Sept 13- Buonasera Mag
Day 202: Kherson, Kharkiv, RU mobilisation, RU troops retreating, France, Germany, Draghi. Arts & Posts: ISW, Gerashchenko, Rosenberg, Lautman, Marin, VoichukUA, Applebaum, Czeh, Sipher, Lucas
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Washington Post: Intelligence says Russian retreat from Kharkiv Oblast could be turning point in war. Ukraine’s counteroffensive is adding pressure on Russia to reinforce personnel, U.S. and Western officials told the Washington Post on Sept. 12.
Ukrainian troops have recaptured more than 300 settlements in Kharkiv region. Since 6 September, Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 300 settlements in the Kharkiv region, taking back more than 3,800 square kilometres (1,467 miles) of Russian occupied territory, said Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian deputy minister of defence.
Stories we’re following…
Ukraine’s advance to the Russian border, quoting residents of the Kharkiv region. “The Russians were here in the morning. Then at noon, they suddenly started shouting wildly and began to run away, charging off in tanks and armored vehicles,” Dmytro Hrushchenko, a resident of Zaliznychne, a small town near the eastern front line, said.
Ukraine’s deputy MoD said fighting is still raging in Kharkiv region. Hanna Malyar said: “The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond – all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation. Fighting is continuing. It is still early to say full control has been established over Kharkiv region. Our strength stems from the fact that we are very motivated and that we plan operations thoroughly.”
Ukraine: Russian intelligence officers and military commanders flee Crimea.
It is reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are advancing on Maryinka. Two battalions are coming from Ugledar. They are trying to encircle Donetsk in the future.
Podolyak: Ukraine needs more air defense to protect critical infrastructure from Russia. Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the President's Office, called for an overall increase in weapons deliveries.
Mayor: Explosions heard at Russian military base in Melitopol. The city’s mayor Ivan Fedorov said that three loud explosions had been heard at around 2:30 p.m. on Sept. 13 at an airfield in Russian-occupied Melitopol in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
To convince even more Russian soldiers to give up, Ukrainian forces are launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance, said Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian deputy minister of defence. “Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn’t mean anything for them. You don’t need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the flyers read.
Russian soldiers engaged in mass looting as they fled Kharkiv oblast, the defence intelligence unit of Ukraine’s defence ministry said. Soldiers loaded “generators, telephones and computers taken from Ukrainians into their cars. Rare cases of school robberies have been recorded, even horizontal bars and sports equipment were taken out of gyms”.
Ukrainian intelligence believes that Russia is preparing to renew its attacks on the Zaporizhzhia NPP as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to target Ukraine’s infrastructure, specifically the country’s energy system.
Ukraine says that the Russian military has suspended new unit arrivals in Ukraine.
Yesterday, deputies from 18 Moscow and St Petersburg regions put forth issued a statement saying that Putin should resign because they believed his actions “harm the future of Russia and its citizens”.
Russia’s military commanders have stopped sending new units into Ukraine after the counteroffensive, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said on its Facebook page on Monday. “The current situation in the theatre of operations and distrust of the higher command forced a large number of volunteers to categorically refuse the prospect of service in combat conditions.”
Ukrainian intelligence: Russian occupiers begin leaving Crimea with their families. An “urgent evacuation” of Russian proxies, intelligence officers, and military commanders is taking place, the Main Intelligence Directorate said.
Russian troops have left behind stockpiles of ammunition and other supplies following Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Kharkiv oblast. One analyst estimated that more than 300 vehicles, including tanks, self-propelled mortars and supply trucks, had been lost between 7 and 11 September.
Reports from various sources say that Russian border guards are not allowing holders of Russian passports issued in Ukraine to enter the Russian Federation.
WSJ: Ukraine to ask US, allies for long-range weapons. Ukraine will request additional weapons from the U.S. and its allies, including Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATMS), which have a range of over 300 km. The announcement comes amid Ukraine’s ongoing counteroffensives.
Russia detained a top manager of an aviation factory on suspicion of passing secret military information to Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday, citing the FSB federal security agency.
The European Commission will today present its long-awaited proposal for an EU-wide ban on products made with forced labor. According to a draft proposal of the regulation, the Commission foresees a total prohibition on goods made under duress as “a matter of public moral concern.” The scope covers “any product made available by any economic operator.”
Word from senior sources is that France will significantly step up its military support for Ukraine- Emmanuel Macron told Zelensky in their call Saturday.
Germany is well-positioned to get through the winter despite reduced gas flows from Russia thanks to measures including extending two nuclear power plants’ lifespans, German chancellor Olaf Scholz will say on Tuesday.
Zelenskiy has posted on social media to say that he has spoken to Italian prime minister Mario Draghi. Ukraine’s president said:
Had a conversation with Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Informed him about the developments at the front. Noted the importance of defence cooperation with Italy. We should enhance it. Discussed the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The guarantee of its security is demilitarisation and return under Ukrainian control.
Orla Guerin, Ukraine war: Shock and joy in newly liberated villages- BBC
"When our armed forces arrived, we were in the basement," says the 50-year-old.
"They asked, in Ukrainian, 'is anyone alive?' and I realised they were ours. They were so handsome, so beautiful especially compared to the fascists [her term for Russian forces].
"I didn't know what to do with them - if I should hug them or hold their hands? I touched them and I was very happy."
Anne Applebaum, It’s Time to Prepare for a Ukrainian Victory- The Atlantic
Back in March, I wrote that it was time to imagine the possibility of victory, and I defined victory quite narrowly: “It means that Ukraine remains a sovereign democracy, with the right to choose its own leaders and make its own treaties.” Six months later, some adjustments to that basic definition are required. In Kyiv yesterday, I watched Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tell an audience that victory should now include not only a return to the borders of Ukraine as they were in 1991—including Crimea, as well as Donbas in eastern Ukraine—but also reparations to pay for the damage and war-crimes tribunals to give victims some sense of justice.
"Arrogant, inept, useless": CIA expert dissects German spies- Focus
How do you rate the cooperation with the German intelligence services?
John Sipher: I'm sorry to say that. But although Germany is the center of the European economy, the German secret services are absolutely not reliable partners when it comes to Russia.
Actually, I don't like to comment negatively on the German secret services, because there are quite a few good people there. And we are all urgently dependent on Germany when it comes to continuing to put pressure on Russia.
But the German agents are being held back by their politicians, who seem unwilling to accept that Putin could be up to something bad. So the German spies stuck their heads in the sand. And that's why the Russia analysts from the Federal Intelligence Service are completely useless.
Edward Lucas, The Elizabethan Era- CEPA
Death or exile was royalty’s choice under communism, as the new rulers eradicated the decadent, feudal, and bourgeois features of the old order. When totalitarian rule collapsed, none of the five ex-monarchies (Albania, Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, and Yugoslavia) abandoned their republican status. But all the newly liberated countries of the Soviet empire yearned for royal visits.
Queen Elizabeth’s coffin leaves St Giles’ Cathedral at start of journey to Buckingham Palace.
The Queen’s coffin has now left St Giles’ Cathedral and will now make its way to the Edinburgh airport before being flown to London.
It will then lie in state in the Palace of Westminster.
