German Defense Minister makes surprise visit to Ukraine; Major explosion at Russian air base.

According to The Guardian, on October 1st (local time), German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht made an unannounced visit to the port city of Odesa. This was Lambrecht's first visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its special operations.

According to information from the German Ministry of Defence, Ms. Lambrecht will meet with her Ukrainian counterpart, Mr. Oleksii Reznikov. Minister Lambrecht will announce the transfer of the IRIS-T air defense system during this visit.

German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht in Ukraine. Photo: Twitter

A source from Ukraine said that Kyiv also wants to discuss the transfer of Leopard battle tanks with Berlin, as no NATO country has directly supplied Ukraine with modern tank models. Germany appears to be looking to make agreements through third parties who will supply heavy weapons to Ukraine, in exchange for defense support from Berlin.

A large explosion occurred at a Russian air base in Crimea.

According to Pravda, on October 1st (local time), a large explosion occurred at the Belbek air base in Sevastopol, Crimea.

Eyewitness footage shows a thick plume of smoke rising into the air. According to the head of Crimea, the incident was caused by a plane experiencing landing problems.

"An emergency has occurred at Belbek base. An aircraft experienced problems during landing and caught fire; rescue forces are currently working urgently," Governor Mikhail Razvozhaev reported.

Russia stops supplying natural gas to Italy.

According to RT, on October 1st, Russia's Gazprom announced a temporary suspension of gas supplies to Italy. The reason given was "the inability to transit gas through Austrian territory."

Information from Gazprom indicates that the flow through Austria has been temporarily halted because its Austrian partner refused to confirm a plan for transiting the gas to Italy. Meanwhile, Gazprom's Austrian pipeline operator, Gas Connect Austria, has not commented on the matter.

Chechen leader suggests Russia use nuclear weapons.

According to Reuters, Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Chechen Republic in Russia, suggested that Moscow should consider the possibility of using light nuclear weapons. This statement came after Russia was forced to withdraw its troops from the town of Lyman.

"I think we need more drastic measures, including declaring martial law in border areas and using small-scale nuclear weapons," Kadyrov said.