World about Ukraine: digest as of October 15, 2023

THE GUARDIAN: Russia’s Avdiivka offensive is failing, says top Ukrainian officer

A top Ukrainian commander has claimed that Russia’s biggest offensive in months – involving tanks, thousands of soldiers and armoured vehicles in an attack on the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka – is failing, as he admitted Kyiv’s own attempts to advance in the south were proving “difficult”.

Russian forces have pummelled the town over the past week, a key bulge surrounded by Russian-held territory on the eastern Donbas front.

U.S. NEWS: 6 Killed in Russian Attacks on Ukraine as Kyiv Continues Drone Counterstrikes

Russian attacks on Ukraine over a 24-hour period killed six people, local officials reported Sunday.

Two people were killed and three more injured in the Kherson area after more than 100 shells bombarded the region over the weekend, local governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on social media.

Two guided bombs later hit key infrastructure in Kherson city, sparking a partial blackout and disruption to the area’s water supply, reported the head of the city’s military administration, Roman Mrochko.

THE BUSINESS STANDARD: Biden to push Israel, Ukraine aid package over $2 billion this week

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday that a new weapons package for Israel and Ukraine will be significantly higher than $2 billion.

Sullivan, in an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” said US President Joe Biden will have intensive talks with the US Congress this week on the need for the package to be approved.

Republicans’ struggles to pick a speaker for the House of Representatives after party hardliners ousted Kevin McCarthy nearly two weeks ago has delayed action on legislation.

FMT: Mexico, Ukraine urge Israel to open humanitarian corridor to Gaza

Both countries are protesting against Israel’s refusal to allow their citizens to evacuate from the area.

Mexican and Ukrainian officials on Saturday separately urged Israel to open a humanitarian corridor to Gaza to let people out as both countries work to repatriate their citizens from the area.

Responding to appeals from the family of Barbara Lango, a Mexican working for aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), Mexico’s foreign minister Alicia Barcena said she had been in touch with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) for help.

YAHOO NEWS: Ukrainian forces able to hit new railway line to Mariupol being built by Russia

The railway network in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine remains largely viable but is vulnerable to sporadic interference from Ukrainian artillery, air strikes and sabotage, UK Defence Intelligence reports.

“Russia almost certainly continues to maintain and improve its rail lines of communication in Ukraine and is constructing a new railway line to Mariupol which will reduce travel times for supplies to the Zaporizhzhia front,” the UK MoD stated.

Analysts observe that Russia is using civilian contractors and equipment to complete this project, likely hoping to impede targeted attacks by the Ukrainian Armed Forces and preserve the military railway capabilities to perform urgent tasks elsewhere.

THE NEW YORK TIMES: Ukraine Worries That Prolonged War in Gaza May Dilute Global Support

Slow military progress and cracks in the backing of key allies could also drain vital attention from Ukraine’s battle with Russia, some fear.

Ukraine, still locked in fierce combat with Russia along hundreds of miles of front line, also finds itself grappling with what are seen in Kyiv as worrying shifts in the geopolitics of the war.

The attention of key allies is pivoting to the war in Gaza, military aid from the United States is bogged down in the Republican fight over leadership in Congress and cracks in European support have emerged during elections in Poland and Slovakia.

“We are now in a new phase,” Pavlo Klimkin, a former Ukrainian foreign minister, said of the international politics of the fighting in Ukraine, which in the past week has been eclipsed by the eruption of war in Israel and Gaza. “The whole geopolitical environment has become more diverse, more messy,” he said in an interview.

U.S.FIRENEWS: Mobilization in Ukraine – who needs to come to TCC and SP

In territorial recruitment and social support centers, information about the suitability of a person liable for military service is lost if he does not update his data, the Armed Forces of Ukraine said.

Citizens liable for military service must independently visit territorial recruitment and social support centers. This was announced by the head of the public relations service of the command of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vladimir Fityo during the telethon.

Fityo said that the Constitution of Ukraine stipulates the duty to defend one’s country.

“In order to be ready to fulfill your duty to protect Ukraine, you need to report to your Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers and update your credentials,” said Vladimir Fityo.

Ukraine Front Lines