Ukraine live: Russian drone ‘kills two women’ in car as Brazil urged to arrest Putin

Donald Trump again claimed he got along “very well with Putin”, suggesting that Putin had spoken to him about his desire to control Ukraine.

Speaking at a town hall event in oaks, Pennsylvania, on Monday, Trump said: “I get along very well with Putin. I got; I fully understand what’s happening.

“[Ukraine] was the apple of his eye; he used to talk about it. But I said, ‘You’re not going in,’ and he wasn’t going in.”

The presidential hopeful repeated his claim that there wouldn’t be a war between Russia and Ukraine were he still in the White House, adding that he also gets along “very well with Zelensky”.

The US is “concerned” by reports of North Korean soldiers deployed by Russia in fighting in Ukraine, a White House official said.

White House national security council spokesperson Sean Savett said the involvement of North Korean troops in Ukraine, if true, would mark a significant increase in the North Korea-Russia defence relationship.

“Such a move would also indicate a new level of desperation for Russia as it continues to suffer significant casualties on the battlefield in its brutal war against Ukraine,” Savett said in a statement.

North Korea is supplying Russia with ballistic missiles and ammunition, according to Washington. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms transfers but have vowed to boost military ties, possibly including joint drills.

The Kremlin has dismissed the allegation as “fake news.”

A Ukrainian documentary film telling the story of three Ukrainian artists and their life in the war-torn country has received two nominations for the Critics’ Choice Documentary Awards.

Porcelain War, a film directed by Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontiev, was nominated for Best New Documentary Filmmakers and Best Political Documentary, with the winners to be announced on November 10.

The three artists shown in the film – Slava Leontiev, who helped direct the film, his wife Ania Stasenko, and Andrii Stefanov – all remain in Kharkiv, which has sustained heavy Russian attacks since day one of the invasion. They continue to produce porcelain figurines and decorate houses destroyed in the attacks, Ukrainska Pravda reported.

Ukraine is preparing for large-scale Russian attacks on their energy system due to the start of the “heating season”.

Oleksandr Lytvynenko , the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, said according to Interfax-Ukraine: “With the start of the heating season, we can expect large-scale Russian attacks on the energy sector.”

The Ukrainian energy sector has shown its capacity for innovative solutions, Lytvynenko said, adding that the Russians’ intentions to destroyr the Ukrainian economy have not succeeded.

But the Energy Community Secretariat has warned Ukraine it could lose its certification of compliance with European standards, meaning it could lose electricity imports from Europe.

Ukraine’s energy resources are “enough to pass the winter”, prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday.

Shmyhal said on Telegram that Ukraine has 12.2 billion cubic metres of natural gas and 3.1 million metric tons of coal in warehouses.

It comes despite Russian attempts to damage Ukraine’s energy systems ahead of the winter.

There are no intact buildings or shelters left in Toretsk, a town in the region of Donetsk, leaving Russia free to occupy new areas of the embattled down, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said.

“Now the town looks more like a desert planet: there are no shelters for civilians or soldiers, and unfortunately, this allows the enemy to occupy new areas, but on scorched earth,” said Anastasia Bobovnikova, a spokesperson for the Operational Tactical Group Luhansk, on October 14.

Toretsk is around 35 kilometres (20 miles) north of occupied Donetsk and is one of the hottest areas on the eastern front, as Russian troops continue to make slow but steady progress in the region.

DeepState, a crowdsourced monitoring website, reported on October 15 that Russian troops have advanced in Toretsk over the past day, the Kyiv Independent reported.

A Russian missile attack on the southern city of Mykolaiv overnight on Oct. 15 killed a woman and injured at least 23 others, the local authorities said.

Russian forces hit the city with a S-300 anti-aircraft missiles at around 2:30am, The Kyiv Independent reported.

Residential buildings, cars, an industrial facility, restaurant complex and shops were all damaged, according to governor Vitalii Kim.

The Mykolaiv region, which neighbours the Kherson region, has suffered regular Russian attacks. Three Shahed-type drones were downed in the region overnight on October 15, Kim said.

Iran has denied providing ballistic missiles for Russia, condemning the sanctions by the EU and Britain on Tehran.

The EU agreed to impose sanctions on seven people and seven organisations on Monday, including Iran Air, Saha Airlines, Mahan Air and Iran’s deputy defence minister Seyed Hamzeh Ghalandari.

The UK added nine designations to its Iran sanctions regime.

A spokesperson for Iran’s Foreign Ministry, Esmaeil Baghaei, said in a post on X on Tuesday: “Some European countries and the UK have unfortunately claimed without evidence that Iran has militarily intervened in this conflict which is totally refuted.”

Last month, the US said it had shared intelligence with allies that Russia had received ballistic missiles from Iran for its war in Ukraine.

Kyiv’s forces are holding firm as Russian troops attempt to break through their lines in the Kursk region for a fifth straight day, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“For five days now, the Russians have been trying to break through our defence in the Kursk region. Our guys are standing firm and counterattacking,” the Ukrainian president said on X after holding a meeting with Ukraine’s top commander.

Ukraine pressed past Russia’s western region’s border on 6 August and rapidly secured control of 1,300 sq km (501.93 square miles), with over 100 settlements. The initial advance has stalled, and Moscow said it took back several settlements last week.

Ukrainian General Staff said on Facebook the Kursk operation was going on while Moscow’s troops continued hitting Russian territories with guided bombs.