Ukraine reports most extensive Russian shelling this year Russia has shelled more than 100 settlements within the last 24 hours, more than in any single day so far this year, Ukraine said on Wednesday. Moscow has fired millions of shells on cities, towns and villages since it launched its full-scale invasion last February, reducing several to rubble across the eastern part of the country, according to Agence France-Presse. “Over the last 24 hours, the enemy shelled 118 settlements in 10 regions,” Ukraine’s interior minister, Igor Klymenko, said on social media. “This is the highest number of cities and villages that have come under attack since the start of the year,” he added. These claims have not yet been independently verified. Closing summary Ukraine’s commander-in-chief said the war with Russia was moving to a new stage of positional warfare involving static and attritional fighting, a phase he warned could benefit Moscow. The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, told a prank caller posing as an African leader that there was “a lot of tiredness” over the war in Ukraine and that she had some ideas up her sleeve on how to “find a way out”. More than 260 civilians have been killed in Ukraine after stepping on mines or other explosives during the 20-month-old war with Russia, Ukraine’s military said. Russia has shelled more than 100 settlements within the last 24 hours, more than in any single day so far this year, Ukraine said on Wednesday. A Russian attack on Kherson in eastern Ukraine killed one person and injured two others, the region’s governor said earlier, with a Russian drone strike reportedly killing another civilian in Nikopol. These claims have not been independently verified. South Korea’s top spy agency believes North Korea sent more than a million artillery shells to Russia since August to help fuel Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine, according to a lawmaker. Russia launched a score of drones and a missile in an overnight attack that targeted military and critical infrastructure, Ukraine’s air force said, while regional officials said the Kremenchuk oil refinery was hit. Ukraine needs new military capabilities as war moves to attritional fighting, says army chief Ukraine’s commander-in-chief has said the war with Russia was moving to a new stage of positional warfare involving static and attritional fighting, a phase he warned could benefit Moscow and allow it to rebuild its military power. In an article for the Economist, top general Valerii Zaluzhnyi said the Ukrainian army needed key new military capabilities and technology, including air power, to break out of that kind of war. He also called for Ukraine to build up its army reserves and expand the categories of Ukrainian citizens who can be called up for training or to be mobilised. Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has said that Ukraine is losing the war despite supplies of new weapons from Nato, BBC News reports. He reportedly said that Ukraine was suffering heavy losses as it tried to push into Russian-held areas of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Donetsk. These claims have not been independently verified. The ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine has said that H&M will be returning to the country in November. It posted on Telegram: This week, our diplomats in Stockholm received final confirmation that Ukrainian H&M stores, which were closed in connection with the full-scale invasion of Russia, will begin to resume operations already in November of this year. Corruption, along with low salaries and pensions, ranks as the top concern of Ukrainians besides Russia’s ongoing war, a poll released by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology has found, according to the Kyiv Independent. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, will visit Turkey on Sunday, according to a Turkish diplomatic source. Blinken will be in the Turkish capital of Ankara on 5 November, the source said, Reuters reports. ‘Tiredness on all sides’ over war in Ukraine, Italian PM tells prank caller The Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, told a prank caller posing as an African leader that there was “a lot of tiredness” over the war in Ukraine and that she had some ideas up her sleeve on how to “find a way out”. Meloni’s office confirmed she had been “misled” into the phone call – reportedly by two Russian comedians – that took place on 18 September “by an impostor who passed himself off as the president of the African Union Commission”. According to reports in the Italian press, the callers were two Russian comedians, Vladimir Kuznetsov and Alexei Stolyarov, jointly known as Vovan and Lexus, one of whom presented himself to Meloni as “an African politician”. Vovan and Lexus, who are strongly pro-Russia, have been accused of having links to Russian intelligence services, although there is no evidence to substantiate the allegation. A recording of the call was published on the Canadian video-sharing platform Rumble before being picked up by the Russian state-owned news agency Ria Novosti. “There is a lot of tiredness on all sides,” Meloni is heard saying regarding Russia’s war in Ukraine. “The moment is approaching when everyone will understand that we need a way out. The Democratic majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has said the US Senate will vote on Wednesday on three bills laying out funding plans for agriculture, military and veterans affairs, and transportation, for the fiscal year ending 30 September 2024. More than 260 civilians killed after stepping on mines or other explosives More than 260 civilians have been killed in Ukraine after stepping on mines or other explosives during the 20-month-old war with Russia, Ukraine’s military has said. Kyiv estimates that 174,000 sq km (67,000 sq miles) of the country – about a third of its territory – is potentially strewn with mines or dangerous war detritus, Reuters reports. At least 571 people have been injured in more than 560 incidents involving mines or explosive objects left behind during the conflict, the general staff said on social media. Almost a quarter of the incidents occurred in fields, it added. In August, Ukraine’s former defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said Ukraine was the most heavily mined country in the world, with its army then suffering from a critical shortage of men and equipment able to clear the frontlines. The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, has said that attention will not be diverted from Ukraine. Posting to X, formerly Twitter, he wrote: