Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-17-2024

Russia will have the second largest military in the world by active troop size.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday to boost active troop numbers by 180,000, bringing the total to 1.5 million due to alleged “threats” along its borders and hostility in the West.

The decree, effective Dec. 1, stipulates that Russia’s armed forces should be increased to a total of 2.38 million troops, with 1.5 million on active duty.

Hundreds of pagers, favored by Hezbollah members for covert communications, exploded simultaneously across Lebanon on Tuesday, prompting local hospitals to call for public blood donations.

Hundreds of explosions rocked multiple Hezbollah strongholds in Lebanon on Tuesday, with the Iranian ambassador to the country reportedly among those injured.

Initial reports said the explosions came from pagers, an old-fashioned communication device favored by members of the Iran-backed Hezbollah group due to risks of Israeli sabotage using smartphones.

Watch just-released prisoners make their first emotional contacts with Ukraine and their loved ones.

A new version of the national tax law seeks to provide $1.4 billion more in military funding, cut down from the original draft worth $3.5 billion. Lawmakers will vote on the new bill next month.

Ukraine is poised to approve a new military tax law that will triple the duty on personal income and expand the pool of legally taxable finances for individuals and banks. 

Ukrainian parliamentarians adopted Bill 11416d in the first reading – it will increase military taxes for various categories, adopt submitting tax statements monthly instead of quarterly, and impose windfall tax for banks again. Ukraine’s MP Yaroslav Zheleznyak announced the new legislation on Telegram on Tuesday. 

Europe's press examines what Germany's new border controls mean for the continent.

Germany began the announced expanded controls at all its borders on Monday. Controls have been in place at the borders with the Czech Republic, Poland and Switzerland since October 2023, and at the border with Austria since 2015. Commentators warn that the crackdown sends a devastating signal, particularly from a pan-European perspective.

Making a scapegoat of immigrants

Recent satellite imagery shows there were bombers on the tarmac recently, but actual damage to one of the Kremlin’s biggest military airfields isn’t clear. The base is well outside of US ATACMS range.

Ukrainian attack drones flew hundreds of kilometers deep into Russia to hit a heavy bomber base during the early hours of Tuesday morning, with residents and local news platforms reporting explosions and flames at the airfield.

Russia’s Defense Ministry in a morning statement confirmed the attack and said local air defenses shot down nine Ukrainian drones attempting to strike Engels-1 military airfield, in the southeastern outskirts of the Volga River port city of Saratov. There were neither casualties nor damage, the official Kremlin announcement said.

Germany said the restrictions, starting Monday, were aimed to curb illegal migration. The move was criticized by neighboring Poland as a violation of the Schengen zone’s free movement principle.

Germany has introduced additional screening on its land border with neighboring countries starting Monday, Sept. 16, for six months in what it called a bid to curb illegal migrations.

In addition to increased screenings with neighboring Poland, the Czech Republic, Austria and Switzerland that started last year, the increased screening would now also apply to land borders with France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark.

Germany will provide €100 million ($111 million) in aid to help Ukraine through the coming winter as it weathers Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure, the foreign ministry said Tuesday.

“Ukraine is facing another winter of war and Putin is waging a brutal war of cold,” the ministry wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“Russia is deliberately attacking Ukraine’s heat and energy supply. This is why Germany is providing a further €100 million in winter aid for the (Ukrainian) energy supply.”

Professor Cockell told Kyiv Post about the intriguing young field of astrobiology, and how it can expand our knowledge of how life began and evolved on Earth.

In the latest reference to nuclear weapons in the context of the war in Ukraine the head of Russia’s Novaya Zemlya nuclear test site said everything was ready to resume nuclear tests.

In a report from the Russian State news site Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Andrei Sinitsyn, head of Russia’s Novaya Zemlya Central Nuclear Test Site said all was in readiness for a possible resumption of nuclear weapons tests.

“The testing ground is ready to resume full-scale testing activities. Everything is ready – the lab facilities, the personnel. If we receive the command, we can start testing at any time,” Sinitsyn said.

The numbers include deaths and injuries from both sides, where some argue that Russia’s demographic crisis was part of the reason behind its invasion.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) claimed that Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has led to approximately one million troop casualties combined for both sides, and that part of Moscow’s goal for the invasion was to incorporate the Ukrainian population to address its own demographic crisis.

The WSJ’s casualty figure excluded those prior to 2022. However, the WSJ acknowledges that “determining the exact number of dead and wounded in the conflict has been difficult” due to Kyiv and Moscow’s refusal to release official estimates of their own losses.

Selling volumes increase for bonds internally and externally while Ukraine competes fifth round of the the IMF program and tests the market reaction to hryvnia weakening. Weekly Insight for Sept. 16.

Bonds: Demand at primary auction spikes; secondary market trading falls

The MoF borrowed UAH20bn last week. The significant demand at the auction dampened activity in the secondary bond market.In the two most recent weeks, the Ministry offered UAH and FX-denominated bonds at the auction, and they received almost equal demand. Investors purchased UAH22.6bn (US$550m) of local-currency bonds, and US$350m and EUR63m of FX-denominated bills, as demand significantly exceeded the supply caps. See details in the auction review.At the same time, secondary market trading almost halved last week as the volume of deals in UAH bonds shrank. Due to this fall and a 32% increase in trading in FX-denominated bills, the share of the former rose to 53%.

Ukraine’s 5th Separate Tank Brigade unveiled its newly upgraded Leopard 1A5V tanks in public for the first time saying that two of its main weaknesses have been overcome.

Ukraine’s 5th Separate Armored Brigade showcased its newly upgraded Cold War-era Leopard 1A5V main battle tanks in public for the first time, marking the first public demonstration of its modernized vehicles.

An image posted on social media shows the prisoner lying on his back with his hands tied and a sword inscribed with “For Kursk” thrust into his chest.

The Russian military violently executed a Ukrainian prisoner of war with a sword. This incident came to light through social media, where a photo of the executed POW was circulated on Telegram.

The image shows the prisoner lying on his back with his hands tied and a sword inscribed with “For Kursk” thrust into his chest. Preliminary analysis suggests the execution took place in Novohradivka, near Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainians have proven their bravery in their fight for survival, which is also Europe’s fight for its values. The UK and US must summon the courage to lead.

The next few months will be pivotal. The UK has the power to influence key decisions. We cannot squander this moment.

This past weekend, at the Yalta European Strategy (YES) Conference in Kyiv, the message from Ukrainian leaders and Western strategists was clear: the West must finally summon the courage to stand firm against tyranny. For too long, Ukraine has been forced to fight for its survival with one hand tied behind its back – held back, tragically, by the very partners that profess support for its cause.

Focusing on Moscow's invasion of Ukraine from the perspective of Russian soldiers, the film will have two screenings at the TIFF Lightbox cultural center in Toronto, the festival said.

The controversial documentary "Russians at War" will be shown in Toronto on Tuesday, after the city's film festival organizers had halted screenings due to "significant threats" over their decision to feature the film.

Focusing on Moscow's invasion of Ukraine from the perspective of Russian soldiers, the film will have two screenings at the TIFF Lightbox cultural center in Toronto, the festival said.

In early 2024, Germany agreed to the sale of RCH 155 wheeled howitzers to Qatar, which will return PzH 2000 self-propelled tracked artillery for transfer to Ukraine.

According to a Sunday report in Germany’s Bild, Berlin approved the sale of an undisclosed number of the Krauss-Maffei Wegmann produced advanced RCH 155 (Remote Controlled Howitzer 155mm) artillery systems to Qatar. The report said Doha will, in return, hand over 12 of its 24 155mm Panzerhaubitze 2000 (PzH 2000) self-propelled howitzers for transfer to Ukraine – suggesting they are buying at least 12 RCH 155s at a cost of around €100 million ($110 million).

The PzH will be refurbished in Germany before onward transmission to Ukraine with six planned to be delivered before the end of the year and the balance by the second half of 2025.

Maria Kolesnikova was the star of a street movement that shook the Minsk regime four years ago -- she then famously ripped up her passport while the KGB tried to forcibly deport her.

Nobody outside of Prison Colony Number Four in the Belarusian city of Gomel has seen or heard from Maria Kolesnikova, imprisoned for leading huge 2020 protests against President Alexander Lukashenko since February last year.

An orchestra flute player, Kolesnikova was the star of a street movement that shook the Minsk regime four years ago -- she then famously ripped up her passport while the KGB tried to forcibly deport her.

The ban comes after the United States accused RT and employees of the state-run outlet of funneling $10 million through shell entities to covertly fund influence campaigns on social media channels.

Meta late Monday said it is banning Russian state media outlets from its apps around the world due to "foreign interference activity."

The ban comes after the United States accused RT and employees of the state-run outlet of funneling $10 million through shell entities to covertly fund influence campaigns on social media channels including TikTok, Instagram, X, and YouTube, according to an unsealed indictment.

A Ukrainian FPV drone operator, speaking to Kyiv Post, described this tactic as dubious, though some Ukrainian media argue that it’s worth paying attention to.

Russian forces have reportedly devised a new tactic to fight enemy drones during “air battles”—attaching nails to their drones as a weapon, according to a report by Defense Express.

“We detect a [enemy] copter, attach nails to our copter, and land it on the enemy drone,” Russian propaganda media quoted an instructor from the front-line reconnaissance unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and FPV drone school as saying. “Then, it strikes the enemy drone's rotors with the nails, breaking the blades, causing it to crash.”

Putin has raised staffing levels of the Russian army by 180,000 personnel. In December 2023, he had previously increased the staffing level to 2,209,130, with 1,329,000 being military personnel.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the staffing level of the Russian Armed Forces to 2,389,130, which will include 1.5 million military personnel.

The new staffing level, which comes into effect in December 2024, represents an increase of 180,000 personnel from the previous decree.

Ukraine could draw on Poland’s experience in adapting its economy to European standards and integrating with the EU.

During the “Europe-Poland-Ukraine: Cooperate Together” conference in Kyiv, two major employers organizations from Poland and Ukraine formalized a significant partnership to begin collaborating to shape the future of trade between the European Union and Ukraine.

The Federation of Employers of Ukraine (FEU) and the Union of Entrepreneurs and Employers of Poland (ZPP) signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Sept. 12. The parties publicly declared their commitment to working together to support Ukraine’s EU accession talks, focusing particularly on trade, as well as aligning business practices and regulations.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukraine has taken steps to address its manpower shortages, but delays and insufficiencies in Western military aid to Ukraine continue to limit its ability to generate effective combat units that can defend critical areas and contest the theater-wide initiative.
• Zelensky reiterated that Ukraine's incursion into Kursk Oblast has forced Russia to redirect some resources from Ukraine to defend in Russia but that Ukraine still needs sufficient resources and Western permission to strike military targets in Russia to mitigate the theater-wide strain on Ukrainian forces.
• Russia continues to build out its long-term military capacity by gradually increasing the size of its armed forces.
• Iran is simultaneously setting conditions to build a nuclear weapon while continuing to signal its willingness to resume nuclear negotiations with the West.
• Select Russian Ministry of Defense (MoD) officials continue to face corruption charges as the Russian military leadership is undertaking a wider effort to root out corruption in the MoD.
• Ukrainian forces advanced in Glushkovsky Raion, Kursk Oblast, and Russian forces recaptured territory in the area as of September 16. Ukrainian and Russian forces recently advanced in the Kursk salient.
• Ukrainian forces regained territory near Kharkiv City and Pokrovsk.
• Russian forces advanced near Kreminna, Chasiv Yar, Pokrovsk, and Vuhledar.
• Russia reportedly continues to coerce migrants to fight in the Russian military.