War in Ukraine: Reports say Russia suffered 'irrecoverable losses' of over 90k soldiers; fresh attacks on Kyiv

The Ukraine-Russia war has been going on for over seven months now. Russia has stepped up aggressive attacks on Ukrainian cities this week, hitting civilian structures and causing civilian deaths. The United Nations and Western countries are up in arms against Russia's aggression. 

In the latest: According to some reports, Russia has lost over 90,000 soldiers to either death or injuries. Some of them are unaccounted for or missing.

• The Kyiv region was struck by Iranian-made kamikaze drones early on Thursday morning, sending rescue workers rushing to the scene as residents awoke to air raid sirens for the fourth morning in a row, reported AP. It was not yet clear if there were any casualties.
• UN General Assembly in New York overwhelmingly voted to condemn Russia's "attempted illegal annexation" of four regions in Ukraine. 
• The UNGA demanded that Russia immediately reverses its actions including the "sham" referendums conducted by it.  

Who voted how? Out of 193 countries, 143 voted to condemn Russia on its annexations, 35 countries chose to abstain from the vote and only 5 voted against condemning Moscow. 

Grateful to 143 states that supported historic #UNGA resolution "Territorial integrity of Ukraine: defending the principles of the UN Charter". The world had its say - RF’s attempt at annexation is worthless & will never be recognized by free nations. 🇺🇦 will return all its lands pic.twitter.com/FupYPfZz8M

— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 12, 2022

• Only North Korea, Nicaragua, Belarus and Syria other than Russia voted against the resolution.
• India and China, allies of Russia, were among those who chose to abstain from the vote. 
• India has long reiterated its neutral stance in the war and urged for peace from both sides. 

India deeply concerned at escalation of conflict in Ukraine, including targeting of civilian infrastructure & deaths of civilians. We've consistently advocated that no solution can ever arrive at the cost of human lives: Ruchira Kamboj, Permanent Representative to UN at UNGA pic.twitter.com/fvWzACCKHH

— ANI (@ANI) October 12, 2022

• Reportedly, Western countries engaged in extensive lobbying behind-the-scenes before the vote to get most member countries to condemn Russia. 

How is Russia faring in the war? Not great. According to report in the Moscow Times, over 90,000 Russian soldiers have died, cannot be accounted for, or have suffered such serious injuries that they are unable to return to service.

• When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, it reportedly sent 190,000 personnel. Now, Russia is said to have lost nearly half of its strength.

90,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, seriously wounded or gone missing in Ukraine, FSB & former intel sources tell (normally trustworthy) @istories_media.

That's almost 2x Soviet casualties in Afghanistan. https://t.co/W3EB07EA8o

— Alec Luhn (@ASLuhn) October 12, 2022

• It is unknown how many personnel were deployed later during the war. Kremlin has issued a 'partial' mobilisation which makes it mandatory for abled Russian men to join the military to fight the war in Ukraine. 
• The conscription resulted in thousands of Russian men fleeing the country. 

More missile strikes in Ukraine: The outcome of the UNGA vote in New York has irked Kremlin, which responded with more missile strikes in Ukraine on Thursday, October 13. 

• Missile strikes were reported in Mykolaiv city in southern Ukraine. 

What are the recent concerns about Ukraine's nuclear plant? Europe's largest nuclear plant in Zaporizhzhia had lost all external power on Wednesday, a second time in the last 5 days. 

UPDATE—I've been informed by our team on site that external power to #Zaporizhzhya NPP is restored. #ZNPP's operator says this morning's outage was caused by shelling damage to a far off sub-station, highlighting how precarious the situation is. We need a protection zone ASAP. https://t.co/Idi8BimvGR

— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) October 12, 2022

• Power was restored hours later, but the frequent loss of power at the nuclear plant has the world worried about the consequences and potential nuclear accidents.
• The recent power cut happened due to shelling near the nuclear plant. 

Economic help for Ukraine: IMF is creating a focus group to cater to Ukraine's economic needs as its battles Russian invasion. 

• IMF estimates Ukraine will need $3-$4 billion per month to finance its budget.