Here are the highlights of events related to the war in Ukraine over the past 24 hours:

Blinken: Russia will face "great anger" if the grain deal does not go ahead

Russia will face "great anger" if it abandons a deal that allows grain exports from war-torn Ukraine, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The grain deal between the UN, Moscow and Kyiv is for 120 days and will be in effect until November 19. It specifies the conditions for exporting grain from Ukrainian ports blocked by the war that Russia began in February. This allowed nearly 9 million tons of grain to leave these ports and alleviated the global food crisis caused by the invasion.

But uncertainty over whether the agreement will be renewed has already sent some food prices up. During his visit to Ottawa, Blinken said: "The idea that Russia is now going to say that it doesn't want to continue it, it wants to stop it, I think it will be met with great anger by countries around the world that benefit from Ukrainian grain, especially developing nations in the southern hemisphere. I think it's deeply in everyone's interest to make sure that this grain can continue to come out of Ukraine, and we're certainly going to do everything we can to maintain the agreement," he said.

Blinken noted that two-thirds of the shipments went to countries that "desperately need it."

The parties to the Black Sea Agreement are the United Nations, Ukraine, Russia and Turkey, but the main negotiators in the negotiations for the renewal of grain supplies are the United Nations and Moscow.

A second agreement, signed in parallel in July, allows the export of Russian food and fertilizer despite Western sanctions imposed on Moscow over the invasion. Russia complains that even with the agreement, it is unable to sell these products because of sanctions against its financial and logistics sectors. Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said on Wednesday he was moderately optimistic about the deal going forward.

Zelensky made a video address next to the remains of a downed drone

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, made his next video address standing outside, in the dark, next to the remains of a downed drone.

He stated that widespread Russian attacks will not break the spirit of Ukrainians. Zelensky changed the usual interior for his regular video messages and specified that in two days Kyiv had shot down 23 drones.

Over the past two weeks, Russia has directed dozens of missiles and drones at Ukraine's power grid.

Extensive damage is caused, there is a power outage. The Ukrainian president reported that Russian airstrikes were more than 8,000 and missiles fired - 4,500.

IAEA inspections in Ukraine: Inspectors investigate 'dirty bomb' claims

Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit two sites in Ukraine where Russia says there is activity related to the possible production of "dirty bombs" - claims Kyiv denies.

This was confirmed by the head of the Organization, Rafael Grossi. Conclusions are expected within a few days. At UN headquarters in New York, Grossi briefed members of the Security Council behind closed doors on the nuclear issues related to Ukraine.

He announced that consultations on the establishment of a protected zone around the Zaporizhzhia NPP are continuing. According to him, in the coming weeks the IAEA will send more experts to other nuclear power plants in Ukraine - Rivne and Khmelnytska, in the southern part of the country, as well as Chernobyl.

Putin: The West will start an equal dialogue with us

“The West will start an equal dialogue with us.”

This was announced by Russian President Vladimir Putin during a speech to the Valdai Club on the topic: "The world after hegemony: justice and security for all". The forum was held from October 24 to 27, with a record number of sessions - 17, in which 110 experts, politicians, diplomats and economists from 41 countries took part, "Komsomolskaya Pravda" reported.

"You know, I have always believed and believe in the power of common sense. That is why I am convinced that sooner or later both the new centers of the multipolar world order and the West will have to start an equal dialogue about our common future. And the sooner the better, of course," Putin said.

Before that, the head of state made numerous criticisms against "Western opponents" for "fueling" the war in Ukraine, the assassination of Iranian general Qassem Soleimani, support for Taiwan, the destruction of pipelines in Europe, the world food crisis and even climate change.

"The West has taken multiple steps towards escalation and they are always trying to fuel the war in Ukraine."

Putin accused enemy countries of trying to stop Russia's growth

"The West serves its culture and worldview," Putin said. "They insist that everyone accept these values ​​unconditionally," he added, quoting Solzhenitsyn's 1978 dictum: "The blindness of superiority is characteristic of the West. Over the past half century, this blindness that Solzhenitsyn spoke of, frankly racist and neo-colonial in nature, has taken on simply ugly forms, especially since the emergence of the so-called unipolar world. The West disputes the sovereignty of peoples and nations, their identity, and does not respect the interests of other countries at all."

Putin has accused the West of organizing "color revolutions," which the president says aim to offset the economic and political rise of Southeast Asian countries.

According to him, "tectonic changes" are currently taking place in Africa, Latin America and Asia - countries from the listed continents did not want to be part of the unipolar model imposed by the West after the end of the Cold War. He specifically blamed Europe for not wanting to maintain close relations with "Eurasia".

"We don't want to become a new hegemon," Putin stressed, but added that Russia "reserves its right to develop."

A large part of the President's speech was dedicated to the so-called cancel culture.

"The cancellation of culture is the annulment of culture," Putin said, comparing the West to the Nazis and their practice of burning books.

According to him, Western liberalism "destroys everything alive and creative" and "freezes the freedom of thought". He then quotes Dostoevsky's “Demons”:

"Starting from absolute freedom, I arrive at boundless despotism".

"They ban Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, Tchaikovsky. This is incredible! Cicero's tongue was cut out, Copernicus' eyes were put out, Shakespeare was stoned to death".

Putin: The purpose of the special military operation is to protect the residents of Donbas

After the speech, the attendees had the opportunity to ask the Russian president questions. Here, for the first time, the subject of "Ukraine" was more seriously affected.

Putin once again accused the Ukrainian authorities of violating the Minsk agreements and condemned them for the repression against the residents of Donbas over the past 8 years.

“The shelling continued. What could we do? That's why we started the 'special military operation.'

That is why the accession ‘referendums’ were held”, Putin explained.

“The collapse of the USSR destroyed the balance of the geopolitical world order. The West felt victorious. This period is coming to an end. We are facing a turning point in history: we are facing the most dangerous, unpredictable decade since the end of the Second World War.”

When asked how the special military operation was going, he only indicated that the main task was to help the residents of Donbas.

Putin: The West is subjecting Russia to nuclear blackmail

Putin accused the West of nuclear blackmail, pointing to Russia's data on an alleged "dirty bomb" in Ukraine. Therefore, the head of state ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to warn Western leaders.

"Nuclear provocations, implying that Russia will use nuclear weapons, are used to influence our allies: 'Russia is so scary, you shouldn't cooperate with them anymore, don't buy anything from them.' "We have never said we will use nuclear weapons. We are only responding to the statements of Western leaders."

He pointed out that former British Prime Minister Liz Truss had hinted that the UK was prepared to use nuclear weapons if necessary.

"No one reacts. How can such things be talked about? The leaders in Kyiv constantly say that they want to have nuclear weapons. There are constant talks about the Zaporizhzhia NPP. That we shelled the plant - well, we have troops there."

Putin pointed out that representatives of the IAEA live in the headquarters, who could see with their own eyes where the attacks were coming from.

"They want a nuclear incident to shift responsibility to Russia. I see no other reason," he announced. "We don't need to use a nuclear bomb. The only country that has used nuclear weapons is the US - twice against Japan. Was there a threat to US sovereignty? Japan's war machine was broken, why did they have to use nuclear weapons?"

Despite Putin's assurance that Russia has never threatened to use nuclear weapons, the moderator of the event reminded Putin of the president's comment from 4 years ago that in the event of a nuclear war, "we will all go to heaven."

"We were a bit worried 4 years ago when you said on this forum that we were going to heaven. We weren't in a hurry, were we?" he asked, followed by a pause from Putin. "You've thought about it. It worries us in a way."

"I did it on purpose to make you nervous. The effect was achieved," the president solemnly announced without eliciting a particularly friendly reaction from the audience.

There aren't many things less funny than Vladimir Putin attempting to joke about nuclear war pic.twitter.com/AcqYZs5fBe

— Francis Scarr (@francis_scarr) October 27, 2022

Podolyak: “Every speech of Putin is for Freud”

“Putin's every speech is for Freud.” This was announced on Twitter by the adviser to the Ukrainian president, Mykhailo Podolyak, as a reaction to the Russian head of state's statement at the Valdai club.

"Every speech by Putin can be defined as 'for Freud'. The one who invades a foreign country, annexes its land and commits genocide, accuses countries of violating international law/sovereignty of other countries? There is one truth: ‘Who started wind, will get a storm’. The storm is coming".

In his speech, Putin accused the West of imposing its values on all countries, "fueling" the war in Ukraine, organizing provocations near Taiwan and bearing the blame for the global food crisis.

The War Today: Russia Focuses Efforts in Eastern Ukraine. Summons for foreigners as well

The efforts of the Russian side remain concentrated in the eastern part of Ukraine, according to today's summary of the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

On October 27, Russian forces continued to carry out ground attacks in the Donetsk region. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian attacks in Bakhmut, northeast of Bakhmut near Soledar (13 km northeast of Bakhmut) and south of Bakhmut near Ivangrad (4 km south of Bakhmut) and Majorsk.

A Russian miblogger claims that Russian forces also carried out an attack northeast of Bakhmut near Bakhmutske (11 km northeast of Bakhmut).

Russian sources report that Russian forces currently control Zaitseve (8 km southeast of Bakhmut), although it cannot be independently verified what Russian control of the settlement is. The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces repelled Russian ground attacks southwest of Avdiivka near Krasnohorivka (23 km southwest of Avdiivka) and Mariyka (28 km southwest of Avdiivka).

A Russian blogger claims that Russian forces also carried out an attack in the vicinity of Novomihailovka (37 km southwest of Avdiivka). The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Russian forces continued to conduct routine indirect fire along the contact line in the Donetsk region. Social media sources reported that Ukrainian forces struck fuel tankers at a railway station in Shakhtarsk, Donetsk region, with HIMARS MLRS missiles.

Southern Axis

On October 27, Russian forces continued to conduct routine air, missile and artillery strikes west of Gulyaipole, as well as in Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv regions. Ukrainian sources report that Russian forces have struck the city of Zaporizhzhia, Nikopol and Berenekhuvate. Odesa Oblast spokesman Sergey Bratchuk reports that Russian forces are carrying out drone strikes with over two dozen Shahed-136 drones in Odesa, Mykolaiv and Vinnytsia oblasts on the night of October 26. Bratchuk reports that Ukrainian air defenses shot down 15 Shahed-136 drones in Odesa Oblast, three in Mykolaiv Oblast and one in Vinnytsia Oblast.

Ukrainian forces may have carried out a drone attack on a critical infrastructure site in Russian-occupied Crimea on October 27. The governor of Russian-occupied Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, has claimed that Ukrainian actors may have carried out a drone attack on the Balaklava thermal power plant in Crimea on October 27. A Russian source claimed that the drone strike caused one of the plant's transformers to catch fire.

Summons for foreigners

Moscow continues efforts to increase combat power without conducting a general mobilization, the ISW report also points out.

On October 25, the Russian military sent mobilization notices to foreign nationals working in Russia. The Russian military sent notices to about 26 Uzbek workers at a waste management plant in the Oryol region, who are not legally eligible for military mobilization because they are not Russian citizens. The Uzbek embassy in Moscow released a statement saying the mobilization calls were due to a "technical error" and said the calls had been canceled after contacting the Russian military commissariat. Uzbekistan is a member of the Russian-dominated Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).

Crimea announced the end of the "evacuation" of Kherson, Kadyrov confirmed the death of dozens of Chechens

The head of Crimea, Sergey Aksyonov, announced the completion of the evacuation of civilians from the Kherson region and the end of the evacuation of residents from the left bank of the Dnieper.

Footage in "Telegram" showed the ruler of the annexed peninsula in Kherson together with the first deputy head of the administration of Russia Sergey Kiriyenko. In his words, the two "got acquainted with the work of the Zaporizhzhia NPP" and assessed the general situation in the area.

This means that Aksyonov and Kiriyenko also visited the northern borders of the Russian-controlled part of the Zaporizhzhia region together.

Thousands of civilians have been evacuated from Kherson - in what Ukraine calls a violation of international law - because of the looming battle for the city as part of a Ukrainian counter-offensive. The remaining civilians were offered to enter a new "territorial defense" force.

Ukraine has admitted that its advance towards Kherson has been delayed due to bad weather, but is not giving up on the offensive.

Meanwhile, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov confirmed that 23 fighters from a Chechen unit were killed and 58 wounded in strikes by the Ukrainian army in Kherson region.

Kadyrov, who is among the supporters of a radical escalation with Ukraine, simultaneously reported 70 Ukrainian soldiers killed. The Chechen forces sent by him were important in capturing Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and the southern part of Donetsk region.

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