At least 11 soldiers were killed after two men — said to be from an unnamed ex-Soviet state — opened fire at a Russian military training camp in the Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, according to state-run media.
The incident comes as Russia has intensified its mobilization efforts and already deployed thousands of new recruits into combat.
(Bloomberg) —
At least 11 soldiers were killed after two men — said to be from an unnamed ex-Soviet state — opened fire at a Russian military training camp in the Belgorod region, near the border with Ukraine, according to state-run media.
The incident comes as Russia has intensified its mobilization efforts and already deployed thousands of new recruits into combat.
A strike was reported Sunday near the Belgorod airport in Russia, close to the Ukrainian border, with two injured.
On Saturday, missile strikes caused “serious damage” to an electrical installation near Kyiv on Saturday. Residents were urged to cut their electricity use. Moscow is believed to be systematically targeting Ukraine’s power plants heading into winter.
Ukraine’s battlefield efforts got a potential boost when Elon Musk said he’d keep providing SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-based internet service “for free.” Russian forced deportations of Ukrainians from the Kherson region amount to ethnic cleansing, a US think-tank said.
(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)
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On the Ground
Two people were injured in a strike in the Belgorod region, about 50 km north of the border with Ukraine, the region’s governor said.
Unverified social media posts suggested multiple explosions and showed smoke billowing in the vicinity of the area’s airport. Russian forces conducted five missile and 23 air strikes, as well as attacks from multiple-launch rockets, in the last 24 hours and more than 30 settlements were hit, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said on Facebook early Sunday.
It said Russian attacks were repelled in several areas but there were no indications of major changes at the front line. Ten Ukrainians were killed ant 14 injured in Saturday strikes, according to the deputy head of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s staff, Kyrylo Tymoshenko.
(All times CET)
Forced Deportations Amount to Ethnic Cleansing of Ukrainians, ISW Says (10 a.m.)
Massive, forced deportations of Ukrainians, including children subsequently put up for adoption, “likely amount to a deliberate ethnic cleansing campaign” and a violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, said the Institute for the Study of War.
Moscow may be carrying out a wider ethnic cleansing campaign “by depopulating Ukrainian territory through deportations and repopulating Ukrainian cities with imported Russian citizens,” the US-based military analysts said in a report.
Ukrainian sources have said that reconstruction projects in Mariupol, the southern city mostly razed by Russia bombardments in the spring, are intended to house “tens of thousands of Russians.”
Iran Stepping Up Arms Deliveries to Russia: WaPost (9 a.m.)
Tehran will supply Russia with what officials describe as the first Iranian-made surface-to-surface missiles, in addition to replenishing its supply of attack drones, the Washington Post reported, citing US and allied security officials.
Iran is preparing for the first time to send Fateh-110 and Zolfaghar short-range ballistic missiles, the newspaper reported, citing officials briefed on the matter.
Such missiles would help Moscow replenish a fast shrinking supply of precision-guided munitions, such as those used in last week’s strikes against several Ukrainian cities.
Iran has repeatedly denied supplying drones to Russia despite mounting evidence of their use in the war.
Ukraine’s military estimates Russian still has about 300 Iranian-made drones with plans to buy thousands more. Separately, the UK defence ministry said on Sunday that Russia is probably incapable of producing advanced munitions at the rate they’re being expended.
Read more: Russia Failed to Swap Out Western Military Parts: 2021 Audit
Eleven Killed at Shooting at Russian Training Base (8 a.m.)
Eleven people were killed and 15 wounded at a training base in the Belgorod region near the Ukrainian border Saturday, Russia’s Defense Ministry said, according to Interfax.
The two citizens of another unnamed ex-Soviet state who opened fire at the weapons training session for “volunteers” headed to Ukraine were killed, the ministry said.
Calling the attackers “terrorists,” it provided few other details. The region’s governor said all the dead and wounded were military personnel.
Moscow has sought to build up the ranks of its military by offering citizens of former Soviet states the chance to get Russian passports in return for serving in its military.
Ukraine’s Naftogaz in Talks to Market Gas Reserves: Telegraph (7:42 a.m.)
Ukraine is in talks with US drillers to pump gas from its untapped reserves to Europe and ease the region’s energy crisis by the end of the decade, the Telegraph reported, citing an interview with an adviser to Naftogaz’s chief executive.
“We have a number of resources and gas reserves there that are basically the second largest in Europe,” said Myron Wasylyk.
“We estimate there could be up to 40 billion cubic meters.”
Musk Signals He’s Backing Off Starlink Threat (8:42 p.m.)
Elon Musk said Saturday he’d continue to fund Starlink satellites in Ukraine “for free” after a standoff with the US Defense Department over the cost of their deployment.
Musk threatened a day earlier to cut financial support for SpaceX’s satellite internet service in Ukraine, claiming that the operation had cost his company $80 million so far.
The Pentagon said it was in talks with SpaceX, while saying the US is looking at other options.
S. Korean Central Banker Calls on China’s Help to End War (5:30 p.m.)
Bank of Korea Governor Rhee Chang-yong urged Beijing to take on a more active role in trying to end the Russian war in Ukraine and calm the world’s geopolitical situation.
“I really hope that China can play a very important role,” Rhee said in Washington on Saturday.
“I really hope that my old friends in China can step up efforts to stop the Russian war.”
If any country can talk to Russian President Vladimir Putin, it’s China, he said, adding that Beijing can be a “bridge between Russia and the West” and help its own relations with Washington in the process.
More Ships Sail With Ukrainian Farm Products (5:25 p.m.)
Another seven vessels with a total of 101,000 tons of agriculture products left Ukraine’s Odesa-area ports on Saturday for destinations in Asia and Europe, Ukraine’s infrastructure ministry said on Facebook.
Since the safe-transit agreement was reached with Russia in late July, 7.5 million tns of grains and other farm products have departed on 341 ships, the ministry said.
Fire at Oil Depot in Russia’s Belgorod (5 p.m.)
A major fire at an oil depot near the Russian city of Belgorod was caused by a second day of Ukrainian cross-border shelling, the region’s governor said.
Social media posts showed black smoke billowing in the area.
Belgorod is about 60 miles north of the Ukrainian border. Ukraine hasn’t commented.
Poland Says Oil Flows Resume on Druzhba Pipeline (4:14 p.m.)
Oil flows via the northern leg of the Druzhba pipeline, which supplies, Germany and Poland with Russian crude oil, resumed in full on Saturday after an accident earlier in the week, according to Poland’s pipeline operator PERN.
Poland early ruled out third-party involvement in the incident, at a time Europe is on high alert about potential sabotage to infrastructure.
Ukraine Expects Red Cross Officials in East on Monday (1:57 p.m.)
Ukraine expects representatives of International Committee of the Red Cross to reach the “contact line” in the country’s east on Monday, Andriy Yermak, head of Ukraine’s Office of the President, said on a video call with new ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger.
Yermak urged Egger, who took up her post this month, to do everything possible to send the ICRC mission to the penal colony in Olenivka in the Donetsk region and to have access to prisoners of war.
“This is my priority,” Egger said on the call, according to a post on the presidential website.
In late July, more than 50 Ukrainian POWs were killed in shelling at the prison that Ukraine has blamed on Russia.
Moscow has said Kyiv was responsible for the attack.
First Russian Troops Arrive in Belarus for Joint Force (11:22 a.m.)
Russian forces have started arriving in Belarus to man the new joint force with troops there, the defense ministry in Minsk said on Saturday.
“The first convoys of Russian servicemen from the regional force group have arrived in Belarus,” the ministry said, saying their mission was to “strengthen the protection and defence of the border.”
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Monday that he and Russia’s president had agreed to deploy a regional grouping of forces.
Moscow launched its failed push toward Kyiv in February from Belarusian territory. Observers this week have cited the movement of Belarusian military equipment to Russia, potentially to shore up dwindling supplies.
Grid Operator Reports Russian Strike on Kyiv Region (9:10 a.m.)
Russian forces struck “critical” energy infrastructure in the Kyiv region, causing “severe destruction,” the grid operator Ukrenergo said on Facebook.
Repairs are under way.
Ukrenegro warned of potential emergency shutdowns and asked consumers to use power sparingly. “Such measures give our specialists the opportunity to stabilize the situation as soon as possible and carry out the necessary restorative work,” it said.
The strike comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that seven of 29 of sites targeted in a mass bombing of Ukraine earlier in the week “were not damaged as planned by the Defence Ministry,” and that “the attacks will be renewed.”
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