian authorities have committed violations of international human rights and international humanitarian law, and corresponding crimes, in areas that came under their control in Ukraine," it said in a report submitted to the UN General Assembly, listing attacks in the cities of Uman and Kherson, among others.

"The Commission has recently documented attacks that affected civilian objects, such as residential buildings, a railway station, shops, and a warehouse for civilian use, leading to numerous casualties."

The commission said it had documented cases of rape "with the use of force or psychological coercion".

"Most of the incidents occurred after the perpetrators broke into the victims' homes," it said. "Victims reported rapes at gunpoint and threats of killing or of inflicting other serious harm to the victims or their relatives."

0906 GMT — Zelenskyy hails Biden's 'powerful address' in support of Ukraine

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed Joe Biden's "powerful address" in support of his country's fight against Russia.

"Ukraine is grateful for all the US support and its unfaltering belief that humanism, freedom, independence, and rules-based international order must always triumph," Zelenskyy said in a post on social media.

US President Biden made an impassioned call for the United States to show global leadership by backing both Israel and Ukraine in a speech to the nation from the Oval Office Thursday.

"We cannot and will not let tyrants like Putin win. I refuse to let that happen," Biden said.

0859 GMT — IOC rejects Putin's 'ethnic discrimination' claims

The International Olympic Committee firmly rejected Russian President Vladimir Putin's allegation that it was using "ethnic discrimination" against Russian and Belarusian athletes ahead of the 2024 Paris Games.

Putin on Thursday slammed the IOC for potentially using the Games "as an instrument of political pressure towards those people who have nothing to do with politics."

The IOC dismissed the accusations.

"Participation in the Olympic Games is by no means a human right and the recent amendment of the Olympic Charter is not related to it... We firmly reject the accusations being made that these measures are an 'ethnic discrimination'," the IOC said in a statement.

"The strict conditions the IOC has defined in its recommendations to the International Federations for the participation of individual neutral athletes with a Russian or Belarusian passport in international competitions are compliant with the Olympic Charter."

0548 GMT — Putin visits military HQ as Ukraine offensive drags on

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the military headquarters in Rostov-on-Don that is overseeing the Ukraine offensive, the Kremlin has said.

Putin "has visited the Russian armed forces headquarters in Rostov-on-Don on his way back from Perm," a city in the Urals where he spent on Thursday, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Army Chief of staff Valery Gerasimov met with Putin to update him on the state of the Ukraine offensive, which Russia launched in February 2022.

The meeting came after Ukraine's announcement on Tuesday that it had, for the first time, used US-supplied ATACMS long-range missiles in the conflict.

Putin said the following day that the weapons, which have a range of 165 kilometres, would have no influence on the war and would only prolong Ukraine's "agony".

0454 GMT — Biden's meeting with EU

Saddled with a dysfunctional Congress, President Joe Biden has the task of assuring European Union leaders on Friday that the United States can nonetheless deliver on promises to send tens of billions of dollars worth of aid to wartime Ukraine and Israel.

The Oval Office sit-down comes at a moment when domestic US political chaos could further destabilize an increasingly chaotic world. Many of Biden's shared priorities with the EU depend on getting a budget through Congress — a tough task given that the House lacks an elected speaker and differences with some Republican lawmakers over aid for Ukraine could force a federal government shutdown in November.

One day ahead of his meeting with Biden, European Council President Charles Michel expressed optimism that Biden can deliver on his promises to help arm and financially support Ukraine.

0300 GMT — Russia says Biden's 'investment' comment betrays US cynicism

US President Joe Biden's comment in which he called support for Ukraine and Israel an "investment" shows that Washington benefits from proxy wars rather than fights for ideas, a Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman has said.

Biden said on Thursday that helping Ukraine and Israel was "a smart investment that's going to pay dividends for American security for generations", as he sought to rally support for new aid packages.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on the Telegram messaging app that Biden's comments betray a cynical approach.

"They used to call it 'fighting for freedom and democracy'," she said. "Now it turns out it is just calculations. It has always been that way, they just fooled the world using values for which Washington has never really stood."

"Wars have traditionally been 'smart investments' for the United States as they did not take place on American soil, and they do not care about costs borne by others," Zakharova said.

2300 GMT — Ukraine's parliament backs ban on Russia-linked church

The Ukrainian parliament has given initial approval to a law that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Kiev accused it of collaborating with Russia following last year's military offensive.

Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies had voted to support the bill in its first reading.

It has to be backed in a second reading and approved by the president to go into force.

The law would ban the activities of religious organisations affiliated with centres of influence "in a state that carries out armed aggression against Ukraine", and a court of law could terminate such activities.

Another lawmaker, Iryna Herashchenko, said the vote was a step towards removing "Moscow priests from the Ukrainian land".

The head of Russia's Orthodox Church, Patriarch Kirill, appealed to Orthodox and other churches to do what they could to stop Ukraine's action before the bill became law.

2353 GMT — Biden to seek $60B for Ukraine: report

US President Joe Biden will ask Congress for $60 billion for Ukraine, a source familiar with his plan told the Reuters news agency.

Half of the $60 billion Biden is requesting for Ukraine would go toward replacing and modernising US weapons stocks, the source said.

For our live updates from Thursday (October 19), click here.