- 18 Oct 2022 - 19:56(19:56 GMT)
Moscow’s use of Iranian drones shows military ‘bankruptcy’: Zelenskyy
Moscow’s use of Iranian-made drones in recent attacks on Ukraine is a symbol of the Kremlin’s “military and political bankruptcy”, Zelenskyy says.
“The very fact of Russia’s appeal to Iran for such assistance is the Kremlin’s recognition of its military and political bankruptcy,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 18:43(18:43 GMT)
US to take ‘practical, aggressive’ steps to make sale of Iranian drones harder
The United States will take “practical, aggressive” steps to make it harder for Iran to sell drones and missiles to Russia, state department spokesman Vedant Patel says, adding that Washington has a number of tools to hold both Moscow and Tehran accountable.
Patel did not provide details at the daily press briefing on what steps the US government will take, but he pointed out that Washington has already used sanctions and export controls as a response.
He added that a deepening alliance between Russia and Iran is a phenomenon that the world should view as a “profound threat”.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 18:42(18:42 GMT)
Kyiv slams Red Cross ‘inaction’ over Ukrainian prisoners
Kyiv has accused the Red Cross of “inaction” over Ukrainian prisoners held by Russia, saying a lack of visits to detained soldiers and civilians means they are vulnerable to being tortured.
“Unfortunately, at each exchange, we see that the International Committee of the Red Cross’s inaction has led to our prisoners of war and civilian hostages being tortured daily by hunger, by electrocution,” Ukrainian human rights commissioner Dmytro Lubinets said.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 18:00(18:00 GMT)
Russia’s new Ukraine commander acknowledges ‘tense’ combat situation
The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, has acknowledged that the military situation in Ukraine was “tense”, especially around the occupied southern city of Kherson.
“The situation in the area of the ‘Special Military Operation’ can be described as tense,” he told the state-owned Rossiya 24 television news channel in an interview.
“The enemy continually attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” he said. “First of all, this concerns the Kupiansk, Lyman and Mykolayiv-Kriviy Rih sectors.”
“The Russian army will above all ensure the safe evacuation of the population” of Kherson, Surovikin, who has been in charge of operations in Ukraine for the past 10 days, added.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 17:28(17:28 GMT)
Pentagon says can’t confirm reports of Iranian missiles to Russia
The Pentagon said that it did not have information at this time to corroborate reports that Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, along with more drones.
“I don’t have any information to corroborate that at this time,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said at a news conference.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 16:35(16:35 GMT)
Lavrov suggests Russia could downgrade diplomatic presence in West
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says Moscow could reduce its diplomatic presence in Western countries, blaming sour relations with Europe and the United States and Russia’s need to build ties elsewhere.
“Of course we do not see any sense in or have any desire to maintain the same presence in Western countries, … and Third World countries, both in Asia and Africa, on the contrary, need additional attention,” Lavrov said in an address to new foreign ministry recruits.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 16:34(16:34 GMT)
Brittney Griner, facing Russian jail term, sends thanks for support
American basketball star Brittney Griner, whose appeal against a Russian jail term is due to be heard next week, has sent her supporters a message of thanks on her 32nd birthday.
“All the support and love are definitely helping me,” Griner was quoted as saying by her lawyers Maria Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, who spent several hours with her in the pre-trial detention centre in Moscow where she is being held.
“Today is, of course, a difficult day for Brittney,” Blagovolina said. “Not only is this her birthday in jail away from her family, teammates and friends, but she is very stressed in anticipation of the appeal hearing on October 25.”
- 18 Oct 2022 - 16:31(16:31 GMT)
Ukraine warns situation ‘critical’ after Russia attacks power grid
Ukraine warns of an emerging “critical” risk to its power grid after Zelenskyy said repeated Russian bombardments had destroyed one-third of the country’s power facilities as winter approaches.
“The situation is critical now across the country,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the Ukrainian president’s office, told Ukrainian television. “It’s necessary for the whole country to prepare for electricity, water and heating outages.”
The latest Russian attacks came early on Tuesday and hit Kyiv, Kharkiv in the east, Mykolaiv in the south, and the central regions of Dnipro and Zhytomyr, where officials said hospitals were running on backup generators.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 15:37(15:37 GMT)
Russian air raids damaged more than 400 infrastructure targets
Russian attacks have damaged more than 400 infrastructure targets across Ukraine since early last week, said a senior Ukrainian official.
The Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, Oleksii Chernyshov, said that Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones had struck 408 Ukrainian targets since October 10.
The targets included 45 energy facilities and more than 180 civilian buildings.
Chernyshov insisted that Ukrainians would not be cowed by Moscow’s onslaught.
He said that “such terrorist actions of the aggressor mobilise and harden us even more”.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 15:12(15:12 GMT)
Iran promises to send Russia surface-to-surface missiles
Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles and more drones, two senior Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats told the Reuters news agency.
A deal was agreed upon on October 6 when Iran’s First Vice President Mohammad Mokhber, two senior officials from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and an official from the Supreme National Security Council visited Moscow for talks with Russia about the delivery of the weapons.
“The Russians had asked for more drones and those Iranian ballistic missiles with improved accuracy, particularly the Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles family,” said one of the Iranian diplomats, who was briefed about the trip.
“Where they are being used is not the seller’s issue. We do not take sides in the Ukraine crisis like the West. We want an end to the crisis through diplomatic means,” the diplomat said.
However, the Iranian diplomat rejected that weapon transfers breach a 2015 UN Security Council resolution.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 14:48(14:48 GMT)
UN commision finds Russia and Ukraine guilty of possible war crimes
A UN commission found Russian forces were responsible for the “vast majority” of human rights violations in the early weeks of the war in Ukraine, including attacks on civilians that were potential war crimes.
The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine found that Russian forces had indiscriminately shelled areas they were trying to capture and “attacked civilians trying to flee”.
It also found abuses committed by Ukraine, including two cases of people who were out of action who were shot, wounded or tortured.
“Russian armed forces are responsible for the vast majority of the violations identified, including war crimes,” the Council said in the report.
“Ukrainian forces have also committed international humanitarian law violations in some cases, including two incidents that qualify as war crimes.”
- 18 Oct 2022 - 14:24(14:24 GMT)
Who controls what?
As Russia continues its aerial assault on critical Ukrainian infrastructure, what does the conflict look like currently?
Al Jazeera has three maps, which it updates daily, charting the latest developments of the war.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 14:02(14:02 GMT)
Death toll rises to 14 after fighter jet crash in southern Russia
The death toll from the crash of a Russian fighter jet into a residential area has risen to 14, including three people who died when they jumped from a nine-story apartment building to escape a fire, authorities say.
An Su-34 crashed on Monday night in Yeysk, a port city on the Sea of Azov, after one of its engines caught fire during takeoff for a training mission, the Russian defence ministry says.
Both crew members ejected from the plane and survived, but their Su-34 crashed and created a large fire as tons of fuel exploded on impact.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 13:33(13:33 GMT)
Russia ‘demanding’ to be part of Nord Stream investigation: AJ correspondent
Al Jazeera’s Mohammed Vall, reporting from Moscow, says the lack of Russian involvement in the Nord Stream investigation is fuelling a belief in Russia that the West is responsible for the damage to the two gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
“Russia has been blaming, and it is still blaming the West, of being behind the sabotage because, they say, the main damage there is against Russian interests,” Vall said of the explosions last month that damaged the pipelines that carry Russian gas to Europe.
“Russia is still demanding a role in this investigation, and without that, the doubts Russia has over the whole thing will remain, and any investigation results will not be accepted here in Moscow,” Vall said.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 13:02(13:02 GMT)
Ukraine to possibly cut diplomatic ties with Iran
Ukraine’s foreign minister said he was submitting a proposal to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy for Kyiv to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran for supplying weapons to Russia.
Foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba told a news conference that Tehran bore full responsibility for the destruction in Ukraine.
Kuleba also added that Kyiv would send an official note to Israel seeking immediate air defence supplies and cooperation.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 12:47(12:47 GMT)
Estonian lawmakers declare Russia a ‘terrorist regime’
Estonian lawmakers condemned Moscow’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory and declared Russia a “terrorist regime”.
Out of the 101-seat legislature, the statement passed with 88 votes – 10 legislators were absent, and three abstained.
The statement said the Estonian parliament “declares Russia a terrorist regime and the Russian Federation a country that supports terrorism.
“(President Vladimir) Putin’s regime, with its threats of nuclear attack, has turned Russia into the biggest danger to peace both in Europe and in the whole world,” it said.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 12:27(12:27 GMT)
Russian troops recapture terrority in Kharkiv: Russian defence ministry
The Russian military said it had recaptured territory in the eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine, the first gains since Moscow’s forces were pushed back in a rapid counteroffensive.
The defence ministry said, “Units of the Russian army during offensive operations captured the village of Gorobiivka in the Kharkiv region.”
The ministry also claimed to have inflicted a “significant defeat” on Ukrainian troops in the village.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 11:57(11:57 GMT)
Estonia’s foreign minister says Russian sanctions need to go further
Estonia’s foreign minister says that sanctions against Russia still haven’t gone far enough.
Urmas Reinsalu said that the point of sanctions is to raise pressure to end the war and the only person who can end the war is President Vladimir Putin.
He argued that “as we have not reached that decision point, it means the sanctions have not reached the needed altitude”.
He didn’t specify what further sanctions should be imposed.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 11:38(11:38 GMT)
Air attacks continue on Ukraine infrastructure: Russian defence ministry
Russia has said its forces are continuing attacks on Ukraine’s military and energy infrastructure.
The Russian defence ministry said the attacks are being carried out with high-precision long-range air and sea-based weapons.
The targets are the “military command and energy infrastructure of Ukraine, as well as arsenals with ammunition and foreign-made weapons,” it said, adding all “assigned objects” have so far been hit.
Russia has increasingly attacked Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure, including energy facilities, after a series of defeats on the battlefield saw Kyiv’s forces recapture multiple settlements.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 11:22(11:22 GMT)
30 percent of Ukraine’s power plants ‘destroyed’, says President Zelenskyy
Ukraine says attacks have knocked out 30 percent of the country’s power plants over the past week.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy tweeted the claim, adding that the attacks have caused “massive blackouts across the country”.
Russian missiles have taken aim at Ukraine’s power grid since October 10, when it stepped up strikes and drone attacks across the nation.
Another kind of Russian terrorist attacks: targeting 🇺🇦 energy & critical infrastructure. Since Oct 10, 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country. No space left for negotiations with Putin's regime. @United24media pic.twitter.com/LN4A2GYgCK
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 18, 2022
- 18 Oct 2022 - 11:07(11:07 GMT)
13 people killed after fighter jet crash, says Russia
At least 13 people, including three children, were killed when a Russian fighter jet crashed into the courtyard of a nine-storey apartment building and exploded in southern Russia across the Sea of Azov from Ukraine.
The defence ministry said the supersonic jet was on a training flight and was seen with a fire in one engine before a blast and a fireball engulfed the building in the city of Yeysk.
Russia’s emergency ministry said 19 people had been injured.
At least 10 bodies were pulled from the rubble of the building, the ministry said, while 360 people were evacuated.
“Thanks to the professional, competent and prompt actions of fire and rescue units, 68 people were rescued during the search and rescue operation in Yeysk,” emergency minister Alexander Kurenkov said in a statement.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 10:50(10:50 GMT)
Former Soviet republics air their grievances with Moscow
With Russia occupied with the war in Ukraine, in Central Asia, former Soviet republics are using their new-found leverage to air their problems with Moscow.
More on Central Asian countries’ new power as Moscow increasingly relies on them here.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 10:33(10:33 GMT)
Threatening nuclear weapons is more valuable than using them: Norway
The head of Norway’s armed forces said it’s more beneficial for Russian President Vladimir Putin to threaten nuclear weapons than actually to use them.
General Eirik Kristoffersen was speaking ahead of NATO nuclear exercises and said: “First of all, we have to listen to what he (Putin) says,” Kristoffersen said in the interview on September 26.
“Second, there is no reason for him to use any nuclear weapons …There is no threat to Russia’s existential security. So he has no reason to use it.”
For Putin, the threat of using nuclear weapons “is more valuable than if he actually uses them”, said Kristoffersen.
Putin and top Russian officials have repeatedly threatened to use nuclear weapons to protect Russia.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 10:15(10:15 GMT)
Nord Stream pipeline leaks caused by ‘powerful explosions’
A preliminary investigation into leaks in the two Nord Stream gas pipelines shows that they were caused by “powerful explosions”, Copenhagen Police said after investigating the parts of the pipelines that lie in Danish waters.
The Danish findings are similar to those of Swedish prosecutors, who said two other holes in the pipelines also seemed to have been caused by explosions and that the case was being investigated as sabotage.
Swedish and Danish authorities are investigating four holes in the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines, which link Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea.
World leaders have called the damages an act of sabotage, but it remains unclear who might be behind them.
- 18 Oct 2022 - 10:05(10:05 GMT)
Kremlin refuses to comment on alleged use of Iranian drones
The Kremlin spokesman sidestepped a journalist’s question on allegations that Russia is using Iranian drones to target Ukrainian cities and damage critical infrastructure.
Ukrainian leaders have accused Moscow of using Iranian Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones in recent attacks on Kyiv. Iran has consistently denied supplying drones to Russia.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin did not have any information about their reported use.
“Russian equipment with Russian nomenclature is used,” he said. “All further questions should be directed to the defence ministry.”
Russia-Ukraine latest updates: Power stations destroyed – Kyiv
Ukraine news from Oct 18: Moscow has stepped up its campaign, prompting blackouts and threatening critical supplies.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Russia has destroyed almost a third of Ukraine’s power stations over the past week.
- Ukraine’s foreign minister will propose a formal cut in diplomatic ties with Tehran after a wave of Russian attacks using what Kyiv says are Iranian-made drones.
- Ukraine’s state nuclear energy company accuses Moscow’s forces of abducting two employees of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
This live blog is now closed, thank you for joining us. These were the updates on the Russia-Ukraine war on Tuesday, October 18:
Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies