Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-09-2024

Moscow-native Maria Gaidar, daughter of former Russian PM Yegor Gaidar, shares exclusive insights with Jason Smart on Kremlin business and why Russia’s situation may be deteriorating rapidly.

Drone video published by the Ukrainian military showed at least three direct hits by heavy weapons loaded with cluster munitions. Probably it was HIMARS.

Kremlin troops isolated in a Kursk border region adjacent to Ukraine lost their last clear path to safety and possibly were trapped, following a punishing Ukrainian missile or bomb strike that demolished a tactically critical road bridge crossing the Seym River.

Cadets are being deployed to the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia sectors because of troop shortages due to death and redeployment to the Kursk region defense and Pokrovsk offensive, partisans say.

The Russian military leadership is sending military academy cadets into the Ukraine invasion to compensate for personnel deficits – particularly in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia sectors, Ukraine’s Atesh partisans said in a Telegram post on Monday, Sept. 9.

Along with significant losses, regular Russian soldiers were redeployed from Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to try to halt the advance of Ukrainian forces in the Kursk region and to join the Pokrovsk offensive in the Donetsk region, the partisans said.

Europe's press observes - with both understanding and concern - a concentration of power in a country that has been defending itself against Russia for two and a half years.

In a major government reshuffle in Ukraine, around half of the cabinet has been replaced. The foreign minister is now Andrii Sybiha, who previously served as deputy to his predecessor Dmytro Kuleba. Europe's press observes - with both understanding and concern - a concentration of power in a country that has been defending itself against Russia for two and a half years.

Power shift prompted by war

Kyiv Post’s Special Military Correspondent Stefan Korshak offers a personal take on the latest developments on the front line.

The Russians this week turned down the tap on missile and drone bombardment of Ukraine. From the perspective of us being hit (or missed), it looks like the smart guys in the Kremlin shifted from massed attacks trying to break through to the highest-value targets, to selected strikes – ahem – accepting the risk of collateral damage.

In Poltava on Tuesday a pair of Iskander ballistic missiles caught at least a couple of hundred students and instructors at a military institute out in the open, and more in one of the main buildings. There were 55-plus dead and 330-plus injured. Some of them were relatives on hand for an opening-day ceremony. It seems very clear the missiles were fired from nearby, across the border.

The alleged range stated by Ukraine’s intelligence chief on Saturday would theoretically allow Kyiv to reach Russia’s Ural Mountains and cover dozens of airfields used to launch jets against Ukraine.

Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (HUR), said on Saturday that drones produced in Ukraine at present could reach a maximum range of 1,800 kilometers (1,118 miles).

In a Facebook announcement commemorating the Day of Military Intelligence on Saturday, Sept. 7, Budanov said the drones were developed by specialists, including those employed by the HUR.

Anastasia Trofimova’s movie, which was presented at the Venice Film Festival, follows a Russian battalion in which she was embedded as it advanced across eastern Ukraine.

A war documentary, Russians at War, filmed by Russian-Canadian filmmaker Anastasia Trofimova and screened at the Venice International Film Festival, has come under fire from Ukrainian politicians and cultural figures, who called it blatant propaganda - a claim she denies.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) issued an official statement on Sunday, Sept. 8,  condemning the showing of the film at the Venice International Film Festival amid Russia’s ongoing military aggression against Ukraine, labelling it as Russian propaganda .

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

Three Israeli border guards have been killed in a shooting at the Allenby Crossing on the border between the occupied West Bank and Jordan, the Israeli Emergency Services said Sunday. The Israel Airports Authority, which runs the border terminal at the Allenby Crossing with Jordan, told CNN that the three men who died worked at the crossing. The Allenby crossing mainly serves Palestinians and foreigners. Israelis are not allowed to use it.

My comment: I’ve used this crossing many times as a UN staffer to go to and from Jordan. Security is extremely tight, especially on the Israeli side. Nothing seems to be left to chance. So it seems extremely odd that a shooter from the Jordanian side was able to cross so freely, unchecked for weapons. In any case, it’ll put further strain on the Israel-Jordan relationship as the Gaza war places Palestinian deaths above the 40,000 mark. About a year ago a proposed bilateral deal to swap water for solar power was sunk due to the violence.

Volker Turk stated that the population is "trapped in cycles of terror," with attacks by Russia hitting civilian facilities and repeatedly targeting energy infrastructure.

The United Nations' human rights commissioner on Monday condemned Russia's repeated attacks on Ukraine's energy facilities and said he feared for civilians there this winter.

Volker Turk said the population is "trapped in cycles of terror, through ongoing attacks by the Russian Federation striking civilian facilities like hospitals, schools and supermarkets, and repeated waves of targeting of energy infrastructure leading to countrywide blackouts.

The UK-administered International Fund for Ukraine has confirmed that it has finalized contracts worth £300 million ($380 million) to supply 152mm artillery ammunition for Ukraine’s Soviet-era guns.

The International Fund for Ukraine (IFU), which the UK government administers, announced on Friday, Sept. 6 that the eight member nations had now provided more than £1 billion ($1.3 billion) along with the IFU’s largest ever support package worth £300 million ($380 million) to supply 152mm artillery ammunition to Ukraine.

The UK’s Defence Secretary, John Healy, confirmed that this contract will deliver several thousand artillery rounds before the end of the year with a total of 120,000 expected to be provided over the next 18 months.

The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that the United States had briefed European allies that Iran has delivered short-range short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.

The European Union said Monday that its allies had shared intelligence that Iran had supplied Russia with ballistic missiles, and warned of new sanctions on Tehran if the deliveries were confirmed.

"We are aware of the credible information provided by allies on the delivery of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia," EU spokesman Peter Stano said.

Ukraine’s newly appointed foreign minister, has recalled the temporary representative to Georgia for “misunderstanding of the realities of the diplomacy of a warring state.”

Andrii Sybiha, Ukraine’s new foreign minister, has dismissed his deputy and recalled the country’s temporary representative to Georgia while hinting at more internal changes after assuming office on Sept. 5.

Sybiha announced the changes and his future vision for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a Sunday Facebook announcement, after meeting with Ukrainian consuls and ambassadors earlier the same day.

On the eve of the first Trump – Harris presidential debate it is worth considering how the strategies of the candidates and their teams could and should be modified to meet the new reality.

Kamala Harris has achieved a great deal in the month or so since she entered the race for the presidency.  She has erased Trump's five-point lead in the polls for both national and key battleground states. The American electorate now seems much more comfortable with the thought of Harris as potential president, a feat she has been able to accomplish without projecting any overly exceptional qualities or coming up with any groundbreaking proposals. 

It simply became clear a posteriori that a matchup between Trump and Biden was essentially a competition of their unfavorability ratings. So when one of these candidates was “shown the door,” so to speak, the less-than-ideal Kamala Harris suddenly had the advantage.

In the end days of Boris Yeltsin’s rule, evidence from a string of bombings that killed hundreds and wrought fear among Russian citizens reveals the inner workings of a cold-blooded state.

In the early morning of Sept. 9, 1999, a massive explosion tore through an apartment building at 19 Guryanova Street, a working-class area of Moscow. The central section of the building was obliterated, and fierce fires burned under the rubble. “It’s like hell underneath,” one rescuer said. “Even if they survived the blast, they would have been burned alive.”

In the end, 100 people were killed and 690 injured.

As the US and other Western allies prevaricate on authorizing Ukraine to use their long-range weapons against targets in Russia, Kyiv has taken a step towards producing another of its own.

A video released at the weekend on the unofficial Telegram channel @UkrAirForce and reposted on X / Twitter shows a Ukrainian Su-24 (NATO: Fencer) variable-wing bomber carrying what appears to be a new type of air-launched guided munition. It seems likely that the video was filmed sometime in August.

The post said that the Su-24, with the bort number “White 09,” belongs to Ukraine’s 7th Tactical Aviation Brigade and that the footage was shot from a Su-27UB (NATO: Flanker-C) twin seater fighter-interceptor from the 831st Tactical Aviation Brigade.

Naval and air forces will take part in the "North-Joint 2024" exercises in the skies and around the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk, off Russia's coast, China's defence ministry said.

China said Monday it would hold joint military drills with Russia this month, as the allies deepen ties that have seen NATO dub Beijing an "enabler" of Moscow's war in Ukraine.

Naval and air forces will take part in the "North-Joint 2024" exercises in the skies and around the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk, off Russia's coast, China's defence ministry said.

Russia faced renewed condemnation after its drones, targeting Ukraine, breached the airspace of Latvia and Romania, raising concerns about escalating tensions along NATO's eastern flank.

Russia faced fresh backlash on Sunday after its attack drones, en route to Ukraine, were detected in NATO and EU members Latvia and Romania.

Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) that a “Russian military drone... crashed in the eastern part of Latvia.” He added that an investigation was underway and that “the number of such incidents is increasing along NATO’s eastern flank, and we must address them collectively.”

Ukraine has become a Paralympic powerhouse, finishing third in Rio 2016, but their 22 golds and 82 total medals in Paris are even more remarkable given the devastation from Russia's 2022 invasion.

Ukraine's Paralympics success "shapes the consciousness" of Ukrainian society and the authorities when it comes to the equal rights and opportunities for disabled people, the president of its Paralympic Committee told AFP.

Ukraine has become a powerhouse in the Summer Paralympics -- they were third in the medals table in Rio in 2016 -- but their haul of 22 gold medals and 82 overall in Paris is even more impressive given the death and destruction since Russia invaded in February 2022.

Sometimes the solution is simple, but not easy to achieve, given the difficulty of making the effort. Shutting down Russia’s economy is such a solution.

I asked a friend of mine in Lviv what it would take to end this war in favor of Ukraine. What surprised me more than his answer was the rapidity and confidence.

No, he is not the mayor of Lviv, nor a high-evel politician or soldier. He is an intellectual, once a television personality, journalist and currently a website master.

Russia’s pernicious actions in the Balkans aim to stoke historical tensions and exploit a groundswell of despondency with the EU’s failure to engage.

For decades, the Balkans have been a hotbed of geopolitical tension; a region whose historical complexities and ethnic conflicts have made it fertile ground for external manipulation.

Over the last decade, Russia has established itself as an extremely disruptive force, using its influence to destabilizethe Balkans, undermine European unity, and challenge Western democracies. However, despite mounting evidence of Moscow's malignant activities, there remains a worrying complacency among Western powers, whose inaction risks ceding a vital region to an aggressive adversary.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Central Intelligence Agency Director (CIA) William Burns cautioned the West against concern about boilerplate Russian nuclear saber-rattling, which ISW has long identified as part of a Kremlin effort to promote Western self-deterrence and influence key moments in Western policy debates about support for Ukraine.
• Russian milbloggers continue to offer insights into how the Kremlin is co-opting select milbloggers to regulate the spread of information in Russia.
• The Kremlin has not yet succeeded in co-opting or silencing all Russian milbloggers, however.
• The milbloggers’ insights into such incidents suggest that the Kremlin is attempting to co-opt milbloggers or encourage them to self-censor, as opposed to a more aggressive policy of direct censorship.
• The Russian Investigative Committee is investigating a "mass brawl" between Russian ultranationalists and Central Asian residents in Afipsky, Krasnodar Krai, amid increased xenophobia against migrants and ethnic minorities in Russia.
• Ukrainian officials continued to announce a series of appointments among senior members of the Ukrainian cabinet on September 8.
• Russian forces conducted counterattacks in Kursk Oblast amid continued Ukrainian offensive operations in the area on September 8.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Toretsk and marginally advanced near Chasiv Yar.
• A Russian milblogger who formerly served as a "Storm-Z" unit instructor claimed on September 8 that the Russian military needs to improve the training of drone unit commanders.