Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-15-2024

A rescue operation is underway at the site, where fire and debris are reported between the 9th and 12th floors. Children are among the injured.

Russian troops have struck a residential building in Kharkiv with guided aerial bombs, injuring dozens of people, according to President Volodymyr Zelensky via Telegram.

The president reported that a rescue operation is in progress, with fire and rubble affecting the 9th through 12th floors. “All services are involved in rescuing people. Thank you to everyone who helps,” Zelensky wrote.

Will the US and the UK allow Ukraine to use Western missiles to attack military targets within Russia?

Will the US and the UK allow Ukraine to use Western missiles to attack military targets within Russia? Following a joint visit to Kyiv by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, there are growing indications that they will. US President Joe Biden and British PM Keir Starmer are meeting to discuss the issue in Washington DC today. Europe's press looks at what's at stake.

React to a dangerous coalition

Russia’s assault in the Kursk region, including 14 military vehicles, was repelled by Ukrainian forces, who reportedly inflicted heavy losses on the Russian troops.

Ukrainian forces reportedly destroyed a Russian paratrooper unit in the Kursk region, according to the Communications Department of the Airborne Assault Forces of Ukraine on Telegram.

“The aggressor state’s troops are making desperate attempts to dislodge Ukrainian Defense Forces from the Kursk region,” the caption accompanying the video read.

Moscow’s chief “saber rattler” says Kremlin has resisted the urge to use nuclear weapons despite Kursk incursion, but Putin’s patience isn’t endless.

As the UK and US continue to vacillate on authorizing Kyivto use long-range Western weapons inside Russia, various Moscow mouthpieces are trying to influence the outcome by raising the nuclear weapons flag.

It is no surprise that Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, entered the fray in his customary weekend Telegram post.

Recent Russian strikes cut off water and electricity for many in Pokrovsk and damaged two overpasses, including one linking the town to Myrnohrad.

Russian shelling killed one person in the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk on Sunday, local authorities said, as Moscow's troops inched closer to the key logistics hub.

More than 20,000 people have fled the city since August, while Russian strikes over the past two weeks have cut off water and electricity to many of its remaining residents.

Budanov identified North Korea as Russia’s most dangerous military ally for Ukraine, as its weapons and ammunition supplies significantly impact the intensity of hostilities.

Russia plans to end the war in Ukraine by 2026 with a victory, according to Kyrylo Budanov, head of Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Intelligence (HUR) speaking at the 20th Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting in Kyiv.

Budanov revealed that Russia views 2025 as a critical year.

Ahead of Tuesday’s candidates’ debate I offered the US vice-president some advice: distance yourself from Joe Biden and denounce Trump's treasonous relationship with Putin towards the war in Ukraine.

It seems that as Harris's advisers prepped her for the debate agreed with me.  More surprisingly, perhaps....so did her opponent.  The rejoinder “my last name is Harris, not Biden” became a running theme during the night, not the least because Trump kept leaving himself open for it.

But the former president truly outdid himself when it came to my second recommendation.

U.S. President Joe Biden is looking forward to discussing Ukraine’s war strategy with President Volodymyr Zelensky this month.

U.S. President Joe Biden is looking forward to discussing Ukraine’s war strategy with President Volodymyr Zelensky this month and Washington is working on a “substantial” new aid package, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said on Saturday.

Zelensky has said he wants to present a “victory plan” that could push Russia to end its war in Ukraine diplomatically to Biden and his two potential successors.

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

Romania has set up displacement camps and launched rescue operations after floods killed at least four people and destroyed thousands of homes in the east of the country. Military boats and planes are being used to move people to safety, and Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu has said the priority now is to prevent further loss of life. Recent days have seen torrential rain sweep through central and eastern Europe, swelling rivers and triggering flood warnings in the Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary. The flood barriers in Czech capital Prague have been raised, while in parts of Poland residents have been evacuated. The four dead people were found in the southeastern Romanian region of Galati during a search and rescue operation, emergency services confirmed to the AFP news agency. "Dozens of people were rescued from their homes in 19 areas of the country," they added. - BBC

The head of NATO’s military committee said Saturday that Ukraine has the solid legal and military right to strike deep inside Russia to gain combat advantage — reflecting the beliefs of a number of U.S. allies — even as the Biden administration balks at allowing Kyiv to do so using American-made weapons. “Every nation that is attacked has the right to defend itself. And that right doesn’t stop at the border of your own nation,” said Adm. Rob Bauer, speaking at the close of the committee’s annual meeting, also attended by U.S. Gen. CQ Brown, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bauer, of Netherlands, also added that nations have the sovereign right to put limits on the weapons they send to Ukraine. But, standing next to him at a press briefing, Lt. Gen. Karel Řehka, chief of the General Staff of the Czech Armed Forces, made it clear his nation places no such weapons restrictions on Kyiv. - AP

In an exclusive Kyiv Post interview, International Bar Association Executive Director Mark Ellis discussed Mongolia’s failure to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin and its implications.

On Sept. 4, Mongolia failed to honor the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visited the country – at the invitation of Mongolia’s president.

Mongolia, as a member of the ICC, has the legal obligation to honor the arrest warrant concerning Putin’s role and complicity in illegally deporting Ukrainian children.

Poland’s FM proposes ending welfare for Ukrainian men to boost their return to military service and urged other EU countries to do the same, noting Poland doesn’t offer refugee benefits.

Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski has proposed ending welfare payments for Ukrainian men of fighting age in Europe to encourage their return to Ukraine and bolster its military ranks as the war enters its third year.

Sikorski said Friday during a discussion at the 20th Yalta European Strategy (YES) meeting in Kyiv that European countries should “stop paying social security benefits to those eligible for the Ukrainian draft.”

US officials said Ukraine can already hit Russian targets with drones, adding that while US ATACMS missiles would boost this, they are too costly and limited to significantly alter the dynamic.

As the US and Britain discuss allowing Ukraine to use Western weapons to strike deep within Russia, some US officials are deeply skeptical that doing so would make a significant difference in Kyiv’s battle against Russian invaders.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer arrived in Washington on Friday (13 September) to discuss with US President Joe Biden whether to give Ukraine approval to use NATO-supplied weapons to hit targets far beyond Ukraine’s borders, something the US administration has so far not been willing to allow in the 2-1/2-year-old conflict.

A married couple, born in 1958 and 1962, died in the suburbs of Odesa following a Russian missile attack, reportedly involving a banned cluster warhead.

Russia launched a coordinated overnight attack on Ukraine, hitting the outskirts of Odesa with missiles carrying cluster warheads, resulting in casualties, Odesa officials reported.

Ukraine’s Air Force announced on Telegram that air defense forces intercepted a Kh-59 missile and 10 Shahed drones. Russian forces had fired the Kh-59 guided air missile from the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia region, along with 14 kamikaze drones from Russian Kursk and Cape Chauda in occupied Crimea.

Advisor to the President for Strategic Affairs said that Ukraine had a production capacity equal to $20 billion but could only manage to fund $7 billion with its own budget.

Ukraine is ready to scale up its domestic weapons production but is financially constrained, Ukrainian officials said Saturday as they asked for increased foreign investment in Kyiv's defence industry.

Kyiv has relied on Soviet-era stocks and Western deliveries for much of its defence against Russia's invasion, while developing its own weapons production.

Ukraine is using its limited long-range drones to strike Russian industrial and military targets. Budanov said that beyond physical damage, these strikes have a significant psychological impact.

The head of Ukraine’s military intelligence has said long-range strikes into Russia had “broken” the Russian people’s belief in that they lived in a safe and powerful country.

Lieutenant-General Kyrylo Budanov was speaking as debate raged in Kyiv, London and Washington over whether Ukraine should be allowed to use Western-made weapons systems to hit targets deep in Russia.

The Swedish government on Sept. 9 announced its 17th military aid package for Ukraine worth over €400 million. The package includes six Combat Boat 90 fast assault boats.

The decision to give combat boats to Ukraine may seem surprising, as Ukraine primarily needs effective air defense systems, armored vehicles, artillery pieces and ammunition. However, combat boats can be equally important and are certainly timely.

The Defense Ministry’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR) reported the downing of a Russian Su-30SM fighter jet over the Black Sea on Sept. 11. The aircraft was shot down with a regular portable air defense system (MANPADS) mounted on a small combat boat. This proves that Ukraine does need various means of defense, including naval ones. The Russian Air Force pilot probably never expected a threat from a small boat in the middle of the open sea, which highlights the effectiveness of such platforms in modern combat environments.

Crunching the numbers with mind-blowing results, a German researcher has assessed Russian open source and “secret” financial data as the “three-day special military operation” enters its 32nd month.

The military issues website BulgarianMilitary.com has cast a spotlight on the soaring costs of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s obsessional full-scale war in Ukraine, now deep into its third year.

The report is based on figures produced by Janis Kluge, a researcher from Germany’s Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik(SWP) - the Berlin based Institute for International and Security Affairs.