Published on: 10/15/2022 – 07:18 am Modified on: 10/15/2022 – 11:30 am
Saudi Arabia on Saturday announced $400 million in humanitarian aid to Kyiv. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stressed “the Kingdom’s position to support anything that contributes to de-escalation and the Kingdom’s willingness to continue mediation efforts.” Follow the latest developments in the war in Ukraine live.
11:19 am: Arrival of the first Russian soldiers of the new joint “military group” in Belarus
The first Russian soldiers from the new Moscow-Minsk military group have arrived in Belarus, Belarusian authorities said after announcing this week the deployment of the force to defend the country’s borders against a Ukrainian threat.
“The first platoons of Russian soldiers forming the regional military grouping have arrived in Belarus,” the Belarusian Defense Ministry said in a statement, without specifying the number of Russian soldiers deployed in this framework.
>> To read: “Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, is he going to war against his will?”
7.03 a.m .: The city of Lviv is threatened with power outages
After several days of disruption caused by the Russian strikes, the Ukrainian authorities announced on Thursday that they had managed to “stabilize” the power grid. But in Lviv, in western Ukraine, the situation remains very delicate. Report of our correspondent Gulliver Cragg.
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>> As winter approaches, Ukraine’s electrical installations will be put to the test
7 a.m.: In Kherson, Ukrainian troops continue their advance
The counter-offensive in southern Ukraine is accelerating. Kyiv claims to have taken over as many as 75 municipalities in Kherson Oblast in just a few weeks. The point with our special correspondent Mélina Huet.
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3:32 am: Saudi Arabia announces $400 million in humanitarian aid to Ukraine
Riyadh announced $400 million in humanitarian aid to Kyiv, and its crown prince Mohammed bin Salman spoke on the phone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the official SPA news agency reported.
The prince stressed “the Kingdom’s position to support anything that contributes to de-escalation and the Kingdom’s willingness to continue mediation efforts,” SPA said.
In September, Riyadh had played an unexpected mediating role, leading to a prisoner exchange between Moscow and Kyiv.
2:08 a.m .: Vladimir Putin believes he is doing “everything right” in Ukraine
Russia is behaving ‘as it should’ in Ukraine: The Russian president has turned to complacency after nearly eight months of war and despite the series of setbacks his army has suffered towards Ukrainian forces.
Vladimir Putin spoke to the press in Kazakhstan after regional summits.
“It’s not nice what’s happening now, but (if Russia hadn’t attacked Ukraine on February 24) we would have been in the same situation a little later, the conditions would have just been worse for us. So we’re doing everything right,” the Russian president replied to a journalist who asked him if he had any regrets.
1:57 am: Washington announces $725 million in additional military aid to Ukraine
The United States will provide an additional $725 million in military aid to Ukraine for its defense against the Russian invasion, the Pentagon and the State Department have announced.
“This payment will bring total American military aid to Ukraine to an unprecedented figure of more than $18.3 billion,” since Joe Biden took office, US diplomatic chief Antony Blinken said in a statement.
The Pentagon says the new batch promised by Washington includes, in particular, ammunition from Himars, a light armor-mounted rocket launcher that plays a key role in Ukraine’s counter-offensives in the east and south of the country.
With Portal and AFP