Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 09-28-2024

For decades Moldova's prospects have been conditioned by a breakaway region controlled by Russia. How much influence Russia still has will be revealed.

Moldova is heading to the polls in October for presidential elections and an EU referendum, with pro-European incumbent President Maia Sandu seeking a second term but facing Kremlin-backed candidates and disinformation.

The country’s election on 20 October 2024 will be only the third direct presidential election since Moldova’s independence from the Soviet Union and the abolition of the previous system of parliament electing the president.

In the middle of a war, Ukraine has no choice but to increase its long dormant arms production. Kyiv Post speaks to a storied general who knows how to do it as well as anyone.

Maj. Gen. Vasyl Vovk, is a legend of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) for having tackled some of the most important criminal investigations in the country’s history, including identifying the culprits who shot down flight MH-17 and who perpetrated the artificial famine known as the Holodomor. Now Vovk has a new goal: To head Ukraine’s largest arms producer UkrOboronProm. Kyiv Post met with Gen. Vovk find out how Ukraine can ratchet up its weapons production.

Jason Jay Smart: You had a full career that included cracking the mystery around some of the biggest crimes committed in Ukraine’s history. What did you find to be the most interesting?

Zakhar Biryukov, a former special forces soldier with three prostheses, personifies Ukraine’s resilience in the face of devastating hardships. He spoke with Kyiv Post.

Holding a vape with his cyborg-like prosthetic arm and hand, Zakhar Biryukov puffs and laughs when asked how he can be so optimistic despite losing both his arms and a leg on a Ukrainian special forces mission.

“Good drugs,” he jokes.

Russian Col. Aleksy Kolomeytsev involved in training specialist for the Kremlin’s Shahed drone program has died in a targeted assassination near Moscow.

On the night of September 27, in the Moscow Region, Russian Armed Forces Col. Aleksy Volodymyrovich Kolomeytsev, head of the 924 State Center for Unmanned Aviation of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, was killed, according to sources in Ukraine’s Military Intelligence Directorate (HUR).

The “elimination” of Kolomeytsev was the result of a special operation of “the local movement of resistance to the Kremlin regime in coordination with the HUR.”

Several pro-Russian media sites carry unconfirmed reports that Ukraine lost more of its F-16s after the airfield in which they were based was hit by Kinzhal high velocity missiles.

Russian media picked up a report from the “Vzglyad” news site on Thursday that claimed at least two Ukrainian F-16 fighter aircraft were hit by Kh-47M2 Kinzhal high velocity missiles fired from Russian Mikoyan MiG-31Ks (NATO: Foxhound) during the large-scale drone and missile strike in the early hours of Sept. 26.

The report cited a Ukrainian milblogger Anatoly Shariy who suggested on his Telegram channel that as many as four F-16 fighters were hit on the ground during a surprise attack on the Starokostyantyniv airfield in western Ukraine. Shariy said that he was attempting to verify the report but by Saturday there had been no comment from either Ukrainian or Russian official sources.

A man claiming to be a Moldovan citizen rips into Russian occupation soldiers manning a checkpoint in Transnistria and berates them for daring to detain him.

Dramatic video of a man claiming to be a Moldovan citizen is going viral on social media.

“I’m a citizen of Moldova, you are a Russian citizen. Are you going to detain me on the territory of my country?” says the man shooting the video, confronting Russian soldier at a checkpoint going into Transnistria.

Interview with Bogdan Zawadewicz, Head of Geopolitical Risk Analysis, BGK. Part 1.

The reconstruction of Ukraine has been a topic accompanying us for the past two years. Many conferences and articles have been dedicated to it. This concept encompasses not only the literal rebuilding of destruction but also the adaptation of standards to Western ones and the integration of the country with the European Union.

Kyiv Post speaks with Bogdan Zawadewicz, Head of the Geopolitical Risk Analysis at BGK (Polish National Development Bank), about the mechanisms involved, various sectors of the economy, challenges, reforms, privatization, and the role of the state, as well as private entities and local governments.

The President of Ukraine addresses his nation following a visit to the United States, where he met with President Joe Biden and presidential candidates Kamala Harris and Donald Trump.

I wish you good health, fellow Ukrainians!

Today I had a meeting with Donald Trump. Very productive and detailed meeting. I am very grateful. And in general, it was a busy, long, extremely important week in America.

Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.

• Russia's autumn conscription cycle starts on 1 October 2024. All eligible Russian men under the age of 30 are required to serve one year of military service. To date conscripts have not been sent to fight in Ukraine. Since the start of the war in February 2022, Russian leaders have stated that conscripts will not be sent to the frontline.
• However, conscripts were deployed in the military operation in Kursk in August 2024. In response, some parents have voiced concerns that their sons have been sent to fight after serving less than four months. Legally, conscripts can serve in a combat zone if they have served four months and have been trained in a relevant specialisation.
• The reaction of families of conscripts to their deployment in the defence of mainland Russia likely reinforces for Russian leaders the sensitivity of deploying conscripts to Ukraine itself. However, Russia will likely continue to force conscripts to sign contracts following their completion of service to ensure a steady supply of personnel for the war amid high attrition rates.

Overnight attacks in Ukraine saw a hospital targeted twice in Sumy, near the border with Russia’s Kursk oblast. At least nine people are dead with multiple injured.

Two Russian strikes on a hospital in the Ukrainian border city of Sumy killed at least nine people on Saturday.

According to the Sumy Regional Prosecutor’s Office preliminary assessment, the first strike was a Shahed UAV which hit around 7:35 a.m.

Ukraine’s fate is being held hostage by the US elections and a general cravenness with respect to defending the democratic principles that needed to be fought for in the past.

After almost three years of attritional fighting and a decade of war with Russia, Ukrainian resources are bleeding dry. Every family has suffered a loss; hundreds of thousands are wounded, missing, displaced. Tens of thousands of children abducted with little hope of returning home.

Throughout this ordeal, Ukraine has managed to push back with an array of different types of Western weapons supplied in incredibly small amounts and often too late to make a difference on the battlefield. It managed to fight back nonetheless, despite restrictions on the use of the provided weapons, upholding the principles of Article 51 of the UN Charter, which reinforces the “inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs.” Remarkably, while the Eastern front still holds, Ukraine has managed to go behind the enemy lines and take up over 1,000 sq. kilometers of Russian land.

America’s top diplomat met with his Chinese counterpart at the sidelines of the UN General Assembly to raise the issue of China’s continuing support for Russia’s war machine.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday questioned China’s sincerity in seeking peace in Ukraine as he directly pressed his counterpart over exports that boost Russia’s military.

Blinken met Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, the latest talks as the two powers look to dial down once-soaring tensions.

Trump’s statements encourage Putin to further aggression. And his well demonstrated infatuation with dictators does not bode well for the smaller, weaker nations in the world.

In his latest outrageous statement, the former US president and candidate for a new mandate, Donald Trump, said, “Ukraine is gone!” With these three words, Trump returns a familiar point of the Kremlin's narrative, once again suggesting that Ukraine should surrender in the face of Russia’s brutal invasion. As always, he carefully calibrates his rhetoric to appeal to his pro-Russian base, but his real audience is Moscow, where Vladimir Putin is smiling and preparing for his next attack.

Trump’s words are not just reckless; they are dangerous. They echo the language of a dictator waging a merciless war against a sovereign nation, destroying cities and killing civilians. By aligning himself with Putin’s narrative, Trump is undermining Ukraine’s fight for survival, implicitly encouraging further aggression. His defeatist attitude is not only an insult to Ukraine but also a direct threat to European and global stability.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian forces repelled a reinforced battalion-size Russian mechanized assault in the Kupyansk direction on September 26 — the first large Russian mechanized assault along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line since Winter 2024.
• Russian forces may be intensifying their efforts to reach the Oskil River, although Russian advances on the east (left) bank of the Oskil River will likely continue to be relatively gradual.
• The Russian military command has demonstrated that it will likely accept continued gradual gains along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line, however.
• The Western Grouping of Forces likely has limited capacity to maintain an intensified offensive effort along the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line or conduct effective combat operations that result in more rapid gains.
• Russian authorities appear to be expending a significant amount of effort to influence the Western debate about allowing Ukraine to use Western-provided weapons to conduct long-range strikes against military objects in Russia. This Russian effort suggests a deep concern with the operational pressures that such strikes into Russia would generate on Russian offensive operations in Ukraine, although US officials remain hesitant to permit Ukraine to conduct such strikes.
• The benefits of allowing Ukraine to use Western-provided long-range strike systems against Russia may outweigh the risk of Russian retaliation more than Western policymakers are currently considering.
• Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov met with Kremlin-affiliated milbloggers on September 27, likely as part of the ongoing Kremlin effort to coopt Russian milbloggers and downplay recent backlash in the ultranationalist information space over the death of two prominent drone operators.
• The People's Republic of China (PRC) announced a new initiative to draw international support for its alternative peace plan for Ukraine amid increasing cooperation with Russia.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky continued to meet with US officials about the war in Ukraine during his visit to the US on September 26 and 27.
• Russian and Ukrainian forces continued assaults in Kursk Oblast, but neither side made further advances.
• Russian forces recently advanced within and around Toretsk and southeast of Pokrovsk.
• Russian authorities continue to threaten Russian frontline soldiers' ad-hoc communications networks.