Friday, September 8, 2023
9:28 p.m
“sham elections”
“France strongly condemns the organization of sham elections by Russia on Ukrainian territory, in particular in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol, as well as in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted.
These “so-called elections” are “devoid of any legitimacy and are being held in territories illegally occupied by Russia,” Paris continued in a press release, which “will not recognize the ‘results’.”
From this Friday to Sunday, dozens of regional and local elections will take place in Russia, without any resistance and against a background of repression. The Russian authorities are also organizing them in the occupied territories of Ukraine and in Crimea, which has been annexed since 2014.
19:02
US ELECTIONS
Volodymyr Zelensky claimed that Russia is betting on the upcoming US presidential elections and hopes that they will weaken Washington’s support for Kiev.
“(The Russians) are counting on the American elections… even though we have mutual, bipartisan support,” Volodymyr Zelensky said, acknowledging, however, that there are “voices within the Republican Party who say that support for Ukraine is essential .’reduced’.
6:49 p.m
Zelensky accuses Putin of “killing” Prigozhin
Volodymyr Zelensky accused Vladimir Putin on Friday of “killing” the head of the Russian paramilitary group Wagner Evgueni Prigoyine, who died in a plane crash in August.
“He killed Prigozhin, at least that’s information we all have, we don’t have any other information,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at a conference in Kiev.
18:23
ELECTIONS IN UKRAINE
Zelensky says he is “ready” to hold elections in war-torn Ukraine.
6:18 p.m
Moscow summons Armenian ambassador
Russia on Friday summoned the ambassador of Armenia, a country allied with Moscow, for “unfriendly actions” after Yerevan announced military exercises with the United States.
The Russian Foreign Ministry expressed particular concern about “the military exercises of the United States on Armenian territory,” a visit to Kiev by the wife of the Armenian prime minister. The Armenians accuse Moscow and its peacekeepers of failing in their mission by letting Azerbaijan block a key supply route to Nagorno-Karabakh, a territory the two countries have disputed for decades.
16:21
Russian espionage in Germany
The German federal prosecutor’s office on Friday announced charges of treason against a German secret service agent suspected of spying for Russia and an alleged accomplice.
The two men “are strongly suspected of having committed treason as accomplices in two particularly serious cases,” according to a press release from the public prosecutor responsible for terrorism and espionage cases. The Federal Intelligence Service (BND) agent was arrested in late 2022 and has reportedly been in contact with a Russia-based contractor with ties to the FSB since May 2021.
16:03
Russian air superiority
Russia “stops” Ukrainian counteroffensive thanks to its air superiority, admits Volodymyr Zelensky.
3:59 p.m
GEORGIA
A possible failure of Georgia to join the EU will please Russia, said the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Friday in the capital Tbilisi and called on Georgia to carry out democratic reforms. In June 2022, the EU denied Georgia integration candidate status and instead granted it to Ukraine and Moldova.
Josep Borrell assured that “Georgia undoubtedly belongs to the European family”, while emphasizing that the former Soviet republic in the Caucasus has so far only met three of the twelve criteria that the EU sets as a prerequisite for granting candidate status. Despite everything, “the EU will not abandon Georgia,” the head of European diplomacy added.
15:12
LEOPARD TANK
The first 10 Leopard 1 tanks of the hundred tanks promised by Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands in February have arrived in Ukraine, with more to follow, the Danish army announced on Friday. “More are on the way,” the army said in a statement.
The Leopard 1 A5s donated by Denmark were used by the Danish army until 2005. In 1997, the country purchased 51 German-developed Leopard 2 A4s and decommissioned these Leopard 1s.
12:52
Man arrested in Crimea
Russia announced on Friday the arrest of a man it accuses of plotting on Ukraine’s behalf to sabotage a rail transport facility on the annexed Crimean peninsula.
A “resident of Sevastopol was arrested,” the Russian Security Services (FSB) wrote in a statement. “On instructions from Kiev, he prepared a terrorist attack against a railway facility” in order to “disrupt military transport.”
According to its own information, the FSB found “an explosive device” in the “cache” of the man born in 1978, who is in custody and against whom a “criminal case” has been initiated.
Crimea’s Russian-appointed governor Sergei Aksionov warned that transport infrastructure had become the main target of “terrorism” and that saboteurs would be punished.
12:51
MUSK CHARGED
A forthcoming biography of the billionaire entrepreneur reveals that he intervened last year to prevent a Ukrainian attack on the Russian naval fleet in Crimea.
International
Published today at 11:16 am.
12:48 p.m
UKRAINE PETITION
Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have already signed an online petition on Friday calling for transparency in officials’ asset declarations amid growing discontent over wartime corruption.
The text, published online on the presidency’s website for citizens’ initiatives, received more than 83,000 votes, far more than the 25,000 needed for a response from President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Because of his veto power, he is asked to send a bill back to Parliament.
12:47 p.m
ARRIVAL OF LAWROW IN INDIA
Russian diplomat chief Sergei Lavrov arrived in New Delhi, India, on Friday afternoon to lead the Russian delegation at the G20 summit in the absence of President Vladimir Putin, television images showed.
“We are working closely with all G20 countries to (…) combat attempts to explain the humanitarian and economic problems in the world solely by ‘the conflict in Ukraine’ (…),” Lavrov said of his arrival, quoted in a Russian Foreign Ministry press release.
12:01
At least four dead in bomb attacks in Russia
At least four people were killed and dozens more injured in a series of Russian attacks and bombings on towns and villages in Ukraine on Friday, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Three civilians were killed and four injured by a bomb dropped from an aircraft on Odradokamianka in the southern Kherson region, Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said on Telegram. This place faces the Russian forces stationed on the other bank of the Dnieper.
In Kryvyy Rig, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelensky in the south of the country, a bomb attack was carried out on an administrative building, killing one person and injuring 44, according to emergency services. Three people are in serious condition. According to the Ukrainian police, one police officer was killed and nine of his colleagues were among the injured.
11:39
ELECTIONS IN THE OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
Ukraine condemned on Friday the “sham votes” organized by Russia in the territories occupied by Russia since its invasion and in annexed Crimea and called on the international community to condemn these votes.
“Russia’s pseudo-elections in the temporarily occupied territories have no value,” Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement, calling on its foreign partners to “condemn Russia’s arbitrary and futile actions.”
He also calls for the Russian officials organizing these votes to be prosecuted and punished.
09:09
PERSON KILLED IN RUSSIAN BOMB ATTACK
A Russian missile killed one person and injured nine others in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, the region’s governor said.
Oleh Lysak said on Telegram that the rocket hit an administrative building in the southern Ukrainian city on Friday morning.
08:16
Blockade of Ukrainian ports
Russia’s blockade of Ukrainian seaports since it pulled out of a U.N.-Turkey-brokered grain deal is “scandalous” and “must end,” European Council President Charles Michel told reporters in New Delhi.
“It is frankly scandalous that Russia is blockading and attacking Ukrainian ports after the end of the Black Sea Grain Initiative. This has to stop,” said Michel on the eve of a G20 summit.
07:38
CUBA
Seventeen people have been arrested in Cuba over alleged links to a human trafficking network operating out of Russia aimed at recruiting men to fight in the war in Ukraine, the Interior Ministry said Thursday.
The government said Monday that the ministry was working to “neutralize and dismantle a human trafficking network operating from Russia to incorporate Cuban citizens living there, and even some from Cuba, into the Armed Forces’ military personnel participating in military operations in Ukraine.” is involved.”
On Thursday, the head of the investigation, César Rodriguez, said that 17 people had been arrested so far, without specifying their nationality. However, he clarified that one of them was “the internal organizer of these activities.” Two others have been identified as recruiters, he added.
07:26
WELCOME
Hello and welcome to everyone in this live broadcast dedicated to news about the war in Ukraine.