Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-24-2024

In an intercepted call a Russian soldier complains to his wife about a lack of food and water, being abandoned by his commanders and how their own snipers kill others who try to flee.

In a newly intercepted conversation the Ukrainian state project “I Want to Live,” [Хочу жить] reveals how “Viktor,” a Russian soldier currently on the frontline, tells his wife that their commanders have abandoned them without communications, water, or food. He then adds that their own sniper kills anyone attempting to escape.

“You understand I’m f**ked. And you send such messages. It'll be easier when I’m dead,” the soldier says.

Have you ever wondered how Ukraine’s top CEOs navigate the chaos of war? Witness firsthand as they reveal their strategies for survival and success in Ukraine that help keep the economy moving forward

“As a permanent member of the Security Council, Russia should uphold the U.N. Charter and international law” – Andrzej Duda

Polish President Andrzej Duda has said at the United Nations that the international rules-based order is under “serious threat" from Russia.

Speaking at an event called the “Summit of the Future,” Duda, who arrived in New York on Saturday, said: “We cannot accept that those who challenge the order based on the U.N. Charter are gaining strength. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is a striking example.”

US President Joe Biden’s final speech at the UN assembly in office touched on the war in Ukraine and called for continued support for Kyiv.

US President Joe Biden has called on fellow UN member states to continue supporting Ukraine during his final address to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.

He said Kyiv’s “NATO allies and partners and 50-plus nations stood up” when Russia launched its invasion in February 2022 and called on the meeting’s attendants to stand up in solidarity with Ukraine.

The battle for hearts and minds in the crucial swing state of Pennsylvania – particularly among Polish-Americans who might be mad about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – is intensifying.

A high-profile visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to an artillery shell production facility in the do-or-die US election battleground state of Pennsylvania was a medium-grade news item in Keystone state media. Some outlets shoved the Ukrainian leader in news feeds crammed with information about weather, crime, sports and entertainment, while others just ignored his presence in the state entirely.

According to recent polls Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris, an advocate of strong US military support to Ukraine, is locked in a near dead-heat with former President Donald Trump, who supports Ukrainian concessions to Russia and reduced US involvement in European conflicts. Both parties’ leadership have deemed Pennsylvania, with 19 electoral college votes and voters almost 50/50 on the candidates, as a must-win state.

An apartment building, bakery, and stadium were hit by the Russian strikes.

Russian strikes killed three people and wounded at least 24 in the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv on Tuesday afternoon, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

The northeastern city, Ukraine’s second largest, lies around 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the Russian border and has been pounded by Russian aerial attacks throughout the two-and-a-half-year war.

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

Thousands of families from southern Lebanon packed cars and minivans with suitcases, mattresses, blankets and carpets and jammed the highway heading north toward Beirut on Monday to flee the deadliest Israeli bombardment since 2006. Some 100,000 people living near the border had already been displaced since October, when the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and Israeli forces began exchanging near-daily fire against the backdrop of the war in Gaza. As the fighting intensifies, the number of evacuees is expected to rise. In Beirut and beyond, schools were quickly repurposed to receive the newly displaced as volunteers scrambled to gather water, medicine and mattresses. In the coastal city of Sidon, people seeking shelter streamed into schools that had no mattresses to sleep on yet. Many waited on sidewalks outside. - AP

Russia was left badly isolated at a high-profile UN summit in New York when it made a surprise move to derail an ambitious pact designed to revive the UN – and failed. Russia’s move to defer adoption of the agreement on the grounds that it supposedly represented Western interests was rejected on Sunday by 143 votes to seven with 15 abstentions. The Russian delegation said that if the planned vote endorsing the high-profile “pact for the future” were not deferred pending further talks, it would seek to move an amendment asserting the key issues addressed in the pact are the subject of domestic jurisdiction in which the UN should not seek to intervene. But the overwhelming UN general assembly vote threw out Russia’s call for deferment and its amendment. The Russian move, at the outset of the two-day “summit for the future,” looked diplomatically clumsy, if perhaps designed for domestic consumption. It angered speakers from the African Union (AU) and Mexico, underlining that Moscow had only limited support, notably from Belarus, Venezuela, Syria and Iran. The AU, led by the Republic of Congo, called for the Russian amendment to be rejected. The pact is seen by many in the global south as both a well-intended and necessary collective effort at UN renewal as well as a personal legacy for a relatively popular UN secretary general António Guterres. But the controversy underlined the extent to which ideological divisions have damaged multilateral cooperation at the UN, the very issue that the pact was seeking to address. Russia objected to 25 provisions in the draft pact, including asserting the primacy of national jurisdiction and rejecting language on universal access to sexual and reproductive health rights, as well as gender empowerment more broadly. - Guardian

Kyiv Post’s senior defense correspondent reflects on the big developments of the week

It’s been quite an eventful week although, since the combat lines haven’t moved that much, I guess it’s possible, depending on where you were and the quality of your information feeds, that maybe it looks like the war has stalled and nothing much is happening.

That’s not the way it looks here.

The Biden administration has a final chance to use its last few months in power to take decisive action to bring an end to the Russo-Ukrainian war. Logic, courage and political will are called for.

“To be or not to be.”  President Zelensky of Ukraine once told me that “everything is in Shakespeare.”  Early in the war he quoted that famous line from Hamlet to the British parliament.  It is certainly a propos right now. It applies, in different ways, to his administration and to that of Joe Biden.  Will Ukraine win and survive?  And will the Biden team assist and be remembered?

Ukrainians and Americans both want peace.  Indeed, no one can possibly want peace more than the Ukrainians.  For the past two weeks, Ukrainian leaders have tried to persuade American journalists and the Biden administration of how this can come about, tried to convey a simple strategic truth: Russia will make peace only when Putin believes that Russia is losing.  They are now presenting what they call a victory plan to try to get into that position.

The former head of the AFU General Staff press service told Kyiv Post that Vuhledar’s fall may be imminent, as the 72nd Brigade is exhausted and Ukrainian forces are stretched along the front line.

The town of Vuhledar in the Donetsk region is semi-encircled, Colonel Vladyslav Seleznyov, former head of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) General Staff press service, told Kyiv Post.

“Vuhledar is semi-surrounded. My prediction is that we will lose it in a few days, maybe even sooner,” he said.

At 2:28 p.m., Ukrainian authorities detected an aerial object crossing into Ukrainian territory, near the border of the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions.

A Belarusian Yak-130 fighter jet [NATO reporting name "Mitten"] likely breached Ukrainian airspace from Belarus on Monday, Sept. 24, sparking an air alert in northern Ukraine. The incursion was reported by Ukraine’s Air Force and confirmed by monitoring channels.

At 2:28 p.m. local time, Ukrainian authorities detected an aerial object crossing into Ukrainian territory, near the border of the Kyiv and Zhytomyr regions.

Yet more evidence of Russia using military equipment originating from China is evidenced by armored vehicles on the battlefield in Ukraine and deployed by Moscow’s Metro security department.

Photos posted on the pro-Russian “Уголок Ситха (Ugolok Sitha)” Telegram channel on Monday showed Russian troops deployed somewhere in Ukraine posing alongside an armored vehicle, which the military issues website Militarniy identified as a Chinese ZFB-05 Xinxing “Tiger” 4 x 4 armored personnel carrier (APC).

The vehicle which the manufacturer says is designed for both military and police applications, offers protection from small arms fire. It has a two-man crew and can carry nine fully equipped troops.

According to EU diplomats, one of the objectives of the talks was to see how to support Ukraine over the coming months, as Russia has ramped up attacks on the country’s critical infrastructure.

Ukraine’s Western partners need to step up in providing air defences for Kyiv’s war effort, as Russia is likely to try to knock out the country’s energy infrastructure before winter, EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell said on Monday (23 September).

“It’s clear that Russia wants to put Ukraine into the dark and the cold – the winter is coming, and following Russia’s attacks against energy targets, Ukraine’s energy production capacity has been reduced by two-thirds,” Borrell told reporters in New York.

After a similar incident ten days earlier, two 16-year-old Russians threw a Molotov cocktail at an Mi-8 helicopter and fled the scene but were soon detained. They claim they were promised $20,000.

Two highschoolers in the Russian city of Omsk set fire to an Mi-8 helicopter at a local airbase. They claim to have been promised 1,83 million rubles ($20,000) for the arson, Ukrainian military journalist Andriy Tsaplienko reported on Telegram.

According to Russian media, the teens entered the airbase on the evening of Sept. 21, threw a Molotov cocktail at the helicopter, and fled.

Kyiv Post spoke with Ukraine’s Business Ombudsman Roman Waschuk about the business climate in Ukraine and why it is forgetting the past of oligarchs.

What saves businesses, entrepreneurs and investors’ money? Actions to unblock tax invoices or stop unwarranted fines imposed by Ukraine’s Tax Service? Negotiating with Ukrainian customs officials when they arbitrarily change the prices of the imported goods? Voicing the needs and concerns of the business sector to the government?

These are the most common matters where enterprises may ask for the Business Ombudsman’s help. However, it is also prepared and standing by to investigate complaints about any official’s violation of the law. Ukraine is often perceived as a corrupt country – but Roman Waschuk believes it has vastly transformed since 1991 and suffers more from misgovernance rather than corruption.

The Times had previously outlined what it described as Zelensky's goals, including securing US support despite possible political change, such as the possible return of Donald Trump.

Journalists at The Times were not given access to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's detailed “victory plan,” which he reportedly intends to present to U.S. President Joe Biden, Ukraine’s Suspilne reported, citing a source in the President’s Office.

The source clarified that the publication's coverage of the plan, published on Sept. 22, is “based on assumptions,” as the journalists had neither seen the actual document nor received an explanation of the logic behind the strategy.

The regional capital was targeted by a series of "massive air strikes" over the course of two hours after 9:00 pm Monday evening, the state emergency service said.

Ukraine said Tuesday that one man was killed and six wounded, including two children, by "massive" Russian air strikes on the southern city of Zaporizhzhia.

The regional capital was targeted by a series of "massive air strikes" over the course of two hours after 9:00 pm Monday evening, the state emergency service said.

Bohdan Nahaylo, editor-in-chief of the Kyiv Post, joined TVP World studio to discuss the implications of this visit and the broader geopolitical landscape.

Australian media reports Canberra is exploring the possibility of transferring 59 of its recently decommissioned tanks to Kyiv in discussion with Washington.

In 2004 Australia purchased 59 M1A1 Abrams main battle tanks (MBT) from the US, which were decommissioned in July of this year as it began to take delivery of upgraded M1A2 SEPv3 Abrams that had been ordered in 2022 at a cost of around $2.5 billion. Despite being 20 years old Canberra’s M1A1s have been relatively little used,

The Sydney Morning Herald, reported on the weekend that the Australian government was in discussion with the Biden administration to send the mothballed Abrams tanks to Ukraine. Citing government sources, it said Australia’s Minister of Defense Richard Marles had previously explored “various options” for providing the tanks to Ukraine.

Earlier this month, Japan had to scramble fighter jets when Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time since 2019.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida vowed to "resolutely defend Japan's territory" as Tokyo lodged a protest with Moscow after a Russian patrol plane entered its airspace.

The military responded by scrambling fighter jets and issuing radio and flare warnings, Defence Minister Minoru Kihara told reporters, calling it the first confirmed incursion since 2019.

Beyond the torture and rape in prison camps, the expert denounced "the lack of adequate medical assistance to those who desperately needed it" in detention centres controlled by Moscow.

Jails controlled by Russia are deliberately withholding medical care for Ukrainian prisoners, with doctors in one prison even taking part in what it called "torture", a commission mandated by the UN rights council.

The commission, set up by the Human Rights Council to investigate violations in Ukraine since Russia's invasion, had already concluded that Moscow's occupying forces were using torture "systematically".

Since the beginning of the Russian full-scale invasion, the 15th Black Forest Brigade has destroyed an entire air defense regiment of Russian forces, comprising 30 air defense assets.

The 15th Black Forest Artillery Reconnaissance Brigade has reportedly destroyed a battalion of the S-400 Triumph anti-aircraft missile systems, according to Ukrainska Pravda. The destruction took place in the spring, but the video of the damage has only been made public now.

The S-400 is a Russian anti-aircraft missile system designed to defend against air, ballistic missile, cruise missile, and drone attacks at long and medium distances. Introduced in 2007, it can hit targets up to 400 kilometers away, utilizing associated radars to detect, coordinate, and track those targets.

Russian officials and academics said more than two years into the war Moscow’s nuclear bluffs are no longer feared by the West and the Kremlin needs to explore new ways to alarm the West.

As Moscow’s nuclear red lines have been crossed repeatedly in its war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is now forced to explore new rhetoric to threaten the West, Russian officials and academics have said.

The Washington Post, citing comments from unnamed Russian apparatchiks and scholars with alleged ties to the Kremlin, said “Putin is casting around for a more nuanced and limited response to the West allowing Ukraine to use longer range missiles to strike Russia.”

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky arrived in the United States on September 23 and reiterated Ukraine's need for timely and uninterrupted US military assistance.
• The Kremlin continues to publicly signal its disinterest in any peace settlement short of total capitulation of the Ukrainian government and destruction of the Ukrainian state.
• Russian forces conducted glide bomb strikes against Zaporizhzhia City for the first time overnight on September 22 to 23.
• A high-ranking Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) commander reportedly recently committed suicide due to conflicts within his unit's leadership.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Hlyboke, Kupyansk, and Pokrovsk. Ukrainian forces recently advanced in Kursk Oblast.
• The Russian government informally supported a bill on September 23 that would allow Russian authorities to fine individuals who promote “child-free propaganda,” likely as part of an ongoing Kremlin effort to address Russia’s demographic problem.

According to Ukrainian intelligence, critical infrastructure, including open switchgear and transmission substations at all nuclear plants are at risk.

Ukraine's Foreign Minister, Andrii Sybiha, citing intelligence sources, warned that Russia is planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities ahead of the coming winter.

He called on the United Nations and Ukraine's allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at these power plants “to avert potential disaster.”