“A missile shot down by Ukrainian air defenses fell on the northern edge of… Naslavcea in the Republic of Moldova, near the border with Ukraine,” Moldova’s interior ministry said in a statement. “For now, no casualties have been reported, but the windows of many houses have been damaged,” he added. “The impact zone has been sealed off and a Home Office team is on site to assess [the situation].” Moldovan Foreign Minister Nicu Popescu expelled a Russian diplomat to protest “the intensification of Russia’s attacks against Ukraine, which has serious implications for Moldova.” “The Russian ambassador was summoned earlier today and informed of our decision to declare a Russian diplomat persona non grata,” he tweeted. The dangerous fall of debris in Moldova illustrates the dangers posed by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in this small country of 2.6 million people. Moldova, a candidate for EU membership, is experiencing the consequences of the war in Ukraine, which is spilling over its borders. On October 10, Moldova condemned the violation of its airspace by three Russian cruise missiles fired toward Ukraine from its ships in the Black Sea.
2. Grain ships sail despite exit from Moscow agreement
Ships left Ukrainian ports carrying grain on Monday, suggesting Moscow had stopped reimposing a blockade that could threaten global food supplies. Over the weekend, Russia pulled out of a UN-brokered deal to export Ukrainian grain to the Black Sea, raising prices and raising the specter of famine once again. The continued shipments from southern Ukraine suggest that Moscow has not restored the naval blockade that previously left hundreds of thousands of tonnes of grain destined for the developing world languishing in silos. “Civilian cargo ships can never be a military target or held hostage. Food must flow,” Amir Abdullah, the UN official coordinating the grain program, tweeted on Monday. Ukraine confirmed that 12 ships had departed shortly afterwards. They moved an estimated 354,500 tonnes of grain — the most in a single day since the deal between Russia and Ukraine was struck in July. But shipments could be disrupted again if insurers stop covering them, Reuters reports. Chris McGill, at Lloyd’s of London insurer Ascot, which has insured many of the shipments, told reporters his firm was suspending new cover for the shipments from Monday “until we have a better understanding of the situation”. Moscow said it was forced to withdraw from the deal after explosions it blamed on Ukraine destroyed Russian navy ships in Crimea on Saturday. Kyiv has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement. Ukraine and Russia are both among the world’s largest food exporters. In the past three months, the UN-backed deal has lifted the de facto blockade of Ukraine since the start of the war, allowing missions into Africa and the Middle East. Moscow’s withdrawal from the deal on Saturday sent world wheat prices soaring by more than 5% on Monday morning.
3. Wrath of the Kremlin after attempts to “recruit” diplomats in the Netherlands
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned the Dutch ambassador on Monday to “strongly protest” efforts by Western intelligence agencies to “recruit” Russian diplomats. The Dutch ambassador to Moscow, Gilles Beschoor Plug, “was summoned to the Russian Foreign Ministry on October 31,” Russia’s diplomatic service said in a statement. Moscow “strongly protested” the alleged attempt by British intelligence “to recruit the military attaché of the Russian embassy in The Hague,” he added. “Such provocative actions are unacceptable… and hinder the smooth functioning of Russian institutions abroad.” According to Russia, several similar “provocations” by Western intelligence agencies against Russian diplomats have taken place in the Netherlands in recent years. In December 2018, the CIA tried to recruit a Russian diplomat from the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons “in a park”. Russia accuses the Netherlands of “not preventing these illegal acts, but participating in them.” In July 2020 in The Hague, “surveillance equipment was discovered in the car of a diplomat by the Russian embassy,” according to the statement. Russia called on the Dutch authorities to “refrain” from these “hostile actions”, which it said led to the “deterioration of bilateral relations”. The outbreak of war in February sparked tensions between Russia and the West not seen since the Cold War. Russia has allegedly carried out numerous acts of espionage on European soil.
4. Russia targets Kiev’s critical infrastructure
Russia has launched a massive attack on infrastructure across Ukraine, cutting off electricity, heat and water supplies. Eighty percent of Kyiv was without running water on Monday, authorities said, while hundreds of areas elsewhere in the country were without electricity. “Instead of fighting on the battlefield, Russia is fighting civilians,” said Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. “Don’t justify these attacks by calling them a ‘response’. Russia is doing this because it still has the missiles and the will to kill Ukrainians.” The Russian missile attacks struck during Monday morning’s rush hour, repeating a tactic it took this month to attack civilian infrastructure using long-range missiles and Iranian-made drones. 350,000 homes in Kyiv were left without power, Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko said. According to the Russian Defense Ministry, “all the strikes hit their target.” “There is no more electricity at home or at our school,” the mother of a 9-year-old girl in northern Kyiv told reporters. “Cold winter is coming, we may not have electricity [or] heating. It could be complicated to live with… especially with a child.”
5. The partial mobilization has been completed, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports
Russia has completed a partial military mobilization announced by President Vladimir Putin in September, the country’s defense ministry said on Monday. “All activities related to the conscription … of civilians in the reserve have been stopped,” it said. That echoed Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s remarks on Friday that the “partial mobilization” of 300,000 reservists to fight in Ukraine was complete, with tens of thousands of them already sent into battle. Speaking in a televised meeting with Putin, Shoigu said the task set by the Russian president “has been completed. No further measures are planned.” Of the 300,000 mobilized reservists, Shoigu said 218,000 were in training, while 82,000 had been deployed to the conflict zone, of which 41,000 were already on active duty. “I want to thank them for their devotion to duty, for their patriotism, for their steadfast determination to defend our country, to defend Russia, their homes, their families, our citizens and our people,” Putin said. In the future, Shoigu said recruitment would be based on volunteers and professional soldiers, rather than mobilizing more of Russia’s many million reservists. The partial mobilization sparked protests in Russia, prompting a mass exodus of Russian men to neighboring countries such as Georgia and Kazakhstan.
6. China and USA are talking about Ukraine
Beijing and Washington discussed the Ukraine war on Sunday, amid growing rivalry between the two countries. US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi had a phone call in which they discussed Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, among other thorny issues, according to the US. “The Secretary of State discussed the need to keep the lines of communication open and to responsibly manage the relationship” between the United States and China, said Ned Price, a US spokesman. “Returning the China-US relationship to the path of steady development is not only in the interest of both sides, but also a universal expectation of the international community,” Chinese diplomacy said. The talks focused on “Russia’s threats to global security and economic stability,” Price said in a statement. Wang Yi urged “all parties to exercise restraint.” He also called for “intensified diplomatic efforts to prevent further escalation of the situation.” China is officially neutral in the Ukrainian conflict, although critics in the West sometimes see it as too conciliatory to Moscow. The talks between Chinese and US officials come days after a meeting between Wang and his Russian counterpart. “China is willing to deepen exchanges with Russia at all levels,” Wang assured Sergei Lavrov on Thursday.
