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It is the highest monthly figure since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
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Ukraine has inflicted a record loss on Russia’s forces in October, its general staff said, with 49,040 soldiers killed this month.
This is the highest monthly figure since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, it said, overtaking the previous high of 48,670 people in December 2024.
“The Ukrainian Defence Forces will continue to inflict losses on the occupiers until the complete cessation of Russia’s armed aggression against Ukraine”, the general staff said.
Meanwhile, a Russian drone attack has killed 14 people at the main railway station in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro, hitting a platform crowded with people boarding a train, officials said.
The state rail company, Ukrzaliznytsia, said a jet-powered drone had hit a platform where a commuter train was preparing to depart for the nearby southern city of Zaporizhzhia.
Ukrainian media reports indicated that two trains were struck in the attack.
“Despite a warning of heightened danger, people were on the platform,” Ukrzaliznytsia said, adding that rescuers were on the scene. “Many people were killed. Lots were injured,” Dnipro mayor Borys Filatov wrote on Telegram.
Humanitarian aid is poised to roll into the stricken city of Oleshky, negotiators said Thursday, as a localized ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine stretched into a third day and military units cleared landmines.
Moscow and Kyiv have observed the truce in and around the devastated southern Ukrainian city since Tuesday, but remain otherwise locked in the war that began with Russia’s full-scale invasion more than four years ago. Previous ceasefire talks either failed or the truces quickly fell apart.
“Demining of the designated routes has been completed, and the humanitarian convoy has been assembled and is ready,” ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets, who heads Ukraine’s negotiating team, said Thursday. He said aid deliveries were due to begin Friday.
Elsewhere, deadly attacks continued and Ukraine’s central bank warned that damage to industrial targets could push the country into a recession.
The planned six-day ceasefire around Russian-occupied Oleshky has brought a rare and welcome stillness for civilians in the nearby city of Kherson, which is held by Ukraine and has also been wracked by the war.
Russian and Ukrainian officials head to Oleshky for aid delivery
Both sides thanked Melania Trump for what the White House called her help in brokering the ceasefire so food and medical supplies can be delivered to about 2,000 people trapped in Oleshky. Pope Leo XIV also pressed for a truce.
Russia will extend its diesel export ban until the end of the year while allowing some companies to ship fuel under a quota system to meet its new export commitment to the US, two people familiar with the discussions told Reuters.
Moscow and Washington agreed a diesel supply deal after Presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump spoke by phone earlier this month.
The energy ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine announced alongside the agreement has allowed Moscow to increase fuel production. At the same time, fuel shortages earlier this year have prompted the government to maintain tight controls on oil product exports.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed an additional £10billion support package from the UK to Ukraine after discussions with Andy Burnham.
The £10billion was announced on Wednesday by chancellor John Healey, who offered the economic and military support in the Budget.
Former UK chancellor Rachel Reeves hsa said her country and the European Union must work together to seize €210bn of Russian assets to support Ukraine this winter.
In an article for The Times, Reeves, with the former German defence minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, the former French minister for Europe Nathalie Loiseau and the former Canadian deputy prime minister and finance minister Chrystia Freeland, said that taking the frozen Russian assets would ensure Kyiv’s defence into 2029.
Vladimir Putin said Russia is prepared for a potential war with Europe, though it does not want one.
The Russian president said his country supports any steps aimed at restoring relations with European countries, as he commented on his phone call with the leaders of Norway and Finland.
But in a chilling threat, he said that if tensions were to escalate too far, there would be no winners.
He added that Moscow did not want the Baltic Sea to face a situation similar to that in the Strait of Hormuz.
At least 19 people have been killed in Russian attacks across Ukraine today, Volodymyr Zelensky revealed.
Another 71 people were injured, including 11 children, Dozens of those wounded are now in hospitals.
“Once again, Russia is showing its true attitude towards de-escalation and the efforts by Ukraine, the United States, Europe, and our other partners around the world to end this war and stop the killings,” the President said.
European Union’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she would call on partners at the upcoming EU-Canada summit and G20 foreign ministers’ meeting in Atlanta to strengthen support for Ukraine.
She would also urge to advance accountability through “The “Special Tribunal and Claims Commission”.
“Russia must be accountable,” she said in a post on X.
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