Topic: War
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Russian attacks destroy Epicentr's last major logistics hub in Khmelnytskyi
Russian forces attacked Epicentr's logistics distribution center in Khmelnytskyi ten times on 13 October, causing five large-scale fires and destroying about 85% of the stored goods. No employees were injured, but the company said the strike puts thousands of jobs at risk and has nationwide supply implications.
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Russian ballistic missiles hit Kyiv energy plant and apartment block; Ukraine reports no partner warning
On the evening of October 13, Russian ballistic missiles struck Kyiv, hitting the TEC-4 (CHPP-4) thermal power plant and a nine-story residential building in the Desnianskyi district. Ukrainian officials said international partners did not provide advance warning through the usual intelligence-sharing channels, and that Ukrainian air defence detected the missiles only as they were approaching the capital. It was the second consecutive night Kyiv was hit by Russian ballistic missiles without a partner warning.
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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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Zelensky says Ukraine ready to meet US negotiators in coming days
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine is ready to meet with American negotiators in the coming days and that he has conveyed the proposal to US President Donald Trump's envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner. In his address he framed the talks as part of ongoing team-level negotiations on paths to peace, voiced Ukraine's support for a US-backed energy ceasefire, and stressed that Russia must also join such an agreement.
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Polish president accuses PM Tusk of exaggerating Russian threat for political gain
Polish President Karol Nawrocki said in an interview with Rzeczpospolita that the level of Russian threat has not significantly changed in the past six months and accused Prime Minister Donald Tusk of using that threat for personal political gain. Tusk responded on X, thanking Nawrocki for his honesty, and the two leaders' offices traded further barbs in a public dispute with direct implications for Poland's alliance standing and domestic threat assessments.
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Donetsk Oblast to impose extended curfew across government-controlled territory from 1 November
Ukrainian authorities in Donetsk Oblast are introducing an extended curfew across all government-controlled territory, except for the Oleksandrivska and Cherkaska hromadas, effective 1 November 2026. The decision was approved by the Oblast Defense Council and announced by Donetsk OVA head Vadym Filashkin. Kramatorsk military administration head Oleksandr Honcharenko confirmed the measure will apply in his city as well. The curfew is being introduced against the backdrop of intensified Russian strikes and a forced child evacuation order from parts of Kramatorsk.
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Ukrainian parliament summons Kyiv mayor Klitschko to report on winter preparations
The Verkhovna Rada voted 151 in favor on October 13 to summon Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko for a report, on an initiative by Servant of the People MP Maryana Bezuhla. Klitschko delivered a 5-minute address the following day, calling the accusations of sabotaging heating-season preparations baseless and arguing that the summons was an attempt to remove him and erode local self-government. The vote came after repeated Russian strikes on Kyiv's energy infrastructure, which Klitschko said have destroyed the city's own generation capacity and forced full dependence on the national grid.
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Syrskyi in first major interview since dismissal: Ukraine's war outcome uncertain, Kursk operation a success
Former Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi, dismissed by President Zelenskyy in July, gave his first major interview to the BBC in which he said it is impossible to say with certainty whether Ukraine is winning or losing the war, defended the 2024 Kursk operation as a successful and necessary maneuver, and detailed his procurement-related disagreements with former Defence Minister Mykhailo Fedorov. He denied issuing any ultimatum to Fedorov and said the decision to remove him rested solely with the president. The interview was published on 13 October 2026.
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Russian forces strike civilian column during so-called evacuation from Kupiansk
On 13 October, Russian forces struck a column of civilians being led out of Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, toward the Shebelinka–Ostrohozk gas pipeline during a Russian-organised so-called "evacuation," causing casualties. Ukraine's 2nd National Guard Corps "Khartiia" said the group, which included two women, a child and several men, came under mortar and artillery fire from the eastern bank of the Oskil River. The Joint Forces Command (UOS) said it recorded the strike and was clarifying the number of casualties; Joint Forces spokesperson Viktor Trehubov said preliminary information indicated a drone (UAV) was used.
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US and Europe draft four-part Ukraine peace plan as Trump–Putin diesel deal overshadows Miami talks
On 9 October, US special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner hosted a six-hour meeting at Witkoff's Shell Bay golf club near Miami with a Ukrainian delegation and representatives of the UK, France, Germany, the EU and NATO. The US envoys asked Ukraine to stop strikes on Russian oil refineries, relayed that Vladimir Putin is not yet ready to negotiate and is conditioning talks on receiving the remaining roughly 11% of the Donbas under Ukrainian control, and announced that Donald Trump had struck a separate deal with Putin on Russian diesel exports. President Volodymyr Zelensky rejected the strike demand and called the diesel decision "unfair and dishonest." The Washington Post subsequently reported that Washington and European capitals are shaping a four-part peace proposal covering reconstruction financing, NATO-Article-5-style security guarantees, economic and energy integration including a possible Russia–Europe pipeline, and a ceasefire along the current front line. Ukraine's presidential office dismissed the leak as "not bad PR" rather than a joint US–European document.
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Russian drone strike hits Rivne university, injuring dozens
On the morning of 13 October a Russian drone struck a building of Rivne State Humanitarian University in the centre of Rivne, setting it on fire, damaging the second floor and façade, and injuring dozens of people. Most of the wounded were university administrative staff; all students were in shelters at the time. The Faculty of Music Arts building was almost completely burned out, and Ukrainian authorities opened a war-crimes investigation.
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Finland pushes EU-wide tourist visa ban for Russian citizens
Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen is urging EU member states to co-sign a letter to the European Commission demanding a full ban on tourist Schengen visas for Russian citizens until Russia ends its war against Ukraine. The initiative, set out in five proposals, has drawn immediate public backing from Estonia.
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Ukraine's General Staff reports strikes on Russian missile-repair base, radar, and depots across four oblasts
On 12 October and during the night of 13 October, Ukraine's Defence Forces struck a series of Russian military targets, including an Iskander-M missile-system repair base in Russia's Kursk Oblast and a radar station in Bryansk Oblast, according to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Fuel and ammunition depots were hit in occupied Luhansk Oblast, while concentrations of Russian personnel were struck across Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Luhansk oblasts.
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General Staff reports 203 combat clashes on 12 October, 206 since start of 13 October; Russian losses estimated at 1,555,700
Ukraine's General Staff reported 203 combat clashes over the past day (12 October) and 206 clashes since the start of 13 October, with the Pokrovsk direction remaining the most active. Russian personnel losses for the past day were reported at 1,390, bringing cumulative Russian losses since 24 February 2022 to about 1,555,700. Russian forces carried out 90 airstrikes, dropped 301 guided aerial bombs, used 9,516 kamikaze drones, and conducted 2,619 shellings of populated areas and Ukrainian positions. Ukrainian aviation, missile forces and artillery struck a Russian personnel concentration area and a UAV control point.
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Drones attack two merchant vessels off Bulgaria; one sinks, crew still missing
Overnight on 12–13 October, drones attacked two commercial vessels in the Black Sea off the Bulgarian coast. The Maltese-flagged, Ukrainian-owned CHELSEA 3 was hit by three drones about 18 nautical miles east of Byala; all 15 crew were evacuated to Varna, five with minor injuries. A second vessel sank about 17 nautical miles east of Krapets, with 11 crew missing and either one or five rescued according to different sources. Bulgarian PM Rumen Radev convened his Security Council, announced he would summon Russia's ambassador, and appealed to the EU and NATO for investigative help. Ukraine's President Zelensky and Foreign Minister Sybiha publicly blamed Russia; Bulgarian officials said there is no conclusive evidence attributing the attacks to any state.
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Russia claims 604 drones shot down overnight; Moscow mayor reports hundreds targeting capital
Russia's Defense Ministry claimed it neutralized 604 drones overnight over multiple Russian regions, including Bryansk, Belgorod, Oryol, Kaluga, Tula, Ryazan, Rostov, and Smolensk oblasts, the Moscow region, Stavropol Krai, Krasnodar Krai, and the Sea of Azov. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said 417 drones flew toward the Moscow region from Tuesday evening, later raising the figure to 493 by Wednesday morning, with 65 shot down on approach to the capital. The governor of Stavropol Krai reported attacks on industrial facilities, including in the city of Nevinnomyssk, where the Nevinnomyssk Power Plant is located.
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Russian jet drones strike Lviv Oblast twice in one day, damaging homes in two villages
Russian forces struck Lviv Oblast with jet-type drones in the early hours of 13 October. A downed drone fell on a house in the village of Muravane, igniting fires that damaged nine residential buildings and five cars. No casualties were reported. A second drone attack in the afternoon damaged houses in the village of Malekhiv. Both jet drones in the first strike were shot down by Ukrainian air defence.
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Petraeus: Ukraine is the "real laboratory" of future warfare, NATO needs revolutionary change
Former CIA Director retired General David Petraeus said at the Warsaw Security Forum that the war in Ukraine is the real laboratory of future warfare and that NATO countries must carry out urgent, revolutionary institutional military changes. He said these must go beyond handing drones to existing units, and should touch doctrine, training, procurement, personnel policy and infrastructure, while predicting a shift toward autonomous and AI-enabled systems.
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Russia hits Ukraine with missiles, loitering munitions and 108 drones overnight; three killed in Kharkiv
Russia launched a combined overnight air attack on Ukraine on October 12–13, firing five Iskander-M/S-400 ballistic missiles, nine Banderole/Dan-T loitering munitions and 108 strike drones — most of the Shahed type, many jet-powered — from multiple Russian and occupied-Ukrainian directions. Ukrainian air defense shot down or suppressed 88 of the drones, but direct hits were recorded at 17 locations and falling debris at another seven. A multi-storey block in the city's Kholodnohirskyi district suffered a collapsed entrance section; three people were killed and others injured.
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Russia strikes Kyiv with drones for third straight day; woman injured in Darnytskyi district
Russian drones struck Kyiv on the morning of 13 October, with debris damaging a two-storey private house and yard fence in the Darnytskyi district and injuring a woman. The attack followed an evening barrage on 12 October that combined ballistic missiles and drones and hit multiple districts of the capital.