Topic: Media
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Zelenskyy says Ukraine holds more territory than Russia has taken since autumn, pushes back on Gerasimov's Zaporizhzhia claims
In his evening address on October 18, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian forces have liberated more territory since the start of autumn than Russia has captured, and that the same trend has held in other periods of 2025. He pushed back on claims by Russian Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov, asserting that Russian forces are being engaged about 20 km from Zaporizhzhia, not 5 km as Russia claims, and that several named settlements remain under Ukrainian control.
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Russian missile strike hits residential area in Zaporizhzhia, injuring five including a child
Russian forces struck a residential area in Zaporizhzhia around 5 a.m. on 17 October with multiple missile strikes, damaging multi-storey apartment buildings and injuring five civilians, including an 11-year-old girl. The blast wave also damaged the office of the Suspilne Zaporizhzhia broadcaster, though no staff were inside. The attack was part of a broader overnight Russian assault on multiple Ukrainian cities that also hit Kryvyi Rih and Kherson.
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Russia hits Kyiv energy grid with 39 ballistic missiles and 128 drones, knocking out power for 600,000
Russia launched a massive combined strike on Ukraine overnight on 13–14 October, using 39 ballistic missiles and 128 strike drones against energy and critical infrastructure in Kyiv, Kyiv Oblast and Kharkiv. President Zelensky said at least 600,000 people were left without electricity and that the main target of the Kyiv attack was the TEC-4 combined heat and power plant, which sustained direct hits. Three people were killed in Kyiv, more than 20 were injured, and the attack came days after U.S. President Donald Trump announced an "energy ceasefire" between Russia and Ukraine.
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Ukrainian strikes disabled three Yandex data centers in Russia, sharply cutting bot traffic
Between October 8 and 11, 2026, Ukrainian strikes hit three large Yandex data centers in Russia — at Sasovo in Ryazan Oblast, near Kaluga, and at Vladimir — disabling supercomputers and forcing Yandex Cloud into emergency mode. The strikes disrupted a wide range of Russian consumer, logistics and financial services, and monitoring data showed automated bot traffic from the Yandex network collapsing from near its two-week maximum to a fraction of a percent before partially recovering.
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Ukraine's top investigator faces questions on brother's real estate, deflects to family
Oleksiy Sukhachov, director of Ukraine's State Bureau of Investigation (DBR), spoke for the first time to journalists from Slidstvo.Info about an investigation into 143 apartments and office premises in Kharkiv acquired by his brother, businessman Oleksandr Sukhachov. Encountered on the morning of October 8 at a public sports ground in Kyiv, Sukhachov called the information "not corresponding to reality" and told reporters to contact his brother. The encounter was physically obstructed by unidentified men in black, one of whom identified himself as a law-enforcement officer. The interview followed an earlier pre-publication court ban on the investigation that triggered a multi-outlet solidarity action and condemnation from international press-freedom groups.
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Ukrainian drones hit three Yandex data centres; Zelensky says social media became 'easier to breathe on'
Between 8 and 11 October 2026, Ukrainian drones struck three of Yandex's five largest data centres in Russia — in Sasovo (Ryazan Oblast), Kaluga and Vladimir (Vladimir Oblast). Cloudflare Radar data cited by Tom's Hardware shows bot traffic from Yandex's network collapsing from roughly 80–88% of its two-week peak a week earlier to about 57% after the first strike and to 0.3–0.4% after the third, while NetBlocks reported Yandex Cloud traffic fell to 30% of normal levels. Speaking by video link at the Warsaw Security Forum, President Volodymyr Zelensky said the strikes made social media 'easier to breathe on' and proved that 'Europe is not the source of the problem.' American historian Timothy Snyder and MEP Tomasz Zdechovský suggested the drop showed Russian hosting of bots supporting Trump and Germany's AfD, a reading fact-check analyses contest.
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Montenegro detains and expels founder of Russian propaganda network 'Rybar' and four associates
On 9 October, Montenegrin police, working with the country's National Security Agency, detained Mykhailo Zvinchuk, the founder of the Russian propaganda network "Rybar," along with his wife Valeriia Zvinchuk and three other Russian citizens in the town of Risan. All five have been ordered expelled on national-security grounds and had their residence permits revoked. The operation comes as "Rybar" is already under EU, UK and US sanctions, with the US State Department offering up to $10 million for information on its associates.
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RIA Novosti briefly publishes, then deletes column threatening nuclear strike against Lithuania
Russian state news agency RIA Novosti published and then removed a column that openly threatened a nuclear strike against Lithuania, days after the Lithuanian parliament moved to lift its constitutional ban on hosting weapons of mass destruction. The agency said the piece reflected only the author's personal opinion, not its editorial or state policy.
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El Mundo reports CIA warning of Russian drone plot against Spain, France or Italy; Macron and Crosetto reject claim
Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported that the CIA shared intelligence with several European governments about an alleged Russian drone operation targeting Spain, France, or Italy, with launches from containers hidden on civilian ships in international waters. French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Defense Minister Guido Crosetto publicly rejected the report, with Macron saying the CIA did not inform French services about such an attack and Crosetto calling the El Mundo publication baseless.
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Zelensky signs sanctions against former press secretary Mendel and Russian propagandists
President Volodymyr Zelensky on 13 September 2026 enacted personal sanctions imposed by the National Security and Defense Council against his former press secretary Yulia Mendel, the only Ukrainian citizen among 10 individuals in the package. On the same day he signed two further decrees targeting 29 Russian citizens and 29 companies linked to the state corporation Rostec, and 20 vessels of the Russian shadow fleet. The move follows a May 2026 interview in which Mendel repeated Russian-aligned claims to U.S. podcaster Tucker Carlson.
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Anti-Corruption Center says Ukrainian investigators knew of alleged crimes in Skelia regiment since March
Ukraine's Anti-Corruption Center (ЦПК) has alleged that the State Bureau of Investigation (ДБР) may have known since at least March 2026 about alleged crimes in the 425th Separate Assault Regiment "Skelia" but failed to open pretrial investigations until after a Babel media investigation was published in June. According to ЦПК, the Office of the Military Ombudsman sent eight letters to the ДБР and the Office of the Prosecutor General between March and June 2026 describing possible offenses including torture, physical violence and failure to provide medical aid resulting in death; in six of those cases the ДБР declined to open pretrial investigations, citing insufficient grounds.
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Russian drone strike hits five locations in Kryvyi Rih overnight, damaging homes and broadcaster office
Russian strike drones attacked the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih during the night of 9–10 September 2025, hitting five locations in the Tsentralno-Miskyi and Saksahansky districts. Residential buildings, private houses, schools, cultural institutions and businesses were damaged, and the local office of public broadcaster Suspilne was also hit. Multiple people were reported injured, though official casualty counts initially differed.
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Ukraine's anti-corruption court remands driver of senior prosecutor in 'Carthage' call-center case
Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (ВАКС) on 7 September ordered Serhiy Kutsyi, the driver of Office of the Prosecutor General official Serhiy Kropyva, held in custody until 3 November with an alternative bail of 3 million hryvnias. The ruling is part of the NABU and SAP 'Carthage' special operation, which exposed an alleged criminal organization accused of 'roofing' fraudulent call centers and laundering funds. Earlier in the week, ВАКС remanded Kropyva himself until 2 November with bail of 120 million hryvnias and his cohabitant Yelyzaveta Ivakhnenko until November with bail of 20 million hryvnias.
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Trump claims US has 'virtually unlimited' ammunition stockpiles, demands Europe repay Ukraine and NATO aid
On 3 September, US President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social asserting that the United States has virtually unlimited stockpiles of medium- and high-class ammunition and is producing at unprecedented volumes. He said the US is currently keeping munitions for itself rather than selling them to allies, but that sales would resume soon. Trump also accused the Biden administration of having given Ukraine more ammunition than the US used in Iran, claimed hundreds of billions of dollars were transferred free of charge to Ukraine and NATO, and said the US will demand reimbursement from Europe, 'albeit with some delay.' The post was directed against media reporting on US ammunition shortages during the Iran operation.
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HUR warns of disinformation campaign targeting military intelligence amid SBU clash
Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) said on 3 September that a targeted disinformation campaign is being deployed to discredit military intelligence and its combat units, urging the public to trust only verified official sources and asking journalists to report any paid offers of dubious material. The warning came against the backdrop of an armed confrontation between HUR and the SBU in Kyiv on 2 September tied to the detention of Russian Volunteer Corps deputy commander Stepan Kaplunov, and was followed by President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissing an SBU department head and calling the SBU–HUR clash "shameful."
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Texty.org.ua analysis: Russian frontline advance stalls as losses hit record high
Ukrainian outlet Texty.org.ua published an analysis arguing that Russia's frontline advance in Ukraine has effectively stalled while Russian personnel losses have risen sharply, framing the trend as moving toward Ukrainian victory. The assessment cites ISW estimates of minimal Russian advance rates in July 2026 and record monthly losses of nearly 43,000 troops, alongside localized Ukrainian counteroffensive gains in early August.