Kiev claimed to have “broken through” the Russian defensive line at Bakhmout and complained to the WTO against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United States on Monday, September 18th. He must attend the UN General Assembly and then meet his American counterpart Joe Biden in Washington. But before that, the day was marked by a “breakthrough” by the Ukrainian armed forces and a complaint from Kiev to the World Trade Organization. Franceinfo looks back on the most important events.
Kiev claims to have “broken through” the Russian defense line near Bakhmut
Since the beginning of June, Ukrainian troops have been conducting a difficult counteroffensive against the fortified Russian lines. Over the past two weeks, Ukrainian forces have increased their pressure, recapturing the village of Robotyné in the south and then the village of Andriivka in the east.
The neighboring town of Andriivka, Klichtchiivka, fell on Sunday after months of fighting. With these advances, “the enemy’s defensive line was broken,” said the commander of the Kiev ground forces, General Oleksandr Syrsky. These locations are “important” for the Russian defense line around Bakhmout, he added, specifying that three Russian brigades were “destroyed.” However, the situation in the eastern zone remains “complicated” and “heavy fighting near Bakhmout continues,” General Syrsky admitted.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on X (formerly Twitter) that he was “proud” of “each of our heroes on the front lines.”
Drones were shot down on both sides
The strikes don’t just affect the front. According to the Ukrainian Air Force, Russia sent 24 drones and fired 17 missiles in further night strikes. “Eighteen drones were shot down,” as were the 17 cruise missiles, she assured.
The Russian army, for its part, claimed in its daily report to have bombed storage facilities in Ukraine for Storm Shadow cruise missiles and depleted uranium ammunition, two types of weapons supplied by London. “The aim of the attack was achieved. All facilities were hit,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Russia also said it shot down several Ukrainian drones overnight in annexed Crimea, the Moscow region and in Belgorod and Voronezh near Ukraine. A kind of attack that has become almost daily.
Ukraine files WTO lawsuit against Poland, Slovakia and Hungary
Kiev announced that it had filed a complaint with the World Trade Organization against three European Union countries (Poland, Slovakia and Hungary) that extended their embargo on imports of Ukrainian grain despite Brussels’ decision to lift restrictions. “It is crucial for us to ensure that individual member states cannot ban the import of Ukrainian goods,” Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko said in a press release. “That’s why we are filing a complaint against them,” she added.
Warsaw, also one of Ukraine’s best military and diplomatic allies against Russia, announced that it would stick to its decision. “We think it is fair,” Polish government spokesman Piotr Müller told the Polsat News television channel, “such a complaint to the WTO does not impress us.”
At the end of April, the European Commission allowed five member states (Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania) to block the marketing of Ukrainian wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflowers on their soil in order to protect their farmers.
Kim Jong-un was pleased with his visit to Russia
The North Korean leader expressed his “sincere gratitude” to President Vladimir Putin after his six-day stay in Russia, the official North Korean agency KCNA reported on Monday. Kim Jong-un wished “prosperity for Russia and well-being for its people.” This visit further strengthened the “militant unity” of the two countries while opening “a new chapter” in their relations, Pyongyang said.
On the Western side, the trip has revived fears that isolated and nuclear-armed North Korea would supply Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine. That trip revealed possible military ties between the two countries, with Kim Jong-un having inspected a range of equipment such as Russian space rockets and submarines. The two men even went so far as to symbolically offer each other a rifle.