It is day 594 of the war in Ukraine. Russia launched Shahed drone strikes on the Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions of Ukraine overnight. A 60-year-old man accused of carrying out reconnaissance for Russia was released from custody in Sweden. Russia’s UN ambassador Vasily Nebenzya said that a “high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist’s funeral” has been targeted in a recent missile attack that left 52 people dead.

Novaya-Europe’s news roundup will brief you on the main developments overnight.

Odesa attacked by drones overnight

A Russian drone strike caused at least one explosion in the Ukrainian city of Odesa overnight, the Ukrainian General Staff said on Tuesday.

According to the General Staff, 27 of the 36 drones that attacked the Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions were destroyed by Ukrainian air defences, and there have been no reported casualties or damage.

The attack reportedly came from the south. Air raid sirens were sounded in the Odesa, Mykolaiv, and Kherson regions.

60-year-old accused of spying for Russia released from custody in Sweden

A 60-year-old Russian man on trial for his alleged intelligence gathering in Sweden for Russia’s military intelligence agency, the GRU, has been released from custody by a court in Stockholm, Swedish broadcaster SVT reported on Monday.

On 28 September, the court ruled to keep the man in custody until sentencing, however on 9 October, the same court ruled he could be released. According to SVT, the sentencing is scheduled to take place on 28 October.

Investigators believe that the unnamed man spent 10 years gathering information and acquiring technologies for the Russian military industry through a network of companies in an effort to bypass Western sanctions.

In late November 2022, the Swedish police detained the man and his wife in the suburbs of Stockholm, although the wife was later released. The operation to detain the two involved the military, special forces, and a Defence Ministry helicopter. The couple, originally from the Russian city of Perm, migrated to Sweden 25 years ago and obtained Swedish citizenship.

Russia’s Dossier Center and Swedish media outlet Expressen identified the pair as Sergey Skvortsov and Elena Kulkova, and alleged they had connections to the Radioexport company, owned by Russia’s state-owned defence conglomerate Rostec, as well as to other GRU employees.

Russian UN representative attempts to justify Hroza missile strike

Russia’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Vasily Nebenzya attempted to justify a missile strike on the Kharkiv village of Hroza that killed 52 people last week by saying that the funeral of a leading Ukrainian nationalist was being held in the building at the time of the attack.

“As we know, when the strike hit, there was a funeral of a high-ranking Ukrainian nationalist. Of course, plenty of his neo-Nazi accomplices were taking part,” Nebenzya told the UN Security Council in a Monday briefing. “It is no coincidence that in pictures that were posted on social media after the strike, almost all dead bodies are men of conscription age,” he added, without specifying the source of his information.

On 5 October, 52 people, including a child, were killed in the Russian missile strike on the village of Hroza.