Ukraine starts using Atacms missiles from US, with Russian-held airfield targeted; $14bn damage toll from destruction of Kakhovka dam
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has confirmed that Kyiv used US-provided long-range army tactical missile systems (Atacms) missiles. “Today, special thanks to the United States. Our agreements with President Biden are being implemented. Very accurately – Atacms missiles proved themselves,” he said. This marks the first officially confirmed use in Ukraine of Atacms, which can fly up to 190 miles.
Ukrainian forces struck airfields in Russian-held territory in eastern and southern Ukraine overnight, destroying helicopters, knocking out an air defence missile launcher and damaging runways, Kyiv’s military said. The military said its forces had carried out “well-aimed strikes on enemy airfields” near the eastern city of Luhansk and the southern city of Berdiansk. Atacms are thought to have been used.
A telecommunication cable connecting Sweden and Estonia has been damaged, Sweden’s civil defence minister has said. Carl-Oskar Bohlin said it appeared to have occurred at the same time as a subsea gas pipeline and a telecom cable connecting Finland and Estonia were damaged on 8 October.
China’s president, Xi Jinping, welcomed his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to Beijing, which is to host representatives of 130 countries for a forum on Xi’s belt and road initiative.
The lower house of the Russian parliament has reportedly given preliminary approval to a bill revoking the ratification of a global nuclear test ban treaty.
The destruction of the Kakhovka dam in south-eastern Ukraine in June caused $14bn worth of damage and losses, according to a report by the Ukrainian government and the UN.
Grant Shapps, the UK defence secretary, is due to visit the US on Tuesday for urgent talks over conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Canada is targeting nine individuals and six TV stations in new sanctions against Russian collaborators in Moldova. Those targeted are associated with influential oligarchs, such as Vladimir Plahotniuc and Ilan Mironovich Shor, while the TV stations promote and disseminate Russian disinformation, the Canadian foreign ministry said.
US, South Korean and Japanese officials have met in Jakarta to discuss North Korea’s engagement with Russia, including arms transfers violating UN security council resolutions.
A convoy of British ambulances has arrived in Lviv in western Ukraine and will be delivered to hospitals on the frontline. Five vehicles donated by the charity Medical Life Lines Ukraine are being sent to the southern city of Kherson – which is under intense Russian attack – as well as the towns of Kupiansk and Vorozhba in the war-torn north-east of the country. Since last year’s full-scale invasion the group has donated 43 vehicles.
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