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Morning Headlines
RFE/RL: Russia launched one of its largest waves of drone strikes on Ukraine early on October 18 , the head on Kyiv's military administration, Serhiy Popko, reported.
AFP: Moldova authorities fear that up to a quarter of votes cast in a presidential election and an EU membership referendum on Sunday could be tainted by Russian cash, according to its police chief.
The Norwegian Government has decided to increase Norway’s support of Ukraine’s military medical services and rehabilitation centers.
Reuters: U.S. President Joe Biden will on Friday seek to cement cooperation with key European partners on issues from the Ukraine war to conflict in the Middle East during a swift swansong trip to Berlin.
More News
Reuters: Donald Trump on Thursday blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for helping start that nation's war with Russia, a comment that further suggests Trump is likely to radically shift U.S. policy toward Ukraine if he wins the Nov. 5 election.
The Kyiv Independent: The United States is shifting the focus of its F-16 training program for Ukrainian pilots to prioritize younger trainees, potentially delaying the Ukrainian squadron's readiness to fight, the Wall Street Journal reported on Oct. 17.
AP News: Google, Meta and TikTok have removed social media accounts belonging to an industrial plant in Russia’s Tatarstan region aimed at recruiting young foreign women to make drones for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
Reuters: The United States on Thursday sanctioned two Chinese companies and a Russian affiliate involved in making and shipping attack drones and warned the two countries to halt cooperation boosting the Ukraine war effort.
Bloomberg: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban once again blocked European Union efforts to tweak its Russia sanctions regime, a step needed to unlock significant US participation in a $50 billion loan to Ukraine (archive).
Reuters: Russia expects the local subsidiaries of European banks Raiffeisen Bank International and UniCredit to participate in the mass launch of the digital rouble in July 2025 or face potential fines, the central bank said on Thursday.
Bloomberg: Ukraine will next year receive more heavy ammunition from an initiative organized by the Czech Republic, which called on allies to provide further funding (archive).
The Kyiv Independent: President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a bilateral security agreement with Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Zelensky said on Oct. 17.
POLITICO: Ukraine’s survival can only be ensured by joining NATO or giving Kyiv nuclear weapons, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.
AFP: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday he had intelligence reports that North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to support Russia in its fight against Kyiv.
Reuters: Laws that would ban "propaganda" which discourages Russians from having children won overwhelming approval on Thursday in the first stage of their passage through parliament, part of a Kremlin drive to boost the country's flagging birth rate.
AFP: Dozens of countries committed Thursday to help clear war-torn Ukraine of massive amounts of mines and explosives, which contaminate nearly a quarter of its territory.
Reuters: Moldovan police said on Thursday they had uncovered a programme in which hundreds of its citizens were brought to Russia to undergo training to stage riots and civil unrest, the latest in a slew of meddling allegations ahead of Sunday's election.
AFP: US citizen Stephen Hubbard, convicted in Moscow of fighting for Ukraine, was tortured during his more than two years in Russian custody, a Ukrainian serviceman who was held alongside the 72-year-old told AFP.
Britain said on Thursday it had imposed sanctions on 18 more Russian oil tankers and four liquefied natural gas vessels, the largest batch of sanctions to date against Russia's so-called "shadow fleet".
The Kyiv Independent: Russia is forced to use its warships to distract Ukraine's air defense during mass missile attacks as the vessels are not very effective in launching the strikes themselves, Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian Navy, said on Oct. 17.
Reuters: Russian forces attacked energy infrastructure in the southern region of Mykolaiv as they launched 56 drones and one missile in an overnight assault on Ukraine.
The Moscow Times: Russian airstrikes on sites including a furniture workshop in northwest Syria killed 10 people and wounded 30 others, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said late Wednesday.
worth mentioning
Ongoing terror in occupied Ukraine uncovered - documentary
Small and lethal: adapted drones carrying explosives ‘hunt’ civilians in Kherson
Russia wants to ‘create havoc’ if it is behind DHL fires, says air freight expert
Britain joins France, Germany in development of long-range missiles
Russia is facing a massive shortfall in migrant labour
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