Sept 21 Buonasera Mag
Day 211: Kamenka, Kharkiv, Bilohorvika, sham ref & reactions, RU recruitment, UA ammo factory, EU funds, Trump, DeSantis, Putin's address & reactions, Biden UN, Mahsa Amini. A&Ps-Weiss, Bildt
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.
This is what is left in the village of Kamenka.
Stories we’re following…
Russian missiles struck residential buildings in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv overnight, trapping civilians in their homes and wounding at least one person.
Governor: Bilohorivka is completely destroyed. According to Governor Serhiy Haidai, the city and its surroundings are left without running water because of significant destruction. "About a million residents of occupied Luhansk Oblast are without water," he added.
Sham Referendums in Russian-occupied territory
Politico EU: early on Tuesday, Russia’s proxy states in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, the self-proclaimed People’s Republics of Luhansk (LPR) and Donetsk (DPR), declared they would imminently hold referendums on being recognized as part of Russia. Kremlin-installed officials in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region also indicated they planned to hold a referendum, with pro-Russian authorities in the Zaporizhzhia region indicating they would do the same.
ISW: Partial annexation at this stage would place the Kremlin in the strange position of demanding that Ukrainian forces un-occupy “Russian” territory, and the humiliating position of being unable to enforce that demand.
President Zelensky: “Naive blackmail through threats and horror stories about “referendums” and “mobilization” of people only capable of fighting against children and civilians… That’s what the fear of defeat looks like. The enemy is afraid, and it’s primitively manipulating people. Ukraine will solve the Russian question. The threat can only be eliminated by force.”
US Ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget A. Brink: “Sham referenda and mobilization are signs of weakness, of Russian failure. The United States will never recognize Russia's claim to purportedly annexed Ukrainian territory, and we will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
The EU is reportedly preparing new sanctions on Russia over the annexation referenda in Ukraine.
President Macron called the Russian invasion of Ukraine a return to "imperialism," delivering some of his strongest remarks against the conflict. He also said that Russia’s sham ‘referendums’ in occupied Ukrainian areas cynicism and provocation. French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Russia’s plans to hold pseudo-referendums on Sept. 23-27 to annex occupied Ukrainian territories.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called the referendums “a further escalation,” adding that they “have no legitimacy and do not change the nature of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”
EU Commission spokesperson Peter Stano added that the “sham, illegal referenda” planned in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia this weekend would not be recognised. “Putin is doing a nuclear gamble. He’s using the nuclear element as part of his arsenal of terror, it’s unacceptable.”
Dozhd: Russia transfers conscripts from Leningrad Oblast to Ukrainian border. Dozhd, a Russian TV channel, reported that conscripts of the 25th Motorized Rifle Brigade based in Leningrad Oblast are being transferred to the town of Valuyki in Belgorod Oblast.
General Staff: Russia to transfer paratroopers from Syria to Ukraine. Due to a lack of personnel, the Russian authorities have decided to withdraw units of the 217th Airborne Regiment from Syria and transfer them to the frontline in Ukraine, the General Staff said.
Politico EU: Putin’s slogan for the war, which appears on everything from bumper stickers and mugs to tanks and missiles, is “We don’t abandon our own.”
Ukrainian military says it shot down Iranian drone, Russian jet. Ukraine's Air Force Command said that the Su-25 aircraft was shot down in Kherson Oblast, while the Iranian-manufactured Shahed-136 kamikaze drone was destroyed in Mykolaiv Oblast on Sept. 20.
Ukraine to persecute 3 Russian soldiers for war crimes. General Prosecutor’s Office said that Russian servicemen from the southern Siberian Tuva region tortured, abused, beaten, and imprisoned civilians while Russian forces were occupying Yahidne, Chernihiv Oblast.
Ukroboronprom says it's building ammunition factory together with NATO member state. Ukraine’s main defense company did not specify the name of the NATO member country but said the agreement had already been signed.
EU Council adopts additional €5 billion assistance for Ukraine. The Council will provide macro-financial assistance "as a matter of urgency." EU Council said on Sept. 20 that this 5 billion euro assistance package would be delivered to Ukraine through long-term loans "to support Ukraine at this critical juncture."
EU guidance weakens sanctions on Russian coal. According to Bloomberg, a new guidance by the European Commission says that the transfer of some Russian goods, including coal and related products, “should be allowed to combat food and energy insecurity around the world.”
Wolfgang Schäuble, a veteran German politician, said that Lech Kaczynski was right in 2008 to say that Putin will first attack "Georgia, then Ukraine, then the Baltic states and then Poland...we knew everything, and we refused to see it".
Toomas Hendrik Ilves: I am amazed it was Schäuble. He wasn't just a "veteran politician", he was finance minister in Merkel's government(s). He "knew everything" yet did nothing.
Former head of Moscow Aviation Institute Anatoliy Geraschenko died after ‘falling’ down the stairs at the institute. It is under investigation.
German police have raided several properties understood to belong to the Russian oligarch Alisher Usmanov, including his villa on Tegernsee lake in the southern state of Bavaria, on suspicion of money laundering and violations of EU sanctions.
New York’s attorney general sued Donald Trump and his family real estate business, accusing them of a sweeping pattern of fraud. The attorney general, Letitia James, accused Mr. Trump of fraudulently overvaluing his assets by billions of dollars.
The migrants who were flown to Massachusetts have filed a class action lawsuit against DeSantis (and other Florida officials) in federal court. The lawsuit alleges a premeditated, fraudulent, and illegal scheme centered on exploiting [the plaintiffs] for the sole purpose of political interests.
Putin’s Address
Even before Putin’s address:
In Russia, the chaotic volley of announcements, as well as Putin’s will-he-won’t-he address, seemed to spark jitters. Prices for flights out of Russia sky-rocketed. Meanwhile, business daily Vedomosti ran an intriguing poll, claiming that half of Russians weren’t afraid of an attack on their country.
Google Trends data showed a spike in searches for Aviasales, Russia’s most popular website for buying flights, after Putin’s announcement sparked fears that some men of fighting age would not be allowed to leave the country.
Flights from Moscow to the capitals of Georgia, Turkey and Armenia, all destinations that allow Russians to enter without a visa, were sold out within minutes of Putin’s announcement, according to Aviasales data.
Georgian and Finnish border guards are currently not allowing access to Russian males.
What did Putin announce?
In a national address on Wednesday, Putin said Russia will be mobilising further troops for the war in Ukraine.
He claimed that the west is using the threat of nuclear weapons to blackmail Russia, and that “those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them”.
Putin also said Russia would give its full support to the referendums announced for this weekend in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to join the Russian Federation.
Military service will apply only to citizens who are in the reserve, especially those who have served in the armed forces, have certain military professions and relevant experience. All Russian military service contracts currently in force are extended indefinitely.
Defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said 300,000 Russians “with previous military experience” would be called up.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow would shortly determine which citizens would be allowed to defer a call-up in the new draft.
Pro-Kremlin analyst Sergei Markov: Russia “has no reason to use technical nuclear weapons against Ukrainians”, Markov, a former member of the Russian state Duma for Putin’s party, United Russia, as well as a former adviser to the president, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “Biden, Johnson and Truss are fully responsible for the war in Ukraine.”
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said Putin’s decision to announce a partial mobilisation was a “predictable step” that highlights that the war was not going according to the Kremlin’s plan.
Navalny has accused Putin of trying to “smear hundreds of thousands of people” in a “criminal war” after the Russian president announced a partial mobilisation. “This will result in a massive tragedy, in a massive amount of deaths … in order to keep his personal power, Putin went into a neighbouring country, killed people there and is now sending a huge quantity of Russian citizens into this war.”
Reactions across the world…
“I will be solving this on another level…”
Putin’s speech was also swiftly condemned by western leaders: Germany’s vice-chancellor, Robert Habeck, British defence secretary Ben Wallace, to name a few.
Poland’s prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki: “We will do all we can with our allies, so that Nato supports Ukraine even more so that it can defend itself. The reports about partial mobilisation have been confirmed. Russia will attempt to destroy Ukraine and grab some of its territory. We can’t allow for that.”
The Estonian prime minister Kaja Kallas: “President Putin’s speech was meant to scare the international community. As for nuclear threats, the aim is the same as it has been so far – it is to fuel fear and terrorise the wider publics. The Kremlin is blackmailing the international community and wants to scare us and deter us from helping Ukraine. Europe will not tire; we will continue to defend and uphold the principles of European security and international law.”
Australia’s foreign affairs minister Penny Wong: Australia condemns President Putin’s threats to use “all means” at his disposal. Claims of defending Russia’s territorial integrity are untrue.
Lithuania’s defence minister Arvydas Anušauskas has said the country is to put its rapid reaction force on high alert, as the mobilisation will also occur on its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.
Latvia’s foreign minister Edgars Rinkēvičs said the country will not offer refuge to any Russians fleeing Moscow’s mobilisation of troops.
President Biden’s address to the UN
President Biden addressed the UN general assembly where he described the “brutal needless” war in Ukraine as one that was “chosen by one man” – Vladimir Putin.
Putin “shamelessly violated” the core tenants of the UN charter by ordering his troops to invade Ukraine, Biden said in his first speech to the UN since Russia invaded its neighbour in February.
This war is about extinguishing Ukraine’s right to exist as a state, plain and simple, and Ukraine’s right to exist as a people. Wherever you are, wherever you live, whatever you believe… That should make your blood run cold.
“If nations can pursue their imperial ambitions without consequences,” he said, the post-World War II order crumbles. “We will stand in solidarity to Russia’s aggression”.
A country “cannot seize a nation’s territory by force”, he continued.
Ukraine has the same rights belong to every sovereign nation. We will stand in solidarity with Ukraine who will stand in solidarity against Russia’s aggression, period.
Now we see attacks on schools, railway stations, hospitals... even more horrifying evidence of Russia’s war crimes.
The US wants the war to end on “just terms”, President Biden continues, “terms we all signed up for, that you cannot seize a nation’s territory by choice”.
The only country standing in the way of that is Russia, he says. He says Putin has made “reckless” nuclear threats and describes the plans to hold “referendums” in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine as a “sham”.
Taras Kuzio, Putin’s Russian Empire is collapsing like its Soviet predecessor- Atlantic Council
Beginning in the early 1990s, Russia used the vast army it inherited from the USSR to impose frozen conflicts and military bases on its weaker post-Soviet neighbors, while also forcing them to maintain deep economic ties and join Russian-led political and security structures. This Russian dominance is now finally being challenged. The reason is simple: Ukraine’s military victories have debunked Moscow’s claims to great power status and shattered the myth of Russian military might.