October 13, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

As deadly Russian airstrikes in Ukraine continued into a fourth day, President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for more air defense capacities, saying Kyiv has only about 10% of what it needs to combat Moscow’s blitz.

"There is nothing I can add about that, we have about 10% of what we need," Zelensky told European lawmakers.

He called on Western countries such as the United States and France to increase their military aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky’s plea comes amid one of the fiercest bombing campaigns that Russia has waged against Ukraine since invading the country in late February.

Ukraine has received additional emergency funding from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), according to the Ukrainian prime minister.

"Ukraine received $1.3 billion of additional emergency financing support from the International Monetary Fund. The funds will be used to finance priority needs: Strengthening defense capabilities, paying pensions, social programs and supporting the economy," said Denys Shmyhal.

"In total, the IMF has provided our country with $2.7 billion since the beginning of the full-scale war," he said.

On October 7, the IMF executive board approved the additional funds "under the food shock window of the Rapid Financing Instrument (RFI) to help meet Ukraine’s urgent balance of payments needs."

"The scale and intensity of Russia’s war against Ukraine that started more than seven months ago have caused tremendous human suffering and economic pain," the IMF said in a press release last week.

"This disbursement under the RFI (equivalent to 50 percent of Ukraine’s quota in the IMF) will help meet urgent balance of payment needs, including due to a large cereal export shortfall, while playing a catalytic role for further financial support from Ukraine’s creditors and donors," the IMF added.

Heating season in Ukraine will not be delayed by Russian attacks on the country's energy infrastructure, a Ukrainian minister has said.

"The heating season will start on time, without any postponements or changes. It will start as planned: as soon as the average daily temperature is below 8 degrees Celsius for three days. Even the weather is on our side," Minister for Communities and Territories Development Oleksii Chernyshov said. 

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said about 30% of energy infrastructure in Ukraine had been hit by Russian missiles since Monday. 

Kyiv is urging all Ukrainians to save electricity, especially from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and from 5 p.m. to 11 p.m.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated his calls Thursday for an end to the war in Ukraine while speaking at a conference in Kazakhstan, where Russian President Vladimir Putin is in attendance. 

Later Thursday, Erdoğan and Putin are expected to meet for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in the Kazakh capital Astana, according to Russian state-run news agency TASS.

Erdoğan has repeatedly called for an end to the war and played a key role in the UN-brokered deal between Moscow and Kyiv this summer to allow the resumption of grain shipments from Black Sea ports in Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated their support for Ukraine ahead of a meeting of NATO defense ministers in Brussels on Thursday. 

UN vote: Stoltenberg praised the UN General Assembly's approval Wednesday of a resolution telling Russia its annexation of four Ukrainian zones is illegal and not valid, calling the vote a "clear condemnation of the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories and a clear call on Russian President [Vladimir] Putin to reverse these decisions and respect the territorial integrity of Ukraine."

"I absolutely agree with you ... and I couldn't have put it better," Austin said, reiterating that the US will continue to support Ukraine "for as long as it takes."

Austin reaffirmed Washington's commitment to Article 5 — the principle that an attack on one member of NATO is an attack on all members — and to "defending every inch of NATO's territory."

At least seven people are missing as rescuers search through the rubble of a residential building in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv following Russian shelling overnight, the Mykolaiv regional military administration said on Telegram on Thursday. 

An 11-year-old boy has been rescued and is receiving medical treatment, they said. 

The administration said the city had been hit by eight S-300 missiles overnight. 

The attacks mark the fourth consecutive day of Russian strikes targeting civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.

The Russian military appears to have embarked on a new tactic in its efforts to turn the tide of its faltering war: trying to overwhelm Ukraine’s largely Soviet-era air defenses with dozens of missiles and drones from multiple directions.

As Ukraine races to shore up its missile defenses in the wake of the assault, the math for Moscow is simple: A percentage of projectiles are bound to get through.

Russia’s aerial onslaught of the last few days has been largely directed at Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, using a variety of missiles and newly acquired Iranian drones. But while the damage has been substantial, Ukraine claims that it has taken out around half of the missiles fired — and it expects that success rate to improve as new air defenses arrive from Germany, the US and elsewhere.

Over the last three days, the Russians have been using a mix of their missile stocks. The majority were air-launched cruise missiles, some delivered by bombers based near the Caspian Sea. But they also deployed ship-launched Kalibrs from the Black Sea, ground-launched Iskander cruise missiles and dozens of attack drones.

The great unknown is just how far such a blitz is depleting Russian inventories — and whether increasingly they will resort to stocks of older, less accurate but equally powerful missiles.

Estimating Russian missile inventories is guesswork. In May, President Volodymr Zelensky said Russia had launched 2,154 missiles and had probably used up 60% of its precision-missile arsenal. That now looks like wishful thinking.

Read the full analysis:

RELATED

Russia's hit-and-miss missile blitz forces a frantic race to shore up Ukrainian defenses | CNN

US President Joe Biden said "the world has sent a clear message," after the UN General Assembly (UNGA) overwhelmingly approved a resolution on Wednesday condemning Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian zones as illegal.

Some 143 members of the United Nations voted to condemn Russia's illegal annexation attempt of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia following referendums derided by Western leaders as a sham. Only four UN members sided with Moscow — Belarus, North Korea, Nicaragua and Syria.

The southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv was "massively shelled" overnight, the city's Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said on Telegram early Thursday. 

He said rescuers are working at the scene. The mayor did not say if there were any injuries or deaths. 

Another southern city, Nikopol, also reported shelling overnight, Ukrainian member of parliament Oleksiy Goncharenko said on Telegram. 

Goncharenko said a 59-year-old man was injured and about 30 high-rise buildings and private houses were damaged, leaving around 2,000 families without electricity.

The latest attacks follow three consecutive days of deadly Russian strikes on civil infrastructure across Ukraine.