Breaking news: Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won the presidential election in Brazil, defeating incumbent rightwing leader Jair Bolsonaro and setting the stage for a return to leftwing governance in Latin America’s largest nation on.ft.com/3sJ8zmB

Western countries slam Russia’s decision to exit Black Sea grain deal on.ft.com/3SUocCm

Kyiv wartime/Halloween decor.

“Occupant. Return to Russia.”

Two weeks before the G20 summit…

Russia pulls plug on UN deal to allow exports of Ukrainian grain

ft.com/content/3e700f…

How does looting actually work? For weeks we have investigated the grain trade out of occupied Ukraine - finding a rare trove of documents, and a complex shadow operation by private companies and arms of the Russian state itself.
w Chris Cook+Laura Pitel
ft.com/content/89b06f…

The latest from me, Polina Ivanova and Laura Pitel (with help from the great Yörük Işık). We saw docs giving us a rare look inside the machinery of how Russian institutions build cover stories for goods stolen from Ukraine to get past customs officers: on.ft.com/3zqc0CE

Ukraine is a reliable ally for all the world. 🇺🇦 is ready to continue shipping foodstuffs to ensure global food security. The world should not be held hostage to Russia's whims, hunger cannot be a weapon. Together with civilized world we can stop the Russian terrorist regime.

Russia pulls plug on UN deal to allow exports of Ukrainian grain on.ft.com/3gJsZsS

52 Ukrainians were released from Russian captivity. According to the report of the head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak, among them are officers, medics, sergeants and soldiers.

Bond/Hollywood-level stuff here. This seems to confirm Ukraine attacked Russia’s navy in Sevastopol today. Ukrainian journalist Andriy Tsaplienko publishes video of Kyiv’s marine attack drone. Helicopter tries to shoot it out of the water as it zigs and zags past a small boat.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba reacts to Russia backing out of the crucial grain deal brokered by the UN to export agriculture goods from Ukraine’s ports. Moscow says it’s backing out because of a Ukrainian attack on occupied Sevastopol, Crimea.

We have warned of Russia’s plans to ruin the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Now Moscow uses a false pretext to block the grain corridor which ensures food security for millions of people. I call on all states to demand Russia to stop its hunger games and recommit to its obligations.

The 25-year-old son of a sailor who died aged 26 in the Kursk submarine disaster has himself been killed in Ukraine, Russian media report
kommersant.ru/doc/5643988

'You can’t overestimate the fear and stress that haunts the people of Kyiv and residents of other cities at this time.' Read Andrei Kurkov in Financial Times. ft.com/content/1cb9e6…

In my first story for The Washington Post, I dug into what we know about the #Belgorod shooting and what it tells us about Russia’s forced mobilization of migrant workers:

“In a war, they are the first victims, because they are defenseless”

washingtonpost.com/world/2022/10/…

When we met Daniil last week, he used his small crutches, to gesture toward the stains on the cement in entryway to his apartment building and told us that it was his and his mother’s blood. They were hit by cluster munitions this spring, nytimes.com/2022/10/28/wor…

Shoigu has just announced the end of mobilisation - Putin has yet to sign a decree to make it official.
Meanwhile, Russia clearly called up more men than the 300,000 mobilisation target that Shoigu revealed this afternoon. Mediazona had an excellent data investigation this week👇