Russia-Ukraine conflict: Record of key occasions, day 968

Because the conflict enters its 968th day, these are the primary developments.

Right here is the scenario on Sunday, October 20, 2024.

Preventing

• Ukraine launched a sequence of drones focusing on Moscow and western Russia, in accordance with regional officers.
• Russian air defence items downed 110 Ukrainian drones over Russia, the Ministry of Defence stated, together with one over the Moscow area, 43 over the border area of Kursk, and 27 over the southwestern Lipetsk area.
• Russia’s air defence items destroyed no less than one drone flying in the direction of the capital, Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin stated on the Telegram messaging app, whereas drone particles sparked a number of short-lived fires in Lipetsk, the regional governor stated on the app. No accidents or important injury have been reported from the assaults.
• 4 firefighters suffered minor shrapnel wounds in a Ukrainian drone assault in an industrial zone within the metropolis of Dzerzhinsk in Russia’s Nizhny Novgorod area, the regional governor stated.
• Ukraine’s air defence items responded to a Russian air assault on Kyiv, the mayor of the Ukrainian capital stated late on Saturday. “Keep in shelters!” Vitali Klitschko stated on Telegram.
• Russian forces took over the village of Zoryane in Ukraine’s jap Donetsk area, the Interfax information company reported citing Russia’s Defence Ministry.
• North Korean troops supporting Russia in its conflict can be a “enormous” escalation threat, Ukraine’s International Minister Andrii Sybiha stated. Ukrainian officers launched a video allegedly displaying dozens of North Korean recruits lining as much as accumulate Russian navy fatigues in an unknown location. United States Secretary of Protection Lloyd Austin stated he couldn’t verify experiences of North Korean troops, including such a transfer can be regarding.

Diplomacy

• The defence ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) nations backed Ukraine’s “irreversible” path to NATO membership. The assembly in Naples, Italy on Saturday marked the G7’s first ministerial assembly devoted to defence.
• Russia stated Ukraine’s admission to NATO would make a political and diplomatic decision of the battle not possible and result in its escalation, the RIA information company reported, citing Russia’s Ministry of International Affairs.
• French International Minister Jean-Noel Barrot pledged help for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s “victory plan” for ending the conflict with Russia via negotiations, telling reporters in Kyiv that he would work with Ukrainian officers to get different international locations to again the proposal as properly.