Right here is the scenario on Friday, October 20, 2023.

Preventing

• Basic Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, mentioned troops confronted a renewed Russian onslaught within the jap metropolis of Avdiivka. “The enemy shouldn’t be relenting in makes an attempt to interrupt by means of our defences and encompass [Avdiivka],” Zaluzhniy wrote on Telegram. He mentioned the Russians have been bringing in assault items and huge quantities of armoured gear in addition to deploying plane and artillery. Russian accounts of the preventing mentioned its forces had destroyed a command level close to Avdiivka and repelled 11 Ukrainian assaults close to Kupiansk.
• Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern group of forces, mentioned Ukrainian troops had superior 400 metres (1 / 4 of a mile) to the southwest of the village of Verbove within the southern Zaporizhia area. Verbove is just a few kilometres east of Robotyne, a village recaptured by Ukraine final month in its drive in the direction of the Sea of Azov.
• The Washington, DC-based assume tank Institute for the Research of Warfare mentioned Ukrainian forces appeared to have damaged by means of on the jap financial institution of the Dnipro River within the southern Kherson area. There was no remark from Kyiv on the potential advance.
• The Ukrainian navy mentioned Russian forces carried out new air assaults in jap, southern and northern Ukraine utilizing 17 completely different weapons – together with ballistic and cruise missiles and assault drones – on industrial and civilian infrastructure in addition to navy targets. Ukrainian forces shot down three drones and one cruise missile, it added.
• Russia’s defence ministry mentioned it scrambled two Su-27 fighter jets to forestall three United Kingdom navy planes – a reconnaissance aircraft accompanied by two fighters – as they approached Russian airspace over the Black Sea.
• NATO mentioned it stepped up patrols within the Baltic Sea, together with deploying 4 mine-hunters, following current injury to undersea infrastructure.
• Ukraine’s parliament gave its preliminary approval for the 2024 finances, which is able to enhance funding for the military and nationwide defence. Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko mentioned the federal government’s priorities subsequent 12 months included accumulating funds for defence and safety, and securing social funds for the inhabitants “to deliver Ukraine’s victory nearer”.

Politics and diplomacy

• United States President Joe Biden “underscored the continued robust bipartisan help in the US for Ukraine’s defence of its sovereignty, territorial integrity and democratic future,” the White Home mentioned after the US chief spoke on the telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
• North Korean chief Kim Jong Un mentioned he needed to construct a “forward-looking” relationship with Russia as he met International Minister Sergey Lavrov in Pyongyang. The US has mentioned North Korea has supplied weapons to Russia to be used in Ukraine. Lavrov, in the meantime, proposed common safety talks with North Korea and China to cope with what he described as growing US-led regional navy threats
• The Ukrainian parliament gave preliminary approval to a legislation that may ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which Kyiv has accused of collaborating with Moscow. The church denies the claims. The invoice might want to cross its second studying and safe presidential approval to turn into legislation.

• Russia arrested Russian-American journalist Alsu Kurmasheva for failing to register as a “overseas agent” after she travelled to the nation for a household emergency. Kurmasheva works for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. The US State Division mentioned the detention appeared like harassment.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin lashed out on the Worldwide Olympic Committee, accusing it of politicising the Video games and “racism”, after it banned the Russian Olympic Committee for recognising Olympic sporting our bodies in Ukrainian territories annexed by Moscow.

Weapons

• Biden is anticipated to ask Congress on Friday for $60bn for Ukraine, with half of that going in the direction of changing and modernising US weapons shares, a supply conversant in the plan instructed the Reuters information company. Biden introduced in an Oval Workplace speech that he would put within the funding request on Friday. He didn’t elaborate on the scale of the package deal.
• Two days after Ukraine confirmed utilizing US-supplied long-range ATACMS (Military Tactical Missile Programs) missiles for the primary time, International Minister Dmytro Kuleba mentioned Kyiv anticipated to obtain the weapons frequently. “This can be a direct results of the settlement between President Zelenskyy and President Biden, reached in Washington throughout a private assembly in late September,” Kuleba mentioned in televised feedback.