Victorious news of 597th day of war: Russian train blown up in Melitopol, Navy hit Russian ship again, PACE officially recognized Russia as dictatorship

The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces blew up Russian train in Melitopol

In the temporarily occupied city of Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian defenders blew up a railway train carrying ammunition and fuel for the Nazis to the front. This was reported by the press service of the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"On October 13, a unit of the Resistance Movement of the Special Operations Forces successfully completed a task in the temporarily occupied Melitopol. Due to the sabotage actions of Ukrainian fighters, a railway track was destroyed at 07:30. The explosion damaged the railway track and a train carrying ammunition and fuel for the Russian army. Details of the enemy's losses are currently being established," the Security Service of Ukraine said. 

Navy strikes Pavel Derzhavin ship for the second time  

On October 13, Ukrainian Navy struck the Russian patrol ship Pavel Derzhavin for the second time. This was stated by Dmytro Pletenchuk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, Captain 3rd rank, on Espreso. At the same time, he has not yet confirmed the hit on the Russian missile carrier Buyan, which was reported by a number of media outlets citing sources in the Security Service of Ukraine.

"We officially confirm the second hit on the Pavel Derzhavin patrol ship. We also confirm that this ship is leaving this area of the sea and is now heading east. As for other information sources, such as reports about Alrosa and the Buyan-class ship, we cannot officially confirm this information," he said.

PACE officially recognizes Putin as dictator

On October 13, at the autumn session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, MPs supported a resolution officially recognizing Russian President Vladimir Putin as a dictator and his regime as a dictatorship. This was reported by MPs Oleksiy Honcharenko and Yevheniya Kravchuk.

"Putin has been recognized as a dictator, and Russia as a dictatorship!We called on all countries to execute the arrest warrant issued by the ICC and arrest Putin," Honcharenko wrote.

The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe unanimously supported the resolution with 43 votes.

The PACE also made a number of important statements, including on the process of amending the Russian constitution, which allowed Putin to remain in power until 2036.The assembly recognised that the overwhelming power of the Russian president and the lack of checks and balances have turned the country into a de facto dictatorship, Kravchuk explains.

Ukrainian artillery surpasses Russian in number of shots for the first time

Ukrainian artillery has started firing more shells than Russian artillery. This was reported by the official Telegram channel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

"For the first time since the beginning of a full-scale war, Ukraine is firing more artillery shots per day than Russia," the Army said and published an infographic showing the average daily number of artillery shots since the start of the full-scale invasion.

Germany allocates €76 million to protect and restore Ukraine's energy sector

The German government, through the German development bank KfW, has allocated a €76 million grant to Ukrenergo.  This was reported by the company's press service. The funds will be used to finance the construction of engineering protection of substations, installation of new high-voltage equipment, including autotransformers, and modernization of the grid on the border with Europe. 

The relevant agreement was signed on 13 October by Volodymyr Kudrytskyi, Chairman of the Board of NPC Ukrenergo, Almut Alers, Senior Portfolio Manager of KfW, and Michael Evers, Regional Manager for Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia at KfW, in the presence of Martin Jaeger, Ambassador of Germany to Ukraine, and Lorenz Gessner, Head of KfW's Representative Office in Ukraine and Moldova.

"The financing under the grant agreement between KfW and Ukrenergo will support Ukraine's ability to successfully pass this and the following winter seasons by facilitating the rapid restoration and creation of protective structures at substations. And the second winter military aid package from Germany, which includes PATRIOT, IRIS-T and Gepard air defense systems, which was recently disbursed, will help protect critical infrastructure," Martin Jaeger emphasized.