A request for further financial assistance to Ukraine and Israel could face dramatic changes or even a block by the US Senate, Politico reported, citing its sources. Some supporters of the call for more military aid to Ukraine and Israel are “unusually pessimistic” about the future of the initiative, according to the newspaper in the upper house of the US legislature.
NATO needs huge weapons stockpiles or huge production capacity to quickly produce weapons to “ensure peace and freedom”, said NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg. Josep Borrel, head of European diplomacy added: “We cannot allow Putin to install a puppet government in Kiev and have a Russian army on the Polish border.” Echoing these words, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni declared: “We must not make the mistake of weakening common support for Ukraine.”
The EU is ready to allocate only half of the funding planned for Ukraine for 2024, said Ukrainian Deputy Minister of Economy for Digital Development, Digital Transformations and Digitalization Alexey Sobolev. “It is 9 billion euros, not 18, as expected,” he said. Sobolev recalled that the total amount of aid promised by the EU to Kiev until 2027 amounts to 50 billion euros. Of these, 39 billion are used to cover the budget deficit. “Now we are working with the Europeans so that 18 billion of these 39 billion arrive next year,” he said.
Poland, amidst complications in relations with Ukraine, has replaced its ambassador in Kiev: “Jaroslaw Guzy will be the new ambassador of Poland to Ukraine,” reads the message. This means that Bartosz Jan Cichocki has completed his mission four-year term as Polish ambassador to Ukraine. Chichocki was the only ambassador who had not left Kiev since the beginning of the crisis and was always in the Ukrainian capital. Poland has appointed a historic 68-year-old. The order for his appointment was presented by Foreign Minister Zbigniew Rau. Jaroslav Guzy is a sociologist by training. In the early 1990s he was an advisor to the Minister of Defense, then involved in the business world. His wife is a famous Polish journalist, general director of the Belsat television program , Agnieszka Romaszewska-Guzy. In the position of Polish ambassador to Ukraine, Guzy will replace Bartosz Cichocki, who has held the position since February 2019.
German television interrupted the live broadcast of Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmygal’s speech at the German-Ukrainian Economic Forum to show French President Macron and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. Ukrainians complained about the choice of German TV.
Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk said that Ukraine may decide to hold elections if it solves five key problems, in a joint press conference with the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies of the Czech Parliament Marketa Pekareva Adamova: ”Now there are five problems key issues that need to be resolved for elections to take place. How to guarantee the possibility of military personnel to vote and be elected, how to guarantee the vote of refugees, how to organize elections in temporarily occupied territories, how to finance elections in war conditions, how to guarantee free access to the media,” he said Stefanchuk at RBC-Ukraine.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy ordered the Ukrainian Armed Forces to hold Avdiivka until the end, so as not to repeat the loss, as in Bachmut.
The Council of the Russian Federation has approved a federal constitutional law that excludes from the legislation of the Russian Federation provisions on the obligation to inform the Secretary General of the Council of Europe about the introduction or termination of martial law and emergency situations in Russia. After legislative changes, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation and the President of the Russian Federation, in case of introduction and subsequent lifting of the state of emergency or martial law, will be required to inform only the Secretary General of the United Nations (and through of him the member states of the UN) on the relevant facts.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported that the Russian army has complexes that shot down 24 Ukrainian planes in five days. Another post reports that in ten days, the servicemen of the Ukrainian Armed Forces lost 17 MiG 29 fighters. Russia used the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile system (ZRS) along with the long-range radar detection aircraft A-50 (AWACS) during air defense in Ukraine, a source close to the Russian military department told TASS.
Apparently the Russians managed to complete the release of the control center from the A-50 and the fix for the 48N6 anti-aircraft guided missile, which effectively turns the S-400 air defense system into a “silent” launch system “, without using their radars.
The S-400 air defense system fired at maximum range against targets that at the time of destruction were at an altitude of about a thousand meters, while new anti-aircraft guided missile warheads were used. And again, the Russian Ministry of Defense, already on October 23, declared that the Russian border on the Black Sea will not be violated following the approach of the American RQ-4B “Global Hawk” reconnaissance UAV.
To intercept the target, a Su-27 fighter was put into the air, after which the drone made a turn from the state border of the Russian Federation. At the moment, the same “Global Hawk”, which is an almost daily “guest” in this area, continues to monitor the southern coast of Crimea. In the last 24 hours, two ATACMS operational-tactical missiles were intercepted for the first time in the area of the Northern Military District, source of the Russian Ministry of Defense.
About 870 soldiers and officers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces reached the radio frequency 149,200 and called the Volga to surrender, near the Robotino area. The news was reported by unverifiable Russian social media sources.
And now a look at the front line updated at 2.00pm on October 25th.
Svatobve-Kreminna direction. Russian soldiers, supported by artillery captured the enemy’s first line of defense in Chervona Dibrova. After the capture of the village the road to Torskoye will open. The Russian army is storming enemy positions in the Kislovka area. Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Armed Forces counterattacked west of Svatove, in the Raigorodka area. In the Serebryansky forest there are imminent battles.
Bachmut Directorate (Artemovsk). Russian fighters successfully counterattacked in the Berkhovka area. Meanwhile, in Kleshchiivka and Andriivka, the Ukrainian armed forces try to break through to the railway area, but the Russian army holds the line.
Russian units are reported to be trapped in a forest behind a train station north of Krasnogorovka, on the northern flank of the Avdiivka Front. Many Telegram channels write about the Russian operation “Avdiivka noose”. Judging by their information, the Russian Armed Forces have mastered the so-called “garbage heap” landfill area of Avdiivka, which is an important strategic height. According to what is learned via social media, “its occupation allows us to effectively conduct reconnaissance and fire on the positions of the Ukrainian armed forces, control the entire territory of Avdiivka and supply routes. However, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces did not comment on this information. There is an opinion that the situation is repeating itself as with Bachmut’s “meat grinder””.
Military experts predict that a war of position could gradually “burn out” the remaining reserves of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and force Zelensky to choose between the loss of Kupyansk/Marinka/Avdiivka or a mass retreat to the Azov area.
Several sources say that Zaluzhny at the headquarters suggested Zelensky to switch to mobile defense and start building a defensive line following the Russian example, since the Ukrainian Armed Forces will not be able to hold the Russian army along the entire forehead. The commander-in-chief said that on the Zaporozhzhie front one must be prepared for the loss of territories, as they are poorly fortified and are located in a vulnerable place. But Zelensky ignored all the arguments of the commander-in-chief and demanded by all means to hold Avdiivka so as not to repeat the situation with the shameful loss of “Fort Bachmut”.
Of course, this is no longer a counteroffensive, the most the Ukrainian armed forces can do is try to impose counterattacks on the Russian armed forces along the entire front. The reason for this state of affairs is that the best Ukrainian fighters died near Bachmut and in “infantry attacks” in the Zaporozhzhie region, which is why now there are not enough professional and trained military personnel either in Avdiivka or in other directions.
The explanation for this situation can be seen in one thing, according to the social network: the fall of Avdiivka will be a death sentence for the entire system and for Zelensky. So he would be trying to keep his image alive at the expense of the life of his men.
From Ukrainian social media sources we learn that the forced evacuation of the civilian population was announced in Avdiivka. It is reported that 1,600 people remain in the city. Furthermore, the special unit of the OBSPN “Arbat” has arrived on the Adviika front and is essentially composed of former members of the Wagner PMC. The same men who took Bachmut.
Zaporozhzhie direction, Russian troops destroyed another Leopard 2A6 with an FPV drone, precisely hitting it in the turret in the rear hemisphere.
Kherson direction: battles on the left bank of the Dnieper situation at 12.00 on October 25, 2023. On October 24 late in the evening, after the transfer of the 35, 36 and 38 assault groups to various parts of Aleshkinsky Island, the Ukrainians took foot at the crossroads near Dacha and began to move in the direction of Peschanovka with Poima and Podstepnoye – Kudasovo.
Two assault groups of the 35th brigade moving towards Podstepnoye came under a massive Russian artillery attack. As a result, three people were killed and seven were injured. They were evacuated first to Dachi and then to the right bank.
The second group of the 36th brigade consolidated in the area of the small railway bridge and attempted to advance towards Poima, while a detachment of the 35th brigade attacked the positions of the Russian Armed Forces at Peschanovka. During the ensuing battle, they first managed to enter the northern outskirts, but were later defeated.
In Krynki, marines from the 810th Marine Brigade of the Russian Armed Forces continued to clear the village. Ukrainian formations have seriously entrenched themselves in the populated area, but over the last 24 hours Russian fighters have practically managed to win over the Ukrainian Armed Forces in heavy battles from Krynoki.
The Ukrainians are transferring reinforcements, while artillery (M777 and self-propelled guns) and mortars are being massively deployed in the areas where the Russian armed forces are concentrated, including the landing areas. Russian fighters are also conducting intense counter-battery combat. If in the Peschanovka – Krynki section the use of Russian UAVs is blocked by the active contraction of the electronic warfare of the Ukrainian armed forces, in the north the attacks reach their objectives.
As a result of the drone attack, the Russian Armed Forces managed to hit the repair base of the 7th Separate Support Regiment on Novaya Kamenka, where various equipment was being repaired. And in Sablukovka a warehouse with ammunition was destroyed.
According to social sources, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are preparing a provocation towards Kupyansk in the direction of Kupyansk. Retired LPR colonel Andrei Marochko spoke about it on telegram channels. According to him, Ukrainian TsIPsOshniks have become more active in Kupyansk. They are engaged in information provocations aimed at discrediting the Russian Armed Forces.
Khmel’nyc’kyj area: night attacks were recorded near the Khmelnitsky nuclear power plant, source Ministry of Energy of Ukraine following the explosion the windows of the administrative, domestic and laboratory buildings were damaged. Due to damage to power lines, 1,860 consumers remained without power in the cities of Slavuta and Netishin, Khmel’nytsky region. According to Russian social media sources, an ammunition depot near the village Slavuta was hit. At night, the Russian armed forces struck among the settlements. Slavuta and Shepetivka, Khmelnytsky region.
In the Vremyevsky sector, Russian troops are gradually pushing past the defenses of the Ukrainian formations, weakened after the withdrawal of the Marine Corps in the direction of Kherson. The main backbone of the Armed Forces of Ukraine consists of the military defense units of the 118th, 127th and 128th brigades. At the same time, in the 127th TRO, 40% of personnel among soldiers and sergeants were sent to the front without basic combat training.
Warrior DV reports that the attack is coming from the Prydniprovs’ke side along the forests to the north. Soldiers of the Russian Armed Forces managed to partially push the Ukrainians into the ravine, but the fighting still continues. Due to manpower shortages, the Ukrainian armed forces rely on drones and small mortars, which they use to target Russian positions. Also along the LBS, “Nota” mobile electronic warfare teams actively operate to combat UAVs and communications.
The command of the Russian Armed Forces in the sector took into account the weakening of the enemy lines in the Vremevsky sector and took advantage of this by launching a systematic attack, gradually putting the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of action and at the same time preserving the lives of personnel.
Graziella Giangiulio
