Friday, September 15

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Hasidic Jews gather for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, in Uman, Ukraine on September 14, 2023. Uman is a pilgrimage site for Hasidic Jews from around the world. (Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Media: SBU, Navy destroy Russian air defense system in Yevpatoriia strike. The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Navy carried out a strike on Yevpatoriia in occupied Crimea overnight on Sept. 14, several Ukrainian media outlets reported, citing sources in the SBU.

Military: Ukrainian strike damages 2 Russian ships in Black Sea. Ukrainian forces struck two Russian patrol ships, Vasily Bykov, on the morning of Sept. 14, reported the military’s Strategic Communications Directorate. The ships stationed in the southwestern part of the Black Sea sustained “certain damages,” the directorate wrote without further details.

UK Defense Ministry: Ukraine’s turn to Western nuclear fuel ‘major’ step against Russia dependency. The U.K. Defense Ministry said on Sept. 14 that the refueling of a reactor in Ukraine’s Rivne Nuclear Power Plant using Western supplies signifies a major step in the country’s energy sector’s decoupling from Russia.

Ukrainian pilots successfully test Swedish Gripen jets. Ukrainian pilots have successfully tested Swedish Gripen fighter jets as Stockholm is considering sending the planes to Ukraine, Swedish Radio reported on Sept. 14, citing the country’s Defense Minister Pål Jonson.

BBC: Russian pilot tried to shoot down British military plane last year. A Russian fighter jet pilot tried to shoot down a Royal Air Force (RAF) surveillance plane in an incident last year, believing he had been authorized to fire, the BBC reported on Sept. 14, citing three senior Western defense sources.

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Lukashenko to visit Russia for meeting with Putin. Belarusian dictator Alexander Lukashenko left Belarus on Sept. 14 for an official visit to Russia, according to his press service.

Monitoring group: Belarus prepares large-scale military drills in late September. The Belarusian military is actively preparing large-scale exercises that are scheduled to take place at the end of the month, the monitoring group Belarusian Hajun reported on Sept. 14.

Evacuations ordered **for children near Kherson Oblast front lines.**The Kherson Oblast Defense Council has ordered the mandatory evacuation of families with children from 31 settlements, Oblast Governor Oleksandr Prokudin announced via Telegram on Sept. 14.

Zelensky meets rabbis, Jewish soldiers ahead of Rosh Hashanah. President Volodymyr Zelensky met with rabbis from across Ukraine and Jewish soldiers within the Ukrainian army on the eve of Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year.

Ex-health minister issued arrest warrant in absentia. The High Anti-Corruption Court of Ukraine issued an arrest warrant against former Health Minister Maksym Stepanov, suspected of embezzling state funds. The court stated that the ex-minister is currently abroad without specifying his exact location.

Read our exclusives

Russia’s southern mistake — Surovikin lines, Gerasimov tactics

The Zaporizhzhia front has been abuzz with news of Ukrainians breaking through Russia’s first defensive line and chiseling away at a breach in the second.

Photo: Scott Peterson/Getty Images

Ukraine war latest: Air defense system destroyed in occupied Crimea

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the Ukrainian Navy carried out a strike on Yevpatoriia in Russian-occupied Crimea overnight on Sept. 14

Photo: Russian Defense Ministry

Opinions and insights

Timothy Snyder: If you want peace, Crimea has to be a part of Ukraine

“If you’re serious about this war, just in terms of the strategic logic, Ukraine has to get Crimea back,” Historian Timothy Snyder told the Kyiv Independent.

Photo: Kostiantyn Huzenko/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Authorities: 2 injured in Russian attack on Kherson Oblast. Russian forces struck a field near the village of Mykolaivka, Kherson Oblast, on Sept. 14, wounding two civilians, the regional administration reported.

General Staff: Russia has lost 270,970 troops in Ukraine. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Sept. 14 that Russia had lost 270,970 troops in Ukraine since the beginning of its full-scale invasion on Feb. 24 last year. This number includes 620 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

Watch Kyiv Independent’s investigation into Russia’s systemic killings of Ukrainian children

International response

US announces new sanctions targeting Russia’s military-linked elites, industrial base. The U.S. Treasury Department announced on Sept. 14 that it had imposed about 100 additional sanctions on Russia’s elites and industrial base, financial institutions, and technology suppliers.

Biden appoints Penny Pritzker as US representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery. U.S. President Joe Biden appointed Penny Pritzker as the first-ever special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery. Pritzker’s tasks will include mobilizing foreign investments, supporting the re-opening of businesses shut down by Russian attacks, and helping Ukraine grow its exports, Biden said.

Bulgaria’s Parliament votes to end Ukrainian grain import ban. Bulgaria’s National Assembly, the country’s parliament, voted on Sept. 14 against extending the import ban on certain Ukrainian agricultural products beyond Sept. 15, the Sofia Globe reported.

German MPs urge Scholz to provide Ukraine with Taurus missiles. A group of three German MPs have sent a letter to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to demand the delivery of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine, Der Spiegel reported on Sept. 14. They argue that Ukraine needs the long-range missiles to “specifically weaken Russian war logistics” amidst the ongoing counteroffensive.

British ex-PM Johnson decries ‘slow’ Western arms delivery for Ukraine. Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on Kyiv’s Western partners to stop “dragging (their) feet” on military aid and speed up the delivery in a column for the latest September issue of The Spectator.

NATO still sees no signs of intentional Russian attack on Romania after drone fragment discovery. NATO said again it sees no signs of an intentional attack by Russia against Romania after Bucharest found drone fragments on its territory for the third time, Romanian Ambassador to NATO Dan Neculăescu said on Sept. 13, citing the alliance’s spokesperson.

In other news

Kyiv Independent’s editor-in-chief awarded with Hanns-Joachim Friedrichs Special Prize. The Kyiv Independent’s Editor-in-Chief Olga Rudenko received this year’s special prize of the Hanns-Joachim Friedrichs Award, recognizing excellence in journalism.

Want to get the news faster? Follow our website: kyivindependent.com.

Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Teah Pelechaty, Martin Fornusek, Oleg Sukhov, Oleksiy Sorokin, Toma Isthmian, Dinara Khalilova, Elsa Court, Olena Goncharova, Kris Parker, and Abbey Fenbert.

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