The day of the war at a glance
Putin says he is ready to negotiate – Biden refuses to meet with the Kremlin boss
10/27/2022 9:53 p.m
The Russian President demands that the US should bring Kyiv to the negotiating table. US President Biden refuses to meet with Putin. Officially, the mobilization in Russia is said to have ended, but the Ukrainian general staff reports that conscriptions are continuing. The federal government assumes that all four Nord Stream tubes are broken. The 246th day of the war at a glance.
Putin repeats ‘dirty bomb’ accusation
In a sprawling speech, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated his accusations against Ukraine of building a “dirty bomb” – a bomb containing nuclear material. He also roughly knows where this is happening, Putin said during an appearance on a discussion forum. Referring to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, he added: “I gave Shoigu instructions to call all colleagues.” Russia is in favor of sending an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) observer mission to Ukraine quickly, Putin said. The Kremlin chief accused Kyiv of “wanting to cover up the traces of the construction of a ‘dirty bomb'”. The Ukraine had also invited IAEA experts to convince themselves of the unfoundedness of the Russian allegations. The West and Ukraine describe the allegations as false reports.
Kremlin boss: I’m ready for talks about the end of the conflict
Putin said he was ready for talks to end the conflict in Ukraine. However, Ukraine does not want to sit down at the negotiating table. “It’s not about us, we are ready to negotiate. But the leadership in Kyiv has decided not to continue negotiations with Russia,” Putin said. It would be easy to solve the problem. All the US had to do was signal Ukraine to change its position and resolve the issue peacefully. At the same time, Putin claimed that Russia was not responsible for the crisis in Europe, but the heads of state and government of European countries. Russia is not the enemy of Europe and has never had malicious intentions towards Europe.
Biden does not want to meet Russian President
The Kremlin boss had already annexed four Ukrainian regions at the end of September and also offered negotiations in a speech in the Kremlin. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy rejected talks with Putin by decree. The White House has rejected a possible bilateral meeting between US President Joe Biden and the Russian head of state at the G20 summit in Bali. “He has no intention of sitting down with Vladimir Putin,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
Washington warns Moscow about launching satellites
At the same time, Kirby warned Moscow that US satellites would be shot down. “All I want to say is that for any attack on US infrastructure, there will be a response, and one commensurate with the threat to our infrastructure.” Russia had previously threatened to attack commercial US satellites if they continued to be used to transmit data to Kyiv in the Ukraine war.
According to a TASS report, Konstantin Vorontsov, representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry at the United Nations, said on Thursday night that it was a dangerous tendency for the United States to use civilian satellites for military conflicts. “The quasi-civilian infrastructure can thus become a legitimate target for a counterattack,” Vorontsov was quoted as saying.
Duma passes law on front-line deployment of serious criminals
The Russian lower house passed a bill that would allow ex-prisoners convicted of serious crimes to be mobilized for military action in Ukraine. The new regulation applies to prisoners who have been in prison for less than eight years for serious crimes and those who have been in prison for less than 10 years for particularly serious crimes. The recruitment of such ex-prisoners was not provided for in the decree on mobilization for the Ukraine mission signed by President Vladimir Putin in September.
According to the regulations now passed by the Duma, however, ex-prisoners convicted of pedophilia, hostage-taking, attacks, smuggling of radioactive materials, espionage or high treason cannot be mobilized in the future either.
Kyiv: Russian conscriptions continue
According to Ukrainian Deputy Chief of Staff Oleksii Hromov, mobilization in Russia continues despite statements by the Kremlin to the contrary. “Only public activities related to conscription have been halted, while the process of serving subpoenas to men at home or at work continues,” Hromow said. “The main action of the mobilized in the combat zone is expected in about 1.5 to 2 weeks.”
Main network of Ukrainian power supply damaged
The Russian airstrikes reported by Ukrainian authorities last night apparently caused more damage to the country’s critical infrastructure. Facilities of the main network of Ukraine’s power system in the central regions were damaged. Further restrictions on the power supply are possible, the network operator Ukrenergo announced on Telegram.
After the Russian attacks, the power supply in the center of the country was further reduced. This is necessary to prevent a complete blackout in the area, said the deputy head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, in online networks. According to him, the restrictions affect the regions of Chernihiv, Cherkasy, Zhytomyr and the capital Kyiv and the surrounding area. For the past three weeks, Russian attacks on Ukraine have focused on power plants and energy grids. Kyiv accuses Moscow of wanting to provoke a humanitarian catastrophe and new refugee movements towards Western Europe during the cold season.
Federal government sees all Nord Stream tubes damaged
Contrary to the Russian assessment, the federal government does not assume that one of the two tubes of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline is still intact after the September explosions. “It is very likely that the act of sabotage with strong explosions had a negative impact on both pipeline strands and that the basic technical availability is therefore no longer given,” said the federal government in response to a parliamentary question from AfD parliamentary group leader Leif-Erik Holm . In addition, the Nord Stream 2 pipeline has not received the certification necessary for its operation anyway and will still not be able to go into operation. It seems to him “as if one were hoping at the traffic light that the issue of gas deliveries via Nord Stream has taken care of itself with the attacks,” commented AfD MP Holm.
“Robust sanctions”: Scholz calls Sunak
New British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Olaf Scholz agree on the need to continue supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russia. This was announced by the prime minister’s office after a phone call between the two heads of government. The pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin must be maintained through “robust” sanctions.
More articles on the Ukraine war:
All further developments on the war in Ukraine can be found in our live ticker read.