🇺🇦🇰🇷 President Zelensky announced during an interview with South Korean TV channel KBS that Ukraine will soon formally request military aid from South Korea. The request will include air defense systems, artillery, and other weapons essential for defense. pic.twitter.com/lBFoRVQQAp

— NOELREPORTS 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 (@NOELreports) October 31, 2024

As I mentioned last night, given the South Korean laws covering foreign military sales and transfers, it is unlikely that the ROK will be able to actually provide the aid directly. Indirectly is another matter. We’ll have to wait and see how it plays out.

He also met with the heads of the communities of Zakarpattia Oblast today. Here’s the video of that event.

The cost:

russia attacked the cemetery in the Sumy region with the aerial bomb, killing the 73yo woman who was taking care of her son’s grave, @Novynarnia reports. What the hell is wrong with this world which tolerates this barbarism. pic.twitter.com/USO8AxWHtU

— Olena Halushka (@OlenaHalushka) October 31, 2024

From Novynarnia:

Sumshchyna: The Russian Federation struck a cemetery. A woman who was cleaning her son’s grave died

He was killed and wounded in an air strike on the civilian infrastructure of the Hotin community in Sumshchyna.

About it reports regional prosecutor’s office on Wednesday, October 30.

According to the investigation, at about 10:00 the occupiers struck an air strike, according to preliminary data, driven by an air bomb on the civilian infrastructure of the Hotin community in the Sumy district.

“The victim was placed in the local cemetery. A 73-year-old woman was killed and a 42-year-old man was injured ”, – the report said.

Head of the community Mykola Toryanyky told “Public ” that the woman was cleaning her son’s grave at the time of the blow.

Lithuania:

Thank you, our Lithuanian friends, for your unwavering support in the fight for freedom and a just peace. Together, we are stronger!
🇺🇦🤝🇱🇹 https://t.co/M3srF0i2xA

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 31, 2024

Norway:

Norway will increase support for Ukraine’s air force with an additional contribution of NOK 1.3 billion, which will fund the procurement of weapons and spare parts for F-16 aircraft.

This was announced by the Minister of Defense @Bjornarildgram during his visit to Odesa and… pic.twitter.com/5SuA8BfORa

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 31, 2024

Norway will increase support for Ukraine’s air force with an additional contribution of NOK 1.3 billion, which will fund the procurement of weapons and spare parts for F-16 aircraft.

This was announced by the Minister of Defense @Bjornarildgram during his visit to Odesa and meeting with Ukrainian Defense Minister @rustem_umerov.

Norway also increases maritime support and donates 130 inflatable boats.

We are grateful to our Norwegian friends for their staunch support. It’s another step toward our shared victory.
🇺🇦🤝🇳🇴
@Forsvarsdep

The US:

“the Biden administration is so scared of escalation that it refuses to allow beleaguered Ukraine to use donated deep-strike weapons inside Russian territory. As a result, Ukraine’s front is crumbling under the daily onslaught…” https://t.co/3W4vT8AIWU

— John Sipher (@john_sipher) October 30, 2024

From CEPA:

Regardless of who wins the US presidential election on November 5^th, Pax Americana’s obituaries are now being drafted. They should be long ones. The Atlantic alliance was one of the most distinctive and seemingly durable features of post-war Europe. It brought security and freedom to tens of millions of people for decades, first by preventing Communism’s spread, then by winning the Cold War, and thereafter doubling NATO membership from 16 in 1989 to 32 now.

A successful attack by Vladimir Putin on a NATO country may deal the decisive final blow, but the deadly rot started earlier. For decades US administrations urged fortitude on Europe. Now the Biden administration is so scared of escalation that it refuses to allow beleaguered Ukraine to use donated deep-strike weapons inside Russian territory. As a result, Ukraine’s front is crumbling under the daily onslaught of guide bombs and other munitions launched from airfields that defenders are not allowed to target. The US also prevents its NATO allies from responding promptly and decisively to Russian “sub-threshold” attacks: intrusions and other dirty tricks.

Accelerating protectionism adds another dose of trust-killing poison: a decade ago, the US and Europe (and Pacific allies, too) could have built a giant common economic governance zone with not just free trade but common rule-setting. Instead, these countries chose selfish, short-sighted grandstanding. They are all poorer and weaker as a result.

As US influence ebbs on the continent, European countries are falling like dominos. Russia’s web of dirty tricks, economic ties, propaganda, and spycraft has snared Hungary, Slovakia, and Austria already, with Georgia and Bulgaria next – and more looming.

Yet seen from Washington, European allies are mostly barely worthy of the name. Militarily, they are too small or backward to operate alongside high-tech American forces. The more advanced ones, such as Britain, lack the stockpiles to join any operation for long. Nor do they have much to offer on other fronts: diplomatic, economic, or cultural. Why pick up the tab?

These flaws did not need to be fatal. Europe could easily be a more effective and capable ally and the US a more resolute and far-sighted one. But both sides enjoyed carping on about the alliance more than they cared to invest money and political capital in preserving it. When it is gone, they will miss it. European governments, having refused to pay the relatively modest costs of sustaining Ukraine and maintaining adequate defenses within NATO, will now face the colossal bill for running their own security. Americans, facing intensifying geopolitical competition, may miss their old allies—especially if some of them flip into the Chinese camp.

More at the link.

We are able bomb and murder civilians for one reason only.

You permit it. pic.twitter.com/313zcytdI5

— Darth Putin (@DarthPutinKGB) October 31, 2024

This appeared for the first time before WWII in the Ukrainian Magazine Tryzub (Trident).
The Western powers are watching “with (very) deep concern” the slaughter of the Ukrainians, but aren’t taking measures to save Ukrainian lifes.
Then and now.
Source: https://t.co/rdQ6BPEUtK pic.twitter.com/7R9USs8lok

— Nicolas Tenzer (@NTenzer) October 31, 2024

Kharkiv:

Medics fought to save the life of an 11-year-old boy who was pulled from the rubble, for half an hour, but tragically, he didn’t make it.

Russia murdered him tonight.

So far, 30 other people got injured.
Video of search and rescue operation shared by state emergency service https://t.co/fSkiltoQMJ pic.twitter.com/NeY8ppULaf

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) October 30, 2024

In Kharkiv, rescuers recover the body of 15-year-old from under the rubble following the russian airstrike on residential building.

Death toll rises to 3, with 36 injured. Rescue efforts ongoing. pic.twitter.com/l5mv1eigjg

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) October 31, 2024

This woman’s nephew is dead

Russia killed him asleep in Kharkiv while Ukraine received 10% of the aid allocated to it in April 2024 pic.twitter.com/o2xFBbIUtP

— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) October 31, 2024

Here are details on the victims from Serhii Bolvinov, the Chief of Investigations of the Ukrainian National Police in Kharkiv Oblast:

UA/ENG

Життя двох дітей – авіабомбою по Салтівці росіяни вбили хлопчика, другого шукаємо під завалами.

Це була ФАБ-500 з УМПК, з-під бетонних плит дістали 12-річного хлопця, але його не встигли навіть довезти до лікарні, дитина померла в швидкій.

Ще одна дитина,… pic.twitter.com/o8uxYrb5w3

— Сергій Болвінов (@serhii_bolvinov) October 31, 2024

UA/ENG

Життя двох дітей – авіабомбою по Салтівці росіяни вбили хлопчика, другого шукаємо під завалами.

Це була ФАБ-500 з УМПК, з-під бетонних плит дістали 12-річного хлопця, але його не встигли навіть довезти до лікарні, дитина померла в швидкій.

Ще одна дитина, пʼятнадцятирічний школяр, гостював у бабусі та дідуся. Його родина мешкає на Північній Салтівці і батьки вирішили відвезти його туди, де вважали, буде безпечніше, ближче до метро. Під час удару хлопець був в квартирі на першому поверсі, саме з того боку, куди поцілили росіяни. Дорослі відпочивали в іншій кімнаті та вижили. Доля дитини поки невідома.

Тридцять п’ять людей постраждали від цього удару. Ми продовжуємо працювати на місці, триває пошукова операція.

The lives of two children – the Russians killed a boy with a bomb in Saltivka, and we are looking for the other one under the rubble.

It was the FAB 500 kg with UMPC, and a 12-year-old boy was pulled out from under the concrete slabs, but they didn’t even have time to take him to the hospital, he died in an ambulance.

Another child, a fifteen-year-old schoolboy, was visiting his grandparents. His family lives in Northern Saltovka, and his parents decided to take him to a place where they thought it would be safer, closer to the metro. At the time of the strike, the boy was in an apartment on the first floor, on the side where the Russians hit. The adults were resting in another room and survived. The child’s fate is still unknown.

Thirty-five people were injured in this strike. We continue to work at the site, the search operation is underway.

As we know, from the reporting I posted up top, the search and rescue operations have now been suspended.

The Serebryansky Forest:

Combat operation of the Burevii Brigade in the Serebryansky forest.
The warriors are using BMP to destroy russian treeline positions. pic.twitter.com/8gIX5V16pI

— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) October 31, 2024

Kherson:

#Kherson region #DroneAttacks

Today, by 13.00:

9 am – Woman, 77, injured
11 am – Man, 33, injured
11.20 – Woman, 42, injured

Video: https://t.co/P40Shi7u4P pic.twitter.com/jRtBhhnOoa

— Zarina Zabrisky 🇺🇸🇺🇦 (@ZarinaZabrisky) October 31, 2024

It’s so important that the russian “human safari” in Kherson is finally getting the attention in press! Please help spread the word. https://t.co/KptwrUeeto

— Kate from Kharkiv (@BohuslavskaKate) October 31, 2024

From The BBC:

Just before noon one day Serhiy Dobrovolsky, a hardware trader, returned to his home in Kherson in southern Ukraine. He stepped into his yard, lit a cigarette and chatted with his next-door neighbour. Suddenly, they heard the sound of a drone buzzing overhead.

Angela, Serhiy’s wife of 32 years, says she saw her husband run and take cover as the drone dropped a grenade. “He died before the ambulance arrived. I was told he was very unlucky, because a piece of shrapnel pierced his heart,” she says, breaking down.

Serhiy is one of 30 civilians killed in a sudden surge in Russian drone attacks in Kherson since 1 July, the city’s military administration told the BBC. They have recorded more than 5,000 drone attacks over the same period, with more than 400 civilians injured.

Drones have changed warfare in Ukraine, with both Ukraine and Russia using them against military targets.

But the BBC has heard eyewitness testimony and seen credible evidence that suggest Russia is using drones also against civilians in the frontline city of Kherson.

“They can see who they are killing,” says Angela. “Is this how they want to fight, by just bombing people walking in the streets?”

If Russia is found to be intentionally targeting civilians, it would be a war crime.

The Russian military did not respond to the BBC’s questions about the allegations. Since its full-scale invasion in February 2022, Russia has consistently denied deliberately targeting civilians.

Evidence of apparent drone attacks on civilians can be seen in numerous videos shared on Ukrainian and Russian social media, six of which were examined by BBC Verify.

In each video, we see through the remote operator’s camera as they track the movements of a pedestrian or motorist in civilian clothing, often dropping grenades which sometimes appear to seriously injure or kill their target.

BBC Verify was also able to identify a Telegram channel which has the earliest public copies yet seen of five of the six videos analysed.

They were each posted with goading and threats to the Ukrainian public, including claims that all vehicles were legitimate targets and that people should minimise their public movement. The injured people were also insulted, called “pigs” or in one case mocked for being a woman.

The account posting some of these drone videos also posted images of boxed and unboxed drones, and other images of equipment, thanking people for their donations.

Kherson’s military administration told the BBC that Russia has changed the type of drone it is using and the city’s electronic systems can no longer intercept a majority of them.

“You feel like you’re constantly being hunted, like someone is always looking at you, and can drop explosives at any moment. It’s the worst thing,” says Kristina Synia, who works at an aid centre just 1km (0.6 mile) from the Dnipro river.

To get to the centre without being followed by drones, we drive at a high speed, take the cover of trees while parking, and then head indoors quickly.

On a shelf behind Kristina, a small device confirms the threat outside – buzzing each time it detects a drone. It buzzed every few minutes while we were there – often detecting the presence of at least four drones.

Trauma is visible on the faces of the residents we meet, who have braved stepping out of their homes only to stock up on food. Valentyna Mykolaivna wipes her eyes, “We are in a horrible situation. When we come out, we move from one tree to another, taking cover. Every day they attack public buses, every day they drop bombs on us using drones,” she says.

Much more at the link including imagery.

That’s enough for tonight.

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