Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-21-2024

Jeremy Dirac tells you what you need to know about the debate over Storm Shadows, and how they could be a key factor in the trajectory of the War.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Kremlin is preparing strikes on critical nuclear energy facilities in Ukraine on the eve of winter.

Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha said Kyiv informed the IAEAthat Russia is preparing strikes on critical nuclear energy facilities in Ukraine and called for a permanent expanded presence of missions at all relevant facilities.

“According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Kremlin is preparing strikes on critical nuclear energy facilities in Ukraine on the eve of winter. In particular, we are talking about open switchgear of nuclear power plants and transmission substations, which are critical for the safe operation of nuclear energy,” said Sybiha on Telegram on Saturday.

Serhiy Kolyada on what Ukraine is asking its supporters to help it achieve ASAP.

Ukrainian drones strike more major ammo depots inside Russia.

Ukraine said on Saturday it had successfully struck two Russian weapons depots in the southern Krasnodar and western Tver regions, with Moscow announcing more than 1,000 evacuations.

Kyiv regularly hits Russian infrastructure with drones as Moscow's offensive drags on for more than two and a half years.

In besieged Kharkiv, the author saw how Ukraine is approaching a perilous moment. To turn the tide, it first needs to decisively knock back Russia

Earlier this week, I started a 3,000km, two-day journey back from the other end of Europe, where I witnessed Ukrainian resilience against Russian terror in the besieged city of Kharkiv. A university lecturer told me that from a 12th story balcony in a north-eastern suburb she had actually seen the flashes of missiles taking off from launchpads just across the frontier, in the Russian city of Belgorod. An S-300 missile can reach Kharkiv from Belgorod in about 30 seconds, so you have no time to hide. If it’s not a missile, it’s a glide bomb launched from a Russian warplane – and so, day after day, death rains indifferently down.

After more than 900 days of the largest war in Europe since 1945, Ukraine is approaching a perilous moment of truth. The Ukrainian David has courage and innovation, but the Russian Goliath has ruthlessness and mass. In an underground location in Kharkiv, I was shown highly sophisticated, novel military uses of IT and drones. With its Cossack-style innovation, the country has developed more than 200 different kinds of drone.

Russian propagandists are trying to create narrative about ineffectiveness of F-16s through fakes and manipulating the words of US Air Forces in Europe commander.

Russian propaganda continues its campaign attempting to discredit the effectiveness of the Ukrainian Air Force’s F16 fighter aircraft. A pro-Kremlin Telegram channel, whose work is ostensibly aimed at combating anti-Russian fakes, has recently spread a “refutation” of the fact that the F-16 multi-purpose fighters, which Ukraine has already received, are capable of turning the tide of the war in favor of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU). The authors of the post generally call information about the capabilities of these planes Ukrainian and Western fakes.

In their “refutation,” the propagandists refer to a statement made by the commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa, General James Hecker, at a conference of the Air & Space Forces Association (AFA), in which he allegedly claimed that the Ukrainian Armed Forces do not plan to send F-16 fighters to risky operations since the pilots are still beginners in flying these warplanes. In addition, propagandists claimed that the F-16s that Ukraine received were conventional Cold War fighters, and their effectiveness on the battlefield was a figment of Ukrainian propaganda.

Lord Ashcroft has unveiled a new Ukraine Section on his Website and agreed to a working link-up with Kyiv Post.

From the editors: Lord Ashcroft is former Deputy Chairman of the UK’s Conservative Party, an international businessman, philanthropist, author, pollster and strong supporter of Ukraine.  During his visit to Kyiv Post’s office on Sep. 13, we agreed to cooperate in highlighting Ukraine’s struggle and needs.

Researchers have discovered a previously unknown composition by a teenage Mozart in a German library while working on the new edition of the archive of his musical works.

A previously unknown piece of music composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, was uncovered in the Leipzig Municipal Libraries, Germany, by researchers compiling the latest edition of the Köechel catalogue, the definitive archive of the composer's music.

The piece dates to the mid- to late-1760s and was probably written in his early teens. It consists of seven miniature movements for a string trio lasting around 12 minutes, a statement by a library spokesperson said.

Ukraine secures defense spending and increase of wages, while the West confirmed less than half of financial aid needed to cover social wages and concessional funding for business in Ukraine.

The Minister of Finance of Ukraine Serhii Marchenko presented the 2025 Draft Budget to Ukraine’s lawmakers – the first draft of the budget for the next year the Ministry of Finance submits to the parliament according to the budget process procedure in Ukraine. 

On Friday, Sept. 20, 2024, Marchenko presented the future budget as the draft Law of Ukraine “On the State Budget of Ukraine for 2025”, the Ministry of Finance press release says. 

Nearly half of Russians support withdrawal of troops from Ukraine, poll claims

For the second anniversary of launching mobilization in the Russian Federation, the Chronicles research project and the Extreme Scan group surveyed Russians, proving that almost half of them support the withdrawal of troops from Ukraine.

This is according to Radio Liberty, as reported by Ukrinform.

Ukraine’s President, in his nightly address Friday, said the US and UK still haven’t given permission to strike Russia with long-range weapons they provided, and Brazil-China peace plan is vague.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he has not yet received permission from the United States or Britain to use long-range missiles inside Russia.

“Neither America nor the United Kingdom gave us permission to use these weapons on the territory of Russia, on any targets at any distance. We have not used [their] long-range weapons on the territory of the Russian Federation,” he said late on Friday, adding that he thought the two allies feared an “escalation” of hostilities.

A Russian sugar factory just north of Ukraine is presumed to be the cause of a toxic pollution spike on the Desna and Seym rivers. Kyiv’s water supply was threatened

In June of this year, some dead fish were found floating in the Seym River, which flows through Russia and across the border into Ukraine. On Aug. 20, reports of fish dying en masse in the river within Ukraine’s border regions began appearing on social networks. 

While it may seem to some that Pakistan is navigating great power politics with its non-committal stance on Ukraine, the government is actually sabotaging its strategic interests.

When Putin’s army invaded Ukraine in February 2022, many argued that Ukraine would collapse in a few days. Today, it is crystal clear that the people of Ukraine are resilient and their success against blatant invasion is crucial for a rules-based world order.

Ukrainian forces even successfully invaded the Kursk region, which could be used as a bargaining chip or for land swaps. This incursion is important because this is the first time that the Soviet Union or Russia has been invaded since Operation Barbarossa on June 22, 1941.

At the core of the West’s failings is a fundamental lack of leadership, both within Europe, but also and more importantly from the US, as the supposed leader of the free world.

Over two and a half years now into Putin’s full-scale war on Ukraine and I think the West should be asking itself where it has gone wrong. Why has the West, with a combined GDP of $60 trillion, thirty times that of Russia, been unable to give Ukraine the support needs to bring it a speedy victory? And sure, some will argue that the fact that Russia has not beaten Ukraine is in itself a victory, but the reality is that Ukraine’s continued survival against overwhelming odds owes more to the bravery of Ukrainians than the support it has received from the West.

At the core of the West’s failings is a fundamental lack of leadership, both within Europe, but I think also and more importantly from the US, as the supposed leader of the free world. The US here talks of US exceptionalism – well the war in Ukraine was the ultimate test of the US place as the leader of the West.

Ukraine’s “victory plan” in the war against Russia depends on quick decisions by allies this year, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Friday during a visit by EC President Ursula von der Leyen.

President Volodymyr Zelensky told a joint press conference with von der Leyen that Ukraine planned to use a proposed multi-billion-dollar European Union loan for air defense, energy and domestic weapons purchases.

Zelensky singled out the importance of US President Joe Biden to the victory plan, which he said the two leaders will discuss when they meet. The Ukrainian leader is travelling to the United States next week.

An Australian Senate Inquiry has recommended an overhaul of Ukraine policy, but it may be too little too late for the tanks and helicopters being decommissioned.

An Australian Senate Inquiry has recommended a reboot of Ukraine policy – described as a “dog’s breakfast” – even as the Australian government is publicly auctioning off its surplus military equipment.

The highly regarded Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade has issued the report from its inquiry including a comprehensive list of recommendations. Sweeping reform is called for in the report’s recommendations, including:

A US-based Ukrainian academic and inventor is hoping to see his innovative state-of-the-art design for electric motors being adopted by the US Department of Defense (DoD).

Ukrainian-born Oleksandr Dobzhanskyi is an Assistant Professor at Pittsburgh’s Point Park University where, apart from his teaching and academic work, he has carried out research into electromechanical and wave energy conversion systems, electro-magnetic fields, electric machines and motors.

Electric motors have become a passion for him because the technology has remained largely unchanged in the 200 years since English scientist William Sturgeon produced the first electric motor capable of turning machinery.

Documents seized during Ukraine’s Kursk operation reportedly showed orders and tactics to prevent a Ukrainian breakthrough were produced in the months before the incursion and never acted upon.

Russia’s military command reportedly expected a potential breakthrough by Kyiv forces on the Kursk front for months before it happened and issued orders to strengthen defenses that were likely ignored, seized military papers show.

The documents were reportedly recovered by Ukrainian special operations teams in late August during the Kursk incursion and shared with The Guardian, which was allowed to view and photograph some of them.

Lord Ashcroft interviews a 15-year-old Ukrainian schoolgirl whose words should inspire us all

The speech is inspirational, powerful and emotional in equal measure. The words would not have been out of place from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky if he had been addressing the US Congress seeking further aid for his country.

It begins: “Where are your eyes, World? Can you not see? People are dying, people are dying every day! People are getting killed for no reason. Everywhere, at home, shopping centers and at the playgrounds. Just tell me why? Why do Ukrainians have to suffer these terrorist attacks from Russia?”

Ahead of winter Brussels announces plans to lend €35 billion ($39.1 billion) in Russia’s frozen assets so Ukrainians can “keep warm” as Kyiv faces its “sternest test” of its damaged infrastructure.

EU chief Ursula von der Leyen on Friday announced plans for Brussels to lend Ukraine €35 billion ($39.1 billion) backed by revenues of frozen Russian assets and promised to help Ukraine “keep warm” ahead of a third winter of war with Russia.

Von der Leyen was in Kyiv after a summer of intense fighting and as fears grow for how Ukraine’s war-battered energy grid will cope this winter.