KHARKIV, UKRAINE – OCTOBER 31: Aunt Alla and the grandfather of 15-year-old Boris, whom rescuers … [+] look for under the rubble, wait in a yard at the site where a Russian aerial bomb hit a nine-story residential building in the city’s Saltivskyi district on October 31, 2024 in Kharkiv, Ukraine. On October 30, around 11 p.m., the Russian army dropped a guided aerial bomb (according to preliminary information – FAB-500) on the city of Kharkiv, hitting a nine-story residential building in the Saltivskyi district. The section of the building from the sixth to the first floor was destroyed. At least 29 people were injured, one child is searched under the rubble, and one child was killed. (Photo by Viacheslav Mavrychev/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”https://www.forbes.com/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images)
Dispatches from Ukraine. Day 982.
Kharkiv region. Late on October 30, a Russian glide bomb struck an apartment building in the regional capital. The attack killed three civilians, including two children, and wounded 36 others.
Odesa region. On October 31, Russia launched a missile strike on the only bridge connecting the southern parts of the region to the rest of the country. Ukrainian air defenses intercepted only two of ten missiles. Reportedly, the structure of the bridge and its key components were not damaged during the attack.
Donetsk region. Russian forces have taken control of Selidove, a city with a pre-war population exceeding 20,000 people. On October 30 alone, Russian strikes resulted in the deaths of five civilians amid ongoing hostilities in the region.
Kherson region. Early on October 29, Russian shelling killed two residents in the regional capital.
An overturned car is outside a section of a nine-storey residential building destroyed by a Russian … [+] glide bomb in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on October 31, 2024. An 11-year-old boy is killed and 34 residents are injured in the bombing. NO USE RUSSIA. NO USE BELARUS. (Photo by Ukrinform/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Ukraine plans to call up an additional 160,000 troops to reach 85% of its military staffing needs. So far, more than 1 million Ukrainian citizens have been drafted into the armed forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced that Ukraine will not make territorial concessions, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. elections or shifts in American support. He emphasized that diminished U.S. backing would allow Russia to expand its occupation, undermining Ukraine’s chances of victory. Zelenskyy expressed concern over potential pressure on Ukraine should Donald Trump win the presidency, stating that any attempt to force it to surrender its territories would be unacceptable.
Following a recent defense agreement with Russia, North Korea has sent some 10,000 troops to Russia, most of which have now arrived in the Kursk region. Outfitted with Russian uniforms and equipment, the troops have received training in a number of military functions, including artillery, infantry tactics and mine-clearing. Although the North Korean soldiers have not yet participated in any military operations, U.S. officials believe that they might join the fighting within days.
Ukraine and the EU have reached a vital agreement to boost Ukraine’s imports of electricity from the EU, raising the limit by a third: from 1.7 to 2.1 GW. Due to Russia’s relentless campaign to destroy energy infrastructure, this agreement is an essential component of Ukraine’s efforts to meet demands for electricity throughout the country. Now that the Kremlin’s intensive strikes this year have knocked out nearly all of the nation’s thermal power plants, immense pressure has fallen on its nuclear facilities to sustain the energy grid.
As winter looms, and experts warn of potential blackouts as temperatures plummet, Ukraine is bracing for renewed strikes on facilities still operating. According to The Financial Times, Ukraine and Russia are engaged in preliminary negotiations aimed at halting attacks on each other’s energy grids. Sources indicate that Kyiv is seeking to revive discussions mediated by Qatar after previous talks nearly resulted in an agreement in August but were derailed by Ukraine’s military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has kept the key interest rate at 13% due to rising inflation, which surged to 8.6% in September. Andriy Pyshnyy, chairman of the NBU, has announced a revised economic growth forecast of 4% for the current year, up from a previous estimate of 3.7%. The inflation outlook has also risen, however, from 8.5% to 9.7% by the end of 2024, driven in part by concerns over possible shortages in electrical supply this winter.
Ukraine has ramped up production of “Bohdana” artillery systems to 20 units per month, a sharp rise from just 6 in December, 2023. This self-propelled artillery, compatible with NATO standards and using 155 mm shells, has a firing range of 40 miles. “Bohdana” was first deployed to liberate Snake Island, which Russia occupied on the first day of the war and became a crucial symbol of Ukraine’s resistance to the invasion.
U.K. Finance Minister Rachel Reeves announced a budget plan on October 30 that increases defense spending and maintains almost $4 billion in annual support for Ukraine. The $3.75 billion boost to the defense budget aims to meet NATO’s target of 2.5% of GDP. Previously, the U.K. announced $3 billion in financial support as a part of a G7 loan funded by proceeds from Russian frozen assets.
Ukraine’s Diia application has been recognized by TIME as one of the Best Inventions of the Year in the Applications and Software category. This award highlights the application’s innovative “Online Marriage” service, which allows couples to propose and marry via video call, a notable leap in digital public services despite ongoing wartime challenges. Since its launch in September, the service has helped more than 1.1 million marriage proposals, although only 435 couples so far have married. Developed by Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation just before the pandemic in February, 2020, Diia has rapidly evolved to offer more than 50 services, including individual documents and driver’s licenses for nearly 21 million users, according to Forbes Ukraine.
By Danylo Nosov, Alan Sacks.
