2 hours ago
Russia says several attacks in Ukraine hit “military industrial facilities.”
A police officer stands in front of burned cars in an industrial area after a rocket attack on September 21, 2023 in Kiev, Ukraine.
Oleksii Chumachenko | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
The Russian Defense Ministry said it targeted “military industrial facilities” in its nightly attacks across Ukraine last night.
“The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation carried out a multiple attack using long-range, high-precision air-launched weapons and attacked unmanned aerial vehicles on military industry facilities and radio reconnaissance and training centers of sabotage groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the ministry said on Telegram. It provided no evidence to support its claims.
“The objectives of the attack were achieved. All objects were hit,” the ministry said.
Russia launched attacks on Kiev and a number of Ukrainian cities on Wednesday evening, with President Volodymyr Zelensky saying “infrastructure” had been attacked. The attacks reportedly left at least three people dead and others injured, including children.
– Holly Ellyatt
4 hours ago
“Air defense for Ukraine is at the top of my agenda,” Zelensky said before the Biden meeting
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky listens to U.S. President Joe Biden’s speech at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, September 19, 2023.
Caitlin Ochs | Portal
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said air defense for Ukraine was high on his agenda as he met President Joe Biden in Washington on Thursday.
“Today we will hold important negotiations in Washington. Air defense for Ukraine is one of the top issues,” he said in Telegram. Cities across Ukraine were targeted by a massive rocket attack on Wednesday evening, killing at least three people and wounding several civilians.
“Most of the rockets were shot down. But only the majority. Not all of them,” said Zelensky, who attended the UN General Assembly in New York this week.
“Thanks also to every country that has already equipped Ukraine with missile defense systems. We are working to completely rid Russia of its terrorist potential. We have to come to this conclusion. More air defense. More sanctions. More support for Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines,” he said, adding: “Russian terror must lose.”
Russia denies that it is targeting civilian infrastructure, although there have been numerous attacks on civilian buildings during the war. Ukraine has accused Russia of numerous war crimes.
– Holly Ellyatt
4 hours ago
Ukraine attacked the Russian military air base in Crimea
The Ukrainian military confirmed that it attacked the Russian Saky military air base in occupied Crimea on Wednesday evening.
The Strategic Communications Directorate of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Telegram on Thursday that “on the night of September 21, the Defense Forces of Ukraine attacked the occupiers’ military airfield near the town of Saky in the temporarily occupied Crimea.”
A source in the Ukrainian security service provided more details about the attack to NBC early Thursday, saying the Security Service of Ukraine and the Navy launched an attack on the Saky military air base in Crimea, causing “severe damage.”
The source, who requested anonymity because he is not authorized to speak publicly about operations, said that the airfield is home to twelve fighter jets (Su-24 and Su-30 fighter jets), a Pantsir missile system and a UAV ( Unmanned Aerial) were vehicles or drones) training base for operators.
Russia’s Saki military air base in Crimea in 2021. In 2022, the air base was attacked, damaging several aircraft.
Maxar | Maxar | Getty Images
“The attacks hit the targets and caused serious damage to the occupiers’ equipment. Drones were used to defeat the enemy, which overloaded the Russian air defense system, and then them.” [Ukraine] Neptune missiles fired,” the source said.
“The occupiers cannot feel safe on the occupied peninsula,” the source said, suggesting there would be more attacks in the future.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Thursday that Kiev tried to attack “objects” on Russian territory with drones but foiled the attack. The name of the air base, Saky (or Saki, as Russia spells it), was not mentioned.
“On the night of September 20-21, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation was stopped. Air defense systems over the Black Sea and the territory of the Republic of Crimea destroyed 19 Ukrainian UAVs.”
– Holly Ellyatt
6 hours ago
Pressure on conscripts increases a year after Putin’s “partial mobilization”
Russian citizens conscripted during partial mobilization deployed to combat coordination areas following a military call-up for the Russia-Ukraine War in Moscow, Russia, October 10, 2022.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
A year ago today, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a “partial mobilization” of around 300,000 Russian reservists in Ukraine. The move sent shockwaves across the country as Putin put Russian society on solid war footing and thousands of men tried to flee the country to avoid the draft.
Last week, the chairman of the Russian State Duma’s Defense Committee reiterated that mobilized personnel would be required to serve for the duration of what Russia still calls a “special military operation.”
Britain’s Ministry of Defense pointed out on Thursday that former general Andrei Kartapolov also made a new admission that sheds light on “the difficult situation at the front” when he said that it was not possible to discharge personnel while on duty to be released from the operational zone.
“The lack of regular non-combat unit rotations is most likely one of the most important factors contributing to low Russian morale and the Russian Army’s failure to conduct higher level training since the invasion,” the ministry said in an intelligence update formerly known as Twitter.
“The lack of such training most likely contributes to Russia’s difficulty in successfully conducting complex offensive operations.”
– Holly Ellyatt
6 hours ago
Russia says it foiled Ukrainian ‘terrorist attack’
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed on Thursday that its forces repelled a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian-occupied Crimea and several regions within Russia itself.
“On the night of September 20-21, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using unmanned aircraft-type aerial vehicles on targets on the territory of the Russian Federation was foiled,” the ministry’s post on Telegram said from NBC.
“Air defense systems destroyed 19 Ukrainian UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles] over the Black Sea and the territory of the Republic of Crimea, one each over the territories of the Kursk, Belgorod and Oryol regions. No further details were disclosed and CNBC was not immediately able to verify the information.
Belgorod, Oryol and Kursk are among a number of northwestern, central and southwestern regions of Russia that have been increasingly targeted in recent months.
A building damaged by strikes in the town of Shebekino in Belgorod province, near the Ukrainian border, on July 2, 2023.
– | Afp | Getty Images
Ukraine remains typically silent on attacks on Russian territory, and NATO members have called on Ukraine not to use NATO-supplied weapons against Russia itself, fearing that this could be seen as a direct attack by NATO against Russia. It is therefore assumed that Kiev mainly uses Ukrainian-made drones in its attacks against Russia. The company announced in the summer that it would increase production of domestic UAVs.
Russia unleashed a wave of missile attacks across Ukraine overnight, with targets including Kiev and five other cities. The attacks damaged buildings and killed and injured numerous civilians.
– Holly Ellyatt
7 hours ago
Ukraine says it destroyed 36 cruise missiles after a nighttime attack
Rescuers in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv on September 21, 2023.
Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Ukraine’s air force said it destroyed 36 air-launched cruise missiles last night after a large-scale Russian attack.
“At about 3:40 a.m., the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with Kh-101/Kh-555/Kh-55 air-launched cruise missiles,” the Air Force said on Telegram, noting that 43 cruise missiles from ten TU-95MS were fired by Russian strategic bomber aircraft.
“Missiles were fired in several waves. “They entered Ukraine’s airspace from different directions and constantly changed course along the route,” the force said in comments translated by NBC.
The Air Force said it and the Defense Forces of Ukraine destroyed 36 cruise missiles, adding that “anti-aircraft missiles, attack aircraft, the Air Force, units of mobile fire groups of the Defense Forces of Ukraine and other means were used to repel the attack.”
It said that Kharkiv had been attacked with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles.
– Holly Ellyatt
7 hours ago
Russia unleashes a wave of attacks across Ukraine
A police officer stands in front of burned cars in an industrial area after a rocket attack on September 21, 2023 in Kiev, Ukraine.
Oleksii Chumachenko | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Russia unleashed a wave of missile attacks across Ukraine overnight, with targets including Kiev and five other cities. The attacks set buildings on fire and killed and wounded civilians.
Air warnings sounded across the country as Russia launched a barrage of rocket attacks on the capital, wounding seven people, including a nine-year-old girl, and on Kherson, where three civilians were killed and others injured.
A view of a destroyed car after a Russian missile attack as the Russo-Ukrainian war continues in Kiev, Ukraine, September 21, 2023. At least 7 people were injured, including 1 child.
Oleksii Chumachenko | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Kyiv Mayor Vitaly Klitschko posted on Telegram that “Kiev has survived another nighttime attack by Russian barbarians” and that buildings had been damaged and there were power outages in some parts of the city.
Kharkiv, Lviv, Rivne and Cherkasy in central Ukraine were also among the cities attacked, regional Ukrainian officials reported on Telegram, posting images of rescue workers trying to rescue people from the rubble of damaged or destroyed buildings in some cities.
Rescuers in the Darnytskyi district of Kyiv on September 21, 2023.
Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images
The attack came hours after President Volodymyr Zelensky gave a speech to the UN Security Council on Wednesday in which he called on Russia to lose its veto power on the council. At the summit he also presented a Ukrainian peace plan. He is scheduled to travel to Washington on Thursday to hold private meetings with President Joe Biden.
– Holly Ellyatt
8 hours ago
Poland deals a blow to Ukraine and declares that it will no longer supply weapons
This image taken on September 20, 2023 shows trains carrying Ukrainian grain stored in wagons covered with white tarpaulin on the second and third tracks at Dorohusk station on the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Damien Simonart | AFP | Getty Images
Poland said on Wednesday it would stop supplying arms to its neighbor Ukraine as disagreement over agricultural exports continued and deepened.
“We are no longer transferring weapons there [Ukraine]because we are now arming Poles,” said Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on the social media platform X on Wednesdayformerly known as Twitter, according to a Google translation.
“Ukraine is defending itself against the brutal Russian attack and I understand this situation, but as I said, we will protect our country,” he added.
Warsaw has been one of Kiev’s staunchest allies since common enemy Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. However, the latest comments followed a dramatic deterioration in relations between Kyiv and Warsaw this week.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala and Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa in Kiev, Ukraine, March 15, 2022.
Press service of the Ukrainian President | via Portal
A recent dispute over Ukraine’s agricultural exports – which have had to move through Eastern European countries while Russia has effectively blocked grain ships leaving the country’s ports – threatened to fracture the alliance.
Ukraine threatened this week to sue Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over their refusal to lift a ban on imports of Ukrainian agricultural products, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky suggested that some European countries had pretended to support Ukraine, which occurred in Warsaw caused trouble.
Read more about the story here: One of Ukraine’s strongest allies says it will no longer supply Kiev with weapons
23 hours ago
Zelensky demands that Russia give up its UN veto power
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in New York City, USA, on September 19, 2023.
Brendan Mcdermid | Portal
Ukrainian President Zelensky demanded on Wednesday that Russia give up its veto right in the UN Security Council.
In a speech in New York, Zelensky said the move was a necessary step to end the fighting in his country.
“It is impossible to stop the war because all efforts are rejected by the aggressor,” he said, adding that council reforms were long overdue.
“I know the UN is capable of more. I am confident that the UN Charter can indeed ensure global peace and security. However, for this to succeed, years of discussions and projects on UN reform must be carried out.” “Translated into a sustainable process of UN reform,” he said.
—Karen Gilchrist
Wed, September 20, 2023, 10:51 a.m. EDT
Poland summons Ukrainian ambassador over grain import dispute
Poland summoned Ukraine’s ambassador to the country on Wednesday as it responded to President Volodymyr Zelensky’s comments about his restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural imports.
“[Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Jablonski] “Expressed the strong protest of the Polish side against President V. Zelenskyy’s statements yesterday at the UN General Assembly, in which it was alleged that some EU countries feigned solidarity while indirectly supporting Russia,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement , as Portal reports.
Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman Oleg Nikolenko said Ukraine had offered a “constructive path to resolving the grain issue.”
Ukraine has strongly criticized Poland, Hungary and Slovakia for introducing import bans on various Ukrainian agricultural products last week after import restrictions imposed by the EU on the three countries as well as Romania and Bulgaria expired.
Products may be transported across countries but may not be sold there.
Overland export routes have become crucial for Ukraine following the suspension of the Black Sea Grains Initiative, but farmers argue that imports would overwhelm supply and lead to a fall in prices if left unchecked.
The EU had called on countries not to adopt different policies on the issue, as Ukraine agreed to introduce measures to prevent oversupply. But national leaders argued this was insufficient.
Ukraine has filed a complaint on the issue with the World Trade Organization, which is believed to be aimed at Poland, Hungary and Slovakia.
In turn, Polish and Ukrainian officials have indicated they could impose further trade restrictions as the dispute escalates.
Romania announced on Wednesday that it would work with Ukraine on an export control plan.
Wed, September 20, 2023, 10:16 a.m. EDT
US plans major aid announcement for Ukraine to coincide with Zelensky’s visit – officially
US President Joe Biden plans to announce a major military aid package for Ukraine on Thursday to coincide with a visit to Washington by President Volodymyr Zelensky, a US official said on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.
—Portal
8 hours ago