Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-22-2024

Vladimir Putin visited the Special Technology Center (STC), where he was shown unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), electronic warfare systems, and communications systems.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti published a report ofRussian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the “Special Technological Center” in St. Petersburg on Sept.19. During the tour of the enterprise, Putin was shown new developments in Russia’s unmanned systems, including the Zala Lancet and the Orlan-10.

After a walk-through of the display of drones, Putin chaired a meeting to speak on military production, in general, and drones in particular.

A YouTube video posted on Friday shows the Russian aligned troops racing two armed e-vehicles around what they claim is an area of the combat zone, along with two conventional pick-ups.

The military issues website BulgarianMilitary.com has reported on a video posted by Chechnya’s Kadyrovite troops that claims to show two heavy machine gun mounted Tesla Cybertrucks patrolling in the Ukrainian combat zone as part of a four-vehicle team.

In what seems little more than a public relations exercise, the trucks speed around dirt tracks in a lightly forested area before stopping to engage a small quadcopter drone and shoot it down.

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

Hezbollah has confirmed its senior commanders Ibrahim Aqil and Ahmed Wahbi were both killed in a strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut on Friday, which killed at least 31 people, including three children. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike targeted the Iran-backed group's elite Radwan unit. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told a security council meeting that the pager and walkie-talkie explosions this week in Lebanon, which killed 37 people, violated international humanitarian law. On Thursday night, the Israeli Air Force attacked "hundreds" of Hezbollah rocket launch pads in southern Lebanon and on Friday, attacked military buildings in six areas, including Kfar Kila. On Friday, Hezbollah attacked northern Israel with around 200 rockets launched from Lebanon, according to the Israeli military - BBC

Gaza's civil defence agency reported Saturday that an Israeli strike on a school-turned-shelter in the Palestinian territory’s largest city killed 22 people. Meanwhile, Hezbollah confirmed that its top commander Ahmed Mahmud Wahbi, who oversaw the military operations of its elite Rardwan Force, was killed in an Israeli air strike in Beirut that resulted in 37 deaths and dozens more wounded, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.

The Foreign Press Association in Israel and the Palestinian Territories said it was "deeply troubled by this escalation" and called on Israel to "reconsider" the move.

Global news channel Al Jazeera said armed and masked Israeli forces raided its office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and issued a 45-day closure order.

It was the latest salvo in a long-running feud between the Arab broadcaster and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government which has worsened during the war in Gaza.

Donald Trump claims Putin would not have invaded Ukraine if he – instead of Biden – had been president. Yet during Trump’s tenure, Putin was emboldened and set the war machine into motion.

In the recent presidential debate, Donald Trump alluded to the “millions” who were killed in the war and that the war would never have been started had he been president.

In an interview with Elon Musk, Trump, to prove his “toughness,” quoted a conversation he had with Putin. According to Trump, he dissuaded Putin from invading Ukraine by saying: “Don’t do it, Vladimir.” And then he threatened Putin with “things he would do” in response. Putin, in turn, said “no way,” and Trump said “way.”

A burgeoning market in privatization objectives makes Ukraine a lucrative environment for would be investors.

In the 1990s, the Ukrainian privatization process proved to be extraordinarily lucrative for many individuals and legal entities acquiring state-owned enterprises via auctions. Today, the Ukrainian government has initiated a new wave of privatization. Even during the war, some very interesting objects can be found for sale at the bidder’s well-researched discretion.  

But how does an investor go about buying a state-owned building at auction?

The discussions reportedly included “consultations for the Eurofighter” as well, one of the most advanced jets in Europe, though details remain scarce and logistics remains a likely hurdle.

Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s Defense Minister, said on Sunday that Kyiv’s Western allies have committed to transferring French Mirage and Swedish Gripen multirole fighters to bolster Ukraine’s air defense.

When questioned on television about the number of US-made F-16s being transferred to Ukraine, Umerov said in addition to F-16s – some of which are already operational in the country – there are also “a commitment” for the Mirage and “commitments or consultations for the Gripen.”

Moscow has repeatedly targeted Kharkiv, Ukraine's eastern regional capital that borders Russia with 1.4 million inhabitants prior to Moscow's 2022 invasion.

A Russian strike on a residential neighborhood in Ukraine's eastern regional capital Kharkiv wounded 21 people including three minors, the regional governor said Sunday.

Oleh Synegubov posted on Telegram that eight of the victims were hospitalized, two in critical condition, after the strike late Saturday, when dozens of people were asleep in the two multi-story buildings that were hit.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the country is awaiting funding from its Western partners, and the goal is to have a missile program that can match the existing drone developments.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said the country is “doing everything possible” to develop its domestic missile program to match the existing drone developments. 

Speaking on television on Sunday, Umerov said Ukraine has already shared details of its missile program with its Western allies and received “verbal consent” on funding, though it’s still awaiting “final written answers.”

He said Poland had no desire for a military confrontation with Russia but had been a victim of Moscow’s imperialism too many times in the past.

Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s foreign minister, has said Poland will do whatever it takes to not become a Russian colony again, urging closer ties between the U.S. and Europe.

Speaking during the Zbigniew Brzezinski Lectures series at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, Sikorski also said Europe was prepared to take responsibility for its own security.

It’s time for Washington to stop vacillating and opt for the defeat of Russia and victory for Ukraine.

According to most post-debate polls, Democrat candidate Kamala Harris has increased her slight lead over Republican candidate Donald Trump by a few percentage points both on the national level and in key swing states. The remaining months of the campaign will see the two US presidential candidates fight to sway the undecided voters. 

What’s different this election cycle is the appearance of a new group of these undecideds – pro-Ukraine Republicans who voted for Nikki Haley in the primaries and who support Republican Congressman Mike McCaul’s demands on the administration to immediately remove all restrictions on strikes deep within the territory of the aggressor state using American weapons. 

Ukraine’s approach to emotional and psychological support is positively developing one year after First Lady Olena Zelenska’s crucial intervention, but huge wartime challenges remain.

Mental health in Ukraine is trending upwards one year after a ground-breaking summit led by First Lady Olena Zelenska, according to leading practitioners. But major challenges remain as the country copes with what one expert calls “Continuous Trauma Stress Disorder” and struggles to meet wartime demand for emotional and psychological support.

The improvement in Ukraine’s mental health system has three key aspects, the experts told Kyiv Post, for which they give full credit to the leadership and vision of the President’s wife.

US prioritizing critical capabilities to strengthen Ukraine on the battlefield.

The United States will launch over the next week and months a series of initiatives to strengthen Ukraine's position.

That’s according to Michael Carpenter, Senior Director for Europe at the US National Security Council, who spoke in an interview with the Voice of America, Ukrinform reports.

Mitzi Perdue and Clara Kaluderovic, both prominent American businesswomen, entrepreneurs and philanthropists, have joined forces and established MentalHelp.Global to aid Ukrainians.

The errors reportedly came from the Polish side and it’s not clear when crossing could resume. Ukraine’s State Border Service advised all travelers to choose other crossings instead.

Crossings at the Ustyluh-Zosin border with Poland are currently not possible due to a database error on the Polish side, said Ukraine’s State Border Service (DPSU).

According to a DPSU announcement on Sunday morning, authorities are working to resolve the issue, and travelers and carriers are advised to cross the border through other checkpoints.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• Overnight on 17/18 September 2024, Ukraine conducted a successful one-way attack (OWA) uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV) strike on Toropets strategic ammunition depot in Russia's Tver region, approximately 500km from Ukraine. This depot is a storage site of the 107th Arsenal of the Russian Main Missile and Artillery Directorate, and almost certainly housed munitions of varying calibres for frontline use, as well as missiles and glide bombs used by nearby airfields. Ammunition procured from North Korea was also reportedly stored here.
• Renovated in 2018, this is one of Russia's largest strategic ammunition depots directly supporting its operation in Ukraine, storing more than 30,000 tonnes of ordnance. Recent improvements to the site had been driven by previous poor storage of aging explosive material leading to a series of explosions across several depots. One such explosion in June 2011 in Pugachevo, Udmurtia, saw 3,000 homes damaged and 30,000 people evacuated.
• The explosion at Toropets was recorded at 2.7 on the Richter scale, equivalent to a mild earthquake, with fires covering a 6 km-wide area. It is highly likely that poor storage of munitions, left vulnerable to OWA UAVs, caused a chain reaction of cascading detonations within the bunker system, resulting in enormous losses of ordnance. Russian air defence continues to struggle with Ukrainian deep strike operations, despite claiming to have intercepted more than 50 UAVs in this attack. Although part of a wider supply network, this loss will highly likely disrupt Russian ground operations, particularly in the Kursk region.

Nearly two decades into its establishment, the multilateral organization BRICS remains a mere talking shop with no coherent agenda or mission statement.

In a 2001 seminal research paper, then Goldman Sachs Chief Economist Jim O’Neill lumped together four standout emerging markets – Brazil, Russia, India, and China – that he believed were punching well below their weight at the time and warranted greater representation on the international arena. 

The inaugural 2009 BRIC Summit, held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, welcomed the heads of state of all existing members to discuss the budding alliance. In 2010, South Africa was admitted to the bloc, despite its bleak growth prospects that prompted Moody’s to downgrade its debt outlook from stable to negative a year later. BRICS was born. 

The new drones, showcased alongside a new ballistic missile, can supposedly travel over 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles), doubling that of its predecessor.

Iran showcased new versions of the Shahed drones used by Russia in Ukraine alongside a new missile on Saturday during a military parade. 

Iranian state news agency IRNA reported that the “newest” Shahed 136-B drone, presumably an upgrade of the Shahed 136 drones Russia has been using daily in Ukraine, and the Jahad ballistic missile were unveiled in Saturday’s parade that commemorated Iran’s Sacred Defense Week.

The AfD, besides protesting against migrants, Islam and multiculturalism, also questions climate change and holds pro-Russian positions on the Ukraine war.

German voters head to regional elections on Sunday in a formerly communist eastern state where the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party is narrowly ahead in the polls.

The anti-immigration AfD has long railed against German Chancellor Olaf Scholz's unpopular coalition government which faces national elections a year from now.

Kyiv has for weeks been pressing the West to allow it to use Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike targets inside Russia and says it could change the course of the war.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday he would press the case for Ukraine to use long-range missiles on targets inside Russia when he visits Washington next week.

Zelensky was speaking hours after confirming that the US and Britain had still not authorized Kyiv to use such weapons in this way.