October 13, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russian President Vladimir Putin said to Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday that Turkey was the "most reliable route" for gas to European countries.

"As for other hydrocarbon energy, including gas, our deliveries are in full volume in accordance with your requests," Putin said on the sidelines of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia summit in Astana, Kazakhstan.

"We also carry out transit through Turkey to European countries. Turkey turned out to be the most reliable route for gas supplies to Europe today."

In the same bilateral meeting, Erdogan told Putin that Turkey can help transport Russian grain and fertilizer to less developed countries.

"We can work together on coming up with the list of these countries because more so than the developed countries, we need to look out for the poorer countries," Erdogan said.

"While the steps Turkey and Russia take on this may discomfort some circles, it will make less developed countries happy."

Some context: Russia has been using its natural gas resources to exert economic pressure on European countries, worsening the energy crisis.

Moscow has been toying with supply via key pipelines, and last month there were unexplained leaks in two Russian gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark.

For its part, Turkey played an important role in brokering a deal that saw Russia allow grain exports from key Ukrainian ports to restart in August.

Russian strikes continue, with "kamikaze" drones targeting the Kyiv region and at least two dead in the southern city of Mykolaiv, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky once again calls for more air defenses from Western allies.

Here are the latest headlines:

The bodies of a 31-year-old man and an 80-year-old woman have been found by first responders in the ruins of a residential building hit by Russian strikes in the Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, its mayor said on Thursday.

"So far, rescuers have pulled out the bodies of two dead residents," Oleksandr Senkevych said on his telegram channel.

The search and rescue is still ongoing, according to Senkevych.

According to the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, five more people remain under the rubble. 

"As of 13:00, 9 units of equipment and 37 rescuers were involved," the emergency services said. 

Earlier on Thursday, local officials reported that seven people were missing after the Russian strike.

The Ukrainian national electricity company Ukrenergo said power cuts "were not applied" in Kyiv, the Kyiv region and the entire central region of the country despite ongoing Russian attacks on electricity infrastructure. 

The company does not plan to introduce any further emergency shutdowns on Thursday, according to Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, CEO of Ukrenergo, in a statement.

It comes after strikes across the country targeting energy infrastructure resulted in rolling power outages across Ukraine earlier in the week. 

"Yesterday evening, dispatching constraints were not applied in Kyiv, in the Kyiv region and the entire central region, restrictions were lifted in the Northeastern regions of our country since 7:55 p.m.," said Kudrytskyi Thursday.

Ukrenergo and regional utilities have managed to stabilize the energy supply and residents in central Ukraine reduced consumption, he said. 

"Whether there will be restrictions in the future depends primarily on whether there will be no new shelling and destruction," he said. 

The head of the press office of the Ukrainian energy ministry Larysa Shustenko told CNN that they cannot anticipate when the grid and infrastructure will be fully restored because "attacks continue and some places were hit twice already."

Russia has summoned the ambassadors of Germany, Denmark and Sweden in Moscow over the European investigation of leaks at Nord Stream pipelines, according to Russian state media TASS. 

"Moscow does not recognize any ‘pseudo-results’ of the investigation of the emergency at Nord Stream if Russian specialists do not participate in it," the foreign ministry said, according to TASS. 

European countries were investigating unexplained leaks last month in two Russian gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark — infrastructure at the heart of an energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Several European officials said sabotage appeared to be the likely cause, while Russia, which built the network, did not rule it out. 

The Russian foreign ministry has received information about the "involvement of the United States in the investigation of incidents at Nord Stream," TASS added. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is "a crusade against what Putin calls the collective West," German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Thursday.

"A crusade against liberal democracy, a crusade against the rules based on liberal order, a crusade against freedom and progress. A crusade against our way of life, a crusade against what Putin calls the collective West," he said.

Scholz added that Germany will support Ukraine financially, economically and for humanitarian and military needs.

"Including heavy weaponry, modern air defense system and tanks and make no mistakes we will continue our support as long as it takes," he said.

On Wednesday, Germany’s Economy Minister Robert Habeck said he is convinced Putin's attempt to destabilize Europe's economic order will fail.

"Putin will fail in his attempt to destabilize the basic economic order, the same way he will fail on the battlefield in Ukraine," Habeck said, speaking at a news conference in Berlin. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Moscow is "making every effort to provide critical products" to countries impacted by recent volatility in prices, while speaking at a summit in Kazakhstan on Thursday.

"Other regional associations have to deal with many acute problems, including the increased volatility in world prices for energy resources, food, fertilizers, raw materials and other important goods," Putin said while delivering remarks at the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA) summit in the Kazakh capital Astana.

"This leads to a deterioration in the quality of life in developed and developing countries. Moreover, there is a real threat of famine and widespread social upheaval, especially in the poorest countries."

"Russia, for its part, is making every effort to provide critical products to countries in need. We call for the elimination of all artificial, illegitimate barriers to the restoration of the normal functioning of global supply chains in order to address urgent food security challenges," Putin said.

The Russian leader did not reference the war in Ukraine in his remarks. However, he again criticized NATO for the "failure of their policies," referencing their role in Afghanistan.

"After more than 20 years of the military presence of the United States and NATO [in Afghanistan], the failure of their policies, was unable to independently resolve the problems associated with terrorist threats," Putin said.

Putin said that, together with other Asian countries, Russia is looking to form a "system of equal and indivisible security based on the universally recognized principles of international law of the UN Charter."

Some context: Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in February sent the prices of energy and other commodities soaring.

In the case of wheat, prices later fell back sharply after spiking to an all-time high in March, as investors cheered a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to restart exports of grain from key Ukrainian ports.

However, natural gas prices increased further as Russia toyed with supply to Europe via key pipelines and heat waves pushed up electricity usage, with the economic impact of the war in Ukraine still being felt around the world.

"Kamikaze" drones carried out attacks targeting infrastructure facilities in the Kyiv region, according the head of the regional police. 

Three "kamikaze" drones hit the district of Bucha, the head of Kyiv region police Andrii Nebytov said.

There are no casualties, according to a preliminary assessment.

The police chief did not elaborate on what kind of infrastructure facilities were targeted in Bucha.  

Drones also struck targets in the Makariv community in the Kyiv region overnight, he said. 

Oleksii Kuleba, head of Kyiv region military administration, also posted about the drones on Telegram.

"Today, around 5 am, the Russians carried out an attack on the Kyiv region. In one of the communities of the region, there were three attacks by enemy kamikaze drones on an infrastructure facility. This caused a fire," he said.

"There are no casualties. At 06:45, the fire was localized, there is no open fire. 43 people and 12 units of emergency services equipment were involved in extinguishing the fire," added Kuleba.

He asked residents not to film the location of the attacks or share on social media.

"Do not specify locations and places of incoming hits. Be responsible, because our safety depends on it," Kuleba added.

Some context: Thursday's "kamikaze" drone attacks come after three consecutive days of deadly Russian strikes on civilian targets across Ukraine, including the capital region.

As deadly Russian airstrikes in Ukraine continued into a fourth day, President Volodymyr Zelensky reiterated his plea for more air defense capacities, saying Kyiv has only about 10% of what it needs to combat Moscow’s blitz.

"There is nothing I can add about that, we have about 10% of what we need," Zelensky told European lawmakers.

He called on Western countries such as the United States and France to increase their military aid to Ukraine.

Zelensky’s plea comes amid one of the fiercest bombing campaigns that Russia has waged against Ukraine since invading the country in late February.