Russia launched another barrage of missile attacks against Ukraine this morning, with local media reporting the sound of two explosions in Lviv and attacks in Kyiv, Kharkiv, Zaporizhia, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, and Poltava.
Anti-aircraft alarms sounded across the whole of Ukraine Monday morning, with Ukrainian media reporting missiles fired from Russian territory and the Caspian Sea region.
Ukrainian media and Telegram channels reported several explosions in Kyiv, with as-yet unconfirmed sources claiming that anti-aircraft defenses had neutralized many of the threats.
In Kharkiv, authorities confirmed that at least two missiles hit critical infrastructure facilities.
Source: Radio Gdańsk
Polish officials have offered to help Ukraine transport goods after Russia halted its role in a deal designed to unblock the export of agricultural products from Ukrainian seaports.
Over the weekend, Russia suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to allow the export of grain and fertilizers from Ukraine.
In a post on Twitter yesterday, the Polish Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that “Poland, together with its EU partners, stands ready to work further to help Ukraine and those in need to transport essential goods.”
Moscow has been accused by many of “weaponizing food,” with the Polish MFA describing “Russia’s decision to halt the Black Sea Grain Initiative” as “proof that Moscow is not willing to uphold any international agreements.”
World leaders, including US President Joe Biden, UN Secretary-General António Guterres, and EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, have all called on Russia to rejoin the export initiative.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinked urged “all parties to uphold this tremendously successful Initiative,” which has transported “more than 9 million metric tons of food from Ukraine and lowered global food prices.”
Source: Radio Poland, Reuters
Polish officials have expressed their condolences after at least 153 people were crushed to death during Halloween celebrations in the South Korean capital of Seoul.
At least 22 foreign nationals from 13 countries were among those killed in the deadly stampede on Saturday in Seoul’s Itaewon district, a popular nightlife area, Reuters news agency reported.
While no Poles were reportedly injured in the stampede, those killed in the disaster included visitors from Norway, France, and Austria, as well as the United States and Australia.
Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Jacek Sasin, who was in Seoul for talks with South Korean officials, extended his “deep condolences to the families of those who died during the tragic events in Seoul,” adding that he “join[s] the South Korean people in their grief.”
The Polish embassy in Seoul lowered its flags to half-mast to honor the victims of the tragedy, according to officials.
On Sunday, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol declared the beginning of a period of national mourning to last “until the accident is brought under control.”
Source: Radio Poland, PAP
Poland’s Ministry of Culture has determined that a rare book recently gifted by French President Emmanuel Macron to Pope Francis was not looted from Nazi-occupied Poland.
Polish culture minister Piotr Gliński announced via Twitter that the book in question, a 19th-century copy of “Projet de Paix Perepetuelle” (Perpetual Peace) by philosopher Immanuel Kant, “is not a Polish war loss” looted from a library In Lviv.
According to Gliński, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage traced the origins of the volume together with Polish and French experts, and “all the evidence suggests that the book was already in France at the turn of the 20th century.”
Gliński went on to point out, however, that “another artwork, J. van Goyen’s “A Dutch River Bank,” which was stolen from the Wrocław collections during World War II, is still in France, at the Musée du Louvre, which has not replied to the Polish culture ministry’s restitution request to this day.”
Source: Radio Poland, Radio Gdańsk
Weather
Today will be cool and mostly cloudy, with very little chance of rain and a slight breeze from the south. Temperatures will peak around a high of 14°C, or 57°F, dropping to a low of 9°C or 49°F overnight. Slightly cooler weather is expected for tomorrow, with a chance for some sunshine returning later in the week.
Elizabeth Peck/jk
