Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-23-2024

Already a year ago, the independent expert said repression had hit “unprecedented” levels amid the war Moscow is waging in Ukraine.

The rights situation inside Russia has become “much worse” in the past year amid a tightening “state-sponsored system of fear and punishment,” a United Nations expert warned Monday.

“Nobody is safe,” Mariana Katzarova, the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights situation in Russia, told reporters in Geneva.

Ukrainian cyber specialists disabled the internet banking and mobile apps of two major Russian banks on Monday and promised attacks would continue until Russia leaves Ukraine.

Specialists from Ukraine’s main military intelligence directorate (HUR) carried out a cyberattack that disabled the operations of two major Russian Federation banks, according to a source from the unit on Monday, Sept. 23.

According to the source, the websites of Rosselkhozbank and the Moscow Credit Bank were disrupted – making internet banking services unavailable and preventing their mobile apps from functioning. The banks’ technical teams did not indicate when services would be restored.

The key takeaways from the UN's new guidelines for the future which Russia and its allies opposed

The “Pact for the Future” is the United Nations’ master plan for tackling challenges that lie ahead for humanity, with 56 “actions” covering everything from peacekeeping to the potential threats posed by artificial intelligence. 

These are the key aspects of the pact that was adopted Sunday by the UN’s 193 members at a gathering ahead of the body’s centerpiece high-level week.  

Kyiv Post interviews Pekka Kallioniemi, the author about some of the shocking consequences of Russian disinformation

Russia is actively waging a hybrid war against the West, says Pekka Kallioniemi, author of the newly released “Vatnik Soup - the Ultimate Guide to Russian Disinformation,” in this exclusive interview with Kyiv Post’s Jason Smart. The shocking part? The real-life consequences are far more dangerous than you think.

Kremlin forces pushing into a gauntlet of Ukrainian artillery, minefields, and FPV drones advanced at some locations and were repelled elsewhere. Reported casualties neared wartime highs.

A multi-pronged Russian offensive throwing massed tanks and armored personnel carriers into the teeth of prepared Ukrainian defenses in the eastern Donbas sector has scored limited ground gains at some locations, but at the price of possibly record losses in men and fighting machines, Ukrainian official statements, news platforms, and unit battle reports on Monday said.

Russian and Ukrainian information platforms likewise reported Russian tactical successes in the town of Toretsk, where Russian infantry captured a coal mine slag heap dominating surrounding terrain, and in the now-ruined village of Niu York, where Kremlin troops took back ruins temporarily held by Ukrainian forces following a counterattack of their own last week.

Iran president seeks talks with West on Russian aggression

Iran’s new president said Monday he sought talks with the West on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, as he denied providing missiles to Moscow which he condemned for “aggression.”

“We are willing to sit down with the Europeans and the Americans to have a dialogue and negotiations. We have never approved of Russian aggression against Ukrainian territory,”

Born into a military family in a rural Russian village, few would have predicted that Oleksandr Syrsky would one day be leading a war against his home country.

“The front line is my life,” says Gen. Oleksandr Syrsky, the man whose battlefield skills could determine the result of Ukraine’s brutal ongoing war with Russia. Like the bravest military leaders, he is prepared to lead by example and to share the dangers of the men under his command.

It is no surprise that Syrsky, who was appointed as Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces seven months ago, feels comfortable in the trenches even if sometimes they are located less than a mile from the enemy.

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

The Israeli military said it struck hundreds of targets Monday in Lebanon in one of the most intense barrages in nearly a year of fighting against the Hezbollah militant group, and military officials said they planned to widen the offensive. The Lebanese Health Ministry said at least 182 people were killed and more than 400 wounded in what would be the deadliest day in Lebanon since the conflict started in October. Before the escalation beginning with the wave of pager explosions last Tuesday, around 600 people had been killed in Lebanon since October, mostly fighters, but also more than 100 civilians. The Israeli army announced the action on social media, posting a photo of what is said was the military chief, Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi, approving additional attacks from military headquarters in Tel Aviv.

Former CIA Director Leon Panetta calls Israel's explosive pager operation "terrorism" in an interview with CBS today: “I don't think there's any question it's a form of terrorism. When you have terror going into the supply chain, it makes people ask the question: what the hell is next? The forces of war are largely in control right now of what's going on."

Russian soldiers who died on the front are often buried to be listed as missing. allowing the Kremlin to avoid paying compensation to their families.

In a newly intercepted call by Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (HUR), a resident of Krasnaya Yaruga, a village in Russia’s Belgorod region, reveals that fallen Russian soldiers are simply buried on the battlefield to be categorized as missing.

“They kill them, the fighting goes on, it’s hot, they start to smell, so we bury them right there, and then they’re missing. And if they’re missing, the family gets no payment. Got it?” the man explains to his interlocutor, sharing what he heard from those who returned to the village.

Far from the battlefields, Russia and Ukraine clashed at the world's oldest arbitration court on Monday over a long-running case about access to coastal waters around the annexed Crimea peninsula.

Bitter enemies Russia and Ukraine clashed at the world's oldest arbitration court on Monday over a long-running case about access to coastal waters around the annexed Crimea peninsula.

Far from the battlefields of eastern Ukraine and Kursk, diplomats fired legal broadsides at each other in the rarefied Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) housed in the Peace Palace in The Hague.

The report doesn’t specify the exact location or timing of the Kursk front breach, but Kyiv Post analysts, using NASA FIRMS data, suggest it likely occurred near the Glushkovo area.

Ukrainian paratroopers have reportedly broken through another section of the Russian border in the Kursk region, according to the Airborne Assault Forces of Ukraine on Telegram.

The breakthrough was achieved by units of the 95th Separate Assault Brigade, marking the second successful border breach since the start of the operation in the Kursk region of Russia.

According to Estonian intelligence chief Col. Ants Kiviselg, the strike caused the explosion of 30,000 tons of ammunition, equivalent to 750,000 artillery shells.

The destruction of a major Russian ammunition depot by a Ukrainian strike on Sept. 18 could significantly disrupt Russian military operations in the coming months.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reported on Sept. 22 that the loss of thousands of munitions stored in the warehouse near Toropets, in Russia’s Tver region, may have a long-term impact on Russia’s ability to maintain its military operations at a consistent pace.

Poland is expected to become an important player in Ukraine’s reconstruction after the UN announced the establishment of a UN Office for Project Services (UNOPS) in Warsaw.

Over 3,000 Polish companies have so far applied to participate in the post-war reconstruction effort in Ukraine, the government commissioner for the project has said.

Paweł Kowal told the national press agency, PAP, there is high interest in the energy sector as well as in training. He also said the medical sector had attracted many applications, especially from companies involved in prosthetics and other war-related health needs.

Social media carries requests for information on missing crew members of Russia’s “Admiral Kuznetsov” serving with a mechanized assault group in the “special military operation.”

In a move that once again highlighted Moscow’s growing manpower deficit on the front line in its war with Ukraine, Russia has formed a mechanized assault group – military unit 78987 codenamed “Fregat (Frigate).” The battalion-sized group is largely made up of the aircraft carrier’s crew, Admiral Kuznetsov.

After being initially deployed to the Kharkiv region, the unit has reportedly since been relocated to the Donetsk region and is involved in the assault on Ukrainian defenses around Pokrovsk.

At start of important week, Russia and its allies isolated in UN General Assembly after opposing a symbolic declaration on improving prospect for the safety of mankind.

UN members adopted a blueprint for the future Sunday to tackle the myriad wars, environmental threats and technological challenges facing humanity that the global organization hailed as "groundbreaking," but critics panned as unambitious.

Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who championed the "Pact for the Future," hailed its "landmark agreements -- a step-change towards more effective, inclusive, networked multilateralism.

International attention will briefly focus on the UN this week as leaders gather for the General Assembly but there should be no place for Russia, the brazen violator of the UN Charter.

As the war in Ukraine drags on, the world watches in horror as Russia flagrantly continues to violate the principles on which the United Nations rests. While Ukrainians endure relentless missile attacks, the destruction of civilian infrastructure, the killing of civilians, and the deportation of children from Ukraine, it is necessary to ask:

Why does Russia continue to hold a seat at the table of an institution committed to promoting peace and security?

Russia’s state-of-the-art Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile has conducted only one successful missile test in April 2022, the rest were failures.

Satellite images from Sept. 21 show significant damage at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk region, suggesting a failed test of Russia’s RS-28 Sarmat nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), according to analysis by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

The images reveal a large crater at the Yubileynaya launch silo, previously used for Sarmat missile tests, with fire trucks seen responding to small fires around the damaged site.

One person was killed and seven wounded in the Kherson region Sunday, while in the Zaporizhzhia region, 16 people were wounded in a strike on the region’s eponymous capital overnight.

Russia's latest strikes on Ukrainian regions have killed one person and wounded 23, officials said on Monday.

One person was killed and seven wounded in the Kherson region Sunday, while in the Zaporizhzhia region, 16 people were wounded in a strike on the region's eponymous capital overnight, governors and police said.

Zelensky will present his proposals -- which he calls a "victory plan" -- to President Joe Biden, as well as presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday arrived in the United States for a crucial visit to present Kyiv's plan to end two and a half years of war with Russia.

Zelensky will present his proposals -- which he calls a "victory plan" -- to President Joe Biden, as well as presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

Research and experience from leading Ukrainian psychological professionals finds Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder is lower than might be expected, as Ukrainians again show strength.

Ukrainians’ mental and emotional health is remarkably resilient, but special attention is needed for those who have experienced the full-scale war’s worst impacts, according to experts who spoke to Kyiv Post.

Some 80 percent of Ukrainians have not experienced Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) during the course of the full-scale war against them. This is the counterintuitive key finding from research conducted on the initiative of Dr. Dmytro Martsenkovskyi, an assistant professor of psychiatry at the Bogomolets National Medical University.

This weekend, upwards of a thousand Hobbit-costumed residents of the country’s capital relied on fantasy to distract them from war’s harsh realities.

On a sparklingly sunny Sunday afternoon, more than a thousand Kyivites took respite from the war against Ukraine by donning their pointy ears and together travelling to mythical Middle-earth.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukraine's September 18 strike against a Russian missile and ammunition storage facility near Toropets, Tver Oblast reportedly destroyed enough Russian munitions to affect Russian operations in the coming months.
• The Kremlin is reportedly reconsidering the effectiveness of nuclear saber-rattling as part of its efforts to influence the ongoing Western policy debate about supporting Ukraine and specifically permitting Ukraine to use Western-provided weapons against military objects in Russia.
• Satellite imagery of damage at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk Oblast captured on September 21 suggests that the Russian military recently conducted an unsuccessful RS-28 "Sarmat" nuclear-capable intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test.
• Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov stated on September 21 that Ukraine will increase its production of drones by "several times" in 2025 in order to maintain Ukraine's quantitative superiority over Russian drone production.
• Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) Spokesperson Maria Zakharova announced on September 22 that Russia will not participate in Ukraine's second peace summit later in 2024 or in any "such summits."
• Russia is reportedly expanding intelligence operations in Mexico to undermine the United States and support for Ukraine.
• Ukrainian forces recently advanced near Svatove.
• Russian forces recently marginally advanced near Toretsk and Pokrovsk, southwest of Donetsk City, and in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area.
• A Ukrainian officer in a drone crew stated on September 22 that the Russian military command is forcing soldiers to dig trenches at Russian positions in unspecified areas of Ukraine without weapons and sometimes without armor, helmets, or military uniforms.