Day 242 of the Invasion of Ukraine: New Russian strikes against Ukrainian Power Grid, Millions without Power

@alaraby.co.uk

Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

New Russian strikes against Ukraine's power grid, millions without power

Russia has again launched strikes targeting Ukraine's energy grid. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the attacks were on a "very wide" scale.

On Tuesday, Zelensky will make a video address at an international conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine in Berlin, which will be attended by the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and tomorrow, the Prime Minister of Ukraine, Denys Shmyhal, will participate in a German-Ukrainian economic forum in Berlin.

Kyiv reports that nearly 1.5 million households are without electricity after the Russian strikes. Volodymyr Zelensky said most of the Russian missiles and drones had been shot down and such strikes would not stop the Ukrainian military advance.

Almost a third of Ukraine's power plants and other energy production facilities have been destroyed in a wave of airstrikes since Monday last week. In his traditional video address, the Ukrainian president called for limiting the use of electricity:

"Energy stability of our entire country depends on each city and district of Ukraine. Please limit the use of appliances that consume a lot of electricity. And especially during peak consumption hours in the morning and evening."

The latest attacks hit the regions of Cherkasy, southeast of the capital Kyiv, and the city of Khmelnytskyi to the west. Airstrikes and power outages were also reported from Odesa in the south to Rivne and Lutsk in the northwest.

In an interview with Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung on Sunday, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal warned of a "new migration tsunami" if Russia continued its attacks on his country's civilian infrastructure. He accused Moscow of wanting to "push Ukraine into a planned humanitarian disaster, the likes of which Europe has not seen since World War II".

Tomorrow Denys Shmyhal will participate in a German-Ukrainian economic forum in Berlin and will meet with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. In his video podcast, Olaf Scholz points out that Ukraine and the European Union cannot go it alone in the process of rebuilding the country. In his words, "this can only be done by the entire world community, which currently supports Ukraine."

A large-scale fleet of tankers with unknown owners is being created for the illegal export of Russian oil, Ukrinform informs in the meantime, referring to Bloomberg.

"A significant share of Russian oil exports will be carried out through a complex and often secretive network of ships, owners, ports and safe routes dominated by people who still want to do business with Russia."

Night shelling over Mykolaiv region, 14 Iranian kamikaze drones were shot down

During the past night, Mykolaiv region was subjected to shelling, 14 Iranian kamikaze drones were destroyed, the Southern Air Command of Ukraine reported, as quoted by UNIAN.

"On the night of October 22-23 over the Mykolaiv region, the air defense forces of the South Aviation Command shot down eleven Shahed-136 kamikaze enemy unmanned aerial vehicles, three more - from other units of the Southern Defense Forces of the country," reads the announcement.

Over the past 24 hours, the Russian invaders have launched 32 rocket and 25 air strikes. More than 80 barrages were conducted by multiple rocket launchers. Objects of the energy and critical infrastructure of Volyn, Rivne, Kharkiv, Khmelnytskyi, Kirovograd, Cherkasy, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa and Mykolaiv regions were subjected to enemy strikes, the General Staff said.

On their Facebook page, SBU reported about 250 wounded occupiers.

"According to updated information, the destruction of enemy personnel and equipment in the previous days has been confirmed: in Nova Kakhovka, Kherson region, as a result of the defeat at the location of the invaders, 6 units of weapons and military equipment were destroyed, 150 servicemen were injured; 5 units of weapons and military equipment and about 100 servicemen were injured in the Zaporizhzhia region”, informs the headquarters.

Meanwhile, in Russia, the businessman and owner of the private military company "Wagner" Yevgeny Prigozhin, known as Putin's Chef, continues to sow discord in the government of the Russian Federation, Ukrainian UNIAN reports.

Prigozhin has published information about the construction of fortifications in eastern Ukraine, which he calls the "Wagner Line".

Prigozhin's and the PMC's Telegram channel reported that Russian authorities had halted the extension of the "Wagner Line" to Belgorod Oblast, according to a report by the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The businessman claimed that the bureaucracy was directly opposed to the interests of the population and called the bureaucrats enemies.

American analysts note that the Russian imperialists have repeatedly accused the Kremlin of failing to protect Ukraine's border with Belgorod Oblast, and Prigozhin's claims about the "Wagner Line" may be an attempt to harden their demands.

What is the "Wagner line"

According to experts, Prigozhin wants this defensive line to protect Belgorod Oblast's border with Luhansk, Kharkiv and Sumy Oblasts of Ukraine, without the northern part of Luhansk Oblast. Analysts noted that this contradicted the promises of the Russian authorities - they claimed that they could "protect" the entire Luhansk region.

There is another version - the "Wagner Line" will cover only that part of the Luhansk region, which the enemy had under control before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

What is known about the construction of the "Wagner Line"

On October 22, military observer Denis Popovich reported that the Russian invaders were building the "Wagner Line" in the direction of the towns of Svatovo and Kremennaya in the Luhansk region and were attempting to counterattack. The expert added that the length of this line is approximately two kilometers.

A secret fleet conducts covert exports of Russian oil

A huge secret fleet of tankers is being formed around the world to covertly export Russian oil. This was reported by the Ukrinform website, referring to a publication in Bloomberg.

Ships from this fleet have unknown owners.

Due to the unprecedented international sanctions against Russia, the export of this fleet will take place through safe routes and unofficially declared ports.

As evidence, it is stated that in the last 6 months, many ships have been sold to unknown buyers.

A significant number of these tankers have become the property of unknown persons in Dubai, Hong Kong, Singapore and Cyprus. There is also growth in ship-to-ship transfers, where cargo is transferred from ship to ship at sea. This is also done because of the need to load smaller cargoes onto one large ship for a longer course.

The main buyers of Russian oil after the sanctions take effect are expected to be China and India.

Ship-to-ship transfers are risky, but they are expected to become key to sustaining Russian exports because they allow the parties involved to remain anonymous.

The risk of escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is currently much higher

The risk of escalation of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine is now much higher than at the beginning of the military operations. This was said by Nikolay Mladenov, a member of the Washington Institute for Middle East Policy and Director General of the Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi, on BNR.

In response to a question about whether an imminent end to hostilities between Russia and Ukraine was possible, Mladenov said he did not see such a possibility. According to him, at the moment attention should be focused on the humanitarian crisis that is being imposed in Ukraine with the loss of 30 percent of their electricity network, to find opportunities to de-escalate the conflict at certain points, to look for opportunities to return captives from both sides, to look for any options for small breakthroughs in the conflict before seeking a major breakthrough to resolve military action.

The other plane is the search for a big deal that will find a solution for Ukraine's membership in the European Union and NATO, find a solution for the return of the annexed territories, search for some solution that will calm the international situation. “For now, I don't see any perspective, I see an accidental or purposeful escalation of the conflict”, added Mladenov. According to him, much more careful and measured actions are needed on the part of Bulgaria and the other countries.

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