2023-09-18 19:13:06
Ukrainian troops claimed this Monday, September 18, to have broken through the Russian defense line near Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, according to the commander of Kiev’s ground troops, General Oleksandr Syrsky.
After the recapture of the village of Andriïvka on Friday and Klichtchiïvka on Sunday, “the enemy’s defense line was pierced”, declared the general, quoted by the army press center. These small towns “were an important element of the Russian defense line which extends from Bakhmut to Gorlivka,” he added.
The Russian 72nd, 31st and 83rd brigades “were destroyed and completely lost [leur] ability to fight” in the battles near Bakhmout, affirmed General Syrsky. “The general situation in the eastern zone remains complicated” and “fierce fighting near Bakhmout continues”, however admitted the soldier, noting ” numerous Russian counter-attacks in the area.
kyiv claims the liberation of 7 km2 of its territory from the Russians
Ukraine also claimed earlier this Monday the liberation of 7 km2 in a week in the East and South occupied by the Russian army, small advances that Kiev hopes sooner or later to convert into a breakthrough, after more than three months counter-offensive.
Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Maliar said Ukrainian forces recaptured 2 km2 last week in the Bakhmut area, including the villages of Andriïvka and Klichchiivka.
In the South, the Ukrainian army recaptured 5.2 km2. In total, since the launch of the counter-offensive, kyiv says it has liberated 51 km2 around Bakhmout, and 261.7 km2 in the southern part of the front.
kyiv shoots down drones, Moscow bombs Ukraine
Also this Monday, the Ukrainian air force announced that it had shot down 18 drones and 17 missiles launched by Russia during new nighttime attacks against its neighbor. “Eighteen drones were shot down” out of a total of 24 launched towards the regions of Mykolaiv and Odessa (south), the air force said on Telegram. The 17 cruise missiles were also destroyed, according to the same source.
The Russian army, for its part, claimed in its daily report on Monday to have bombed storage sites in Ukraine for Storm Shadow cruise missiles and depleted uranium munitions, two types of weapons supplied by London. “The objective of the strike was achieved. All installations were hit,” the Russian Defense Ministry said.
Moscow accuses Paris of discriminating against Russian journalists, French ambassador summoned
Russian diplomacy summoned the French ambassador in Moscow on Monday to denounce the discrimination suffered by Russian journalists, accusing Paris of having roughed up correspondents during the G20 summit in India.
Ambassador Pierre Levy was summoned because of “discriminatory and blatantly Russophobic actions by representatives of the French authorities against the correspondents of RIA Novosti and the editor-in-chief of Russia-News at the G20 summit in New Delhi, which took place are seen brutally refused access to a press conference by the French president [Emmanuel] Macron,” Russian diplomacy said in a statement.
Grain embargo: Ukraine files WTO complaint against three EU countries
Kiev announced on Monday that it had filed a complaint with the WTO against three EU countries – Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – which extended their embargo on Ukrainian grain imports, despite the lifting of restrictions decided by Brussels. “It is crucial for us to establish that individual member states cannot ban the import of Ukrainian goods,” explained Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko in a press release. “This is why we are filing a complaint against them,” she added.
Georgia accuses Ukraine of preparing a coup
This is an unprecedented accusation for the country. This Monday, Georgia accused a senior Ukrainian official of preparing a coup to overthrow the government of this Caucasian country. The Georgian national security service has accused Georgi Lortkipanidze, deputy head of Ukrainian military counterintelligence, of “plotting” to “violently overthrow the government” with the complicity of a foreign state. Georgiy Lortkipanidze is also a former Georgian Deputy Interior Minister.
Georgian national security also named, among the accomplices of the Georgians fighting Russian troops in Ukraine, notably a former bodyguard of the imprisoned ex-president Mikhail Saakashvili, who in the past held official functions in Ukraine. Some of these people “are undergoing training near the border between Ukraine and Poland,” she assured. According to Monday’s Georgian statement, the plot includes anti-government protests in Tbilisi “in October and December.
Relations between Tbilisi and kyiv are strained, while Georgia is accused of cooperating with the Kremlin. Russian forces have also been deployed in its separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since 2008, the date of Moscow’s invasion of the country.
China denounces the qualification of “dictator”
China on Monday denounced the German Foreign Minister’s comments as “a political provocation”. During an interview with Fox News on September 14, Annalena Baerbock was discussing the war in Ukraine when she said: “If Putin were to win this war, what signal would that send to other dictators around the world, like Xi [Jinping], like the Chinese president? This is why Ukraine must win this war.”
A statement provoking a firm response from Beijing: “These comments are extremely absurd and constitute a serious attack on China’s political dignity as well as an open political provocation,” declared Mao Ning, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, during a daily press conference.
Chinese Foreign Minister in Russia
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Russia from Monday September 18 to Thursday September 21 for discussions on security, his ministry announced. “At the invitation of Nikolai Patrushev, Secretary of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, Wang Yi […] will travel to Russia to participate in the 18th session of the China-Russia Strategic Security Consultations,” said a statement published on the ministry’s website.
Long-time allies, China and Russia frequently boast of their “limitless” partnership and their economic and military cooperation set to intensify. In a briefing, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that Wang Yi would meet his counterpart Sergei Lavrov, and that the two men would “focus their efforts on strengthening collaboration on the international scene.” “There will be a detailed exchange of views on issues related to the settlement of the situation in Ukraine, as well as ways to ensure stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region,” a spokesperson said.
Kim’s ‘sincere thanks’ to Putin after Russia trip (KCNA)
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressed his “sincere thanks” to Russian President Vladimir Putin during his return trip after a nearly week-long visit to Russia, state media reported Monday. Centered on defense, the trip of the North Korean number 1 to the Russian Far East, which ended on Sunday, revealed potential military ties between the two countries, Kim Jong-un having reviewed a number of equipment such as Russian space rockets or submarines. The two men went so far as to symbolically offer each other a rifle.
The trip also revived Western fears that the isolated, nuclear-armed country could provide Moscow with weapons for its attack on Ukraine. At the end of this visit, which began on Tuesday, Kim Jong-un “presented his sincere thanks to President Putin and the Russian leaders” for “their special attention and cordial hospitality”, the official agency said on Monday. North Korean KCNA.
Ukraine and Russia clash at the ICJ
Moscow attacked Kiev on Monday before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) where the two countries clash in a procedure launched by Ukraine which accuses Russia of having wrongly used allegations of genocide to justify its invasion in 2022. One of Moscow’s representatives, Gennady Kuzmin, criticized Kiev for not being “further from the truth” by claiming that Russia invoked the UN Genocide Convention as a reason to launch its war against its neighbor in February last year.
Russian President Vladimir Putin partly justified the February 24, 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine with unfounded accusations of “genocide” orchestrated by Kiev in Russian-speaking eastern Ukraine. Two days later, on February 26, 2022, Kiev took the matter to court, “categorically denying” this assertion and arguing that Russia’s use of “genocide” as a pretext went against the United Nations Convention on the 1948 genocide.
The human rights situation has deteriorated
The human rights situation “has significantly deteriorated” in Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, underlined Monday the first report of the expert mandated by the Human Rights Council of the UN. “The situation was already in constant decline over the last two decades, partly due to the two wars in Chechnya which ended in 2009”, specifies rapporteur Mariana Katzarova, responsible for monitoring the human rights situation in Russia.
This report, which is to be presented to the Human Rights Council during the session currently taking place in Geneva, does not seem to contain any surprises or shocking revelations, but the adoption of the rapporteur’s mandate by the Council of human rights had marked a defeat for Moscow, in the diplomatic battle in which Russia and Kiev’s allies have been engaged in all UN forums since the invasion of Ukraine.
In response, the Russian Foreign Ministry indicated that “Russia does not recognize this mandate and has officially declared its rejection of any form of interaction with this illegitimate special procedure.”
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