Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-13-2024

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.

The leaders of Britain and the United States meet 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.  

Kim said North Korea must "steadily expand and bolster up its defense capability... and the capability for a preemptive attack with the nuclear force as a pivot."

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visited a nuclear facility and called for boosting the country's nuclear capabilities in the face of growing threats from Washington and its allies, state media reported Friday.

The report comes a day after North Korea fired multiple short-range ballistic missiles into waters east of the Korean peninsula, Seoul's military said, the nuclear-armed country's first major weapons test since early July.

The missile’s targeting system may have confused an unarmed St. Kitts and Nevis-registered cargo vessel with a Ukrainian naval outpost. Zelensky said the Kremlin strike was intentional.

A Russian anti-ship missile struck and damaged a civilian cargo ship carrying grain in the western reaches of the Black Sea, in a rare air attack on civilian shipping traffic in the region.

A Kh-22 missile dropped by a Russian Tu-22M3 (NATO reporting name “Backfire”) bomber slammed into the port side of the 27,300 deadweight ton bulk carrier MV Aya on Sept. 11 in a morning strike. Reportedly, the weapon was one of three launched by a trio of bombers flying over the Black Sea shortly after 11 a.m.

Oleksii Brekht will now lead the company after previous CEO Volodymyr Kudrytskyi was fired ostensibly for poor preparation of energy infrastructure defenses.

Ukraine’s state-owned power grid operator Ukrenergo appointed Oleksii Brekht, an old hand at the company, as acting chairman.

Brekht was appointed as the temporary chairman by Ukrenergo’s supervisory board on Sept. 5, but the announcement was made on Friday, Sept. 13.

Kyiv Post, together with a US Air Force pilot, examines the strategic bombers that are the same models as those used by Russia to launch missile strikes on Ukraine.

Russia launches missile strikes on Ukraine every week. In total, according to the Ukrainian Air Force, the aggressor has fired more than 8,000 missiles at Ukraine over the past 2.5 years. A third of them — more than 3,000 — are Kh-101 and Kh-55/Kh-555 cruise missiles, launched from strategic bomber aircraft, the Tu-95 and Tu-160, developed in the Soviet era.

Interestingly, such aircraft were once in service in Ukraine, but the country chose not to use them because it is not an aggressive state, and maintaining them was too expensive. However, some of these bombers remain in Ukraine as museum exhibits.

Unnamed European intelligence officials said the drone is designated Garpiya-A1, though details on the drone – including its type and deployments – remain extremely scarce.

Unnamed European intelligence officials claimed that Russia has developed – and employed – a new drone called Garpiya-A1 using Chinese engines and parts against Ukraine.

The drones reportedly resemble the Iranian Shahed drones in design, with a unique bolt-on fin and Limbach L-550E engines manufactured by Xiamen Limbach, likely the Chinese subsidiary of German engine manufacturer Limbach Flugmotoren, according to Reuters.

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

Keir Starmer will meet Joe Biden today after Vladimir Putin warned the West will be 'at war' with Moscow if they widen Ukraine's use of Storm Shadow missiles. The British PM is due to meet the US President at the White House amid mounting expectations that the long-range weapons will be authorised to strike targets in Russia. Although a final decision is not expected to be announced after the discussions this evening it could be confirmed as early as next week. Putin upped the ante last night, telling state media that Russia would 'take  appropriate decisions based on the threats we will face.'  But speaking to reporters en route to Washington DC, Sir Keir insisted the Russian leader started the war in Ukraine and could end the fighting 'straight away'. 'There are really important developments likely in the next few weeks and months, both in Ukraine and the Middle East, and therefore a number of tactical decisions ought to be taken,' Sir Keir said. He added: 'Russia started this conflict. Russia illegally invaded Ukraine. Russia can end this conflict straight away. ‘Ukraine has the right to self-defence, and obviously we've been absolutely fully supportive of Ukraine's right to self-defence, providing training capabilities. 'But we don't seek any conflict with Russia, that's not our ­intention in the slightest. But they started this conflict, and Ukraine's got a right to self-defence.'

Russia’s FSB security service said on Friday it had revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow whose actions it said showed signs of spying and sabotage work. Britain’s embassy in Moscow did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. “The English did not take our hints about the need to stop this practice (of carrying out intelligence activities inside Russia), so we decided to expel these six to begin with,” an FSB employee told the Rossiya-24 state TV channel. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova was cited by the state TASS news agency as saying the activities of the British embassy in Moscow had gone well beyond diplomatic convention and accusing it of carrying out deliberate activity designed to harm the Russian people. - Reuters

15 servicemen from the “Azov” regiment of the National Guard are returning home after more than two years in Russian captivity. This group is mainly made up of women.

Ukraine has returned 49 military personnel and civilians from Russian captivity President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Telegram.

A controversial film by a director who had worked with Russia’s RT was scheduled to be screened at the festival in Toronto, but after a wave of protests, the organizers suspended the screening.

The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) has decided to cancel all further screenings of the documentary film “Russians at War,” according to a statement released on Sept. 12.

The film, directed by Anastasia Trofimova, was screened earlier in September at the Venice Film Festival where it was denounced by the Ukrainian government as a blatant work of propaganda.

Polish FM said that Ukraine has the right to use Western weapons to prevent Russian war crimes,” adding: “The victim of aggression has the right to defend itself.”

Poland added its voice on Thursday to calls to allow Ukraine to fire Western-supplied missiles deep into Russia as it hosted U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Warsaw.

Kyiv has been pressing the Biden administration and other Western governments to authorize long-range strikes that it says will help to counter Russia’s relentless aerial attacks on Ukraine.

The death rate in Ukraine is 18.6 per thousand people, while the birth rate is six children per thousand people.

Ukraine has the highest death rate and the lowest birth rate in the world, according to a report by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The report shows that Ukraine’s death rate stands at 18.6 per thousand people, the highest in the world. Lithuania ranks second in mortality with 15.02 per thousand, followed by Serbia at 14.9. Russia is in ninth place with 14 deaths per thousand people.

A week after social media first showed Ukrainian FPV drones dropping thermite on Russian positions, a slew of pro-Kremlin milbloggers have revealed Moscow’s attempts to replicate the weapon.

A video published on social media by the pro-Moscow military journalist Andrey Medvedev on Wednesday shows for the first time Russian troops deploying their version of a thermite carrying first-person view (FPV) “dragon drone.”

The video shows a soldier from Russia’s “Omut Group” UAV unit attaching a canister which resembles the thermite sub-munition from an artillery round to a quadcopter drone before launching it, allegedly toward a Ukrainian position.

Moscow said the British foreign ministry's Eastern Europe and Central Asia department was coordinating moves aimed at inflicting a "strategic defeat" on Russia.

Russia's FSB security service on Friday announced that the accreditation of six British diplomats had been withdrawn for suspected espionage and for "threatening Russia's security".

"As a measure of reprisals to the multiple unfriendly acts of London, the Russian foreign ministry ... has withdrawn the accreditation of six employees from the political department of the British embassy in Moscow," it said in a statement.

The meeting follows the signing of a defense pact between Russia and North Korea, as Moscow seeks to secure ammunition and resources amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.

According to Moscow’s official statement, Russian Security Council chief Sergei Shoigu met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Friday.

The meeting follows the signing of a defense pact between Russia and North Korea, as Moscow seeks to secure ammunition and resources amid its ongoing war in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister called the strike “a brazen attack on freedom of navigation and global food security”. The US ambassador to Ukraine condemned the attack and said Russia was responsible.

Ukraine accused Russia on Thursday (12 September) of using strategic bombers to strike a civilian grain vessel in a missile attack in Black Sea waters near NATO member Romania, escalating tensions between Moscow and the military alliance.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the vessel carrying Ukrainian grain to Egypt had been hit overnight by a Russian missile just after it left Ukrainian territorial waters. There were no casualties, he said.

The Russians have launched counteroffensive actions, and it's unfolding as part of our Ukrainian plan, Zelensky said during a news conference in Kyiv alongside Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces had anticipated Moscow's counteroffensive in the Russian region of Kursk, his first comments on the pushback this week, more than a month after Ukraine's cross-border incursion.

Ukraine’s troops captured an enclave of western Russian territory in a surprise raid that began in early August, a move aimed at wresting the battlefield initiative from Russia including by diverting Moscow’s forces from the eastern front.

Kyiv is pushing Washington and London to lift a restriction on firing arms made by those countries, with Putin warning that giving Ukraine the green light would mean NATO was "at war" with Moscow.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Joe Biden will discuss Friday whether to let Kyiv use long-range missiles against Russia, in what is likely their last meeting before an election that could upend US policy on Ukraine.

Kyiv is pushing Washington and London to lift a restriction on firing arms made by those countries, with Russian President Vladimir Putin warning that giving Ukraine the green light would mean NATO was "at war" with Moscow.

Inside a shattered factory somewhere in the Eastern Donbas region combat zone, a Russian journalist cowers as the growing sound of an approaching drone fills the confined space.

A video from Russia’s propaganda outlet RT has been posted on social media. Assuming that the event wasn’t staged for the channel’s Russian audience, it shows one of their [unnamed] “war correspondents” filming himself as he hides from what is said to be a Ukrainian small, weaponized first-person view (FPV) drone.

The wasp-like buzzing of the drone – apparently seeking a target – can be heard as it approaches then enters the building where he is hiding.

A Ukrainian servicemember told Kyiv Post that the FPV drone equipped with a disposable grenade launcher is still a “raw” technology but holds promising potential for future success.

A video circulating on social media shows Ukrainians testing a first-person view (FPV) drone equipped with an RPG-18 grenade launcher.

“Testing of a Ukrainian FPV drone with an RPG-18 grenade launcher,” read the caption accompanying the video released on the Belarusian opposition’s Nexta Telegram channel.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Russian forces continued counterattacking throughout the Ukrainian salient in Kursk Oblast on September 12 but made only marginal gains, likely due to continued Ukrainian offensive operations and defensive counterattacks in the area.
• Russian forces have so far advanced in areas of Kursk Oblast that Ukrainian forces were not yet fully controlling nor attempting to control, and Russian forces will likely face more difficulty when counterattacking further into areas of the salient where Ukrainian forces do have control.
• A Ukrainian HIMARS strike reportedly damaged a temporary pontoon bridge across the Seym River and wounded a group of nearby Russian troops on September 12.
• Russian authorities have reportedly deployed additional elements of the Russian 106th Airborne (VDV) Division to Kursk Oblast and may begin redeploying more combat experienced forces to support ongoing Russian counterattacks and future counteroffensive operations against Ukrainian forces in Russia.
• The United Kingdom (UK) will reportedly allow Ukraine to use UK-provided long-range Storm Shadow missiles to strike military objects in Russia in the coming days.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin continues rhetorical efforts aimed at influencing the ongoing Western policy debate about granting Ukraine permission to use Western-provided weapons against military objects in Russia, although Russia has not previously escalated militarily against perceived Western violations of Russia's "red lines."
• Russian forces struck a civilian cargo ship transiting through the Ukrainian grain corridor in the western Black Sea on September 11, likely as part of a renewed Russian effort to undermine international confidence in the safety of the corridor.
• Russia continued its efforts to enhance relations with non-Western countries at the meeting of BRICS high-ranking security officials and advisors in St. Petersburg.
• Iran and Russia are downplaying their disagreement over the Zangezur Corridor project in the Caucasus.
• Russia is continuing to balance its relationships with Iran and the Gulf states.
• Russian investigative outlet Dossier Center published an investigation on September 12 into the Kremlin's efforts to consolidate its influence over the Russian information space via Telegram ahead of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
• Russian forces recently north of Chasiv Yar, southeast of Pokrovsk, and west of Donetsk City.
• Former Roscosmos (Russian space agency) head and Zaporizhia Oblast occupation senator Dmitry Rogozin claimed on September 12 that the first group of the newly-formed "BARS-Sarmat" volunteer detachment (Russian Combat Army Reserve) signed military service contracts with the Russian MoD and are training for deployment to the frontline in Ukraine.