Finland suspects Chinese ship of damage to gas pipeline
Finnish police said a Chinese ship was being investigated on suspicion of sabotage of a gas pipeline between Finland and Estonia that was damaged this month. Finnish authorities have launched an investigation into the damage they say was caused by “external activities” following the leak that led to the closure of the Balticconnector pipeline on October 8. “The movements of the Hong Kong-flagged vessel Newnew Polar Bear coincide with the time and location of the pipeline damage,” the National Bureau of Investigation said in a statement. “We will work with Chinese authorities to determine the role of the ship,” said Superintendent Risto Lohi. Repairing the pipeline will take at least five months, the operator said last week, leaving Finland entirely dependent on liquefied natural gas imports in the winter.
Ukraine: GB: “Putin’s announcement on Kinzhal is just strategic”
Vladimir Putin’s announcement that the Kinzhal missiles will undergo an operational test, given the system’s poor performance so far in Ukraine, has strategic communications value in showing that Russia remains capable of producing new weapons despite the conflict and operate. The announcement comes after the strengthening of the American naval presence in the eastern Mediterranean, recalls British intelligence, after the Russian president announced in recent days the start of flights over the eastern Black Sea with MiG-311 aircraft carrying air-launched ballistic ammunition were armed with Kh-72M2 rockets. The system’s effectiveness is currently only on paper: it is capable of flying at hypersonic speeds and evading modern defense systems. However, the way Russia uses it needs to be significantly improved to make the most of its potential, London stresses.
007 USA and Moscow are undermining trust in democratic elections around the world
The United States has released an intelligence assessment sent to more than 100 countries that says Moscow is using spies, social media and state media to undermine public trust in the integrity of democratic elections around the world, the news agency reported. Portal expresses on their website. “This is a global phenomenon,” says the assessment. “Our information suggests that senior Russian government officials, including the Kremlin, see value in this type of influence and view it as effective.” A senior State Department official, who spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity, said, Russia has been emboldened to step up its election interference efforts by its success in amplifying disinformation about the 2020 US elections and the COVID-19 pandemic. “Success breeds other factors and we definitely see the US elections as a catalyst,” the official said.
Russian attacks continue in Kiev, including bombings at a school
According to the morning report of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, more than 100 military clashes took place in Ukraine in one day, including an attack on a school that was almost completely destroyed. It happened in Konstantinovka, Donetsk region. In general – the General Staff reports – Russia carried out 9 missile and 39 aircraft attacks, as well as 50 attacks with multiple rocket launchers on positions of the Kiev troops and on populated areas. Russian terrorist attacks result in deaths and injuries among the civilian population. A school, apartment blocks and private residential buildings as well as other civilian infrastructure were destroyed and damaged. Last night, the Russian occupiers launched another missile and air attack on Ukraine, using Kh-59 guided missiles, Iskander-K cruise missiles and Shahed-136/131 attack drones. Information about the consequences of this terrorist attack is still being determined in the Lugansk, Donetsk and Kherson regions. About 110 settlements in Chernigov, Sumy, Kharkov, Lugansk, Donetsk, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions were hit by artillery fire. In the Seversky and Slobozhansky directions, the enemy maintains a military presence in the border areas and carries out active sabotage activities in order to prevent redeployment of our troops in threatening directions and increase the density of mine and explosive barriers along the state border in the Belgorod region. In the Kupyansky direction, Ukrainian soldiers repelled more than 20 enemy attacks in the Sinkovka and Ivanovka areas of the Kharkov region, as well as about five attacks near Nadezhda in the Lugansk region. Ukrainian Defense Forces conduct counter-battery battles towards Kherson, inflicting damage on the enemy rear. In the last 24 hours, Kiev aircraft have carried out eight strikes on areas where personnel, weapons and military equipment are concentrated, as well as four strikes against enemy anti-aircraft missile systems. Units of the Missile Forces hit a control center, an ammunition depot, three areas where personnel, weapons and military equipment were concentrated, as well as an enemy electronic warfare station.
Gazprom continues to supply gas to Europe
The Russian energy giant Gazprom continues to supply gas to Europe. This was reported by the Portal agency, claiming that the company declared today, Saturday, October 21, that it would send 41.5 million cubic meters of gas to Europe via Ukraine, a slightly lower volume than in recent days.
NATO has enough resources to support Israel and Ukraine
NATO has sufficient resources to support Israel in the conflict with Hamas, but also to provide military support to Ukraine in the war with Russia: the alliance’s deputy secretary general, Mircea Geoană, told the Romanian TV channel Digi 24. “I think we have enough resources at the level of our alliance. The 32 NATO countries, hopefully including Sweden, have more than a billion people and generate over 50% of global GDP. These are resources so as not to distract attention from what we need to do to support Ukraine,” Geoană said. NATO therefore has “concrete defense plans” in the context in which the alliance has identified two direct threats: “Russia and terrorism,” he continued. “We must rally our ranks again, support Israel, because it was the state attacked, but in a way that prevents escalation and incitement of public opinion, and I am convinced that we will do this calmly and patiently.” , emphasized the deputy secretary general of the alliance, adding that “there are actors like Russia” who “would be very happy if the West, the United States and we began to pay attention to what is happening in the East. “and in Eastern Europe, in Ukraine”. But “that’s not going to happen,” he said. “We will be able to handle these two situations, we hope to calm the situation in the Middle East as quickly as possible and continue to support Ukraine,” he added. Therefore, he concluded, the fact is that a new crisis in another area – such as the current one in the Middle East, caused by the conflict between Israel and Hamas – “does not catch NATO unprepared.”
Russian rockets on Kryvyi Rih: one civilian dead
One person died and another was injured in an attack by Russian forces last night on Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Serhiy Lysak, reported on Facebook, as reported by Ukrinform. “Another terrorist attack by the Russian army against civilians. “The enemy fired a missile at a cooperative in Kryvyi Rih,” Lysak wrote. The victim is a 60-year-old man, while a 57-year-old woman sustained shrapnel wounds and was taken to hospital in a serious condition.
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