Putin seen in China accompanied by the nuclear briefcase. Russian missile strikes on Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovska regions kill six. Ukraine\u2019s Security Service launches drone attack on military camp in Russia\u2019s Kursk region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Tuesday and met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Wednesday. He also attended the Belt and Road Forum in Beijing, alongside the leaders of Vietnam, Thailand, Mongolia and Laos. Both Putin and Xi avoided making explicit references to the Israel-Hamas war and Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later, Putin said he talked for three hours with Xi, and that they discussed issues including Ukraine and the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, has welcomed his \u201cdear friend\u201d Vladimir Putin to Beijing, kicking off a multilateral summit. Xi lauded his Belt and Road Initiative presenting it as an alternative development model for the world and saying it \u201cestablished a new framework for international cooperation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe political mutual trust between the two countries is continuously deepening,\u201d Xi said, praising \u201cthe close and effective strategic coordination\u201d that the two countries have maintained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pictures show Vladimir Putin in Beijing accompanied by Russian officers carrying the so-called nuclear briefcase that can be used to order a nuclear strike. Russia\u2019s nuclear briefcase, known as the \u201cCheget\u201d after Mount Cheget in the Caucasus Mountains, is traditionally carried by a naval officer and is with the president at all times, but is rarely filmed or photographed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti first posted the footage of Putin on its Telegram account for Kremlin pool journalists, writing underneath the video: \u201cThere are certain suitcases without which no trip of Putin\u2019s is complete.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The briefcase is a communication tool that links the president to his military top brass and thence to rocket forces via the highly secret \u201cKazbek\u201d electronic command-and-control network. Caucasian names are used as code names in the nuclear sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overnight on October 18, Russia launched six S-300 missiles at Zaporizhzhia, killing five people and injuring five others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The strike damaged around 30 apartment buildings, smashing windows. Also, 11 private houses, two educational and two healthcare facilities were damaged, the city authorities said, adding that they continue to inspect the buildings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Residents of a heavily damaged building were evacuated. They were warmed and offered psychological support, the message reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Russia launched another missile strike on Wednesday, damaging private houses in the town of Obukhivka in Dnipropetrovska region, killing one person, and injuring four others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ukraine\u2019s Security Service carried out a drone strike on a Russian military camp near the Khalino airfield in Russia\u2019s Kursk region overnight on October 18, a source in the service told Ukrainska Pravda. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There were up to three thousand troops and around 80 pieces of military equipment deployed in the camp near the village of Postoyalye Dvory. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Drones hit at least 18 targets in the camp. The number of Russian losses is being clarified, the source said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n