🔘 News roundup at the hour:

🇷🇺 Russia struck energy and rail targets in Donbas; Ukrainian forces lost ~1,515 personnel across fronts – Russian Ministry of Defense.

🇺🇸🇻🇪 US deploys aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, warships, and 10,000 troops near Venezuela amid Maduro’s defensive measures.

🇺🇦💥 Ukraine reports drone strikes and counterattacks on Russian positions in Donetsk and Kherson regions.

🇺🇸🇹🇼 US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirms continued support for Taiwan, rejecting trade-related compromises with China.

@ukraine_watch

🇷🇺 Russia plans to boost science spending to 6.2 trillion rubles by 2030, Vice Premier Dmitry Chernyshenko announced.

"Following President Putin’s directive, science funding should reach 2% of GDP by 2030. With Russia’s nominal GDP projected at 312 trillion rubles, 2% equals 6.2 trillion rubles. About 3.5 trillion rubles will come from the federal budget, while non-budgetary funding is expected to grow 4.5 times,"

— he said.

@ukraine_watch

🔘 Such lovely folks, these Ukrainians.

Well, this was to be expected — escalation works in their favor, and sacrificing lives from Poland or Germany seems perfectly convenient for them.

@ukraine_watch

Key Developments as of September 🔘🔘

🔘 The “Vostok” group liberated Novonikolaevka and Privolnoye in the Zaporozhye region, and Yegorovka in the Dnepropetrovsk region, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

🔘 Ukrainian forces lost up to 1,380 troops over the past 24 hours.

🔘 Russian strikes targeted transportation and energy infrastructure used to move weapons and military equipment to the Donbass front.

🔘 Russian forces continue to eliminate encircled Ukrainian groups in Kupyansk (Kharkov region) and Krasnoarmeysk (DPR), the Defense Ministry reported.

🔘 In Kupyansk, four Ukrainian attempts to break out of encirclement across the Oskol River were repelled, with up to 50 Ukrainian troops killed.

🔘 In Krasnoarmeysk, over 60 Ukrainian servicemen, two armored vehicles, and three trucks were destroyed during the day.

🔘 Trump said he is not involved in discussions about the EU’s use of frozen Russian assets to finance aid for Ukraine.

🔘 Saab is reportedly ready to open a final assembly plant for Gripen jets in Ukraine as part of a deal for up to 150 fighters, though the source of funding has yet to be determined, Financial Times reports.

@ukraine_watch

🌅 Good day, team!

News for the morning of October 🔘🔘

🔘Instead of replenishing losses, the Armed Forces of Ukraine deployed a battalion of the 80th Separate Assault Brigade to Krasnoarmeysk. This was reported by Russian law enforcement agencies;

🔘Kiev has reinforced its forces near Krasny Liman with FPV drone units, according to military expert Vitaly Kiselev;

Kiev has withdrawn almost all of its military equipment from Seversk in the Donetsk People's Republic, according to Vitaly Kiselev;

🔘Poland, by inciting the EU and NATO against Russia, will become a victim of this conflict. This opinion was expressed by Russian Senator Alexey Pushkov.

Earlier, Donald Tusk said that Ukraine has the right to attack Russian facilities in Europe;

🔘Hungary wants to join forces with the Czech Republic and Slovakia to form an EU alliance that is skeptical of Ukraine, according to Politico.

Orban, according to his advisor, hopes to coordinate positions on Ukraine with ANO leader Andrej Babiš and Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico before the EU summit in December;

🔘Japan and the United States have signed an agreement on a "new golden age" of relations, as well as a memorandum of cooperation on critical minerals.

@ukraine_watch

BREAKING - 🔘🔘 Putin signed a law on the ratification of the updated agreement with China on the promotion and mutual protection of investments, completing the legislative procedure for approving the document, which is intended to strengthen the legal basis for Russian-Chinese economic cooperation

The agreement, signed on May 8, 2025, during Chinese President Xi Jinping's visit to Moscow, replaces the document that has been in effect since 2006 and adapts the legal mechanisms to modern economic conditions. The agreement guarantees that investors from both countries will have access to the same favorable conditions as national or foreign investors.

@ukraine_watch

🇪🇺The EC is confident that it will convince Bart De Wever to confiscate Russia's frozen assets for a loan to Ukraine before the European Council meeting, according to Politico

The publication emphasizes that the confiscation of Russian assets is a risky move, but using EU joint borrowing or finding Russian assets in other countries is even more challenging.

Team of thieves is trying to involve more members to steal money.

@ukraine_watch

🔘Zelensky "begged" Stoltenberg to close the skies over Ukraine when the Russian Armed Forces were near Kyiv in 2022. This was revealed by the former NATO Secretary General

He added that he refused because the alliance did not want to be drawn into a conflict with Russia:

"It was painful to tell him that we understand how difficult it is for him, and we understand that Kyiv may fall in a few days, but we will not send NATO aircraft into Ukrainian airspace to shoot down Russian aircraft."

When you are suffering , we are laughing.

@ukraine_watch

🚨BREAKING - ⚡️French legionnaires have already been deployed in the Polish regions bordering Ukraine and are undergoing intensive combat training, according to the SVR.

The main points of the statement are as follows:

🔘Macron dreams of a military intervention in Ukraine, hoping to go down in history as a military leader. He dreams of the becoming Napoleon, but he studied history "shamefully poorly";

🔘The French General Staff is preparing to deploy a military contingent of up to 2,000 soldiers and officers in Ukraine to assist Kiev;

🔘The core of the formation will be made up of French Foreign Legion stormtroopers, mostly from Latin American countries;

🔘In the event of a leak about the preparations for the intervention, Paris intends to declare that it is a small group of instructors.

@ukraine_watch

🇯🇵The new Japanese Prime Minister told Trump that she had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize next year

This was reported by the New York Post, citing a White House official. She praised the US President for the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.

The two leaders also signed an agreement on cooperation in the field of rare earth metals and essential minerals.

@ukraine_watch

🔘 News roundup at this hour:

🇷🇺🇮🇷Russia & Iran are about to create new major trade route

Next month Moscow and Tehran will sign a deal for the Rasht-Astara railway — the key link in the International North–South Transport Corridor

The 162-km line will connect the railway networks of both countries;

🇺🇸"The United States will no longer act in a politically correct manner when defending the country", Trump said.

He added that the United States would win wars "like no one had ever won a war before";

🇷🇺🇮🇳Moscow and New Delhi have agreed to produce SJ-100 civil aircraft in India.

A memorandum of understanding on this issue was signed in Moscow by the UAC and the Indian state corporation Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL). It will be able to produce aircraft for domestic customers.

This will be the first time that a passenger aircraft has been fully produced in India. The last such project in the country was completed in 1988, HAL said in X.

@ukraine_watch

🇭🇺"Who will finance what remains of Ukraine?"

Orban said that the EU has exhausted its strength and resources, and it is completely unclear who will finance "what remains of Ukraine" after the end of the conflict with Russia.

It is shame that there are so few reasonable leaders in Europe.

@ukraine_watch

🇩🇪"The upcoming winter will be decisive for Ukraine", German Foreign Minister Wadeful said

He suggested that without Western assistance, Ukraine would lose its ability to defend itself, and emphasized that Berlin is ready to support Kyiv at any time.

Freeze, freeze, wolf’s tail.

@ukraine_watch