UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. General Assembly voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to sentence Russia’s “attempted illegal annexation” of 4 Ukrainian areas and demand that Moscow instantly reverse its actions.
The vote within the 193-member world physique was 143-5 with 35 abstentions, the strongest help from the General Assembly for Ukraine and towards Russia of the 4 resolutions it has authorized since Russian troops invaded their smaller neighbor Feb. 24.
Western nations engaged in intense behind-the-scenes lobbying forward of the vote whereas Russia’s ally Syria warned towards isolating Moscow.
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS:
— Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant loses exterior energy
— Belarus military would doubtless have little influence in Ukraine battle
— Bodies exhumed from mass grave in Ukraine’s liberated Lyman
— NATO cautious to keep away from battle, struggles with twin challenges
— German authorities: Economy to shrink in 2023 as battle bites
— EU nations flip to Africa in bid to exchange Russian gasoline
— Follow all AP tales on the battle in Ukraine at https:/ /apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:
KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated Wednesday’s assembly of army officers in Brussels to debate offering Ukraine with air protection programs was “quite productive.”
“The more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe in our time,” he stated in his nightly video deal with.
The Ukraine Defense Contact Group brings collectively protection ministers and different army officers from 50 nations to evaluate Ukraine’s army wants and drum up weapons and provides.
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WASHINGTON — The International Monetary Fund’s managing director says the IMF will create a bunch to concentrate on Ukraine’s financial wants because it battles the Russian invasion.
Kristalina Georgieva, who spoke throughout a roundtable that was a part of the IMF and World Bank annual conferences this week in Washington, stated the IMF anticipates that Ukraine wants about $3 billion to $4 billion every month to finance its funds.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed Wednesday’s gathering and stated the cash was obligatory for his nation’s financial stability.
“When the terrorist state is trying to intimidate us even more, we have to respond with an even stronger collaboration,” Zelenskyy stated.
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PARIS — French President Emmanuel Macron has promised that France will quickly ship extra cannons, radars and anti-aircraft missiles to help Ukraine.
Macron advised France 2 tv on Wednesday night that France is working with Denmark to ship a further six Caesar self-propelled howitzers cannons — which had initially been produced for the Danish army. Paris already delivered 18 related Caesar cannons to Kyiv.
France may even ship “anti-aircraft systems and missiles” to assist defending the nation from drone and missile assaults within the coming weeks, he stated.
Macron insisted a number of occasions on the necessity for peace talks between the 2 nations.
Russian President Vladimir Putin should “end the war, respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and get back to the discussion table,” he stated, including that he’ll converse to the Russian president “every time it will be necessary.”
“I hope as soon as possible, we will need all parties to get back to the discussion table and there will be peace discussions with, on the one side, Ukraine, and on the other side, Russia,” he stated.
Asked about whether or not he thinks Ukraine might be prepared to barter with Russia, he stated “negotiating does not mean giving up.”
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BRUSSELS — At NATO headquarters in Brussels, U.S. Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, stated that Ukraine desires its Western companions to offer it with a whole air protection system to defend towards Russian warplanes and missiles.
“What Ukraine is asking for, and what we think can be provided, is an integrated air missile defense system. So that doesn’t control all the airspace over Ukraine, but they’re designed to control priority targets that Ukraine needs to protect,” Milley advised reporters.
It would contain short-, medium- and long-range programs able to firing projectiles in any respect altitudes, he stated after a gathering of the Ukraine Contact Group, a gathering of about 50 nations that meets usually to evaluate Ukraine’s wants and drum up tools.
“It’s a mix of all these that deny the airspace to Russian aircraft” and missiles, Milley stated. “They’re trying to create a defensive system.”
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HELSINKI —Many Finnish pharmacies ran out of iodine tablets Wednesday, a day after the Nordic nation’s well being ministry really helpful that households purchase a single dose in a case of a radiation emergency amid growing fears of a nuclear occasion on account of Russia’s battle in Ukraine.
“An accident at a nuclear power plant could release radioactive iodine into the environment, which could build up in the thyroid gland,” the Finnish Ministry of Social Affairs and Health stated Tuesday.
Pharmacies in lots of areas in Finland reported Wednesday they’d run out of iodine tablets as residents rushed to buy the medication. Drug wholesale additionally stated their had been stockpiles emptied out.
The ministry stated the iodine pill suggestion is proscribed to these aged 3-40 due to the potential dangers that radiation publicity poses to that age group.
Russian missile assaults induced a crippled nuclear plant in Ukraine to lose all exterior energy for the second time in 5 days, growing the chance of a radiation catastrophe as a result of crucial security programs want electrical energy to function, Ukraine’s state nuclear operator stated Wednesday. Power was restored eight hours later.
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PRAGUE — The Czech Republic has turn into one other European Union nation that’s banning entry for Russian residents despite the fact that they’ve legitimate vacationer visas from some other state that belongs to Europe’s visa-free Schengen zone.
Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky says the measure will turn into efficient on Oct 25.
Lipavsky says it’s going to apply to the Russians coming from the nations exterior the Schengen zone via Czech worldwide airports for the aim of tourism, sports activities and tradition.
The Czech Republic is following different EU nations who’ve authorized such a ban, together with the Baltics states, Finland and Poland.
The Czechs had been one of many first within the EU who stopped issuing visas to Russians on Feb. 25, only a day after Russia invaded Ukraine. Some exceptions embody humanitarian instances and folks persecuted.
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TALLINN, Estonia — Ukraine’s state nuclear operator has warned that energy outages and different emergency conditions on the Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant may occur once more any time.
“Russia has seized the plant and is not taking any steps to de-escalate, on the contrary, it is shelling important infrastructure daily,” the corporate’s press service advised The Associated Press.
The plant was with out exterior energy on Wednesday within the second such incident in 5 days, elevating fears of potential leaks as a result of crucial security programs want electrical energy to function. The solely working energy line, one among eight, was broken by the Russian shelling of {an electrical} substation close to the town of Marhanets throughout the Dnieper River from the plant. The energy was later restored after the plant operated on turbines for the previous 24 hours, Energoatom stated.
The press workplace insisted that the turbines can final for not more than eight hours. They stated Kyiv has despatched gas for the turbines however that the Russians refused to let it via.
There was no quick response from the Russian forces within the space.
Energoatom additionally stated Kyiv continues to regulate entry to the important thing items of the plant and “communication with the station has not been lost.” There are plans to restart this week not less than one among six plant reactors that had been shut down on Sept. 11, it stated, providing no different particulars.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s prime minister is urging residents to organize for the upcoming winter as Russia plans to make use of “cold as its weapon.”
Denys Shmyhal stated on Wednesday that residents ought to preserve necessities equivalent to heat garments, candles, flashlights and batteries prepared. He says although the facility system is at the moment working usually, Ukraine goals to cut back electrical energy consumption within the night throughout the nation by 25%.
Shmyhal requested Ukrainians, and particularly enterprise house owners, to cut back consumption of electrical energy within the night. He additionally defined that short-term energy outages are essential to keep away from overloading some vitality networks.
Repairs are nonetheless in progress after quite a few Russian assaults this week on vitality infrastructure, he stated.
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KYIV, Ukraine — U.N. screens and Ukraine’s state nuclear operator say employees have managed to revive energy for the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.
Ukraine’s Energoatom firm reported Europe’s largest nuclear energy plant suffered a “blackout” on Wednesday morning when a missile broken a distant electrical substation.
It was the second such incident in 5 days, highlighting the sensitivity of the state of affairs and growing the chance of a radiation catastrophe as a result of crucial security programs want electrical energy to function.
Energoatom wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian employees discovered a means the way to restore the road and related the plant to the Ukrainian energy grid.
On-site screens from the U.N.’s atomic vitality watchdog reported the final remaining exterior line to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was restored about eight hours after the blackout began.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian authorities say a Russian assault on a market within the jap Donetsk area has killed seven individuals and wounded eight.
The deputy head of the Ukraine president’s workplace says the assault occurred early Wednesday morning in Avdiivka.
“The Russian military needs more blood, more death and more destruction,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko stated on Telegram. “This is a hunt for the lives of peaceful citizens.”
Photos connected to the put up confirmed lifeless individuals mendacity in line close to one among kiosks that had potatoes and bread on the counter.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine authorities’s vitality minister says Russian assaults previously two days have broken about one third of the nation’s vitality infrastructure.
“For the first time since the start of the war, Russia is targeting energy infrastructure,” German Galushchenko stated on Wednesday. He says it is because Ukraine is exporting vitality to Europe.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine’s presidential workplace says Russian shelling previously 24 hours has affected eight areas within the southeast, whereas strikes on central and western areas have eased for the second.
Russian forces used drones, heavy artillery and missiles, in line with the presidential workplace’s Wednesday morning replace.
Three individuals have been rescued alive from the rubble in Zaporizhzhia after over a dozen missiles rained on the town, the report stated. A six-year-old woman and two extra individuals had been wounded within the shelling of Nikopol, the place the assaults broken some three dozen residential buildings, personal homes, kindergartens, a college, two crops and several other outlets, the report added.
Ukrainian forces say they shot down 9 Iranian Shahed-136 drones and destroyed eight Kalibr cruise missiles close to Mykolaiv, leaving the southern metropolis with out energy.
“Russian shelling intensifies and subsides, but doesn’t stop, not for a day the city lives in tension, and the Russians’ main goal appears to be keeping us in fear,” Mykolaiv regional governor Vitali Kim stated.
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukrainian officers and army analysts say Kyiv’s counteroffensive within the occupied areas within the south and east of the nation has slowed down considerably regardless of Ukraine retaking 5 cities and villages within the Kherson space.
Russian troops have been re-enforcing the entrance strains and regrouping following Ukrainian successes, which has pressured the Ukrainian forces to ease their advances.
The regional administrator within the jap Luhansk area says Russian forces there have been constructing a multi-layered protection line and mining the entrance line’s first part. Serhiy Haidai says individuals within the Luhansk area are shifting from the Russia-occupied cities to villages, the place they’ve been settling down in empty homes to “spend the winter in warm.”
Luhansk is among the many 4 area that Russia unlawfully annexed following referendums dismissed as sham by each Ukraine and the West.
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BRUSSELS — A Belarus opposition chief says Russia is now de facto occupying her nation by deploying its troops there and utilizing authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko as its puppet.
Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya urged extra help from EU leaders throughout a two-day go to to European Union headquarters in Brussels. She says “we face an enemy who denies the very existence of our country as a free and independent nation.”
The exiled opposition chief fears that Lukashenko may drive the Belarus military to hitch Russian forces in Moscow’s battle towards Ukraine. Russia has already used Belarus as a staging floor to ship troops and missiles into Ukraine earlier within the battle.
Tsikhanouskaya provides the state of affairs has turn into “dramatic” in Belarus, which has turn into completely subservient to the desires of Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin and Lukasenko, she says, have “tried to increase and legalize the constant deployment of Russian troops on Belarus territory.”
“It’s an occupation,” provides Tsikhanouskaya. “Our position is clear, Belarus must officially withdraw from participation in Russian war, and the Russian soldiers must leave Belarus unconditionally.”
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KYIV, Ukraine — Ukraine Southern Operational Command says its forces have recaptured 5 settlements within the Kherson area.
The villages of Novovasylivka, Novohryhorivka, Nova Kamianka, Tryfonivka and Chervone within the Beryslav district had been retaken as of Oct. 11, in line with the speaker of the southern command Vladislav Nazarov.
The settlements are in one of many 4 areas lately illegally annexed by Russia.
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MOSCOW — Russia’s high KGB successor company stated Wednesday that it has arrested eight individuals on prices of involvement within the assault on the bridge linking Russia to Crimea.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) stated it arrested 5 Russians and three residents of Ukraine and Armenia on prices of involvement in Saturday’s assault on the bridge.
A truck loaded with explosives blew up whereas driving throughout the bridge, killing 4 and inflicting two sections of one of many two vehicle hyperlinks to break down.
The FSB charged that the arrested suspects had been engaged on orders of Ukraine’s army intelligence to secretly transfer the explosives into Russia and forge the accompanying paperwork.
It stated the explosives had been moved by sea from the Ukrainian port of Odesa to Bulgaria earlier than being shipped to Georgia, pushed to Armenia after which again to Georgia earlier than being transported to Russia in a posh scheme to secretly ship them to the goal.
Russian President Vladimir Putin denounced the assault on the bridge as an “act of terrorism” and responded by ordering a barrage of missile strikes on Ukraine.
Ukrainian officers have lauded the explosion on the bridge, however stopped in need of immediately claiming accountability for it.
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KYIV, Ukraine — A Ukrainian official says a Russian assault blew up home windows and doorways on residential buildings within the southern metropolis of Zaporizhzhia.
City council Secretary Anatoliy Kurtev on Wednesday warned the residents of doable follow-up assaults. There had been no studies of accidents from the preliminary shelling.
Zaporizhzhia, which sits pretty close to the entrance line, has been repeatedly struck with usually lethal assaults in latest weeks. It is an element of a bigger area, together with Europe’s largest nuclear energy plant now in Russian management, that Moscow has stated it has annexed in violation of worldwide legislation. The metropolis itself stays in Ukrainian arms.
Another highly effective blast struck Melitopol, which is in the identical area, sending a automotive flying into the air, stated mayor Ivan Fedorov. There was no phrase on casualties. Also Wednesday, air raid sirens sounded within the capital Kyiv.
