Ukraine Daily
Thursday, September 15
Russia’s war against Ukraine
A woman walks near a school damaged by a Russian airstrike in liberated Balakliia, Kharkiv Oblast on September 13, 2022. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Zelensky visits recently liberated Izium, Kharkiv Oblast. Together with his Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak and members of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Izium on Sept. 14 shortly after the city was liberated during the country’s rapid counteroffensive. “The view is very shocking, but it is not shocking for me, because we began to see the same pictures from Bucha, from the first de-occupied territories… the same destroyed buildings, killed people,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said during his visit.
Official: Ukraine has liberated 8,500 square kilometers in Kharkiv Oblast since Sept. 6. According to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, Ukraine’s military has liberated about 388 settlements where about 150,000 people had lived under Russian occupation.
Police confirm first civilian death from torture in liberated Balakliia, Kharkiv Oblast. During the Russian occupation of parts of Kharkiv Oblast, Russian military and special services detained and tortured local residents inside the Balakliia police station, the Interior Ministry reported. At least one person was killed. The exact number of detainees and victims is yet to be determined.
Danilov: Russian losses 9 to 10 times higher than Ukrainian losses during counteroffensive. Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Oleksii Danilov made the statement during an interview with Ukraine’s Channel 24. Danilov also said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are breaking military stereotypes and surprising foreign partners with the quality of their work.
Zelensky: Russians will receive ‘fair response and retribution’ after trying to flood Kryvyi Rih. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia continues to wage war against civilians after its military hit hydraulic facilities in an attempt to flood Kryvyi Rih, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. “All the occupiers can do is to sow panic, create an emergency situation, and try to leave people without light, heat, water, and food,” he said. Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration of Kryvyi Rih, called for a partial evacuation of certain streets in the city due to the threat of floods after the height of the Inhulets River reached a historical maximum.
Ukraine established fire control over most of Kherson Oblast. According to Natalia Humeniuk, Southern Operational Command spokesperson, nearly the entire Kherson Oblast is now under Ukrainian fire control. Ukraine’s southern counteroffensive is ongoing. Oleksandr Samoilenko, the speaker of Kherson Oblast’s legislature, also confirmed the liberation Kyselivk near the city of Kherson on Sept. 14.
Governor: Russian troops return to occupied Kreminna, Luhansk Oblast. Serhiy Haidai said on Sept. 14 that Russian forces are “creating an impression of their mass presence in the town” while shutting down the internet connection on occupied territories to prevent information exchange. A day earlier, on Sept. 13, Haidai reported that Kreminna was “completely empty” from the Russian army. The city lies only 25 kilometers northwest of Sievierodonetsk, which Russian forces occupied in June.
Reuters: Putin rejected peace deal with Ukraine recommended by his aide. In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected a peace deal with Ukraine that envisioned the country renouncing its desire to join NATO. Reuters couldn’t verify if the deal was reached before the all-out invasion or immediately after. According to Reuters, the agreement reached by Dmitry Kozak, the Kremlin’s deputy chief of staff, didn’t satisfy Putin’s ambition to annex swathes of Ukrainian territory, so it was dropped. The Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied the report, saying it has nothing to do with reality.
Shmyhal: Ukraine considers abolishing mandatory military service. During a press conference, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said that the current situation has shown that men should undergo 2-3 months long preparatory courses every ten years instead of “spending two years learning how to march.” “In my view, the Soviet model of conscription should be abolished,” he said, adding that the government is in talks with the military concerning this issue.
Danilov: IAEA mission to Zaporizhzhia failed to bring desired results. Nothing changed with the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visited it in early September, said Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council. “The situation would have improved only if the terrorists took their weapons and explosives and left the power plant,” Danilov said. After the visit, the IAEA delegation left two representatives to continue working at the plant on a permanent basis.
Over 3.1 million tons of agricultural products have left Ukraine through Black Sea since August. According to the Infrastructure Ministry, a total of 134 ships loaded with agricultural products were bound for Asian, European, and African countries. The shipments are part of the four-month-long agreement between Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, and the United Nations signed on July 22 in Istanbul.
General Staff: Nearly 5,000 Ukrainian soldiers have completed training in UK. As part of the operation INTERFLEX, launched by the U.K. government, Ukrainian military personnel acquired essential knowledge and skills in tactical medicine, engineering, and psychological and tactical training, including conducting offensive and defensive actions in urbanized areas, Ukraine’s General Staff reported. INTERFLEX is planned to be extended and add training for junior commanders.
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Andriy Zagorodnyuk: How Ukraine’s counteroffensive will affect Russia’s army, future of the war. The remarkably successful actions of Ukraine’s Armed Forces over the past week, including the defeat of Russian military units in Kharkiv Oblast, have great strategic and, without exaggeration, historic importance.
Ukraine war latest: Zelensky visits liberated Izium as Ukraine reports progress in southern counteroffensive. President Volodymyr Zelensky made a symbolic visit to the recently liberated city of Izium on Sept. 14.
PM Shmyhal: Ukraine relies on partners to cover $38 billion budget deficit in 2023. War-torn Ukraine relies on its foreign partners to face massive expenditures in the coming year, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said at a briefing on Sept. 14, detailing the 2023 budget bill.
The human cost of Russia’s war
Governor: 5 civilians killed, 16 wounded in Donetsk Oblast in past 24 hours. Over the past day, the Russians have killed five civilians in Bakhmut, wounded 12 in Toretsk, one in Avdiivka, one in Kurdiumivka and one in Kodema, said Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko. According to him, since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russia has killed 844 civilians in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha.
General Staff: Russia has lost 53,650 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Sept. 14 that Russia had also lost 2,180 tanks, 4,665 armored fighting vehicles, 3,501 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,290 artillery systems, 311 multiple launch rocket systems, 167 air defense systems, 246 airplanes, 215 helicopters, 908 drones, and 15 boats.
International response
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen to visit Kyiv. The EU official said she would meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky; she pledged to work with Ukraine to guarantee access to the bloc’s single market and bring Ukraine into the EU’s free-roaming network. “We will empower Ukraine to make the most of its potential. I am going to Kyiv today,” she said on Sept. 14. Von der Leyen also said the EU must increase sanction pressure on Russia, Ukrinform news outlet reported on Sept. 14.
U.S. senators introduce bipartisan bill to label Russia state sponsor of terrorism. “The need for this measure is more pressing now than ever before,” Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal, one of the bill’s sponsors, told a news conference, citing Russia’s brutal attacks on Ukrainian civilians, Reuters reports. U.S. President Joe Biden opposes the move, and administration officials have said the designation could even hold up humanitarian aid to Ukraine.
Guterres holds phone talk with Putin over fertilizers, Olenivka attack, Zaporizhzhia plant. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that they discussed a possible deal to let Russia export its fertilizers. He also said that Russia wouldn’t put “any obstacles” to a UN fact-finding mission at the Olenivka prison in Donetsk Oblast, where over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed by an explosion on July 29. He also confirmed that talks were taking place between Russia and Ukraine over the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Russian-occupied Enerhodar. “I have the feeling that we are still far away from peace,” he said.
White House: US may provide Ukraine with an additional security assistance package ‘in coming days.’ “We’re in lockstep with the Ukrainians talking to them every day,” said U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war in February, the U.S. has provided Ukraine with $15.2 billion in military aid.
Germany delivers 4 more Gepard anti-aircraft vehicles to Ukraine. Germany had previously delivered 20 Gepard self-propelled anti-aircraft guns, bringing the total amount to 24, according to the German government. Germany is also preparing to send six more Gepard vehicles.
In other news
President Zelensky involved in car accident, not seriously harmed. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s spokesperson Serhii Nykyforov said in a Facebook post on Sept. 15 that a car collided with the presidential car and motorcade. Zelensky was examined by a doctor after the accident and was not seriously injured. Medics accompanying Zelensky also provided his driver with medical assistance and transferred him to an ambulance. Law enforcement will thoroughly investigate the crash, Nykyforov said.
Armenia calls on Russian-led military bloc to intervene against Azerbaijan. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has appealed to the Russian-led Collective Security Treaty Organization to help it restore its territorial integrity. Armenia, a member of the bloc, accused Azerbaijan of shelling a vehicle of Russia’s Federal Security Service and of invading internationally recognized Armenian territory. Pashinyan said 105 Armenian soldiers had been killed since the latest clashes began on Sept. 13. Azerbaijan won a war against Nagorno-Karabakh, an internationally recognized Azerbaijani territory populated by Armenians, and seized most of the area controlled by Nagorno-Karabakh in 2020. Azeri troops also seized the Lachin corridor, which links Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenia, in August 2022.
US journalist organization calls on Ukrainian lawmakers to drop bill expanding media regulator’s power. The Committee to Protect Journalists said lawmakers should pause its progress in parliament until the European Union can weigh in with recommendations. If passed, the legislation would expand the powers of the National Television and Radio Broadcasting Council. It would allow the council to regulate online and print outlets, invalidate the license of any media outlet, block online media without a court order, and request that social media platforms and web browsers remove content forbidden under the law.
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