Ukraine invests in firepower as it inflicts a new Russian casualty record

Al Jazeera notes that it cannot independently verify casualty estimates by either side.[2] The outlet reports that Ukraine's military says it has video documentation of each strike.[3]According to Al Jazeera, Defence Minister Yevhenii Khmara this week asked his European allies for funding to double drone production next year to about 16 million units.[3] The outlet also reports that Zelenskyy has said Ukraine could even triple drone production given enough money.[3] Defence Ministry adviser Serhiy Beskrestnov told the outlet: "Mass production and simplicity will overcome technology."[3]Al Jazeera reports that Starlink owner Elon Musk said on October 24 that he had "closed a loophole"[2] that had let Ukraine use Starlink offensively. The outlet says that on October 22, Ukraine and Finland announced they were jointly developing an independent sovereign military satellite system.[2]The Institute for the Study of War, as cited by Al Jazeera, said the 10-day outage caused Ukraine's interception rate to fall from 77 percent to 74 percent.[2] Al Jazeera also reports that a Russian drone struck a train platform in the central city of Dnipro on October 29, killing at least 14 people.[2]Zelenskyy said, according to Al Jazeera, that "prolonged delays in the delivery of interceptor missiles for Patriot and NASAMS systems"[2] are helping Russia.According to Al Jazeera, on October 23, Ukrainian missiles destroyed the main microchip production building of Proton-Electrotex in the city of Orel[2].