Ukraine Update…224 days into the Russian move on the Ukraine…’Playing for the Whistle’….

• Eleven people were killed and 15 injured in a shooting Saturday at a Russian training ground, Russia’s Tass news agency reported, citing the country’s defense ministry. The two people who opened fire during a session in the Belgorod region where volunteer fighters were training were shot and killed shortly after the incident, according to Baza, a Russian Telegram channel.
• Putin said there was “no need for massive strikes” now, after the barrage in Ukraine that Russia cast as retaliation for an explosion on its prized bridgelinking Russia to the annexed Crimean Peninsula. At the end of a summit in Kazakhstan’s capital, Astana, Putin told reporters Friday that his military had hit most of its targets and that it did not seek to “destroy Ukraine.”
• A day after Elon Musk threatened to stop funding Starlink in Ukraine, he appeared to change his mind. The satellite internet service from his SpaceX company has bolstered Ukraine’s communications during the Russian invasion, but on Friday he said the U.S. Defense Department should do more to support it. The Pentagon has paid millions for equipment and transportation costs, The Washington Post reported in April. On Saturday, Musk tweeted that SpaceX would continue funding the service “even though Starlink is still losing money.”
• Ukraine’s grid operator said Russian forces struck energy infrastructure in the Kyiv region, causing “severe destruction.” Ukrenergo said repairs were underway early Saturday to ensure power supply in the capital and its environs, but the operator said there could be emergency shutdowns and asked residents to use electricity sparingly.
• The new U.S. package includes more ammunition for high mobility rocket systems, or HIMARS, precision-guided artillery rounds, antitank weapons and Humvees, according to a Pentagon statement. This package brings the total amount of U.S. security assistance to Ukraine to approximately $17.6 billion during the war. Kyiv’s allies have faced pressure to supply additional sophisticated air defense systems as Ukraine ramps up its calls for the equipment.
• The Washington Post has visualized the scale of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s infrastructure and identified eight energy facilities in six regions that were damaged or destroyed Monday and Tuesday, using social media pictures and videos along with satellite imagery and fire-tracking data. Ukrainian officials are urging citizens to save energy and are warning of a difficult winter.

• Russia’s reservists are “almost certainly” poorly equipped and “are likely required to purchase their own body armor,” the British Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update Saturday. “Endemic corruption and poor logistics remain one of the underlying causes of Russia’s poor performance in Ukraine,” it added.
• On Friday and Saturday, Russian forces attacked several regions of Ukraine, with some of the attacks were carried out with drones supplied by Iran, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Saturday. He added that crews were working to restore energy and water supplies in the liberated areas of Kharkiv, Kherson and Donetsk.
• The World Health Organization has confirmed 620 attacks on health-care facilities or workers in under eight months of war. The WHO director for Europe also said that the “brutal winter” could worsen conditions for Ukraine’s most vulnerable, including people who were displaced or are without heating.
• Power has returned to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. The head of the U.N. watchdog, Rafael Mariano Grossi, called this “a much-needed development” after the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, lost access to external electricity twice in the past week. He added that a security zone was “urgently needed” to help prevent an accident at the site, which is controlled by Russian forces near the front line in Ukraine…..

More…