Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 939
Here is the situation on Saturday, September 21, 2024.
- Four people were injured after a Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian port city of Odesa. Governor Oleh Kiper said some port facilities and an Antigua-flagged civilian vessel were also damaged.
- Ukraine’s air force said 61 out of 70 Russian attack drones and one out of four missiles across 13 regions of Ukraine were destroyed.
- Some 70,112 Russian soldiers have died in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022, according to the BBC and the independent Russian news site, Mediazona.
- The toll was documented from publicly available information such as official statements, death notices in the media and announcements on social media, as well as tombstones in Russian cemeteries.
- The “actual number is believed to be considerably higher”, the BBC said.
- Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would regain control of its Kursk region “in a timely manner”, but declined to say how soon this could be achieved. Ukraine launched a surprise cross-border incursion into Kursk on August 6, taking swaths of territory.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council banned the use of the Telegram messaging app on official devices used by government officials, military personnel and key workers amid concerns about Russian surveillance.
- Visiting Kyiv, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced the European Union would lend Ukraine as much as 35 billion euros ($39bn) backed by revenues from frozen Russian assets to help the country “keep warm” through the third winter of war with Russia.
- Russia charged four of its soldiers serving in occupied Ukraine with the torture and killing of Russell Bentley, a 64-year-old US citizen living in Russian-held Donetsk who was found dead in April. Bentley was a longtime supporter of Russia. His wife said he had been abducted and killed by Russian soldiers.
- Norway will increase civilian aid to Ukraine by five billion kroner ($475m) this year and extend its aid package by three years to 2030, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store said.
- Prominent Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was released from prison in a high-profile prisoner swap earlier this year, said Russian President Vladimir Putin should not be allowed to win the war in Ukraine.
Weapons
- The United States is preparing a $375m military aid package for Ukraine, two senior officials told the Reuters news agency.
- The aid package, expected to be announced next week, includes patrol boats, additional ammunition for high-mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS), 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition, spare parts and other weapons, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
- Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Italy would send Ukraine another Samp-T antimissile system to “protect hospitals, schools, universities”.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said senior Ukrainian officials including the defense and foreign ministers and top military commanders agreed in an “emotional” discussion that the country needs to make more weaponry domestically and speed up production.
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Оригінал статті - на сайті Українського кризового медіа-центру: https://uacrisis.org/en/pro-nas
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Zelenskiyy to purge more top defense officials – media
- The report comes less than two weeks after Zelensky sacked half of the country’s ministers.
“The fact is that there is serious tension between Budanov and [Yermak],” an anonymous source told the news site, describing Budanov as “one of the few remaining influential people in Zelensky’s inner circle who are an alternative to Yermak.”
The source did not mention any clash between Umerov and Yermak, but Strana claimed that the defense minister had recently fallen out of favor with pro-Western media outlets and activists in Kiev.
- Budanov has led Ukraine’s Main Directorate of Military Intelligence since 2020.
- Umerov has served as defense minister since last September, when his predecessor, Aleksey Reznikov, was sacked following the Ukrainian military’s disastrous summer counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Throughout the conflict with Russia, Zelensky has typically responded to battlefield setbacks by purging senior military and political leaders. Those purged include the former commander-in-chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Valery Zaluzhny, who like Reznikov was sacked after the failed counteroffensive.
- Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba and Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Olga Stefanishina were among those culled.
The firings were viewed in the West as evidence of the “increasing dysfunction” within Zelensky’s government, according to The Economist.
Zelensky, however, insisted that a cabinet reshuffle was necessary in order to “give new strength” to state institutions.
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Defense Support, Energy, Use of Frozen Russian Assets, and EU Membership: Volodymyr Zelenskyy Met with Ursula von der Leyen
20 September 2024 - 15:02
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy held talks in Kyiv with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
– Address by the President
21 September 2024 - 20:28
We See a Threat from Russia to Our Generation, We Will Counter It – Address by the President
20 September 2024 - 19:35
President:
The Plan for Victory Relies on Swift Decisions from Our Partners
20 September 2024 - 15:08
President: The Plan for Victory Relies on Swift Decisions from Our Partners
20 September 2024 - 15:08
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy intends to present the Plan for Victory to U.S. President Joseph Biden on September 26. He announced this during a joint press conference with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
- According to the President of Ukraine, the implementation of some points of the Plan depends solely on decisions from the United States.
- The Ukrainian President is counting on support from the U.S. President and the swift execution of the Plan in collaboration with partners.
“The Plan is based on decisions that should take place from October through December, without delaying the process. That is our hope. In this case, we will consider the Plan will work out,” Volodymyr Zelenskyy added.
ph | Meeting of the President of Ukraine with the President of the European Commission in Kyiv 20 September 2024 - 12:43 |
Zelenskyy expects Biden to make "important decisions" for Ukraine before his presidency ends
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that his US counterpart Joe Biden can make "important decisions" to strengthen Ukraine's defense capabilities before the end of his term. Zelenskyy said during a meeting with journalists on Friday, Interfax-Ukraine reported.
Zelenskyy expressed his belief that Biden can "strengthen Ukraine and adopt important decisions to make Ukraine stronger and protect its independence while he is still the president of the United States".
"I believe this is still a historic mission, at least from the Ukrainian perspective. Because he has his own life and his own political career. I can't speak to what matters most to him. I am speaking only from the perspective of this war," Zelenskyy added.
He noted that Biden's decision "depends on many factors", particularly whether he is receptive to Ukraine's arguments.
"We have made some decisions in the history of our relationship with Biden, and we had very interesting and difficult dialogues. He changed his mind later," the president said.
Zelenskyy further noted that he wants to hear the opinion of Kamala Harris, Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate, regarding Ukraine's Victory Plan.
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Pro-Russian Texan Russell Bentley who went to fight for Putin is missing in Ukraine: report
- He relied on crowdfunding to finance his trip to Ukraine.
Bentley, a self-proclaimed communist and U.S. Army vet, never returned to the US after earning his Russian citizenship. Instead, he started working as a reporter for the state-owned Sputnik news agency.
As unsubstantiated reports about his remains being recovered from the outskirts of Gorlovka spread across social media Saturday, so, too, did rumors his disappearance was a kidnapping.
She said she went to look for him, only finding his car, baseball cap, glasses, and his phone, which she said was destroyed.
Two years ago, Bentley was profiled in a Rolling Stone article titled “The Bizarre Story of How a Hardcore Texas Leftist Became a Frontline Putin Propagandist.”
Bentley’s disappearance comes as Ukraine faces increasing losses against the Russian invaders.
An American official told Bloomberg Ukraine’s forces could crumble, claiming the country hasn’t been this vulnerable since the start of the war. Additionally, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Commander-in-Chief of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, said the nation’s eastern front has been decimated “in recent days” amid the stepped-up shelling.
- Meanwhile, Ukraine is running increasingly short on ammunition, and waiting on Congress to approve another aid package. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said the country will likely fall without additional military aid.
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RUSSIAN WORLD
U.S. national tortured to death in Ukraine by Russian soldiers, Moscow says
The Investigative Committee said in a statement that it had completed its probe and accused three Russian servicemen of torturing Bentley to death in Donetsk on April 8.
It said two of the soldiers had then put his body in a car and blown it up. A fourth soldier had been ordered the following day to move Bentley's remains to another location in an attempt to conceal the crime.
The Committee's statement said the accused soldiers, whom it named, were familiarizing themselves with the allegations before the indictment was sent for approval.
It said they would variously be tried on charges ranging from exceeding their authority, using physical violence and torture, and causing death by negligence, to attempted concealment of a serious crime. It did not say whether or not they had denied the accusations.
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