Ukraine update: what happened tonight
In Russia’s new wave of attacks, Putin is changing tried and tested tactics
Ukraine expects Russia to switch tactics with the next wave of attacks. Military intelligence spokesman Vadym Skibitskyi said he expected more drones and fewer missiles, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
He explained that the Russian armed forces were improving their aiming accuracy and decision-making speed, choosing their targets more carefully and meticulously searching for flight paths that could bypass the Ukrainian air defense systems. According to Skibitskyi, only about ten to 30 missiles will be used in the coming attacks. These are then accompanied by a larger number of Iranian Shahed drones.
The upside for Russia: the greater number of drones allows Putin’s troops to bypass Ukraine’s air defenses, allowing other missiles to reach their targets. Skibitskyi expects Russia to use the drones primarily for attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
Russia is even reportedly producing modified versions of Shahed drones itself, but is struggling to produce them at the desired speed and quality. According to the ISW, the Russian leadership appears confident that more Shahed drones will be able to overwhelm Ukraine’s air defenses, even though the drones remain the most vulnerable Russian precision weapons system.
Ukraine eliminated around 300 Putin soldiers in one day on the Tavriia front
Ukraine continues to advance on the Tavriia front. Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavsky reported that his troops eliminated around 300 Putin soldiers in one day. “The successful movement of the defense forces on the Tavriia front continues,” he wrote on Telegram.
The enemy lost 293 people that day. 50 soldiers were killed and 243 injured. In addition, Tarnavsky reported that 25 pieces of Russian military equipment had been destroyed: one tank, four armored fighting vehicles, nine artillery systems and mortars, one anti-tank guided missile, one UAV and nine motor vehicles.
Zelenskyy: Ukraine increases production volume of weapons to “maximum”
After more than a year and a half of war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a maximum increase in arms production to fight the Russian invasion. In addition to artillery weapons and ammunition, drones, rockets and armored vehicles should also be manufactured in the country. “We are increasing the production volume to a maximum. Ukraine can do that. The funding is in place. Our defense industry will bring good results,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message broadcast in Kiev on Monday.
The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly announced plans to turn the country into one of the largest arms producers. According to Selenskyj, he met with representatives of the defense industry so that production could be further ramped up.
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The country is dependent on huge quantities of ammunition and weapons in its counter-offensive to liberate the occupied areas, which has been sluggish for weeks. The country relies primarily on the military aid of Western allies.
Zelenskyj once again reiterated that Ukraine must also create the conditions for the new combat aircraft. Kiev is hoping for the early delivery of the F-16 fighter jets announced by the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway. Everything had been done politically for the delivery. But now the infrastructure for accommodating the fighter jets must also be prepared. “It’s a military task,” said the President. At the same time, Zelenskyy instructed the military to make preparations for the winter, for example to protect the energy infrastructure that Russia has repeatedly shelled in the past.
Russia: Two Ukrainian drones destroyed
According to official information, Russia has repelled another Ukrainian drone attack on its territory. Air defense destroyed two unmanned aerial vehicles over the Tula region south of Moscow, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on its Telegram channel on Tuesday morning. The information could not be independently verified.
Moscow has repeatedly reported similar drone attacks in recent weeks and speaks of Ukrainian terrorist attacks. However, the attacks bear no relation to the mass attacks by Russia against Ukraine.
Kiev’s defense minister: No new mobilization necessary
According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksey Resnikov, there is currently no need for renewed mobilization in Ukraine. The Ukrainian losses are many times lower than those of the Russian occupiers. He did not name numbers. “But there is no reason to say that our situation is critical and we need to increase,” the minister told journalists, according to the Interfax-Ukraina news agency.
According to conflicting information from Kiev, Resnikov stated that further mobilizations were planned, that there were already established benchmarks for conscription that first had to be met. It is therefore not necessary to set new quotas.
Most recently, when asked whether more recruits should be called up in the future in view of the high losses, Zelenskyj also explained that the military leadership was asking for more soldiers to be mobilized. Above all, however, those men are now to be called up for military service who are already subject to the previous mobilization but have not yet been drafted. In addition, after numerous scandals in district military replacement offices, Selenskyj had the leadership there replaced.
After the start of the Russian invasion, Ukraine declared martial law. All men between the ages of 18 and 60 are therefore generally obliged to do military service and can be called up – unless they are exempt from service for health or social reasons, for example because they are single fathers. The exact number of those called up so far is not known. It’s hundreds of thousands. Because of the losses at the front, new recruits have to be trained and sent into battle again and again.
