State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the appearance of North Korean People’s Army soldiers in Ukraine is a sign of “Putin’s desperation.” North Korea denied at the United Nations that North Korean soldiers are on the Russian front. South Korea may send military and intelligence officers to Ukraine in response to North Korea sending its fighters to Russia, Newsweek reported. The South Korean military in Ukraine will interrogate and help with translation if Ukrainian forces take North Koreans prisoner. They will also share their knowledge of North Korean tactics and military operations with the Ukrainians.
The European Parliament has supported the European Commission’s proposal for a €35 billion loan to Kiev, repayable from frozen Russian assets. The loan will be available by the end of 2024, with payments to be made by the end of 2025.
From Spain, El Pais, says Putin will not sit at the negotiating table as he continues to advance in Donbass and other areas. The British Army reported the death of Corporal Christopher Gill, an instructor of Ukrainian troops. It was unofficially reported that he was killed in Ukraine. Britain is giving Ukraine a loan of nearly $3 billion for the purchase of weapons, the British government press service reports. The loan will be secured by profits from frozen Russian assets. This is London’s contribution to the total loan of $50 billion promised by the G7.
The Ukrainian president wants an invitation to NATO within its internationally recognized borders and refuses to discuss gaining membership in exchange for occupied territories. “We do not discuss this. But I think this media coverage is not accidental. Apparently, some partners may have such thoughts. Therefore, they do not communicate this issue to me directly, but through the media, of course, they control its scale. I think everything here depends on Ukrainian society,” Zelensky said. He also stressed that the most important thing for him is to receive an invitation before the end of the war.
“Ukraine is not seeking to return nuclear weapons, but it needs to be given a ‘safe umbrella,’” Zelensky said. Most NATO countries support Ukraine’s membership, but Germany has some doubts due to a possible reaction from Russia. The United States will soon announce a new aid package worth $800 million, which will be aimed at developing the Ukrainian military-industrial complex and long-range weapons.”
In the meantime, estimates of Ukrainian citizens have been revised downwards once again. According to the UN, Ukraine’s population has decreased by 10 million. At a meeting between Zelensky, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov, Oleksandr Syrsky, Commander of the Ground Forces, and Anatoly Bargilevich, Chief of the General Staff of Ukraine, they said: “Operation Kursk: we hold our positions and do not allow the enemy to expand the war on our land.” “Instead of the buffer zone on the territory of Ukraine, which is envisaged by the Russians, we have created a buffer zone near our border on Russian territory.” “Special emphasis is placed on replenishing the exchange fund for Ukraine in order to free our people from Russian captivity. It was thanks to the Kursk operation that a significant number of our people were released,” Zelensky said.
In the long day of the Ukrainian president, other statements by him deny the dismissal of the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov.
In Kramatorsk, the car of the head of combat training of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was blown up: the driver is in serious condition, according to local sources. It was reported that unknown persons placed an explosive device under an official car, a Mercedes-Benz ML, ensuring that it would explode when the car started moving.
“Cooperation between Russia and North Korea is not directed against the security interests of South Korea,” Russian Ambassador to Seoul Georgy Zinovyev told the South Korean government. “The world will not last even a decade if geopolitical balance is not found. In this case, humanity will face a total war until complete extermination,” Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia, said.
Poland has decided to close the Russian Consulate General in Poznan on October 22, the head of the Foreign Ministry said. “On October 22, the German Ambassador to Moscow was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry and expressed a strong protest in connection with the creation, at the initiative of Berlin, of the regional headquarters of the NATO maritime command on the basis of the headquarters of the German Navy in Rostock, East Germany.
The ambassador was told that this step of the German leadership was a continuation of the path towards a creeping revision of the results of the Second World War and the militarization of the country. There is a serious violation of the spirit and letter of the Final Settlement Treaty with respect to Germany of 12 September 1990 (“2+4 Treaty”), in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 3 of Article 5 of which it is obliged to prevent the stationing and use of foreign troops on the territory of the former GDR. The Russians have demanded immediate and comprehensive explanations from Berlin.
And now a look at the front line updated at 16:00 on 22 October.
Since the beginning of the invasion of Kursk by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Russian troops have occupied 829 square kilometers, and this is only on the directions of Korets’k-Pokrovs’k-Kurakhov. However, the Ukrainian authorities deny that the invasion of Kursk has affected the speed of advance of the Russian Armed Forces in the central and southern part of the DPR. Currently, Ukrainian troops hold 523.3 square kilometers in the Kursk region, and the counteroffensive of the Russian army continues. Russian forces captured Kolmakov, Kursk region and also entered the agricultural buildings of Makhnovka.
In the Kursk region, the Sever group of troops reports that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are gathering new reserves and counterattacking with large forces. During the day, 2 counterattacks were repelled in the area of the Zeleny Shlyakh settlement and Obukhovka.
At night in the Tula region, as a result of an attack by a UAV of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the premises of the Efremovsky distillery and the village distillery were damaged. Luzhkovsky Suvorovsky district. According to preliminary information, there were no casualties. It was reported that Ukrainian drones were destroyed in the Bryansk and Belgorod regions. In the Tambov region, an explosion occurred at the Biokhim enterprise, followed by a fire. According to preliminary information, the cause of the emergency could have been a drone attack. In the Voronezh region, a Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicle fell on a workshop of an industrial enterprise.
In the Kharkiv direction, heavy fighting is taking place in Vovchansk, near the settlement, a Ukrainian attack was repelled.
In the Pokrovsk direction, fighting is taking place on the northeastern outskirts of Selydove. The mine “named after D. S. Korotchenko”, from whose territory Russian troops attacked Selydove, has come under the control of the Russian Armed Forces. Russian forces stormed Hirnyk from the north in the direction of Kurachove. A little further south, Russian troops successfully crossed the Vovcha River and captured 75% of Zoriane.
Russian forces advanced north of Kruhlyakivka, entering in the direction of Kolisnykivka – Kupyansk. Ukrainian forces retreated north of the Pishchane River, allowing Russian troops to control 50% of Kolisnykivka.
According to another account in the direction of Kupyansk, the Russian army is increasing pressure west of Sen’kove in the forested area in the direction of the northwestern outskirts of Petropavlivka. In Kruhlyakivka, fighting continues, the ledge in the Ukrainian defense near the Oskol River is widening. Further south, Russian troops are advancing west from Andriivka to the eastern outskirts of Vysoke, forming another wedge, which, given the terrain and the capture of the dominant heights, raises concerns among the Ukrainian military about a further advance towards Borova. Also from Vysoke, Russian forces attacked towards nearby Pervomaysky.
“There are 7-8 km to Kostyantynivka: the Russian army has broken through the defenses near Chasiv Yar,” says Druzhkovsky city council deputy Dovbnya. According to him, every day passes by with cannon fire. He notes the significant advantage of the Russian military in the number of shells and hits. Russian troops managed to cross the Seversky Donets-Donbass Canal, taking advantage of the weather conditions.
Russian troops have taken control of the settlement of Novosadove in the DPR, the Russian Defense Ministry reports.
Graziella Giangiulio
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