Polish Bayraktar for Ukraine and sanctions against Iran: timeline and solutions of October 18

KEY EVENTS

Ukrainian army's successes

📌 Ukraine's Air Force destroyed almost 90% of drones that russia launched into the territory of Ukraine yesterday.

In the southern direction, where the russian occupiers attack the most with Iranian UAVs, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have already destroyed a hundred kamikaze drones since the russian federation began using them in the war with Ukraine.

📌 russia's attacks on the cities of Ukraine led to the Ukrainian Armed Forces' improved results at the front, the Pentagon concluded. Attacks aimed at spreading panic among civilians, hoping to weaken the people's resolve, do not work. Also, one of the Pentagon officials emphasized at the briefing that russia's actions are another war crime.

📌 During russia's morning attack on Dnipro, Ukraine's air defense forces shot down four russian missiles.

📌 In the Kherson region, the Ukrainian soldiers hunted down and shot down russia's Su-25 aircraft. 

📌 Today, the Air Force of Ukraine shot down a total of 12 air targets.

📌 Over the past 24 hours, units of Ukraine's Defense Forces repelled the attacks of the russian occupiers in the areas of Berestove in the Kharkiv region; Bakhmutske, Ivanhrad, Klishchiivka, Pervomaiske, and Maryinka in the Donetsk region.

📌 In Kherson Region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are conducting active operations. The russian military is trapped between Ukraine's Defense Forces and the Dnieper River. "We are moving forward. Kherson is not so far away, but there is still a lot of work," said Natalia Humeniuk, head of the southern defense forces press center.

📌 Ukraine's Air Force carried out 22 strikes on October 17. The authorities confirmed 18 areas of concentration of weapons and military equipment, a strong point, and three positions of russia's anti-aircraft missile systems. Ukraine air defense units shot down three cruise missiles

📌 Ukraine's missile troops and artillery hit the control post, the area of ​​concentration of russia's troops, weapons, and military equipment, two air defense and artillery facilities, one ammunition depot, and other military enemy targets.

📌 During the day, the Ukrainian forces eliminated 530 russian occupiers. Also, during the past day, the Armed Forces of Ukraine destroyed 11 tanks, 14 armored combat vehicles, one air defense system, and 23 artillery systems.

📌 Despite the danger and repression by the russian military, the Yellow Ribbon movement activists continue to work in Kherson. 

russia's crimes

📌 The morning began with the russian strikes on energy facilities in Ukrainian cities:

• Dnipro: two strikes. The energy infrastructure object was seriously damaged. Some micro-districts of Dnipro, Synelnykove, and Vasylkivka are without electricity, and one of the pumping stations has been cut off from the electricity.
• In Pavlohrad (Dnipropetrovsk region), the water supply has been temporarily shut down due to a russian missile strike on the thermal power station, which fed the water pumping station. 
• In Kyiv, the russians stuck critical infrastructure facilities in the city's Desnianskyi district. Three people died. Part of Kyiv remained without electricity and water. Power outages after russia's attack are also observed in the Kyiv region (in the Brovary and Vyshhorod districts).
• The russian forces launched eight rockets at Kharkiv. The russians hit the industrial center of the city.
• Zaporizhzhia was attacked by kamikaze drones. As a result of the attack, a fire broke out at the infrastructure object. One rocket hit a warehouse in one of the districts of Zaporizhzhia. 
• Zhytomyr and 11 other settlements were also blacked out due to shelling. Hospitals are on backup power.

📌 From October 7 to 18, russia carried out more than 190 strikes with missiles and kamikaze drones in 16 regions of Ukraine and Kyiv, targeting civilian and critical infrastructure, particularly energy facilities. More than 70 people died, and more than 240 were injured.

Over the past nine days, 30% of power plants in Ukraine have been destroyed.  "There is no room left for negotiations with putin's regime," Zelensky commented.

📌 At night, Mykolaiv was again shelled by S-300 missiles. The russians hit a two-story building (pictured above). A man's body was found under the rubble, and search, and rescue operations continue.

📌 Sumy Region. 

• As a result of yesterday's russian shelling of a critical infrastructure object in the Romny district, five employees of the enterprise were killed, and two were injured. 
• Yesterday evening, the russian federation shelled the city of Seredyna-Buda with artillery and automatic grenade launchers. A woman was injured. Six private houses were damaged.
• Today, the Yunakivka community of the Sumy district came under fire. Fourteen strikes were recorded—two people died, and another was injured.

📌 Donetsk Region. From 6 a.m., the russians shelled Krasnohrivka, Maryinka, and Novomykhailivka. During the day, six civilians were killed, and eight were wounded.

Yesterday and this morning, the russians launched rocket attacks on the Kurakhivka Thermal Power Plant in the Donetsk region. There are wounded. Now the critical infrastructure is working as usual. Drinking water is delivered throughout the community. The extent of the destruction is being established.

📌 In the Kherson region, the russians struck the Berislav district; there were wounded among the locals and destroyed civilian infrastructure. Active hostilities continue.

📌 The number of victims of yesterday's kamikaze drone attack on a residential building in the capital increased to 5. Another body was recovered from the rubble. The deceased is an older woman.

📌 In the village of Cherkaski Tyshki (Kharkiv region), law enforcement exhumed the bodies of a couple who died in March during russian shelling. They also found a headless body; the deceased's identity is being established.

Law enforcement in the Kharkiv region exhumed 600 bodies of those killed during the occupation.

📌 In the liberated Lyman ( Donetsk region), the police exhumed the bodies of five children killed by the russian occupiers—three girls and two boys. The number of bodies discovered in mass burials on the territory of the Kramatorsk district has already exceeded 160 people.

📌 russian occupiers abducted two more employees of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). The russians kidnapped the head of the information technology service and the assistant general director of the station to an unknown destination.

📌 Nuclear terror: russia completely excludes the option of demilitarizing the ZNPP. The russian representative stated this at the meeting of the first committee of the UN General Assembly.

Life amid war

📌 Let's help energy workers. Instructions on how to save energy are in the picture above. In general, Ukraine's situation is critical after russia's attacks. Ukrainians are advised to prepare for electricity, water, and heat blackouts.

📌 A demonstration was held near the Iranian embassy in Kyiv. The participants accused official Tehran of supporting russian terrorism and killing Ukrainians. They demanded that Iran end the sale of Shahed-136 kamikaze drones to russia. 

At the same time, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine issued a statement calling Iran "an accomplice of russia's crimes against Ukraine."

Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dmytro Kuleba, suggested breaking diplomatic relations with Iran.

📌 The Ukrainian parliament, Verkhovna Rada, supported the draft law on exams for obtaining Ukrainian citizenship. Now you need to pass an exam on the basics of the Constitution, the history of Ukraine, and the level of proficiency in the state language. 

📌 Military service during martial law is canceled in Ukraine. 318 people's deputies supported the draft law.

📌 Life goes on: Four McDonald's restaurants will open in Lviv.

📌 Now Ukrainians can buy firewood in the state online store. 

SOLUTIONS TO WIN

Foreign partners' support

💡 The US will introduce sanctions against Iran and third parties for helping russia in the war.

💡 In the coming days, NATO plans to transfer hundreds of clutter radio stations to Ukraine to combat drones.

💡 Canada expanded sanctions against russia and added 34 more individuals and one legal entity to the list.

💡 Japan will help Ukraine with restoring damaged energy facilities. The country will provide the necessary equipment and facilities for critical infrastructure.

💡 European partners allocated a tranche of €2 billion to Ukraine. The money will go to cover expenses in the social and humanitarian fields.

💡 The Parliament of Estonia supported the resolution on recognizing russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.

💡 Ukraine received a new military aid package from Italy. What exactly arrived in Ukraine for the Ukrainian Armed Forces is not disclosed.

💡 The Poles raised funds to buy another Bayraktar combat drone. It is already ready and named after Mariupol. 

💡 Although Elon Musk said that he is ready to continue paying for satellite communication, the EU is discussing the possibility of paying for Starlink for Ukraine: "access should not depend on one person."

Ukrainians, let's unite! 

💡 Blacksmiths from Kolomyia, Ivano-Frankivsk region, make pot belly ovens for the military. They are also ready to provide them for free to Ukrainians who remained in the liberated territories without adequate living conditions. They started creating stoves in the workshop in 2014. During this time, they were improved and made more convenient.

💡 At a charity fair in Sakhnovshchyna ⬆️ (Kharkiv Region), the volunteers collected more than 100,000 UAH for a prosthesis for a wounded countryman from the village.

💡 Natalia Horvat, a resident of Khust (Zakarpattia Region) (pictured above), has one hand, but at the same time, she sews clothes and collects dolls, which she sells on the Internet. She helps IDPs with the money she earns, buying food products. According to Natalia, even with one hand, you can do good deeds: "We came to this world to do good, not to be parasites," says the woman.

💡 In the Zhytomyr region, the village's residents of Karpivtsi bought and handed over a car to the soldiers-compatriots on the front line ⬆️. Two children's checkpoints joined the fundraising.

💡 In Kropyvnytskyi, women rallied and have been preparing canned cabbage rolls for the front for seven months. They are called "Rolls for cats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces" (pictured above).

💡 Ukrainian volunteers held a concert and fair in Bonn, Germany. They collected almost 4 thousand euros for the Ukrainian Armed Forces.⬆️