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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Russia's Duma Council will look on Monday at revoking ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, further fuelling concerns that Moscow might resume nuclear tests.
AP News: For some Republican lawmakers, Taiwan and Ukraine are effectively rivals for a limited pool of U.S. military assistance. But that’s not necessarily how Taiwan and many of its supporters see it. They view Taiwan’s fate as closely linked to that of Ukraine as it struggles to push back a Russian invasion.
WSJ: Pro-Ukraine senators from both parties, unnerved by the upheaval in the House, say they want to move quickly to pass a yearlong aid package for the war-torn country that far exceeds the amount of aid requested by President Biden in August and would last through the 2024 election.
ISW: Russian forces are intensifying mining efforts in the Robotyne-Verbove area and seek to fix Ukrainian forces on areas of the front away from western Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
Reuters: Russian forces shelled southern Kherson region and other parts of Ukraine on Sunday, killing at least two people and injuring a dozen more, Ukrainian officials said.
08.10.2023
Ukrinform: Ukraine’s defense forces have repelled the attacks of the Russian troops in the Kupiansk, Bakhmut, Lyman, Avdiivka, and Marinka areas, where a total 33 combat clashes took place on Sunday.
ISW: A sustained and expanded Ukrainian strike campaign against Russian military targets in Crimea would likely degrade Russian efforts to defend against Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in southern Ukraine.
Yahoo News: Switzerland has become home to one-fifth of the Russian spies operating in Europe as other countries expel diplomats, NZZ newspaper reported, citing an intelligence report.
Reuters: Ukraine's air force expects a record number of Russian drone attacks on its soil this winter, its spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat said on Sunday, as Kyiv girds for a second winter of mass bombardment of its energy facilities.
CNN Analysis: Putin banks on wavering support for Ukraine, amid a race against time.
Reuters: The current violence between Hamas and Israel works in Russia's favour as it distracts international attention from Moscow's aggression in Ukraine and may result in new migration pressures on Europe, Poland's president Andrzej Duda said on Sunday.
ISW: The Kremlin is already and will likely continue to exploit the Hamas attacks in Israel to advance several information operations intended to reduce US and Western support and attention to Ukraine.
07.10.2023
Reuters: Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia's Chechnya region and close ally of President Vladimir Putin, proposed on Saturday that a presidential election due next March should either be postponed due to the war in Ukraine or limited to one candidate - Putin.
Yahoo News: Russia is using illicit cash channels to fund covert activities, analysts say. An expert took Insider through how the networks operate. Kremlin is exploiting gaps in sanctions laws, but also using older methods like cash and diamonds.
Reuters: Denmark's defence ministry aims to restart ammunition production after a 55-year gap to ensure its domestic supplies as the war in Ukraine creates increased demand for military hardware across Europe.
Reuters: A party official in the Russian-held town of Nova Kakhovka in Ukraine's Kherson province was killed by a car bomb on Saturday. Vladimir Malov, executive secretary of the town branch of Russia's governing United Russia party, died in hospital, the governor said.
BBC News: When Ukraine's Kakhovka dam was blown up in June, it led to devastating floods that destroyed homes and farmland, and left hundreds of thousands without drinking water. Four months on, Ukrainians are still facing water shortages but say they are determined to overcome the destruction.
Reuters: Rail traffic along the North Korea-Russia border spiked this week to the highest in years, suggesting arms supply by Pyongyang to Moscow after their leaders discussed deeper military cooperation.
ISW: Russian forces appear to have recently conducted a regimental rotation in the Orikhiv area, demonstrating an ability to sustain their defenses in this critical sector of the frontline.
Euromaidan Press: Russian-installed occupation 'authorities' of the Zaporizhzhia Oblast in southeastern Ukraine have threatened to stop providing medical care to Ukrainian citizens from 2024 if Ukrainians do not have a Russian passport, BBC Russian Service reported.
06.10.2023
ERR: Volunteers from Estonian aid organizations suffered minor injuries after a Russian missile landed close to their convoy in eastern Ukraine, a representative said on Friday.
Reuters: The Biden administration is expected to announce a new weapons package for Ukraine next week as the Pentagon continues to use up funds discovered due to a multi-billion dollar accounting error, U.S. officials said.
CNN: Two Russian diplomats have been expelled from Moscow’s embassy in Washington, the US State Department confirmed Friday.
Reuters: The U.S. Commerce Department on Friday added 42 Chinese companies to a government export control list over their support for Moscow's military and defense industrial base - support that includes the supply of U.S.-origin integrated circuits.
Ukrinform: The Netherlands is allocating EUR 102 million for the third aid package to Ukraine in 2023.
Novaya-Europe: The Kremlin is attempting to hire Serbian private soldiers for deployment to Ukraine, BBC News Russian reported on Friday.
Reuters: Moldova's pro-European President, Maia Sandu, said Russia's Wagner paramilitary force was the main force behind an attempt to foment a coup against her, she told the Financial Times in an interview published on Friday.
AFP: Kazakhstan announced on Friday new efforts to increase the share of the Kazakh language over Russian in its media landscape, amid growing scepticism over Moscow's influence since the invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters: A Ukrainian court has frozen the Ukrainian assets of three Russian businessmen over their alleged support for Russia's war in Ukraine, prosecutors and the security service said on Friday.
Reuters: Sweden will send Ukraine a new military support package worth 2.2 billion crowns ($199 million) - consisting mainly of artillery ammunition - and is looking into sending fighter jets, Defence Minister Pal Jonson said.
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