[🇧🇩] Monitoring Russian and Ukraine War.

[Saif]

US, UK vow to work for Ukraine’s victory

The US and British top diplomats yesterday vowed to work together for Ukraine’s victory as they discussed further easing rules on firing Western weapons into Russia, whose alleged acquisition of Iranian missiles has raised new fears.

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US, UK vow to work for Ukraine’s victory
Top diplomats of the nations discuss long-range arms supply to Ukraine

The US and British top diplomats yesterday vowed to work together for Ukraine's victory as they discussed further easing rules on firing Western weapons into Russia, whose alleged acquisition of Iranian missiles has raised new fears.

In a rare joint trip, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken took the nine-hour train from Poland to Kyiv alongside Foreign Secretary David Lammy, whose two-month-old Labour government has vowed to keep up Britain's role as a key defender of Ukraine.

At three-way talks with their Ukrainian counterpart, Blinken said the visit sent a "strong message that we are committed to Ukraine's success, committed to Ukraine's victory".

Lammy also promised British support until the war of "Russian imperialism and aggression come to an end" and called attacks that have killed Ukrainians "horrific, barbaric, unbelievable".

"The only person that gains from any sense that we are not together" is Russian President Vladimir Putin, Lammy said.

The trip comes at a fraught time for Ukraine, with Russia advancing on the key logistics hub of Pokrovsk in the eastern Donetsk region and a month after Kyiv launched a shock counter-offensive into Russia's Kursk region.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has ramped up his requests over recent months to the West to provide weapons with more firepower and fewer restrictions.

US President Joe Biden, asked in Washington whether he would let Ukraine use longer-range weapons for strikes on Russian targets, said: "We're working that out right now."

Biden, while strongly supportive of Ukraine, has previously made clear he wants to avoid devolving into direct conflict between the United States and Russia, the world's two leading nuclear powers.

Blinken, speaking Tuesday in London alongside Lammy, said the United States was committed to providing Ukraine with "what they need when they need it to be most effective in dealing with the Russian aggression".

Asked how Moscow would respond to such a development, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Wednesday the response "will be appropriate," without providing specific details.

He said the authorisation of Ukrainian strikes on Russian territory would serve as "further proof" of why Moscow launched its offensive, which he said was itself an "answer" to the West's support for Ukraine.​

 

[Saif]

Biden, Starmer meet as Russia warns over long-range missiles for Ukraine

The leaders of Britain and the United States meet on Friday in Washington on whether to let Kyiv fire Western-provided long-range missiles into Russia — an option that has sent...

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Biden, Starmer meet as Russia warns over long-range missiles for Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Washington 14 September, 2024, 01:04

The leaders of Britain and the United States meet on Friday in Washington on whether to let Kyiv fire Western-provided long-range missiles into Russia — an option that has sent tensions soaring with Moscow.

Prime minister Keir Starmer’s visit to president Joe Biden comes with Kyiv increasingly pushing for permission to use the weapons — and secure Western help shooting down Russian missiles and drones.

But president Vladimir Putin has warned that giving Ukraine the green light to use long-range weapons would mean NATO was ‘at war’ with Moscow.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin’s message was unambiguous: ‘We have no doubt that this statement has reached its recipients.’

British media reported that Biden, who is wary of provoking a nuclear conflict, was ready to let Ukraine deploy British and French missiles using US technology but not US-made missiles themselves.

Responding to Putin’s warning, Starmer told UK media travelling with him that ‘Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away.’

In a sign of increasing tensions, Russia’s FSB security service announced on Friday that the accreditation of six British diplomats had been withdrawn and accused them of spying.

But London dismissed the claims as ‘completely baseless’ and indicated they were a tit-for-tat measure after it slapped new restrictions on Russian diplomats in May.

The talks come with Biden on his way out of office and November’s US election a toss-up between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

Trump repeatedly refused to take sides on the war during a debate with Harris on Tuesday, saying only: ‘I want the war to stop.’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that he will meet Biden ‘this month’ to present his ‘victory plan’ on how to end two and a half years of war with Russia.

He also said Kyiv’s recent offensive into Russia’s border region of Kursk had ‘slowed’ Moscow’s advance in eastern Ukraine and that there are currently 40,000 Russian troops fighting in the area.

But he accused the West of being too ‘afraid’ to even raise the possibility of shooting down Russian missiles and Iranian drones, even though it was helping Israel to do so.

Starmer is set to meet Biden in the Oval Office at 4:30pm (2030 GMT) but has no scheduled meetings at this stage with Trump or Harris, both of whom will be on the campaign trail on Friday.

Biden said on Tuesday that he was ‘working’ on Ukraine’s demands, while top US and British diplomats Antony Blinken and David Lammy made a rare joint visit to Kyiv on Wednesday.

Blinken promised that Washington would now quickly review Kyiv’s long-standing request and would ‘adjust, we’ll adapt as necessary’ to help Ukraine defend itself.

Washington currently authorizes Ukraine to only hit Russian targets in the occupied parts of Ukraine and some in Russian border regions directly related to Moscow’s combat operations.

But Putin, who has rattled the saber of nuclear conflict since the start of his February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, warned the United States and United Kingdom against such a move.

‘This would in a significant way change the very nature of the conflict. It would mean that NATO countries, the US, European countries, are at war with Russia,’ he said on Thursday.

Biden has strongly supported Ukraine since Russia’s invasion to the tune of billions of dollars in aid as well as political capital at home.

But he has been risk averse about stepping up to new kinds of weaponry deliveries — with Ukraine having to wait until this year to get F-16 jets.

The looming US election means the clock is ticking, with Kyiv in particular eyeing a Trump presidency with trepidation.

Trump has long been lukewarm on supporting Kyiv, and has frequently praised Putin.

In his debate with Harris on Tuesday, he pledged to get an agreement to end the war ‘before I even become president’ — a deal many Ukrainians fear would force them to accept Russia’s territorial gains.

Vice president Harris has in contrast pledged to keep up staunch support for Ukraine if elected.​

 

[Saif]

Russia, Ukraine swap 206 POWs

Russia said Saturday it swapped 103 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian POWs in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

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Russia, Ukraine swap 206 POWs
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 14 September, 2024, 22:09

Moscow and Kyiv swapped 103 prisoners of war each. | AFP photo

Russia said Saturday it swapped 103 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian POWs in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

The Russian troops freed in Saturday’s swap were captured during Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region, which began on 6 August, according to the Russian defence ministry.

There was no immediate confirmation from the Ukrainian side.

‘As a result of the negotiation process, 103 Russian servicemen captured in the Kursk region were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime,’ the Russian defence ministry said.

‘In return, 103 Ukrainian army prisoners of war were handed over.’

‘At present, all Russian servicemen are on the territory of the Republic of Belarus, where they are being provided with the necessary psychological and medical assistance, as well as an opportunity to contact their relatives,’ the ministry added.

The announcement comes just three weeks after Russia and Ukraine swapped 115 prisoners of war each in an exchange deal also mediated by the UAE.

Russia said on Saturday it had recaptured another village in eastern Ukraine, where it has made a string of advances.

‘The locality of Zhelannoe Pervoe (Zhelanne Pershe in Ukrainian) was freed thanks to the active and decisive operations of the southern units,’ the defence ministry said.

The village is located in the Pokrovsk district, an important logistical hub for the Ukrainian army.

Russian forces have advanced rapidly in the eastern region of Donetsk in recent weeks, putting pressure on a Ukrainian army that is short of both soldiers and weapons.

The Kremlin regularly claims its army has captured small villages in eastern Ukraine.

In a rarer announcement, it said on Tuesday it had captured a town in the region, called Krasnogorivka.

On August 6, the Ukrainian army launched an incursion into Russia’s border region of Kursk, advancing kilometres into Russian territory and seizing dozens of settlements.

It hopes to force Moscow to redeploy troops from Donetsk to Kursk and hamper the Russian advance in Donetsk. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday Kyiv had ‘slowed’ Russia’s progress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said last week that capturing the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine, the industrial basin comprising Donetsk and Lugansk was his top priority.​

 

[Saif]

Biden, Starmer put off Ukraine long-range missiles decision

Before the meeting officials had said Starmer would press Biden to back his plan to send British Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine to hit deeper inside Russia

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Biden, Starmer put off Ukraine long-range missiles decision
AFP Washington
Published: 14 Sep 2024, 08: 34

US President Joe Biden meets with Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer at the White House in Washington, US, 13 September 2024. Reuters

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and US President Joe Biden on Friday delayed a decision to let Ukraine fire long-range Western-supplied missiles into Russia, a plan that sparked dire threats from Moscow of a war with NATO.

Starmer told reporters at the White House that he had a "wide-ranging discussion about strategy" with Biden but that it "wasn't a meeting about a particular capability."

Before the meeting officials had said Starmer would press Biden to back his plan to send British Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine to hit deeper inside Russia as allies become increasingly concerned about the battlefield situation.

But the Labour leader indicated that he and Biden would now discuss the plan at the UN General Assembly in New York the week after next "with a wider group of individuals."

As they met with their teams across a long table in the White House, backed by US and British flags, Biden played down a warning by Russian President Vladimir Putin that allowing Ukraine to fire the weapons would mean the West was "at war" with Russia.

"I don't think much about Vladimir Putin," Biden told reporters when asked about the comments.

'Will not prevail'

But while Biden said it was "clear that Putin will not prevail in this war," he is understood to be reluctant to grant Ukraine's insistent demand to be able to use long-range US-made ATACMS missiles against Russian territory.

US officials believe the missiles would make a limited difference to Ukraine's campaign and also want to ensure that Washington's own stocks of the munitions are not depleted.

The two leaders said they also discussed the war in Gaza, with Britain having recently suspended arms deliveries to Israel over concerns that they could be used to violate international humanitarian law.

The US, Israel's main military and diplomatic backer, has held off such a step.

Biden and Starmer agreed on their "ironclad commitment" to Israel -- but stressed the "urgent need" for a ceasefire deal and a "need for Israel to do more to protect civilians" in Gaza, the White House said in a readout.

The White House had earlier played down the chances of a Ukraine decision coming from Friday's visit by Starmer, the Labour leader's second to the White House since he took office in July.

"I wouldn't expect any major announcement in that regard coming out of the discussions, certainly not from our side," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

'Afraid'

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky however pushed Kyiv's Western allies to do more.

Speaking in Kyiv, Zelensky accusing the West of being "afraid" to even help Ukraine shoot down incoming missiles as it has done with Israel.

Zelensky added that he will meet Biden "this month" to present his "victory plan" on how to end two and a half years of war with Russia.

Russia has reacted angrily to the prospect of the West supplying long-range weapons to the country it invaded in February 2022.

In another sign of increasing tensions, Russia revoked the credentials of six British diplomats whom it accused of spying in what London termed "baseless" allegations.

Russia's UN ambassador Vassily Nebenzia warned separately that letting Ukraine use long-range weapons would plunge NATO into "direct war with... a nuclear power."

Ukraine and the United States's allies are all meanwhile anxiously waiting for the result of a tense US presidential election in November that could upend Washington's Ukraine policy.

Biden is on his way out of office while the election is a toss-up between his Democratic political heir Kamala Harris and Republican former president Donald Trump.

Trump has repeatedly praised Putin, and refused to take sides on the war during a debate with Harris on Tuesday, saying only: "I want the war to stop."

Starmer denied he was worried about a Trump presidency, and said the need to help Ukraine in coming weeks and months was urgent "whatever timetables are going on in other countries."​

 

[Saif]

Shelling in Pokrovsk as Russia inches closer

Russian shelling killed one person in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Sunday, local authorities said, as Moscow’s troops inched closer to the key logistics hub...

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Shelling in Pokrovsk as Russia inches closer
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 16 September, 2024, 00:00

Russian shelling killed one person in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Sunday, local authorities said, as Moscow’s troops inched closer to the key logistics hub.

More than 20,000 people have fled the city since August, while Russian strikes over the past two weeks have cut off water and electricity to many of its remaining residents.

‘Around 11:00am (0800 GMT), the enemy shelled the western part of the city. Unfortunately, one person died,’ Pokrovsk’s military administration said on Telegram.

Separately, a Russian air strike sparked a fire at a multi-storey residential building in the northeastern city of Kharkiv on Sunday, officials said.

‘At the moment, there are almost 30 wounded, including children,’

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

Russia has been advancing towards Pokrovsk for months, getting to within 10 kilometres of its eastern outskirts, according to the local administration.

The city lies on the intersection of rail and road routes that supply Ukrainian troops and towns across the eastern frontline and has long been a target for Moscow’s army.

Russian strikes damaged two overpasses in the city earlier this week, including one that connected Pokrovsk to the neighbouring town of Myrnograd, local media reported.​

 

[Saif]

Ukrainian drones hit west Russia arms depot

Ukrainian drones struck an arms depot in Russia’s western Tver region early yesterday, sparking a massive blaze that led to the evacuation of nearby residents, a Ukrainian security source said.

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Ukrainian drones hit west Russia arms depot
Massive blaze reported in western Tver region; Russia downs 54 Ukrainian drones launched overnight

Ukrainian drones struck an arms depot in Russia's western Tver region early yesterday, sparking a massive blaze that led to the evacuation of nearby residents, a Ukrainian security source said.

Videos posted on Russian social media showed a fireball erupting into the night sky, while a shockwave spread out below. Another video showed columns of smoke and flames rising over a body of water.

The inferno prompted a "partial evacuation of residents" in the area, while 150 firefighters and rescuers worked to contain the blaze, Tver region governor Igor Rudenya said.

Residents who had evacuated Toropets were later allowed to return, he said in a post several hours later. While some people suffered minor injuries, no-one was killed, he said.

A source in Ukraine's security services claimed responsibility.

Ukrainian drones "wiped out a large warehouse of the main missile and artillery directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defence in the town of Toropets, Tver region," the source told AFP.

"The warehouse contained missiles for Iskander tactical missile systems, Tochka-U tactical missile systems, guided aerial bombs and artillery ammunition. After the hits by Ukrainian drones, an extremely powerful detonation began," it added.

According to the source, the fire spread over an area six kilometres wide (four miles).

Toropets is just under 400 kilometres (250 miles) northwest of Moscow.

In 2018, Russia's then deputy defence minister Dmitry Bulgakov said an armoury for housing missiles and explosives would be built in the town, but it was not immediately clear if this had been hit.

Russia said yesterday it had downed 54 Ukrainian drones launched overnight, half over the Kursk region where Ukraine forces launched a major cross-border offensive in August.

Ukraine does not typically claim direct responsibility for attacks in Russia, but often welcomes them, arguing they are fair retaliation for strikes Moscow has inflicted on its territory since the war began in 2022.

Meanwhile, Russia's counter-offensive to retake territory captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region has been "stopped", a spokesman from Ukraine's military administration set up in the area told AFP yesterday.

Russia earlier this month said it had seized several villages back from Ukraine in the Kursk region, where Kyiv has held on to swathes of land since its surprise incursion in early August.

"They tried to attack from the flanks, but they were stopped there," spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky told AFP.

"The situation was stabilised and today everything is under control, they are not successful," he said.

Dmytrashkivsky also said there were "several thousand" Russian civilians in areas occupied by Ukrainian troops.

"In some settlements there are more than 100 people, more than 200, more than 500," he said.

Russia has not said how many of its civilians remain in the Kyiv-controlled areas, saying only that around 130,000 have fled.

The Ukrainian military official admitted "some minor success" by Moscow.​

 

[Saif]

Russian advance in Kursk region ‘stopped’

Russia’s counter-offensive to retake territory captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region has been ‘stopped’, a spokesman from Ukraine’s military administration set up in the area said on Wednesday...

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Russian advance in Kursk region ‘stopped’
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 19 September, 2024, 00:31

Russia’s counter-offensive to retake territory captured by Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region has been ‘stopped’, a spokesman from Ukraine’s military administration set up in the area said on Wednesday.

Russia earlier this month said it had seized several villages back from Ukraine in the Kursk region, where Kyiv has held on to swathes of land since its surprise incursion in early August.

‘They tried to attack from the flanks, but they were stopped there,’ spokesman Oleksiy Dmytrashkivsky said.

‘The situation was stabilised and today everything is under control, they are not successful,’ he said.

Dmytrashkivsky also said there were ‘several thousand’ Russian civilians in areas occupied by Ukrainian troops.

‘In some settlements there are more than 100 people, more than 200, more than 500,’ he said.

Russia has not said how many of its civilians remain in the Kyiv-controlled areas, saying only that around 1,30,000 have fled.

The Ukrainian military official admitted ‘some minor success’ by Moscow.

‘The Russians entered one of the settlements. They started fighting for another settlement, but that was it,’ he said.

AFP was not able to verify these claims.

Dmytrashkivsky also claimed that Russian strikes on the area as it tries to re-seize the land have killed ‘23 civilians’ since the end of August, saying they are ‘dying with the Ukrainian military.’

He said the civilians are ‘not allowed to leave’ because ‘the situation must be controlled’ but are allowed to ‘move around’ the area.

They can ‘visit each other, eat there, unite somewhere, dig potatoes now, work in the garden,’ Dmytrashkivsky said.

The area held by Ukraine has been described as forested and largely rural small settlements.

He said the only way that the civilians could be allowed to leave to Russian-controlled territory would be if Ukraine and Russia ‘agree, through international organisations that deal with these issues, to open a green corridor under the supervision of observers.’

Kyiv this week invited the UN to verify the situation of the area it holds in the Kursk region, infuriating Moscow.

Dmytrashkivsky said food into the area is brought from the neighbouring Ukrainian Sumy region.

‘The Sumy regional administration allocates funds for bread on a weekly basis. The armed forces provide water, the administration gives food packages,’ he said.

‘Nothing works there, no shops, no pharmacy, nothing.’​

 

[Saif]

70,000 Russian soldiers killed in war against Ukraine

The BBC and the independent Russian news site Mediazona said on Friday they had documented the deaths of around 70,000 Russian soldiers since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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70,000 Russian soldiers killed in war against Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Warsaw 20 September, 2024, 21:26

Russia is boosting its army size to 1.5 million active service personnel due to `threats' along its borders, including hostility in the West, the Kremlin said on September 17, 2024. | AFP photo

The BBC and the independent Russian news site Mediazona said on Friday they had documented the deaths of around 70,000 Russian soldiers since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The toll comes from publicly available information such as official statements, death notices in the media and announcements on social media, as well as tombstones in Russian cemeteries.

‘We have identified the names of 70,112 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine but the actual number is believed to be considerably higher,’ the BBC said.

‘Some families do not share details of their relatives’ deaths publicly — and our analysis does not include names we were unable to check, or the deaths of militia in Russian-occupied Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine,’ the British broadcaster added.

The same two organisations had put the toll at 66,000 in mid-August.

Mediazona and another independent Russian news site, Meduza, have also analysed official data from notaries on inheritance cases.

This has led them to estimate that the military death toll could be much higher — at 1,20,000.

The toll is considered secret in Russia. Ukraine also communicates very little about losses for fear of demoralising its citizens after more than two and a half years of Russia’s invasion.

In February, president Volodymyr Zelensky said around 31,000 Ukrainian soldiers had died, although analysts and observers have said they believe the real number to be much higher.

The Wall Street Journal reported this week that the war had killed or injured a total of one million soldiers on both sides.

‘A confidential Ukrainian estimate from earlier this year put the number of dead Ukrainian troops at 80,000 and the wounded at 4,00,000, according to people familiar with the matter.

‘Western intelligence estimates of Russian casualties vary, with some putting the number of dead as high as nearly 2,00,000 and wounded at around 4,00,000,’ it said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday he hopes US president Joe Biden will support his plan to end the war with Russia, ahead of a trip to Washington.

Zelensky has promised to present his so-called ‘victory plan’ to end the fighting, which has killed thousands, to Biden in the coming days.

‘I really hope that he will support this plan,’ Zelensky said during a press conference with EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in Kyiv.

‘The plan is designed for decisions that will have to happen from October to December. We would like that very much. Then we believe that the plan will work,’ he added.

Zelensky will present the plan to the United States after a summer of intense fighting, with Moscow advancing in eastern Ukraine and Kyiv holding on to parts of Russia’s Kursk region.

The Ukrainian leader is due to meet Biden and presidential candidate Kamala Harris — while Kyiv also says he plans to meet her Republican election rival Donald Trump.

Zelensky has also said he aims to host another international peace summit outlining his vision to end the war in November, to which Russia will be invited.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow will only enter peace talks if Ukraine surrenders four of its regions.​

 

[Saif]

Kyiv says struck ammo depots in Russia

Ukraine said on Saturday it had successfully struck two Russian weapons depots in the southern Krasnodar and western Tver regions, with Moscow announcing more than 1,000 evacuations...

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Kyiv says struck ammo depots in Russia
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv 22 September, 2024, 00:45

Ukraine said on Saturday it had successfully struck two Russian weapons depots in the southern Krasnodar and western Tver regions, with Moscow announcing more than 1,000 evacuations.

Kyiv regularly hits Russian infrastructure with drones as Moscow’s offensive drags on for more than two and a half years.

The Ukrainian army said it had hit a depot near the city of Tikhoretsk in Krasnodar, calling it one of Moscow’s ‘three largest ammunition storage bases’ important to the Russian army’s logistics for its Ukraine invasion.

It also said it struck an arsenal in Tver region’s Oktyabrsky village, resulting in a ‘fire and detonation’.

The governor of the Krasnodar region, Veniamin Kondratyev, announced the evacuation of 1,200 people after a drone attack had caused a fire that ‘spread to explosive objects’ near Tikhoretsk.

Videos on social media showed a massive explosion in the dark resembling fireworks at first before blowing up loudly, with online reports that an ammunition depot was struck.

Kondratyev called it a ‘terrorist attack by the Kyiv regime’ and said an unnamed village near the fire had been evacuated, with most people staying with relatives but others placed in temporary accommodation in Tikhoretsk.

Videos on social media later showed sirens ringing around the city of some 50,000 people in the daylight, with smoke rising into the air in the distance.

AFP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the images.

Krasnodar is separated from occupied Ukraine by the Azov Sea and had been relatively spared from the type of attacks on Russian border or other southern regions, but has seen increased attacks over the last year.

Authorities in the western Tver region also announced a night-time drone attack near the city of Toropets, which lies in the western part of the region.

Its governor Igor Rudenya said the ‘consequences of falling debris’ from the attack were being ‘cleared’.

He said there was no evacuation in Toropets but announced a temporary closure of the federal M-9 highway, promising it will reopen soon.

The attack also caused some disruption on passenger trains, with railway services saying a train going from Moscow to the western city of Pskov was sent on an alternative route, while another train was delayed.

Russia’s defence ministry earlier said it had downed 101 Ukrainian drones, mostly over the border Bryansk region and 18 over Krasnodar.

Russia has recently announced shooting down Ukrainian drones almost daily.​

 

[Saif]

Russian strike on Kharkiv wounds 21
Agence France-Presse . Kharkiv, Ukraine 22 September, 2024, 22:53

A Russian late-night strike on a residential neighbourhood of the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv wounded 21 people, Kyiv said on Sunday.

The strike hit late on Saturday, hours after Russian attacks killed five people — including two children — in central Ukraine.

Kyiv earlier said it struck two ammunition depots in Russia this weekend, including what it called a key arsenal for Moscow’s invasion.

Kharkiv — which almost fell to Russian forces in 2022 before they were pushed back by the Ukrainian army — has seen relentless attacks this year.

‘Last night, Russia struck Kharkiv again, this time with aerial bombs targeting an ordinary residential building,’ President Volodymyr Zelensky said on social media.

‘As a result, 21 people were injured, including an eight-year-old child and two 17-year-olds,’ he added.

Regional leader Oleg Synegubov said two people were in critical condition. He said dozens of residents were asleep when the building was struck.

AFP saw rescuers scrambling through a heavily damaged building, with burned-out cars in the parking lot outside, using chainsaws to cut through walls to get to distressed residents in the dark.

‘Mama, mama, mama,’ sobbed one woman, who struggled to breathe and was too scared to descend the stairs.

Rescuers helped her down to find her mother, who hugged her tightly as the woman trembled.

‘She is scared,’ her mother, Oleksandra Ivanivna, told AFP. ‘It’s not the first time.’

Kharkiv — which was home to 1.4 million residents before Russia’s invasion — has been bombed heavily this year.

‘We were asleep. It (the building) was just blown up... the place is a wreck,’ Ivanivna said.

The city’s mayor Igor Terekhov said at the site: ‘As you can see, there are no military here.’

‘Every day and every night Kharkiv suffers the hits,’ he added.

AFP saw an elderly man with his head bandaged being brought to an ambulance, as well as a man whose face was covered in blood, holding a small terrier dog.

Zelensky said the attack showed why his forces needed to use weapons supplied by Western allies to strike deeper into Russian territory, which so far they have refused to authorise.

He is due in the United States in the coming days, in a last-ditch effort to convince the West to let Kyiv use delivered long-range weapons to hit Russian targets.

‘We need to strengthen our capabilities to better protect lives and ensure safety. Ukraine needs full long-range capabilities,’ he said.

‘We are working to convince our partners of this. We will continue these discussions next week.’

In Washington, he is due to hold talks with Joe Biden, as well as both US presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine to spend 60pc of 2025 budget on defence

Kyiv will spend more than 60 per cent of its entire state budget on defence and security next year, according to a draft plan, as Russia’s invasion grinds on...

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Ukraine to spend 60pc of 2025 budget on defence
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 24 September, 2024, 23:50

Kyiv will spend more than 60 per cent of its entire state budget on defence and security next year, according to a draft plan, as Russia’s invasion grinds on.

Moscow’s war has battered the Ukrainian economy over the last two and a half years, causing tens of billions of dollars in destruction, punching a huge hole in state finances and forcing Kyiv to rely on Western support to keep itself afloat.

In a draft plan presented by the finance ministry, Ukraine said it will spend 2.22 trillion hryvnia ($54 billion) on ‘national security and defence’ in 2025.

That represents around 26 per cent of Ukraine’s GDP and 61 per cent of the government’s overall outlays, planned at 3.64 trillion hryvnia.

‘I can confidently say that based on the budget plan for 2025, Ukraine’s defence will be ensured,’ Ukraine’s finance minister Sergiy Marchenko told reporters Tuesday.

By comparison, Russia plans to spend 10.8 trillion rubles ($115 billion) on defence this year, or about 30 per cent of its budget.

In Ukraine, around 740 billion hryvnia would go on weapons production and procurement, with almost 1.2 trillion on soldiers’ salaries.

Marchenko warned Ukraine faces ‘rather slow economic growth due to the impact of attacks on energy infrastructure,’ predicting GDP would expand by 2.7 per cent next year.

Kyiv last week upped its planned defence spending for 2024 by almost one-third amid mounting war costs.

The 2025 defence budget is set to be just two per cent higher than the revised 2024 figure.

Ukraine said it will need $38.4 billion in financial support from its Western backers and international financial organisations, slightly down on this year’s requirements.

The war-torn country has received $98 billion in international financial aid since Russia invaded in February 2022 — on top of tens of billions in military and humanitarian aid.

‘This is perhaps the most important area — to ensure rhythmic and full funding from our partners,’ Marchenko said.

Meanwhile, Russian strikes killed three people and wounded at least 24 in the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday afternoon, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The northeastern city lies around 30 kilometres from the Russian border and has been pounded by Russian aerial attacks throughout the two-and-a-half-year war.

‘The targets of the Russian bombs were an apartment building, a bakery, a stadium. In other words, the everyday life of ordinary people,’ Zelensky said in a post on social media.

He posted a picture showing the facade of a nine-storey apartment block partially ripped off, the windows blown out and debris strewn across the street.

A search and rescue operation was underway, he added.

‘So far, we know of 3 killed and 24 injured,’ he said.

Zelensky, who is in the United States this week for the latest round of international diplomacy on the war, called for the United Nations General Assembly to discuss Russia’s attacks on his country.

‘We just need to stop the terror. To have security. To have a future. We need Russia to end this criminal and unprovoked aggression that violates all global rules,’ he said.​

 

[Saif]

Russia targets Kyiv, Odesa in latest drone attack

Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack across Ukraine targeting the capital Kyiv and hitting infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

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Russia targets Kyiv, Odesa in latest drone attack

Russia unleashed an overnight drone attack across Ukraine targeting the capital Kyiv and hitting infrastructure in the Black Sea port of Odesa, Ukrainian officials said yesterday.

The State Emergency Service said one person was wounded and warehouses and cargo trucks were damaged in Odesa during the multi-wave attack, which kept much of the country under air-raid alert for several hours.

The Ukrainian military shot down 56 out of at least 87 drones launched by Russia over various regions of the country, the air force said. It added that another 25 were "lost" due to electronic jamming but did not elaborate.

Kyiv city military administrator Serhiy Popko said air defences destroyed all the drones that had been aimed at the capital. No injuries were reported.

Air raid alerts for Kyiv and the surrounding region were announced three times throughout the night, totalling more than five hours, Popko added.

Russia has denied targeting civilians in its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, begun in February 2022, but regularly launches missiles, drones and bombs at population centres far behind the front line.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine hits Crimea oil terminal, Russia claims gains

Kyiv said on Monday its forces had struck a large oil terminal overnight on the occupied Crimean peninsula as Moscow claimed the capture of another village in east Ukraine.

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Ukraine hits Crimea oil terminal, Russia claims gains
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 08 October, 2024, 01:15

Kyiv said on Monday its forces had struck a large oil terminal overnight on the occupied Crimean peninsula as Moscow claimed the capture of another village in east Ukraine.

Kyiv has ramped up strikes targeting Russia’s energy sector in recent months aiming to dent revenues used by Moscow to fund its invasion, now grinding through its third year.

'At night, a successful strike was carried out on the enemy’s offshore oil terminal in temporarily occupied Feodosia, Crimea,’ the Ukrainian military said in a post on social media.

Russian-installed authorities in Crimea said a fire had broken out at an oil facility in the Black Sea port town of some 70,000 people and that there were no casualties.

The defence ministry said that 12 Ukrainian attack drones had been downed over the peninsula overnight, out of a total of 21 deployed by Kyiv against Russian targets.

‘The Feodosia terminal is the largest in Crimea in terms of transshipment of oil products, which were used, among other things, to meet the needs of the Russian occupation army,’ the Ukrainian military said, vowing to continue such attacks.

Ukraine insists the strikes are fair retaliation for Russian attacks on its own energy infrastructure that have plunged millions into darkness.

Russia’s defence ministry meanwhile claimed the capture of a village in eastern Ukraine close to the strategically important city of Pokrovsk.

The defence ministry in a briefing said it captured the village of Grodivka, a settlement in the Donetsk region near Pokrovsk, as Russian troops close in on the key logistics hub.

The settlement with an estimated pre-war population of around 2,000 is the latest in a series of towns in the Donetsk region to have fallen to Russian forces, as they push towards Pokrovsk.

Last week, Ukraine’s army said that it had withdrawn from the mining town of Vugledar also in the Donetsk region, handing Russia one of its most significant territorial advances in weeks.

In a wave of separate attacks Monday, Ukrainian authorities said three civilians had been killed in overnight Russian attacks — two brothers aged 35 and 38 in the eastern region of Sumy and a 61-year-old woman in the southern Kherson region.

The governor of Kherson later said a Russian strike on the town had wounded 19 people and damaged an educational facility and various residential buildings were damaged.

And in the Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia claimed to have annexed alongside three other Ukrainian regions in 2022, three people were wounded after Russian attacks on infrastructure facilities, local authorities said.

Russian forces also launched several missiles and dozens of drones overnight at Ukraine, the air force in Kyiv said, with two missiles shot down over the capital and the third exploding near an airfield in the central Khmelnytsky region.

Authorities in Kyiv said debris from the downed missiles had landed near a kindergarten.

Russian media company VGTRK, which operates the country’s main state-run television channels, said earlier Monday it had been targeted in a ‘unprecedented’ hacker attack, claimed by Kyiv.

‘Despite attempts to interrupt broadcasting of federal TV channels and radio stations of the holding, everything is working in normal mode, there is no significant threat,’ state media reported.​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky hopes war with Russia will end next year

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky voiced hope Friday that the war with Russia will end next year, speaking during a visit to Berlin to ask for sustained military support.

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Zelensky hopes war with Russia will end next year
Agence France-Presse . Berlin 12 October, 2024, 01:06

Volodymyr Zelensky

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky voiced hope Friday that the war with Russia will end next year, speaking during a visit to Berlin to ask for sustained military support.

As Ukraine faces a gruelling third winter at war, Zelensky has been seeking support on a two-day whirlwind tour of European capitals that earlier took him to London, Paris and Rome.

Visiting chancellor Olaf Scholz, Zelensky, dressed in his trademark military clothes, thanked Germany for its backing and said that ‘it is very important for us that this assistance does not decrease next year’.

He said he would present Scholz with his plan for winning the war, voicing hope that the conflict would end ‘no later than next year, 2025’.

‘Ukraine more than anyone else in the world wants a fair and speedy end to this war,’ Zelensky said. ‘The war is destroying our country, taking the lives of our people.’

Scholz pledged Germany and EU partners would send more defence equipment this year, and German aid worth four billion euros in 2025, vowing that ‘we will not let up in our support for Ukraine’.

Scholz said he and the Ukrainian leader agreed on the need for a peace conference that includes Russia, but that a peace ‘can only be brought about on the basis of international law’.

‘We will not accept a peace dictated by Russia,’ Scholz said.

Zelensky has been seeking fresh military and financial aid from his European allies amid fears of dwindling support if Donald Trump wins the US presidency next month.

A scheduled Ukraine defence meeting Saturday at the Ramstein US air base in western Germany was postponed after US President Joe Biden called off a state visit to Germany because of Hurricane Milton.

Germany has been Ukraine’s biggest military aid supplier after the United States.

However, Scholz has rejected sending the German long-range Taurus missile system, fearing an escalation of NATO’s tense standoff with nuclear-armed Russia.

Zelensky had started the day at the Vatican for talks with the 87-year-old leader of the world’s almost 1.4 billion Catholics — his second private audience with Pope Francis since Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Francis has repeatedly called for peace in Ukraine and regularly prays for its ‘martyred’ people, but he sparked outrage in Kyiv earlier this year after giving an interview in which he urged Ukrainians to ‘raise the white flag and negotiate’.

In a post on social media Friday, Zelensky said his talks with the pope had focused on the ‘incredibly painful’ question of people captured and deported from Ukraine to Russia, saying he hoped the Holy See could help.

The Vatican said Zelensky had discussed during the visit ‘the state of the war and the humanitarian situation in Ukraine’ and ways to reach a ‘just and stable peace’.

In Paris on Thursday, Zelensky held talks with French president Emmanuel Macron, after which he denied media reports that he was discussing the terms of a ceasefire with Russia.

‘This is not the topic of our discussions,’ he told the press in the French capital. ‘It’s not right. Russia works a lot with media disinformation so it (such reports) is understandable.’

Zelensky has rejected any peace plan that involves ceding land to Russia, arguing Moscow must first withdraw all troops from Ukrainian territory.

Russian forces have made advances across the eastern frontline and targeted the power grid as Ukraine faces its toughest winter since the full-scale Russian invasion started in February 2022.

Russia said Friday its forces had captured the frontline villages of Zhelanne Druge and Ostrivske, the latest in a string of territorial gains for Moscow.

Russian strikes overnight on the southern Ukrainian region of Odesa killed four people, including a teenage girl, and wounded 10 more, according to the regional governor.

Zelensky has pushed for clearance to use long-range weapons supplied by allies, including British Storm Shadow missiles, to strike military targets deep inside Russia.

Washington and London have stalled on giving approval over fears it could draw NATO allies into direct conflict with Russia.

In Germany, Scholz’s refusal to deliver Taurus missiles is controversial, even within his own three-party coalition with the Greens and the liberal Free Democrats.

‘We must supply Ukraine with significantly more air defence, ammunition and long-range weapons,’ the Greens’ European MP Anton Hofreiter told the Rheinische Post newspaper Friday.

‘Restrictions on the range of weapons supplied do not contribute to de-escalation but rather enable further Russian attacks.’

The FDP’s defence expert Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann told the same newspaper: ‘I very much hope that Zelensky will make it clear to the Chancellor once again that if Ukraine loses this war, this will not be the last war in Europe.’​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine, Russia foil dozens of drone attacks

Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks overnight, with Russian officials saying on Saturday that Ukrainian strikes had killed one person in the Belgorod border region...

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Ukraine, Russia foil dozens of drone attacks
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv 12 October, 2024, 23:57

Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks overnight, with Russian officials saying on Saturday that Ukrainian strikes had killed one person in the Belgorod border region.

Russia said it had downed 47 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine reported it neutralised 24 drones fired by Moscow.

The Ukrainian air force said many missiles were fired from Belgorod, without specifying the number or type.

It said Russia had fired 28 drones at Ukraine, of which 24 were destroyed in the Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

In the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, Russian bombardments wounded four people, the head of the regional administration said.

The Russian defence ministry said the 47 Ukrainian drones taken down overnight included 17 in the southeastern Russian region of Krasnodar, 16 over the Azov Sea and 12 over the border region of Kursk.

A separate Ukrainian drone attack killed one person in the village of Ustinka in the Belgorod region, the regional governor said on Telegram.

The Ukrainian chief of staff said Kyiv’s forces had struck a fuel depot overnight near Rovenky in the eastern region of Lugansk, which is occupied by Russian forces.

It said the strike caused a fire at the depot, which it said supplied Russian forces, but did not provide details about the blaze.

Moscow did not confirm the attack.

Separately, Russian emergency services said they had brought a massive fire under control at the Feodosia oil terminal in Russian-annexed Crimea, which had burned for six days after being struck by Ukraine, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

Russian forces have made advances across the front line in eastern Ukraine, targeting the country’s power grid as it faces its toughest winter since the full-scale Russian invasion started in February 2022.​

 

[Saif]

Russia launches 130 drones over Ukraine: Kyiv

Russia launched one of its largest drone salvos at Ukraine in recent months, targeting Kyiv and other cities and igniting a fire at an industrial facility in the western region of Ternopil, officials said yesterday.

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Russia launches 130 drones over Ukraine: Kyiv
Industrial facility hit

Russia launched one of its largest drone salvos at Ukraine in recent months, targeting Kyiv and other cities and igniting a fire at an industrial facility in the western region of Ternopil, officials said yesterday.

Air defences shot down 51 of 136 drones used in the attack, the air force said in its readout. Twenty drones were still in the air and 60 were unaccounted for, possibly after being intercepted by electronic warfare systems, it added.

Almost 50 firefighters put out a "large-scale fire" in the Ternopil region, the military administration wrote on the Telegram messaging app. "There were no injuries," it said.

The air force said Russia also fired two missiles at the northern Chernihiv and eastern Donetsk regions, but did say what happened to them. There was no immediate comment from Russia on its latest strike. The drone attack caused a fire at a private residence in the region outside the capital and damaged several other buildings, according to governor Ruslan Kravchenko.​

 

[Saif]

Zelensky seeks EU, NATO backing for ‘victory plan’

President Volodymyr Zelensky told allies yesterday Ukraine must be in a position of strength before any peace talks with Russia, as he presented his “victory plan” to EU leaders and NATO defence chiefs in Brussels.

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Zelensky seeks EU, NATO backing for ‘victory plan’

President Volodymyr Zelensky told allies yesterday Ukraine must be in a position of strength before any peace talks with Russia, as he presented his "victory plan" to EU leaders and NATO defence chiefs in Brussels.

More than two and a half years into the war, Kyiv is slowly but steadily losing territory in its eastern Donbas region and under mounting pressure to forge an exit strategy -- which it says must start with ramped-up Western support.

"Ukraine is ready for real diplomacy, but for it, we must be strong," Zelensky said as he met with the EU's 27 leaders.

"Russia will resort to diplomacy only when it sees that it cannot achieve anything by force," Zelensky added. "This is the plan. This is exactly what's needed, and we must create the right conditions to end this war."

The Ukrainian leader has travelled to Washington, Paris, Berlin, Rome and London to promote his initiative, but it has yet to gain backing from Western capitals -- and his plea for an immediate invitation to join NATO is widely viewed as unrealistic.

Zelensky said after his EU talks that a large number of member states had voiced their "full support" for Kyiv.

The bloc's leaders in their summit conclusions reiterated their "unwavering commitment" to support Ukraine militarily and economically for "as long as it takes" -- but without referring specifically to his plan.

The EU recently approved loaning Ukraine up to 35 billion euros ($38 billion) backed by frozen Russian assets -- part of a bigger $50 billion initiative agreed by G7 powers in June.

But there were dissenting voices too.

Hungary's Moscow-friendly Prime Minister Viktor Orban posted on Facebook that Zelensky's roadmap was "beyond terrifying", urging France and Germany "on behalf of the entire European Union, to start negotiations with the Russians as soon as possible".

'ALL THAT WE CAN'

Zelensky later joined defence ministers at the first of two days of talks between NATO's 32 member states, addressing a joint press conference with alliance chief Mark Rutte.

NATO countries have declared Ukraine to be on an "irreversible path" to membership.

But the United States and Germany have led opposition to immediate entry, believing it would effectively put the alliance at war with nuclear-armed Russia.

The secretary-general stuck to the NATO line, saying: "I look forward to the day that Ukraine is here as a member of this alliance, and until then, we will continue to do all that we can to assure Ukraine prevails."

He did not refer directly to Zelensky's proposal, which also rejects any territorial concessions, calls for Western allies to lift restrictions on using donated long-range weapons to target Russian military sites and suggests deploying a "non-nuclear strategic deterrence package" on Ukrainian territory.

The US position on membership is unlikely to shift whether Donald Trump or Kamala Harris wins the White House in the US election on November 5 -- though there are fears a second Trump term could upend the support Ukraine receives from NATO's biggest power.

Ukraine's allies are well aware however that time is of the essence, with the outlook on the battlefield bleak.

On the eve of the NATO meeting, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz called for exploring ways to end the war -- potentially including talks with Putin.

But according to an alliance diplomat, others still fear that anything short of an outright victory for Kyiv would spell disaster, ensuring that an emboldened Russia does not stop there.

'POSITION OF STRENGTH'

Driving home his appeal to Western leaders, Zelensky claimed to have intelligence that North Korea was training 10,000 soldiers to deploy with Russian forces against Ukraine -- calling it "the first step to a world war."

Rutte cautioned however that NATO has "no evidence that North Korean soldiers are involved in the fight," although Pyongyang was known to be fuelling Moscow's war effort in other ways.

In the meantime, the secretary-general said it was "essential that we continue to provide military aid."

Rutte said NATO was "well on track" to meet its July pledge to provide Kyiv a minimum of 40 billion euros ($43 billion) in military support in 2024, with 20 billion provided in the first half of the year.

But despite Ukraine's plea for stepped-up air defence systems -- as Russian forces pound its cities and infrastructure -- no new announcements were expected from NATO this week.​

 

[Saif]

Russia, Ukraine swap 190 POWs

Russia said yesterday that it had swapped 95 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

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Russia, Ukraine swap 190 POWs

Russia said yesterday that it had swapped 95 Ukrainian soldiers held captive for an equal number of Russian troops in an exchange deal brokered by the United Arab Emirates.

"As a result of the negotiation process, 95 Russian servicemen were returned from territory controlled by the Kyiv regime," the Russian defence ministry said.

"In return, 95 Ukrainian army prisoners of war were handed over," it said. Kyiv has not confirmed the exchange.

Despite ongoing hostilities, Russia and Ukraine have swapped hundreds of prisoners since the launch of Moscow's offensive in 2022, often in deals brokered by the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia or Turkey.

The last reported swap was last month, when 206 POWs were exchanged, in a deal also mediated by the UAE.

Earlier yesterday, Kyiv said it had received the bodies of 501 soldiers killed fighting Russian forces, mainly in eastern Ukraine, as a result of repatriation measures.

Russian lawmaker Shamsail Saraliyev told the RBK media outlet that Russia received 89 bodies of its soldiers in return.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine drones target major Russian explosive plant

Ukraine said on Sunday it had targeted a crucial Russian explosives factory, located about 750 kilometres from the border, in an overnight drone attack.

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Ukraine drones target major Russian explosive plant
Agence France-Presse . Kyiv, Ukraine 21 October, 2024, 01:13

Ukraine said on Sunday it had targeted a crucial Russian explosives factory, located about 750 kilometres from the border, in an overnight drone attack.

Kyiv has repeatedly launched drone attacks deep into Russian territory, seeking to hit energy and military sites that it says key to supplying Moscow’s invading army.

A source in the SBU security services told AFP its drones had struck the Sverdlov explosives factory in Dzerzhinsk, just outside the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod.

Russian officials confirmed drones had targeted the area but said the attack had been foiled.

‘Air defences and electronic warfare means repelled a drone attack on the territory of the Dzerzhinsk industrial zone,’ Nizhny Novgorod regional governor Gleb Nikitin said on Telegram.

‘Four employees of the fire station, located on the territory of the industrial enterprise, received light shrapnel wounds,’ he added.

The United States and European Union have sanctioned the Sverdlov plant, one of Russia’s largest manufacturers of military explosives.

Footage posted on Russian social media showed a large explosion in the area and small drones being downed by air defence systems.

AFP could not immediately verify the footage.

Kyiv did not say what damage, if any, the attack inflicted on the plant’s production capabilities.

Moscow’s defence ministry said earlier it had downed 110 Ukrainian drones that had been fired at its territory overnight, the largest attempted aerial barrage by Ukraine in two weeks.

Russia also launched a wave of attacks on Ukraine.

Kyiv said they targeted residential areas.

At least 17 people were wounded in an attack on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rig, including a first responder, the state emergency services said.

Russia also attacked an energy facility in the northeastern Sumy region, the regional power operator Sumyoblenergo said on Telegram, knocking out electricity for more than 37,000 consumers.

Ukraine is bracing for its toughest winter of the war yet.

Russia has destroyed swathes of its generating capacity and continues to strike energy sites, at a time when temperatures have dropped towards freezing across the country.

Separately, Russian aviation authorities temporarily closed the Kazan airport, around 1,000 kilometres from the Ukraine border, on Sunday morning, citing air safety concerns.

The Rosaviatsia agency did not provide a reason for the suspension of flights, although such restrictions are typically imposed when there are reports of Ukrainian drone attacks in the area.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is set to meet the leaders of China, Brazil and Turkey in the city later this week for the BRICS summit, the biggest gathering of Moscow’s allies and partners inside the country since it invaded Ukraine in February 2022.​

 

[Saif]

Ukraine says Russian forces advanced in key stronghold

Russian forces have advanced over a key waterway in the eastern Ukrainian stronghold of Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian military official said, marking a setback for Kyiv’s embattled forces.

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Ukraine says Russian forces advanced in key stronghold
Agence France-Prese . Kyiv, Ukraine 22 October, 2024, 22:32

File photo

Russian forces have advanced over a key waterway in the eastern Ukrainian stronghold of Chasiv Yar, a Ukrainian military official said, marking a setback for Kyiv’s embattled forces.

The town of Chasiv Yar, which had an estimated pre-war population of around 12,000 people, sits on a strategic hilltop and its capture would likely speed Russian advances deeper in the war-battered Donetsk region.

‘The enemy managed to break into our line of defence, but there is no critical failure and we are not about to lose Chasiv Yar. Fierce fighting continues now,’ a spokesman for Ukraine’s 24th brigade told state-run media.

The spokesman Ivan Petrychak said that while Russian troops had crossed the canal on the eastern edge of the city Ukrainian troops were containing the advance.

Russian forces have been pushing against outnumbered Ukrainian forces in the Donetsk region, which the Kremlin claims is part of Russia.

If Moscow captures the town, it would threaten some of the largest population centres in the industrial region, like Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.

There have been sporadic reports that Russian forces have previously crossed the canal, which serves as a de facto front line, in Chasiv Yar, and Ukraine has claimed to have fought them back.

Russian drone and artillery attacks meanwhile killed five people, including a child, in the eastern Ukrainian regions of Sumy and Donetsk, officials said Tuesday.

Sumy lies across the border from Kursk in Russia, where Ukrainian troops launched a major offensive in August and have been holding swathes of territory.

‘Three people, including one child, died as a result of a night-time attack by enemy drones on residential buildings,’ regional authorities said, referring to the city of Sumy.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called for fresh support from Kyiv’s Western partners to help his forces protect towns and cities.

‘This Russian terror can be overcome only through unity with the world,’ he said, urging allies to supply more weapons, including air defence systems.

He also called for ‘investments in weapons production in Ukraine’ and ‘long-range strikes on Russian military logistics, military airfields and bases of Russian troops’.

Separately, emergency services in the eastern Donetsk region, where Russian forces are steadily advancing, said two people had been killed and another wounded by Russian shelling on the town of Myrnograd.

Moscow’s defence ministry claimed its latest advances in the region on Tuesday, saying its forces had captured the abandoned frontline settlement of Novosadove in the Donetsk region.

Ukraine’s air force said 60 Russian drones in total had been detected in Ukrainian airspace overnight and into Tuesday morning and that 42 were destroyed.

Sumy has been under persistent bombardment since the beginning of the war in 2022, when Russian forces briefly captured sectors of the industrial territory before being pushed back.

Authorities said more than two dozen Russian drones had been shot down there overnight.

The Ukrainian operation in Kursk is part of a broader roadmap to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine recently outlined by president Volodymyr Zelensky.

In occupied southern Ukraine, Russian-installed officials said a Ukrainian drone attack on the town of Energodar, home to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, killed one person.​

 

[Saif]

Putin warns against ‘illusory’ attempts to defeat Russia

Russian president Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday against ‘illusory’ attempts to defeat Russia on the battlefield ahead of his first meeting with UN chief Antonio Guterres in more than...

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Putin warns against ‘illusory’ attempts to defeat Russia
Agence France-Presse . Kazan, Russia 25 October, 2024, 01:28

Vladimir Putin

Russian president Vladimir Putin warned on Thursday against ‘illusory’ attempts to defeat Russia on the battlefield ahead of his first meeting with UN chief Antonio Guterres in more than two years for talks set to focus on the conflict in Ukraine.

Putin was speaking in the Russian city of Kazan on the final day of the BRICS summit, a forum Moscow hopes will help forge a united front of emerging economies against the West.

Russia’s opponents ‘do not conceal their aim to deal our country a strategic defeat’, Putin said.

‘I will say directly that these are illusory calculations, that can be made only by those who do not know Russia’s history.’

Shortly before he spoke, Russia’s lower house of parliament voted to ratify a defence pact with North Korea amid reports that Pyongyang has sent thousands of troops to Russia for training and possible deployment in Ukraine.

At the meeting, Chinese president Xi Jinping also warned about ‘serious challenges’ in the world and said he hoped BRICS countries could be a ‘stabilising force for peace’.

‘We need to continue to push for a ceasefire in Gaza, relaunch the two-state solution and stop the spread of war in Lebanon. There should be no more suffering and destruction in Palestine and Lebanon,’ Xi said.

Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian slammed the UN Security Council’s role as Guterres listened, saying international bodies ‘lack the necessary efficiency to extinguish the fire of this crisis’.

Putin said the Middle East was ‘on the verge of full-scale war’.

Putin has faced calls from his BRICS allies to end the Ukraine conflict, which began when Moscow launched a full-scale military campaign in February 2022.

Guterres has repeatedly criticised Moscow’s military offensive against Ukraine, saying it sets a ‘dangerous precedent’ for the world.

The two men last saw each other in the first weeks of the offensive, when Guterres travelled to Moscow during Russia’s siege of Mariupol in south Ukraine.

Guterres has since been involved in peace efforts between the two sides, helping to broker a deal that allowed Kyiv to safely export grain from its ports in 2022.

There has been little direct diplomatic contact between the two countries since.

Ukraine has strongly criticised the UN chief’s decision to meet Putin.

Putin has demanded Ukraine surrender territory in its south and east as a precondition for a ceasefire, a position Kyiv has called ‘absurd’.

The Putin-Guterres talks come as Moscow’s troops advance in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, edging closer to the key supply hub of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine has condemned Guterres’s Russia visit, with Kyiv’s foreign ministry blasting him for planning to meet the ‘criminal Putin’.

The pair will meet a day after the United States said it believed ‘thousands’ of North Korean soldiers were being trained in Russia.

‘We don’t know what their mission will be or if they’ll go on to fight in Ukraine,’ a senior US official said.

Putin has not yet commented on the reports.

Russia on Wednesday said people should ‘ask Pyongyang’ about troop movements, refusing to confirm or deny the allegations.

Russian lawmakers on Thursday voted unanimously to ratify a defence treaty with North Korea that provides for ‘mutual assistance’ if either party faces aggression.

The document has now been sent for approval by the upper Federation Council.

Pyongyang and Moscow have drawn closer since Russia launched its 2022 offensive on Ukraine, with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un praising Putin as his country’s ‘dearest friend’.

The West believes North Korea is already giving Moscow weapons to use in its Ukraine offensive.

Several world leaders called for an end to the Ukraine conflict at the BRICS summit.

Indian prime minister Narendra Modi — who has also tried to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv — said on Tuesday he wanted the conflict to be resolved ‘peacefully’.

‘We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability,’ he said.

New Delhi has walked a delicate tightrope since Moscow launched its offensive, pledging humanitarian support for Kyiv while avoiding explicit condemnation of Moscow’s actions.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has also urged an end to the conflict.

Starting in 2009 with four members — Brazil, Russia, India and China — BRICS has expanded to include other emerging nations, including South Africa, Egypt and Iran.

NATO member Turkey said last month it had asked to join the group and president Recep Tayyip Erdogan told delegates Thursday that ‘we are determined to further our dialogue with the BRICS family, with whom we have developed close relations based on mutual respect’.​

 

[Saif]

G7 to give Ukraine $50b from Russian assets profits

G7 leaders have finalized details surrounding a $50 billion loan to aid Kyiv, backed by profits from Russian sovereign assets frozen after its invasion of Ukraine, according to a statement released Friday...

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G7 to give Ukraine $50b from Russian assets profits
Agence France-Presse . Washington 27 October, 2024, 00:06

G7 leaders have finalized details surrounding a $50 billion loan to aid Kyiv, backed by profits from Russian sovereign assets frozen after its invasion of Ukraine, according to a statement released Friday.

Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy democracies said they ‘have reached a consensus on how to deliver’ the loans of approximately $50 billion, with an aim to start disbursing funds by the end of this year.

Their announcement came as world financial leaders gathered in Washington this week for meetings hosted by the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Finance ministers have ‘agreed on a technical solution ensuring consistency, coordination, fair distribution of lending, and solidarity among all G7 partners,’ the statement said.

They called on Moscow to end its war and pay for damage caused to Ukraine.

This week, US president Joe Biden said that as part of the G7 package, the United States would provide $20 billion in loans to Ukraine, to be paid back by the interest earned from immobilized Russian sovereign assets.

US treasury secretary Janet Yellen signed a statement Wednesday with her Ukrainian counterpart Sergii Marchenko marking their intent to enter into the loan.

The move also committed that new United States or Ukrainian tax dollars would not be the source of repayment.

Economic concerns remain top-of-mind for US voters, with just over a week to go before the country’s presidential election on November 5.

Washington aims to provide at least $10 billion of the loans for economic support, with the other half expected to take the form of military aid.

But this will require additional authorization from Congress.

The remaining $30 billion in loans is set to come from a combination of G7 partners, including the European Union, United Kingdom, Canada and Japan, US officials said.

The EU, which has frozen roughly $235 billion of Russian central bank funds -- the vast bulk of immobilised Russian assets worldwide -- said it would contribute approximately $18 billion ($19.4 billion).

Russian missile strikes killed five people including a child in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro last night, while a teenager and another person died in attacks on Kyiv and the surrounding region, officials said Saturday.

The strikes came less than 48 hours after Russia finished hosting a three-day summit of the BRICS group of emerging economies in the city of Kazan, where President Vladimir Putin faced calls from world leaders to end the conflict.

The strikes on Dnipro late Friday killed five people and damaged multiple buildings including a hospital, authorities said.

More than a dozen other people were wounded in the city, including children, Dnipropetrovsk region governor Sergiy Lysak said on Telegram.

Separate night attacks on the capital Kyiv and surrounding region left two people dead, including a teenage girl who was killed in a drone strike on an apartment building, according to regional authorities.

The Russian military said on Saturday it had captured the frontline village of Oleksandropol in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, where it has made a string of advances in recent months.​

 

[Saif]

Moscow will respond

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia’s defence ministry was working on different ways to respond if the United States and its Nato allies help Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with long-range Western missiles.

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Moscow will respond

Putin warns of retaliation if West helps Ukraine to strike deep into Russia

President Vladimir Putin said yesterday that Russia's defence ministry was working on different ways to respond if the United States and its Nato allies help Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with long-range Western missiles.

The 2-1/2-year-old Ukraine war has triggered the biggest confrontation between Russia and the West since the depths of the Cold War, and Russian officials say the war is now entering its most dangerous phase.

Russia has been signalling to the United States and its allies for weeks that if they give permission to Ukraine to strike deep into Russian territory with Western-supplied missiles, then Moscow will consider it a major escalation.

Putin said on September 12 that Western approval for such a step would mean "the direct involvement of Nato countries, the United States and European countries in the war in Ukraine" because Nato military infrastructure and personnel would have to be involved in the targeting and firing of the missiles.

Putin said that it was too early to say exactly how Russia would react to such a move but that Moscow would have to respond accordingly and different options were being examined.

"(The Russian defence ministry) is thinking about how to respond to the possible long-range strikes on Russian territory, it will offer a range of responses," Putin told Russian state TV's top Kremlin reporter, Pavel Zarubin.

With Russia advancing at the fastest rate in eastern Ukraine since the first months of the invasion, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been pleading with the West to allow Kyiv to fire deep into Russia with Western missiles.

The US has not said publicly if it will allow Ukraine to strike Russia, but some US officials are deeply sceptical that doing so would make a significant difference in the war.​

 

[Saif]

Russian army claims new advance in east Ukraine

Russia said Sunday its military had advanced further in east Ukraine, capturing a frontline village just a few kilometres north of a key Ukrainian-held industrial hub...

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Russian army claims new advance in east Ukraine
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 28 October, 2024, 00:20

Russia said Sunday its military had advanced further in east Ukraine, capturing a frontline village just a few kilometres north of a key Ukrainian-held industrial hub.

Moscow has made steady gains on the battlefield for months, pressing their advantage against overstretched and outmanned Ukrainian forces.

Russian army units ‘liberated the settlement of Izmailovka,’ the Russian defence ministry said in a daily briefing, using the Russian spelling for the village.

Izmailivka had a population of just under 200 people before the conflict.

It lies eight kilometres north of the key industrial hub of Kurakhove and just a few kilometres north of Kurakhivka, a small town on a stretch of frontline Moscow is trying to surround.

The announcement came a few hours after Russia claimed it shot down 51 Ukrainian drones above several of its regions, including near the border.

Russian president Vladimir Putin warned on Sunday that Moscow would ‘respond’ if the West allowed Ukraine to use longer-range weapons against his territory.

‘It’s too early to say yet, but of course our military department is thinking about it and will offer various responses,’ Putin told a state TV reporter in remarks aired Sunday.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has for months been asking his Western allies for permission to use long-range missiles against targets deep inside Russian territory, arguing the move would ‘motivate’ Moscow to seek peace.

The United States and Britain signalled a decision on the matter was imminent last month, but later delayed the move after Putin warned they risked putting NATO ‘at war’ with Moscow.

Putin said on Sunday he hoped the West had listened to that warning.

‘They didn’t tell me anything about it, but I hope they heard,’ the Russian leader said.​

 

[Saif]

Russia says took another east Ukrainian village

Russia said on Monday it took another village in eastern Ukraine, south of the city of Pokrovsk where its forces have been advancing for months...

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Russia says took another east Ukrainian village
Agence France-Presse . Moscow 29 October, 2024, 00:33

Russia said on Monday it took another village in eastern Ukraine, south of the city of Pokrovsk where its forces have been advancing for months.

Moscow’s forces, outnumbering and outgunning the Ukrainian army, have advanced fast towards Pokrovsk since the summer.

Moscow’s defence ministry said troops had taken the village of Tsukuryne, some 25 kilometres south of Pokrovsk. It is one of the larger villages Moscow has claimed in recent weeks in its advance in the Donetsk region.

Moscow has spent months advancing westwards in the embattled Donetsk region.

Ukraine has evacuated much of Pokrovsk, a former mining city that was home to some 60,000 people before Moscow launched its full-scale offensive in February 2022.

Thousands have fled the city as Russia advances. Tsukuryne lies south of the town of Selydove.

Kyiv said it had detained a Ukrainian man volunteering with the UN’s World Food Programme for allegedly aiding Russian forces in the east of the country.

Ukraine has opened thousands of investigations into collaboration and treason since Russian forces invaded in 2022, allegations that carry long prison terms.​