russia's likely withdrawal from Kherson and special tribunal in the Hague: timeline and solutions of October 20
Today is day 239 of russia's war in Ukraine: we talk about key events at the front, in the rear, and the world, and leading solutions that approach our victory
KEY EVENTS
Ukrainian army's successes
📌 Western analysts gave an unambiguous interpretation of russian general Surovikin's statements about "difficult decisions" regarding Kherson. They believe it means preparing for a retreat from the right bank of the Dnieper.
British intelligence suggests that the withdrawal will be carried out with the help of a barge bridge and pontoon crossings.
The American Institute for the Study of War reports that Surovikin's statements "are likely attempts to set information conditions for a full Russian retreat across the Dnipro River, which would cede Kherson City and another significant territory in Kherson Oblast to advancing Ukrainian troops."
📌 As reported by Energoatom, the russian occupiers are starting to flee from Enerhodar (Zaporizhzhia), taking stolen property with them. In particular, a giant robbery of the Skifskyi hotel was recorded: the robbers took away equipment, furniture, and other things.
📌 In the Kharkiv region, Ukraine's armed forces liberated 19 settlements over the past six days. Today, only 1.8% of the region's territory remains under the control of the russian federation, which is 32 settlements.
📌 According to the information of the South air command, during the night, Ukrainian forces shot down 14 drones that attacked the Mykolaiv region. In total, the Ukrainian troops shot down 15 out of 20 drones launched by russian occupiers over Ukraine today.
📌 Ukraine's forces eliminated 370 occupiers in the last 24 hours. The Ukrainian Armed Forces also destroyed 13 tanks, 20 armored fighting vehicles, nine artillery systems, and 25 UAVs. ⬆️
📌 Ukraine's missile and artillery forces completed more than 440 fire missions yesterday. Ammunition warehouses in the Beryslav district were destroyed.
📌 In the morning, the explosion was reported in Donetsk. It is said that the hit happened behind the building of Promvyazokbank. There are problems with the Internet in the city, with only mobile service working with interruptions.
📌 Telegram channels also report explosions in Nova Kakhovka and Plodove in the Kherson region. Residents say that in Plodove, there was a hit in the russian ammunition depot. In Nova Kakhovka, russia's anti-aircraft defense attempted to prevent the strike, but without success.
📌 Another russian crossing was destroyed near the occupied village of Lvove in the Kherson region. With the crossing, more than 100 russians, a lot of maintenance equipment, and more than 10 MLRS were destroyed.
📌 Ukraine's Security Service neutralized the FSB agency in the Donetsk region that was hunting the Ukrainian "Javelins" positions in the Bakhmut direction.
📌 The I Want To Live project has already received more than 3,000 new applications. Most requests come from men who received draft notices in russia and those who are already in Ukraine. For security reasons, the number of those who surrendered is not mentioned, but it is reported that their number is increasing daily.
russia's crimes
📌 The russian occupiers shelled Kryvyi Rih at night, targeting an energy infrastructure facility in the Dnipropetrovsk region. An industrial enterprise was also hit. The destruction is severe. The relevant services are working on the site.
📌 Also at night, russian troops attacked Mykolaiv with Shahed-136 kamikaze drones. Four drones hit one of the city's educational institutions. Another drone fell on the closed private territory. As a result of the attack, two fires broke out in open areas, which the firefighters quickly extinguished.
In the morning, Mykolaiv was shelled by S-300 missiles. There were no casualties or damage.
📌 In Komyshuvakha, Zaporizhzhia Region, this morning, there was a rocket attack on the territory of a children's specialized school ⬆️. There is the destruction of infrastructure and residential buildings.
📌 In the Chernihiv region, russians shelled Novhorod-Siversk and Semenivka communities with mortars.
📌 In the Donetsk region, law enforcement discovered the bodies of 12 more civilians who died during the occupation. Yesterday, one person was killed, and five others were injured in the shelling.
📌 Since the beginning of the full-scale war, 100 missile strikes have been carried out on Odesa. As a result of the shelling, the homes of almost a thousand residents of the Odesa region were damaged and destroyed, and 30 apartments were demolished entirely.
As a result of the invaders' terror, 32 residents of the Odesa region died, including two children.
📌 The soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine found torture chambers in the basement of the military headquarters in the village of Shevchenkove, Kupiansk district, Kharkiv region. Here, the russians tortured our people: both military and civilians.
📌 Russian occupiers may strike the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, blame the Ukrainian side for this and use the flood to cover their retreat from the Kherson region, American analysts believe.
📌 About 100 traffic cameras were stolen in Sweden; they were discovered in russian drones. Representatives of the Swedish Security Police (Säpo) said they were aware of the connection between the raiders' drones and the cameras' theft. However, law enforcement officers will not discuss their intelligence work or share details.
Life amid war
📌 We hold the energy front! The government urges Ukrainians to save electricity from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. and warns that there will be temporary outages in every region.
Currently, the number of electric vehicles is significantly limited in many cities in Ukraine. Rotating shutdowns and other measures to save electricity have been introduced. In particular, Poltava introduced street patrols: law enforcement officers will detect entrepreneurs who have not turned off outdoor lighting and violate the power-saving regime.
📌 The Ukrainian military will receive payments in full. This year, financing military servicemen's financial support depends on making changes to the budget every quarter. The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine has already approved changes to the State Budget for 2022.
📌 Ukrposhta, Ukraine's national post, resumes work in the Kherson region. On October 20, a branch was opened in the de-occupied village of Velyka Oleksandrivka of the Beryslav district. There are still consequences of the 4-month russian occupation, but the company assures that everything will be restored. There are five more departments in line."
SOLUTIONS TO WIN
Foreign partners' support
💡 A working group for restoring the Ukrainian infrastructure was created in the USA with the Ministry of Infrastructure after russia's massive attacks. The group will hold its first meeting in the coming months. Special attention will be paid to energy issues.
💡 Today, the President of Switzerland, Ignazio Cassis, arrived in Ukraine for a visit ⬆️. Its goal: "to get an idea of the war situation, humanitarian situation & preparatory work for the reconstruction of the country."
💡 Germany will become one of the training centers of the Ukrainian military within the EU mission. By spring 2023, Germany will train up to 5,000 service members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on its training grounds.
💡 Spain is ready to train 400 Ukrainian military personnel.
💡 Spain is also handing over electricity generators in connection with the recent russian attacks on the Ukrainian electrical infrastructure. The Spanish Air and Space Forces transferred four generators with a capacity of 400 kilowatts and one with a total of 150 kilowatts.
💡 The European Council finally approved sanctions against Iran for the supply of "Shaheds" to russia. Sanctions come into force today.
💡 The EU will increase humanitarian aid to Ukraine by 175 million euros, given the "big challenges" that may arise in the winter.
💡 Ukravtodor Road Service received four temporary metal bridges from Czech partners.
💡 The Netherlands supported the creation of the special tribunal for the russian federation in the Hague.
Ukrainians, let's unite!
💡 In Oleksandria in the Kirovohrad region, residents paint flags to help the defenders. They were painted by pupils of the local children's art school. The money from selling five flags will be spent on the army's needs.
💡 Kropyvnytskyi is organizing a raffle of the remaining weapons of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to help the Ukrainian army. Money is collected for drones. Remains of weapons with military autographs (pictured above) will be raffled off online.
💡 Until the end of October, Kropyvnytskyi's Honcharenko center collects books for the libraries of the Chernihiv region that were damaged or destroyed by russian missiles. You can share books in Ukrainian and by non-russian authors—new or good condition. They collect juvenile and scientific literature, Ukrainian classics, and modern works.
💡A charity exhibition Ukrainian Wartime Posters, by authors from Kyiv and other cities, took place in New York, USA. ⬆️ All funds collected at the event will be spent purchasing special medical equipment for the Nizhyn City Maternity Hospital.
💡 Vinnytsia became the first city where items would be collected for people from the de-occupied territories as part of the Cultural Forces. Vinnytsia residents are asked to share bicycles, mobile phones, warm things, musical instruments, Ukrainian books, and magazines.
