WAR IN UKRAINE: October 27, 2022
A view of damage at Zestafonska Street in the city of Zaporizhzhia which tries to heal its wounds, as Russia-Ukraine war continues on October 25, 2022. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 246
When Russian troops fled the Ukrainian town of Balakliia last month, they left behind thousands of documents that detail the inner workings of the Russian war machine. A group from Reuters sifted through the and found an atmosphere of chaos and fear. Read the entire report here
Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to use the possible extension of the U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal as a way to gain leverage and dominate next month's G20 summit in Indonesia, an unnamed European diplomat tells Reuters
Putin has overseen annual exercises by Russia's strategic nuclear forces at a time of heightened tensions with the West over his eight-month-long war in Ukraine. Ballistic and cruise missiles were launched from the Arctic to Russia's Far East, the Kremlin said. The launches took place as Russia makes unsubstantiated claims that Ukraine was plotting to use a "dirty bomb” - BBC
IMF: Ukraine may need up to $5 billion in financial aid monthly in 2023. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Oct. 25 that Ukraine’s external financing needs in 2023 will be around $3 billion to $4 billion a month in a best-case scenario but could reach $5 billion as Russia targets the country’s critical infrastructure. Meanwhile, President Volodymyr Zelensky says Ukraine urgently needs $17 billion for reconstruction. Ukraine “literally needs (the funds) to survive,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 25 at the International Expert Conference on the Recovery, Reconstruction, and Modernization of Ukraine. “The weight of our Fast Recovery Plan is $17 billion for critical immediate reconstruction,” Zelensky said. “These are hospitals, schools, vital transport, and energy infrastructure.” According to Zelensky, Ukraine has not “received a single cent for the implementation” of the plan - Kyiv Independent
Italy’s new far-right-led government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has easily won the second of two required confidence votes in Parliament by a comfortable margin. Ahead of the vote, Meloni had defended her policy aims, stating that the only way to facilitate a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine is by helping Kyiv defend itself militarily - Al Jazeera
In one of the most absurd proclamations to come out of the Kremlin, Russia's Security Council claims there are "hundreds of sects" in Ukraine and demands "desatanisation.” Aleksey Pavlov, assistant secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, has said that Ukraine should be "desatanised". Pavlov claims that Ukraine has turned into a "totalitarian hypersect" where citizens have abandoned Orthodox values, and therefore "desatanisation" is becoming an urgent issue. Pavlov admits that the exact number of sects in Ukraine is unknown, but "the number is in the hundreds” - Ukrainska Pravda
Memorial to the Russian Looter: Czech jokers have adapted the base of a Soviet war monument to introduce a washing machine - the favored item of all Russian pillagers during the war in Ukraine
