As shelling continued across Ukraine, including the capital, kyiv accused Russia of preparing a “mass deportation” of the population of the recently annexed territories. In the Kherson region, in southern Ukraine, the Russian administration began to move, Wednesday, October 19, “50,000 to 60,000” people in a few days, on the other bank of the Dnieper. But for the secretary of the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov, we are rather witnessing “the preparation of the mass deportation of the Ukrainian population” to Russia “in order to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territories”.
The Ukrainian president warned the inhabitants of the annexed regions against a campaign of forced recruitment by the Russian army. “Try to leave the occupied territory. And if you can’t do it and end up in Russian military units, try at the first opportunity to lay down your arms and go towards the Ukrainian positions,” he launched. Follow our live.
Ukraine restricts its energy consumption. To cope with the destruction of its infrastructure by the Russian army at the approach of winter, Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called on the population to prepare for “all possible scenarios”. “We expect Russian terror to be directed against energy installations until, with the help of our partners, we are able to destroy 100% of missiles and drones”he added.
Russia and Iran deny the supply of drones. Russia and Iran have strongly denied any supply by Tehran of armed drones to Moscow. One after another, the Russian deputy ambassador to the United Nations, Dmitry Polianski, and the Iranian ambassador, Amir Said Iravani, followed each other in front of the press at the door of the Security Council, after two hours of meeting behind closed doors on the issue of Iranian drones in Ukraine. The Russian diplomat blasted “baseless accusations, conspiracy theories” and asserted that the drones “were made in Russia“. The Iranian ambassador for his part swept aside “unsubstantiated and insubstantial allegations”, repeating that his country wanted a “peaceful settlementof the Ukrainian conflict.
EU prepares sanctions against Tehran. Tehran has repeatedly denied in recent days supplying arms and drones to Russia for its operations in Ukraine. But on the ground, the kyiv Air Force said on Wednesday that it had destroyed 223 Iranian drones since mid-September. Similarly in Brussels, the spokeswoman for European diplomacy, Nabila Massrali, announced that the EU had gathered “enough evidence” demonstrating that the drones used by Moscow were supplied by Tehran. She said that the 27 were preparing “a clear, rapid and firm European response”. A list of sanctions has been submitted to them and a decision is awaited. “in the course of the week”according to a diplomatic source.