Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 606

Here is the situation on Sunday, October 22, 2023.

Fighting

• Six Ukrainian postal workers were killed when two missiles hit a postal distribution centre in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, on Saturday, regional prosecutors quoted by Ukraine’s public broadcaster said.
• A man died as Russian forces shelled the Ukrainian-held town of Nikopol from their stronghold at Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant, Governor Serhiy Lysak said on Saturday. He said emergency services in Nikopol were working to assess the damage.
• Russia fired hundreds of shells into Ukrainian-controlled parts of the southern Kherson region on Friday, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. “The Russian military hit residential areas of the region’s settlements. As a result of Russian aggression, one person was killed and one more was wounded,” he said on Saturday.
• A 60-year-old man died on Friday evening when a Russian missile slammed into an industrial facility in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, according to Telegram posts by Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul. The man’s wife was hospitalised with serious shrapnel wounds, Vilkul said.
• Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed six Russia-launched attack drones and one cruise missile out of nine launched on Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Sunday.

Politics

• A Russian court is expected to rule on the pre-trial detention of Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva on Monday. Kurmasheva, who works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL), has been held in a temporary detention facility since she was taken into custody on Wednesday. Russia says she failed to register as a “foreign agent” when she travelled to the country in May for a family emergency.

Diplomacy

• Turkey will join talks aimed at finding ways to end the Ukraine conflict, Zelenskyy said on Saturday after speaking with Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “We discussed the next round of negotiations on the Peace Formula, which will take place in Malta. Turkey will participate, adding its authoritative voice and position,” Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram. Malta announced on Friday it would host the peace talks on October 28-29, after similar meetings in Jeddah and Copenhagen earlier this year.

Weapons

• Russia’s upper house of parliament is expected to consider a bill to withdraw from the nuclear test ban treaty on Wednesday, after which it will go to Russian President Vladimir Putin for signing. The bill last week passed Russia’s lower house Duma by 415 votes to zero. Ukraine has urged the international community to respond to what it described as Moscow’s “provocations” in the area of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation.