Tuesday, September 24

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Residents living in front-line villages in Donetsk Oblast are evacuated by train to cities in western Ukraine on Sept. 23, 2024. Nataliia and her cat await the departure of a train after their house was bombed overnight. (Pierre Crom/Getty Images)

Next few months will be ‘decisive,’ Zelensky says during speech in US, urges allies to act faster. “We have to be faster. We need to not lose the next few months in the war so that we don’t lose the next decades,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Scholz meets Zelensky, says Germany will not let Kyiv use its weapons on Russian soil. “Germany will not lift any restrictions. This does not depend on my personal attitude,” German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Sept. 23, before meeting with Zelensky to discuss Ukraine’s peace plan.

Russia and its ‘accomplices’ want to disrupt global unity, Zelensky tells UN. “The same small group of seven accomplices, led by Russia, has once again acted destructively, always opposing any global initiatives that strengthen the effectiveness of the U.N. charter,” Zelensky said at the U.N. Summit of the Future on Sept. 23.

Zelensky, Japanese PM Kishida meet in US, discuss energy sector. President Zelensky thanked Japan for preparing a “new energy assistance package” for Ukraine during his meeting with the prime minister on Sept. 23.

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Ukraine’s 79th brigade releases video of ‘massive’ Russian attack being repelled near Kurakhove. Ukrainian paratroopers damaged one Russian tank, destroyed two others as well as two Russian armored vehicles with troops, Ukraine’s 79th Tavrian Air Assault Brigade said.

Ukrainian forces break through another section of Russian border, 95th Brigade claims. “This is the second successful operation to break through the Russian border since the beginning of the operation in Russia’s Kursk Oblast,” Ukraine’s 95th Separate Polesian Air Assault Brigade said.

Crimean Bridge ‘must come down,’ Ukraine says at Permanent Court of Arbitration. Kyiv says it was built deliberately low to the water in order to keep out international shipping.

Russian sleeper cell plotting ‘violent seizure of power in Odesa’ thwarted, SBU claims. In a post on Telegram, the SBU said the group had originally planned to seize administrative buildings and state institutions in the city at the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

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Biden-Zelensky talks: Ukrainian soldiers want firepower to win but question if US wants Russia defeated

As President Volodymyr Zelensky kicked off a visit to the U.S. this week in a bid to secure more firepower for his army, Ukrainian soldiers on the ground monitored the news with half-hearted hope, questioning whether Kyiv’s top Western ally would provide enough to help them defeat Russia.

Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov / Libkos via Getty Images

Control of US House, Senate is up for grabs. What could down-ballot elections mean for Ukraine support?

While Congressional races aren’t typically the focus of international concern, this November’s elections could alter the political makeup of key committees and districts. In some races, incumbent Democrats could be unseated by Trump-backed Republicans who oppose America’s support for Ukraine.

Photo: Joe Lamberti/Washington Post/Getty Images

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv hits over 200  targets in Russia using drones in year

Ukraine has destroyed or damaged over 200 military facilities in Russia over the past year using “drone swarm” technology, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov wrote on Sept. 23.

Photo: Olexander Scherba / X

Ukraine launches online marriages to unite couples separated by war

Ukrainians can apply, propose, and get married online via the Diia mobile app by choosing a place and date. To do this, a couple can be in the same place or hundreds of kilometers apart.

photo: Kostiantyn Liberov / Libkos via Getty Images

Human cost of war

1 person killed, 10 injured after Russian attacks on Donetsk Oblast. Russian forces attacked the town of Kramatorsk and the village of Shakhove in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 23, killing one person and injuring at least 10 others, Governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Russian strike on Zaporizhzhia kills 1, injures 5, including 13-year-old girl. The strike targeted a critical infrastructure facility and a residential neighborhood, killing one man and injuring five people, including a child. Some of the victims have been hospitalized, city authorities reported.

Russian attack on apartment building in Zaporizhzhia injures 22, including 2 children. At least 16 people were injured in a Russian attack on Zaporizhzhia overnight on Sept. 23, including a 15-year-old boy. The strike resulted in a partial destruction of an apartment building, according to Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Ivan Fedorov.

Russian attacks against Ukraine kill 3, injure 38. Ukrainian forces downed three out of four Shahed-type drones launched by Russia overnight, the Air Force reported. One more drone and two Kh-59/69 cruise missiles “failed to reach their targets” due to electronic warfare.

General Staff: Russia has lost 643,750 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 1,330 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

Opinions and insights

Opinion: Ukraine’s avant-garde legacy battles against persistent cultural destruction

“Each generation salvages the works and memory of the previous one, while constantly fending off renewed attacks. The cycle continues today. … Regional art museums across Ukraine have been hit by Russian bombs or, as in the case of Kherson, looted by occupying forces,” writer and translator Uilleam Blacker writes.

Photo: Presidential Office/Handout/Anadolu/Getty

Opinion: Peace in Ukraine will come through Putin’s fall, not a battlefield breakthrough

“As long as Putin and his inner circle believe that they can grind down the will of the Ukrainians and their Western backers, they will continue the war. But when it dawns on them that this will not happen, and that Russia is on a path of increasingly rapid decline, things will change,” writes former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt.

Photo: Kostiantyn Liberov / Libkos via Getty Images

International response

Relations with Russia should be reconsidered after war in Ukraine, Macron says. “We will have to think about a new form of organization of Europe and rethink our relations with Russia after the war in Ukraine,” Macron said.

Denmark contributes $19.5 million to restore Ukraine’s energy system. Danish Energy Minister Lars Aagaard announced new financial assistance for Ukraine on Sept. 23 in New York during a meeting within the G7 working group on Ukraine’s energy security.

Netherlands struggling to complete Patriot system pledged to Ukraine, defense minister says. “We are also trying to find other elements that are needed to complete the system,” Dutch Defense Minister Ruben Brekelmans said.

Lithuania signs memorandum with one of world’s leading arms manufacturers on medium-caliber ammunition. Lithuania has signed a memorandum with American Northrop Grumman Corporation, one of the leading global aerospace and defense technology companies, to produce and supply medium-caliber ammunition, the Lithuanian Defense Ministry said on Sept. 23.

Iranian president says his country doesn’t support Moscow as Tehran allegedly transfers ballistic missiles to Russia. “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,” Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian claimed.

Japan warns off Russian military plane, uses flares for first time. Japan scrambled fighter jets after a Russian Il-38 plane entered Japanese airspace on Sept. 23. Japan used flares after the Russian plane ignored earlier warnings, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara said.

Russia’s global chess ban upheld, move hailed as ‘a victory for Ukraine.’ Both Russia and Belarus were excluded from the International Chess Federation in the wake of Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

In other news

Telegram to disclose to authorities phone numbers, IP addresses of those who violate messenger’s rules. Personal information will be provided to the authorities by “valid legal requests,” Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said on Sept. 23.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Kateryna Denisova, Chris York, Oleksiy Sorokin, Kateryna Hodunova, Abbey Fenbert, and Sonya Bandouil.

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