Ukraine and Russia: what you need to know now

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Russian divers will examine the damage caused by a powerful explosion on Russia’s road and rail bridge to Crimea on Sunday that struck a prestigious symbol of Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula and a key supply route for forces fighting in the southern Ukraine.

CONFLICT

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* At least 17 people were killed in a nighttime shelling in Zaporizhzhia, a town in southeastern Ukraine, local official Anatoliy Kurtev said on Sunday. The city is about 125 km (80 miles) from Russia’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

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* Ukrainian troops are involved in very tough fighting near the strategically important eastern town of Bakhmut, which Russia is trying to take, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as the Kyiv counteroffensive is expected to meet more determined resistance.

* The Russian Defense Ministry has appointed Air Force General Sergei Surovikin as overall commander of Russian forces fighting in Ukraine, the third high-ranking military appointment in Moscow in a week.

* Bombings have cut power to Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which needs cooling to avoid a meltdown, forcing it to switch to emergency generators, Ukraine’s nuclear company said and the United Nations Atomic Watch.

ECONOMY, DIPLOMACY

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* Ukraine’s economy has shrunk by about 30% in the first three quarters of 2022 compared to the same period in 2021, with bad weather worsening the impact of the war, the economy ministry said, Although exports jumped 23% per month in September after an international crisis the brokered deal allowed grain shipments from the Black Sea.

* The Sakhalin 1 oil and gas project in Russia is very important for Japan to ensure its diversified supply of crude oil, Commerce Minister Yasutoshi Nishimura said on Sunday after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree establishing a new operator for the project in the Russian Far East.

* NATO must do more to protect itself against Russia and Putin, said German Minister Christine Lambrecht, because we « cannot know how far Putin’s delusions of grandeur can go ».

* To reverse the economic shock caused by the war, the Ukrainian government is pinning its hopes on the entrepreneurial will of small businesses, as well as the return of millions of refugees – and large-scale international financial aid. (Compiled by Frances Kerry and William Mallard)