Russian President Vladimir Putin was quick to congratulate Xi Jinping on Sunday after the Chinese leader secured a third term as head of the country’s ruling Communist Party. Putin said he looked forward to further developing a “comprehensive partnership and strategic interaction” between the countries.  

A Russian military jet crashed in the Siberian city of Irkutsk, killing its two pilots. It was Russia’s second fighter-jet crash within a week. The Russian defense minister warned counterparts from Turkey and France, without offering evidence, that Ukraine plans to detonate a “dirty bomb.”

The president of Motor Sich, one of Ukraine’s major industrial companies, was arrested and charged with collaborating with Russia by providing military helicopter parts through a web of intermediaries. 

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Ukraine shot down 16 drones on the night of Oct. 23, its defense ministry said Sunday, after Moscow’s troops attacked positions in the south. Eleven drones were destroyed in Mykolaiv region alone. That follows Russia’s extensive missile and drone attacks on Saturday targeted at Ukraine’s electrical grid. Russia is attempting offensives in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions, Ukrainian army spokesman Oleksandr Shtupun said. Kremlin troops continue to shell Ukrainian positions along the line of contact and conduct aerial reconnaissance. Russian forces continued on Saturday to withdraw from Ukraine’s western Kherson region “while preparing to conduct delaying actions that will likely be only partially effective,” said the Institute for the Study of War. 

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