Sept 29 Buonasera Mag
Day 219: Lyman, UA emergency meet, drones ZNPP, 80%, polls, mobilisation, Finland, sham annexation, NS1/2, PM Draghi, UK, Apple-A&Ps-MacKay, Babij, Lautman, Grant, Zelensky, Kelkar
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.
Stories we’re following…
Michael MacKay: Advancing east from the Oskil River towards Luhansk region, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have taken control of Horob'yivka near Dvorichna and Kivsharivka near Kyp'yans'k, as well as Katerynivka, Zelena Dolyna and Novoselivka in the drive to encircle temporarily-occupied Lyman.
Donetsk: Ukraine's forces continue to make gains in the eastern Donetsk region. Reports indicate they've liberated the large village of Novoselivka, and Ukrainian military seen in the area of the smaller village of Zelena Dolnya.
Fighting continues in Derylove north of Lyman.
Zelensky’s spokesperson Sergii Nykyforov has said on Facebook that Ukraine’s president has called an emergency meeting. He posted: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy convenes an urgent meeting of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine tomorrow. Agenda and other details will be announced later.
RIA Novosti is reporting that a drone was dropped on the Zaporizhzhia NPP by Ukrainian forces, but that there was not significant damage. (I’ll just leave that there.)
Russia has redeployed up to 80 percent of troops from its borders on the Baltic states and Finland to plug losses in Ukraine, officials tell Robbie Gramer and Jack Detsch and European officials said there could be just 6,000 Russian troops left in Kaliningrad and Baltics.
UK intelligence: Putin's mobilization to significantly affect Russian economy. "The better off and educated" Russians represent most of those trying to leave the country to flee mobilization, according to the U.K. Defense Ministry.
The poll by the independent Levada Centre, conducted from 22-28 September, showed 47% of respondents said they had felt anxiety, fear or dread after hearing that hundreds of thousands of soldiers would be drafted to fight in Ukraine. Another 13% said they had felt anger, while 23% said they had felt pride in Russia.
NGO: Russia sends conscripts from annexed Crimea to fight in Kherson Oblast. Russia is sending newly mobilized Crimean men to the front lines in Kherson Oblast, according to Ukrainian non-governmental organization CrimeaSOS.
Pentagon: "The mobilization indicates that Russia continues to believe that it can win the long game by outlasting the Ukrainians and international support. This is yet another Russian miscalculation."
Finland is closing its border to Russian tourists following Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilisation order which prompted large numbers of people to flee the country. From midnight Finnish time (9pm GMT), Russian tourists holding an EU Schengen visa will be turned away unless they have a family tie or compelling reason to stay.
The Italian Embassy in Moscow has asked all Italians to leave Russia.
Ukrainian Sec of the National Security & Defense Council, Oleksiy Danilov: "We understand that Putin puts pressure on Lukashenka to start armed aggression from Belarus. Even the recent meeting in Sochi was on this topic. But if troops come from Belarus, as it was on February 24, they will receive an answer that they did not expect," he stressed.
Putin will sign treaties tomorrow at 3pm Moscow time, annexing territories in occupied Ukraine, the Kremlin has said. He is expected to sign into law the annexations of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
Declaration on behalf of Europe’s 27 leaders about the illegal sham “referenda” by Russia in the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions.
The European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms the illegal sham “referenda” conducted in parts of the Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine currently and partially occupied by Russia. The EU does not and will never recognise these illegal “referenda” and their falsified outcome, nor any decision taken on the basis of this outcome, and urges all Members of the United Nations to do the same. By organizing these illegal sham “referenda”, Russia aims at changing by force the internationally recognized borders of Ukraine, which constitutes a clear and serious breach of the UN Charter. Their outcome is null and void and cannot produce any legal effect whatsoever.
The Times: A suspected Russian sabotage attack on Nord Stream gas pipelines was “probably premeditated and planned” with an explosive device dropped into the sea weeks before it was detonated.
Swedish authorities have reported a fourth leak on one of the two Nord Stream pipelines that EU leaders believe became the subject of sabotage at the start of the week.
The Nord Stream pipeline leaks pumping huge volumes of natural gas into the Baltic Sea could discharge the equivalent of one third of Denmark’s total annual greenhouse gas emissions, a Danish official warned Wednesday.
Politicians across Europe have warned the suspected sabotaging of the two NS pipelines could herald a new stage of hybrid warfare targeting vulnerable energy infrastructure in order to undermine support of Ukraine. Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said his country would step up its military presence at Norwegian installations after the country had become Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas.
3.3 billion rubles will be allocated from the Russian budget to "support" the occupied territories of Ukraine, said First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Sergey Kiriyenko.
NATO warns of retaliation against Nord Stream's sabotage: "Any deliberate attack against Allies’ critical infrastructure would be met with a united and determined response."
President Zelensky: “Today US Dept of Defense announced a new $1.1 billion security support package for Ukraine. We’ll get 18 more HIMARS, other critical equipment that'll bring Ukrainian victory closer. A very timely decision showing that Russian blackmail does not work. Gratitude to POTUS and all our American friends!”
International components were found in Iranian drones bought by Russia: a digital processor by US Texas Instruments and a fuel pump by UK TI Automotive, - United24media report.
Montenegro has expelled 6 diplomats.
The U.S. will buy almost $3 billion worth of arms for Ukraine from South Korea, to be delivered via the Czech Republic.
President Zelensky will confer on Prime Minister Mario Draghi the 1st Class of the Order of Prince Yaroslav the Wise. PM Draghi said he was "proud and moved" and "happy to receive her in Kiev".
A ban on washing machines export to Russia will be included in next round of EU sanctions. This could backfire however, resulting in more looting of home appliances in Ukraine.
Germans have been urged to save gas regardless of chilly weather after figures showed above-average energy usage, despite repeated pleas for restraint. Klaus Mueller, head of Germany’s top energy regulator, said in a statement: “Without significant reductions, including in private households, it will be difficult to avoid a gas shortage this winter. Gas must be saved, even if it gets even colder towards winter. This will depend on each and every one of us.”
SkyNews: “No10 and Treasury ministers reject any notion tonight that there's a crisis. Meetings are continuing on a range of subjects in Number 10 - but there's no big focus on the market turmoil. Ministers in cabinet rubbish the link between Friday's statement and today's turmoil.”
Apple has removed VKontakte, a top Russian social media platform, from its app store, according to the app’s developer. “Now some VK applications are blocked by Apple, so they are not available for download and update in the App Store,” VK wrote in the blog post. VK apps provide a range of services including email, food delivery and digital payments.
Nearly 400 staff at BBC World Service will lose their jobs as part of a cost-cutting programme and move to digital platforms, the broadcaster announced today.
Larissa Babij, a Kind of Refugee / 27.09.2022
This is really happening is the lesson the war has taught me that I never want to forget. Now when I get a hint of a feeling, it must be addressed. You can’t wish it away. How I longed to keep sleeping in the wee hours of morning on February 24. Was that sound really an explosion? I don’t know what to do. Can’t I just go back to sleep? Maybe it will pass? No, that is what it means to be an adult—to accept that this is really happening. And what you do or don’t do matters. And whatever it is, it’s on your conscience.
What Is at Stake in the Upcoming ITU Secretary General Election- GMF
At the United Nations’ International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Plenipotentiary Conference from September 26 through October 14 in Bucharest, Romania, the organization’s 193 member countries will elect a new secretary general and other senior officials.
They will also set its policy goals for the next four years. While the ITU may be little-known to the general public, the outcome of the election for secretary general between American and Russian candidates illustrates growing geopolitical fault lines with far-reaching consequences for the future of the Internet.
Thomas D. Grant, Expelling Russia from the UN Security Council — a How-to Guide- CEPA
What would justify putting Russia’s Security Council credentials to a vote? How would such a vote take place? And why would credentialling a representative from Ukraine be the right solution to fill the seat Russia vacates?
Under UN Charter Article 23(1), the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council are “[t]he Republic of China, France, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the United Kingdom . . . and the United States of America.” The USSR seat, since December 1991, has been filled by representatives of the Russian Federation. The text of Article 23(1) has not changed since that time.
Vivek Y Kelkar, Balochistan is boiling- The Cosmopolitan Globalists
The rain and the cold in Quetta, the capital of the Pakistani province of Balochistan, did not deter them. Neither did the floods that ravaged their homes. The families of Balochistan’s missing had been protesting for days outside the provincial government’s headquarters. On August 25th, one of the protestors, Seema Baloch, the sister of Shabbir Baloch, a student leader who had been missing for weeks, fell unconscious and had to be taken to a nearby hospital. The others simply kept protesting.
They said she was a reformist…
Whose side is Tucker on?
