Day 599 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Putin declared the Ukrainian Counteroffensive "Totally Unsuccessful”

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Day 599 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

• Putin declared the Ukrainian counteroffensive "totally unsuccessful”
• Russia shot down 27 Ukrainian drones, fighting continues near Avdiivka
• Russian advance on the strategically important town of Avdiivka
• Poll: Majority of Germans are against sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine
• Putin and Xi Jinping will pay close attention to the world situation during their meeting

Putin declared the Ukrainian counteroffensive "totally unsuccessful”

The Ukrainian counteroffensive has been completely unsuccessful, although Kyiv is preparing new active offensive operations in some parts of the front, said Russian President Vladimir Putin in an interview with the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin", BTA reported.

In the interview on the Russia-1 channel, the Russian president said about Moscow's relations with the West that Russia, following the well-known ancient principle, is "preparing for war" but wants peace. In this way he answered the presenter's question about the recommendation of a committee of the US Congress that Washington prepares for a simultaneous war with Russia and China, including taking into account the option of a nuclear confrontation.

According to Putin, "we are all preparing for war because we follow the well-known ancient principle: if you want peace, prepare for war. But we proceed from the fact that we want peace."

The Russian president drew attention to the West's confrontation with China. Putin pointed out that Europe itself does not want to quarrel with Beijing, the volume of trade between Europe and China is constantly growing. "Speaking of which, the Europeans have a higher growth rate of trade with China than Russia's trade turnover with China. They don't want to spoil their relations with the PRC. The Americans are pushing them there," Putin summed up.

He added that the possibility of war between nuclear powers should not even enter the mind of any sane person.

"If we are talking about a war between the great nuclear powers - that is a completely different story," Putin noted, comparing such a confrontation to the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East. "I don't think sane people should or can think about it. But if they do, it just makes us cautious."

The Russian president added that "we want peace, and if the West wants to go to war with Russia, then this is a completely different war, this is not a special military operation".

He emphasized that Moscow and Beijing are not forming any kind of military-political alliance, while the West is doing just that. "We have already said many times: we are not uniting in some military-political alliance, while the Americans are doing it. Moreover, they are forcing their allies to worsen their relations with Russia and China."

Russia shot down 27 Ukrainian drones, fighting continues near Avdiivka

Russia says it has destroyed 27 Ukrainian drones. 18 of them were shot down over the Kursk region, 2 over the Belgorod region, where the rest were intercepted is not specified. There is no information about injured people.

Ukraine reported that fierce fighting was continuing near the eastern town of Avdiivka. The local military administration said Moscow was deploying additional forces to surround the strategically important town, located north of the Russian-held city of Donetsk.

The commander of the ground forces of Ukraine, Colonel-General Oleksandr Sirsky, wrote on Facebook that in recent days the fighting on the eastern front in Ukraine "has significantly worsened". According to him, after the losses, the Russian forces have regrouped and are now organizing attacks around the village of Makiivka and moving towards the city of Kupiansk.

Russian advance on the strategically important town of Avdiivka

Fierce fighting has been going on for five days near the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka. According to the authorities in Kyiv, the Russian shelling was so intense that emergency teams were unable to remove the dead from the destroyed buildings. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reported that 15 Russian attacks were repelled in the Donetsk region.

In Avdiivka, where about 30,000 people lived before the war, about 1,600 now remain. Over the past week, Moscow has deployed additional forces to surround the strategically important town in the eastern part of Donetsk Oblast, located north of the controlled city of Donetsk.

Poll: Majority of Germans are against sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

According to a survey, most Germans agree with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's position not to send Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, DPA reported.

While 55% of those polled support his position, only 26% consider this decision incorrect, according to a survey conducted by the YouGov Research Institute on behalf of DPA.

Earlier this month, Scholz cited the risk of escalation to justify his decision not to provide 500km-range Taurus cruise missiles despite Ukraine's urgent requests from May 2023. He also pointed out the danger of using the weapon to hit targets on Russian territory.

However, the decision was criticized by MPs from the opposition Christian Democrats, as well as parties from the ruling coalition, namely the Greens and the SDP.

In general, however, voters supporting all parties represented in the Bundestag approved his decision.

Support was particularly strong among voters of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party (79%), followed by supporters of the Social Democrats (59%), the pro-business Free Democrats (57%), the conservative opposition bloc CDU /CSU (53%) and the German far-left party (49%).

Greens voters are split, with 40% calling the decision right and 34% wrong.

Germany is Ukraine's second-largest arms supplier after the United States, and Berlin has provided Kyiv with battle tanks, heavy artillery and air defense systems.

These deliveries met with a mixed response among the population - 39% of those surveyed from the South-East believe that the military support is too much, while 29% believe that the right amount of arms is being delivered.

At the same time, 18% believe that the German government should provide even more weapons.

Putin and Xi Jinping will pay close attention to the world situation during their meeting

International relations will be among the main topics of the upcoming talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing, Russian leader Dmitry Peskov's spokesman announced, TASS reported.

"A lot, because both Russia and China play a very important role in international affairs, this role is growing," he said in response to the journalist's question about how much attention will be paid to the international situation at the meeting between the two leaders.

Peskov pointed out that Moscow and Beijing are united by integration processes and many common organizations, "whose attractiveness in the eyes of the world community is growing." "They include a number of countries that already represent the majority of the world's GDP and the majority of the world's population," the Kremlin spokesman said.

The Third International Belt and Road Forum will be held in the Chinese capital from October 17 to 18. The Russian president plans to take part in it. At the same time, the Kremlin expects that he and Xi Jinping "will find time for a confidential dialogue in private."

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