Ukraine’s military will shoot down Iranian-made Russian drones: up to 85% of them are being destroyed lately, the British Ministry of Defense reported, citing official sources.
The ministry said in its latest assessment of the war that Russia will most likely use drones as a replacement for the dwindling Russian-made long-range precision weapons.
“Ukraine’s efforts to defeat Shahed-136 drones are increasingly successful,” the ministry said Monday. “These drones are slow, noisy and fly at low altitude,” making them simple targets, the ministry added.
Ukraine’s intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, on Monday estimated the downing of some 330 Shahed drones that Russia had introduced as of Saturday at around 70 percent.
Budanov said the Russian military ordered about 1,700 other types of drones, and a batch of about three hundred Shaheds is being deployed.
“Terror with the use of ‘Shaheds’ can last for a long time,” Pravda told Ukraine. “Air defense is essentially about coping. “
RUSSIAN FORCES COULD FACE “DEFEAT”: Russia would likely struggle to get Kherson’s frontline troops out; US Rejects Russian Accusation of Ukrainian Radioactive ‘Provocation’
Other developments:
WNBA star Brittney Griner is “very nervous” about Tuesday’s call for relief in her nine-year sentence following a drug conviction in Russia, her lawyer said.
Anton Krasovsky, host of a communication program on state broadcaster Russia Today, was suspended after he said last week that Ukrainian children calling the Russian occupiers would be drowned or burned alive. He apologized Monday.
Residents of the southern town of Mykolaiv took cover for water and supplies as Ukrainian forces continued their advance near the town of Kherson.
The war in Ukraine was a main topic of a verbal exchange Monday at a Vatican assembly between Pope Francis and French President Emmanuel Macron.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Ukraine’s reconstruction will be a “task for a generation” that no foreign country, donor or entity can do alone.
While warning that next winter “will be the most complicated in history,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy praised the country’s successes as the war against the Russian invader reached the eight-month mark on Monday.
Russian forces have destroyed 30 percent of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure in a series of targeted attacks in recent weeks, Zelenskyy said, prompting him to call for conservation efforts. But he also highlighted on Monday the progress of his army in retaking territory in the partially occupied provinces of Donetsk. , Luhansk, Kharkiv and Kherson, and said the plan to retake the Zaporizhzhia region and the annexed Crimean peninsula.
“Ukraine is breaking up the so-called largest army of the moment in the world,” Zelenskyy said. “Now Russia can only be a beggar. It asks for anything in Iran, tries to get anything out of Western states, invents stories about Ukraine, intimidates, deceives.
An organization of 30 progressive Democrats in the House on Monday suggested President Joe Biden seek a diplomatic end to the war in Ukraine.
In a letter to Biden, members of Congress praised theirs for Ukraine while preventing the U. S. from doing so. UU. se became directly involved militarily in the conflict, noting the difficulty of gathering their call given Russia’s “scandalous and illegal invasion” and annexation of the territory. from Ukraine
But they also strain the desire to seek a negotiated peace agreement so that Ukraine retains its independence and grants Russia secure concessions, such as sanctions relief.
“The choice of international relations is a protracted war,” they said, “with its catastrophic and unknowable certainties and risks. “
White House spokesman John Kirby expressed appreciation for the “thoughtful concerns” expressed in the letter, adding that management supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was skeptical about his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin’s willingness to negotiate with intelligence.
“What we’re going to stay focused on is making sure that he and his troops can succeed on the battlefield, so that when it comes time to come to the table, Mr. Zelenskyy is likely to succeed,” Kirby said.
The Russian military is raising the specter that it is leaving Kherson by making its officers flee and forcing the evacuation of the city, a senior Ukrainian official said Monday. the region that Russia claimed to annex just a few weeks ago.
Budanov said Sergei Surovikin, who commands the southern organization of Russian troops in the war, might appear to be an orderly retreat to silence the Russian public’s reaction to Kherson’s surrender or loss.
“They create the ghost that everything is gone,” Budanov said. “And at the same time, on the contrary, they bring new army sets and prepare the streets of the city for defense. “
The Washington-based Institute for War Studies said in a weekend assessment that Russia appears to be counting on new recruits to block the Ukrainian military’s recapture of the city.
“The use of such green forces to carry out delaying action may cause a Russian defeat if Ukrainian forces continue the attack,” the assessment said.
The Kremlin, despite denials from Kyiv and Western companies, on Monday reiterated its baseless claim that Ukraine planned to detonate a low-yield nuclear device and then blame Russia for weapons of mass destruction.
Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, head of the Russian military’s radiological, chemical and biological coverage force, said his Defense Ministry “has evidence that the Kyiv regime is planning a provocation involving the explosion of an alleged grimy bomb. “These weapons are used more to sow terror than to kill. Kirillov did not reveal any evidence Russia might have.
Kirillov said the provocation would be used to launch an anti-Russian crusade around the world aimed at undermining acceptance in Moscow. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was preparing the ground for deploying a radioactive device on Ukrainian soil.
Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu held talks Sunday with his American, British and French counterparts, accusing Ukraine of planning the provocation to escalate the war. Everyone strongly rejected the claim, and a senior U. S. military officer was a member of the U. S. military. that the Ukrainians were building a dirty bomb.
“I spoke by phone with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who requested a follow-up call,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Sunday in a message on Twitter. “I rejected any pretext for Russian escalation and reaffirmed the price of continuous communication in the midst of Russia’s illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine. “
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also dismissed Shoigu’s claims, most likely to play well in Russia, calling them “absurd” and dangerous. He said Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had agreed to his request to send inspectors to Ukraine to make the Kremlin’s claim is false.
Ukraine’s Black Sea ports are operating at less than a third of their capacity due to Russian interference, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Infrastructure. The progression jeopardizes a fragile agreement that will expire on November 19.
The deal, negotiated through the UN and Turkey in late July, lifted Russia’s port blockade and allowed Ukraine to ship more than 8 million tonnes of grain to African, Asian and European countries, helping to ease a growing food crisis.
Russia believes the promises it has earned for its grain and fertilizer imports are not being respectable and has complained about the implementation of the deal, recently raising its considerations at the UN, Reuters reported.
Ukraine is going to renew the agreement, but it needs Russia to fully respect its part.
“Russia is intentionally delaying the full implementation of the ‘Grain Initiative,'” its infrastructure ministry said on Telegram. “For this reason, ports have been operating at 25-30% capacity in recent days. “
Iran is “making the world less safe” by offering Russia drones for its war in Ukraine, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Monday.
Speaking alongside Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic when he attended a forum in Zagreb aimed at supporting Ukraine’s independence from Russian aggression, Pelosi blamed Iran for “making a big mistake” in supplying devices loaded with explosives.
Russia renamed the drones Shahed, who terrorized the Ukrainian population and broke power plants, and Iran denies being the source. But several of the unique triangle-shaped drones have been spotted in Ukraine.
“We want to be there to counter drones,” Pelosi said. It’s a harmful generation and you want to be stopped. “
Contributors: Tom Vanden Brook, Maureen Groppe, USA TODAY; The Associated Press