Russia-Ukraine war – live: Putin says there’s no need for more ‘massive strikes’

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday that Turkey and Russia have instructed their respective energy authorities to immediately begin technical work on a Russian proposal that would turn Turkey into a gas hub for Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has floated the idea of exporting more gas through the TurkStream gas pipeline running beneath the Black Sea to Turkey after gas deliveries to Germany through the Baltic Sea’s Nord Stream pipeline were halted.

Erdogan said Russian and Turkish energy authorities would work together to designate the best location for a gas distribution center, adding that Turkey’s Thrace region, bordering Greece and Bulgaria, appeared to be the best spot.

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An 11-year-old boy was pulled from the rubble of a five-story building, after Russian shelling in the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv.

Regional governor Vitali Kim said the child was trapped for six hours before being rescued by emergency services on Thursday morning (13 October).

Footage shows the boy being pulled out of the rubble before he is taken to hospital in an ambulance.

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Rape and sexual assaults have been used as a deliberate part of Russian “military strategy” in Ukraine, according to a UN envoy.

UN envoy Pramila Patten said that Moscow’s forces were using a “deliberate tactic to dehumanise the victims”.

“When you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy,” she told news agency AFP.

Eleanor Sly reports:

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday there was no need for massive new strikes on Ukraine and that Russia was not aiming to destroy its neighbour.

Speaking to a news conference at the end of a summit in Kazakhstan, Mr Putin said that his call-up of Russian reservists would be over within two weeks, adding he had no plans for a further mobilisation.

He also said again that the Kremlin position that Russia was willing to hold talks, although he said that they would require international mediation if Ukraine was willing to take part.

Taken together, Mr Putin’s comments appeared to suggest a slight softening of his tone as the war nears the end of its eighth month, after weeks of Ukrainian advances and significant Russian defeats.

But he was speaking just a week when Russia has staged its heaviest missile attacks on Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities since the start of its invasion in February - an action that Mr Putin has said was retaliation for an attack that damaged a Russian bridge to occupied Crimea.

“We do not set ourselves the task of destroying Ukraine. No, of course not,” Mr Putin said.

He said there was “no need for massive strikes” now, due to the fact that most designated targets had been hit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that any direct clash of NATO troops with Russia would lead to a "global catastrophe".

"I hope that those who are saying this are smart enough not to take such steps," Mr Putin said at a news conference in the Kazakh capital Astana.

The Belarus defence ministry has said that Russian troops will start arriving in the country in the coming days as part of its joint force, reports Reuters.

The United States on Friday warned it can impose sanctions on anyone - people, countries and companies - that provide ammunition to Moscow or support its military-industrial complex, as Washington seeks to increase pressure on Moscow over the war in Ukraine.

Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo, at a gathering of officials from 32 countries to discuss sanctions on Russia, said the department will issue guidance on Friday and made it clear that Washington is willing and able to impose such a crackdown.

“This morning, Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control is issuing guidance making clear that we are willing and able to sanction people, companies, or countries that provide ammunition to Russia or support Russia’s military-industrial complex,” Mr Adeyemo said in remarks ahead of the meeting,

Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine is slashing European countries’ gas use but will ultimately speed the transition to renewables, a new report claims.

Projections of European gas use by the middle of the century have tumbled from 310 billion cubic metres (bcm) per year predicted one year ago, to 170 bcm now.

This represents a fall in demand by 2050 of 45.2 per cent, according to the report by Norwegian consultancy group DNV.

Harry Cockburn reports:

Vladimir Putin has warned that any direct clash of NATO troops with Russia could lead to a “global catastrophe“.

Speaking at a news conference in the Kazakh capital Astana on Friday, Putin also claimed he had no regrets about invading Ukraine and that Russia’s partial mobilisation of troops should be completed within two weeks.

He said a total of 222,000 reservists would be called-up, down from the 300,000 figure initially quoted by the defence ministry when the order was announced last month.

Eleanor Sly reports:

Kyiv will find a solution to keep the Starlink internet service working in Ukraine, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said.

Elon Musk said earlier today that his rocket company SpaceX could not indefinitely fund Starlink in Ukraine.

“Let’s be honest. Like it or not, @elonmusk helped us survive the most critical moments of war. Business has the right to its own strategies. Ukraine will find a solution to keep #Starlink working. We expect that the company will provide stable connection till the end of negotiations,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter.