Zelensky: Ukraine’s Armed Forces liberated three settlements on Sept. 4. In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that one village was de-occupied in Donetsk Oblast and two more in the southern regions of the country. Earlier, officials reported that Ukraine liberated Vysokopillia in Kherson Oblast.
Ukraine military report - Anxious Russia's forces are strengthening the police presence in settlements along the Dnipro River. And to assist Russia's invasion, Russian Railways company ordered to recruit up to 10,000 civilians on short-term contracts.
Mayor: Russian troops turn 5 Melitopol schools into military bases. Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said on Sept. 4 that other schools in Russian-occupied Melitopol are guarded by military personnel who placed metal detectors at their entrance.
Estonian PM calls for complete isolation of Russia.Kaja Kallas said that such a policy should apply until all Ukrainian territories are liberated. “Until Ukraine pushes Russia out of its territory, the free world must continue to isolate Russia and increase sanctions."
Josep Borrell: "The EU will continue to support Ukraine despite any threats and blackmail from Russia. I have said it many times: you do not need applause, you do not need good words, you need concrete support and weapons. And we are providing it”.
"In the area of Kherson, Russian soldiers of 127th Regiment 1 Army Corps raised a riot, wrote a refusal to participate in combat. It is known that one of the reasons is unsatisfactory overall security: in the front positions, and being left without food and water."
Humanitarian aid has been blocked from being delivered to the occupied city of Enerhodar, according to its mayor, Dymtro Orlov. Trucks had been turned back for the second day in a row and that the Russians were doing “everything to block the city from the entire civilised world.”
The "Czech Republic in the First Place" protests are receiving widespread Russian media coverage. These protests, which have drawn 70,000 people to Prague, claim that the Czech Republic has devoted too many resources to Ukraine and diverted them from its own citizens. Matteo Salvini is using the same ‘Italians first’ narration in his election and we know where his bread is buttered.
Macron has spoken with Zelenskiy in a “substantive” phone call to discuss the situation on the frontline and to coordinate further defence support from France. Macron said the only way to restore security at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine was via withdrawal of Russian troops.
A Russian court shuts down independent media Novaya Gazeta. A court stripped the media license from Novaya Gazeta on Sept. 5, banning it from operating inside the country. Chief editor Dmitry Muratov said the ruling was “a political hit job, without the slightest legal basis.”
Now former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Liz Truss, has won the Tory Party leadership conference, which means she will be the new prime minister of the United Kingdom. Jonathan Pie, not one to mince words, gives an overview of the problems Brexit Britain are and will be facing come this winter.
Truss is on the hard-right of the Tories but will the current economic and social issues weigh on her and her cabinet’s decision-making. After all, she only won 57% of the Tory Party membership vote so she may have to take some other views into consideration.
Ukraine didn't get russia to retreat from Kyiv through a combined arms offensive; Ukraine forced russia to retreat by attriting russian forces while making it impossible to resupply these russian forces.
Ukraine didn't get russia to retreat from Snake Island through an amphibious landing on the island; Ukraine forced russia to retreat by attriting russian forces on the island while making it impossible to resupply them.
russian forces in Kherson have Ukrainians to their North, Ukrainians to their West, the Black Sea to their South and the Dnipro river to their East. And right now Ukraine is attriting these russian forces, while making it impossible to resupply them.
Only Moses parting the Black Sea for russian logistics can save the russian forces in Kherson now…
Rebuilding the Ukrainian Economy — the first in a four-part series on Western strategy for Ukraine.
Of course, Ukraine must win the war. Yet even as considerable international attention is paid to Ukraine’s military requirements, relatively little is paid to the task of rebuilding and growing its economy, which is equally essential to victory.
Kremlin blames Europe for the fact that Russia cuts gas exports. Kremlin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the reason why the Russian energy monopoly Gazprom completely stopped gas supplies via the Nord Stream pipeline is that Europe refused to carry out maintenance of the company's equipment.
James Jackson, How tensions over the Ukraine war are flaring up in Germany- EuroNews
It claims its activists have received death threats and FSB-style harassment. Many have had their doorbells rung at 3 am by men wearing masks in black cars who shout obscenities before speeding off. One of their activists even had his house broken into, with white powder scattered around the bathroom.
In Russian police stations and prisons, bottles are being used to rape (and sometimes to kill) arrested people and inmates. It is a well-known fact about the Russian gulags;
A Russian activist proudly posted on her Telegram feed that (while she is on trial for her opposition activity, and kept in a detention center) she started her environmental campaign and approached the head of the detention facility in order to introduced waste recycling and in particular one of bottles.
This is a crucial political point. In Russia, “a theory of small steps” has been popular for over 150 years. In essence: “we cannot achieve a landslide change, so let’s do small improvements, and the system will change one day”. This popular belief led to introducing nice cafes in Moscow, or food deliveries, or bike lanes.
As a Russian poet Ivan Davydov sarcastically wrote: “where riot police were beating us once, there is a bicycle lane now”. Well, this approach is also being harshly criticized by those who believe thatno reforms help here.
So no surprise, a Russian-originated journo Babchenko, who lives in exile for over a decade, sadly comments on that, pointing out insanity of these “changes”.
I’ve commented on the Babchenko’s tweet (where he quotes the arrested activist with her bottle recycling idea), and point out the system of inhuman rape and torture. It is insane to try to “improve” it with waste recycling! And what happens next?
Dozens of Russian trolls AND real Russian activists start a massive self-coordinated mobbing campaign against me saying I “welcomed” rape.
They even started a call to find my personal data (and other information). I won’t mention the direct insults and threats, including life threats.
Why do I go into these personal details? Because I am privileged and can easily and sadly write about what many people have experienced.
Russian trolls and Russian hate and defamation campaigns (these people even tried to address my former employer Böll Foundation) is not within Putin’s exclusive domain. Russian liberal-imperialist and chauvinist “opposition” use it as well, and enjoy [doing] it.
UA Stratcom: Russia has been shelling Ukraine for six months. Agricultural infrastructure is being destroyed. Asian and African countries which were the main importers of products from Ukraine are facing a food crisis due to the war. The world must stop Russia to prevent world hunger.
