Russia-Ukraine war live news: many Russian reservists ‘likely’ buying their own body armour, says UK

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Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine was “stronger than ever” and would emerge victorious in its war with Russia, as Ukraine marked its first Defenders Day since Moscow invaded.

The Ukrainian president said in a video address to mark the public holiday on Friday:

On October 14 we express our gratitude … gratitude to everyone who fought for Ukraine in the past, and to everyone who is fighting for it now; to all who won then, and to everyone who will definitely win now.

Agence France-Presse also quoted Zelenskiy as saying in respect of western aid:

The world is with us, more than ever. This makes us stronger than ever in history.

The president’s address came as Vladimir Putin said Moscow was “doing everything right” in its war in Ukraine, despite defeats in which Kyiv’s forces have been clawing back territory in the east and south.

Vladimir Putin has said Moscow is “doing everything right” in its war in Ukraine despite a string of embarrassing defeats.

The Russian president’s comments on Friday came hours after Kremlin-installed officials in the southern region of Kherson urged residents to leave after Kyiv said its forces were advancing on the region’s main city of Kherson, Agence France-Presse reported.

Moscow also hinted at the extent of the damage dealt to the Crimea bridge connecting to Russia following an explosion last weekend, saying it could take many months to complete repairs.

Putin said after a summit in the Kazakhstan capital:

What is happening today is not pleasant. But all the same [if Russia hadn’t attacked in February] we would have been in the same situation, only the conditions would have been worse for us. So we’re doing everything right.

He acknowledged, however, that Russia’s ex-Soviet allies were “worried”.

Many Russian reservists called up to fight in Ukraine are probably having to buy their own body armour – and its prices have soared, the latest British intelligence briefing says.

The UK Ministry of Defence also said in its daily update that “endemic corruption and poor logistics” remained a key cause of Russia’s “poor performance” in Ukraine.

The ministry said the average amount of personal equipment Russia was providing to its mobilised reservists was “almost certainly lower than the already poor provision of previously deployed troops”.

It tweeted:

Many reservists are likely required to purchase their own body armour, especially the modern 6B45 vest, which is meant to be on general issue to combat units as part of the Ratnik personal equipment programme.

The ministry said the vest had been selling on Russian online shopping sites for 40,000 roubles (about US$640 or ?570), up from about 12,000 roubles in April.

It said that in 2020 Russian authorities announced that 300,000 sets of the Ratnik armour had been supplied to its military – “ample to equip the force currently deployed in Ukraine”.

Welcome to our continuing daily coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Here is a summary of the main recent developments:

Vladimir Putin said he believed the “partial mobilisation” of army reservists would be completed in two weeks. The Russian president said after attending a summit in Kazakhstan on Friday that a total of 222,000 reservists would be called up, down from the 300,000 figure initially circulated after the order last month.

The Belarus defence ministry said Russian troops would start arriving in the country “in the next few days” as part of its joint force.

The US and Germany are to deliver sophisticated anti-aircraft systems to Kyiv this month to counter attacks using Russian missiles and kamikaze drones, Ukraine’s defence minister said.Oleksiy Reznikov said Ukraine would receive the Iris-II air defence system from Germany this month.

A Russian submarine has reportedly been spotted off the French coast and escorted by the French navy. The submarine was spotted sailing on the surface off the Brittany coast at the end of September, the French navy said on its Twitter feed. It said British and Spanish warships had also been involved in monitoring the submarine’s movements.

Putin has called for the humanitarian corridors for Ukrainian grain to be closed if they are used for “acts of terror”. At a news conference in the Kazakh capital of Astana he also said there was “no need” for talks with the US president, Joe Biden.

A Ukrainian member of Kherson’s regional council has condemned Russia’s “evacuation” of the occupied city, saying it is in fact a “deportation”. The council member also said it was an evacuation for collaborators, urging residents to go to Ukrainian-controlled territory if they could.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has responded to criticism from the Ukrainian government calling for immediate access to all PoWs, saying: “We share the frustration regarding our lack of access to all prisoners of war.” Its comments came after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, accused the ICRC of inaction in upholding the rights of Ukrainian prisoners and called on it to visit the Olenivka camp in eastern Ukraine, where dozens of Ukrainian PoWs died in an explosion and fire in July.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX says it can no longer pay for critical satellite services in Ukraine, according to CNN. SpaceX is reportedly asking the US government to start paying instead.

The US will send munitions and military vehicles to Ukraine as part of a new $725m security assistance package, the defence department said on Friday. The package is the first since Russia’s barrage of missiles fired on civilian population centres in Ukraine this week, Reuters reports, and will bring total US security assistance since Russia’s invasion to $17.5bn.

Democrats on Capitol Hill have suggested transferring US weapons systems in Saudi Arabia to Ukraine and suspending a planned transfer of Patriot missiles to Riyadh in the wake of what they call a “turning point” in Washington’s relationship with the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia will provide $400m in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Saudi state news agency SPA said. It added that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Zelenskiy on Friday, Reuters reported.

A newly discovered hacking group has attacked transportation and logistics companies in Ukraine and Poland with a novel kind of ransomware, Microsoft said on Friday. The attackers targeted a wide range of systems within an hour on Tuesday, Microsoft said in a blog post, adding it had not been able to link the attacks to any known group yet. Notably, however, researchers found the hacks closely mirrored earlier attacks by a Russian government-linked cyber team.

Oleh Synyehubov, the governor of Kharkiv, said two 16-year-old boys were among those injured by Russian shelling in the region in the last 24 hours.

The UK Ministry of Defence said that “Russia continues to prosecute offensive operations in central Donbas and is, very slowly, making progress”. The ministry said that “in the last three days, pro-Russian forces have made tactical advances towards the centre of the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk Oblast” and “likely advanced into the villages of Opytine and Ivangrad to the south of the town”.