Thursday, September 19

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Andrii helps to transport the belongings of Nikolay, 70 years old, amid the evacuations of civilians from Sumy Oblast on Sept. 18, 2024. Residents of the embattled border region endure frequent Russian attacks on a daily basis. (Andre Luis Alves/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Russian weapons depot ‘wiped off the face of the earth’ by Ukrainian drone attack, SBU source claims. Ukrainian drones successfully targeted a weapons depot in Toropets in Russia’s Tver Oblast overnight, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent on Sept. 18.

Civilians evacuated amid drone attack in Russia’s Tver Oblast, Russian governor claims. Local authorities have partially evacuated residents of Toropets in Russia’s Tver Oblast after a mass drone attack overnight caused a large fire, Tver Oblast Governor Igor Rudenya claimed on Sept. 18.

Ukraine destroys Russian ammunition depots near occupied Mariupol, Navy says. The strike destroyed both the storage infrastructure and tons of ammunition that Russian troops were stockpiling for use against Ukraine, Ukraine’s Navy said.

Russia’s Kursk counteroffensive halted, Kyiv claims. “(Russia) tried to attack from the flanks, but they were stopped there,” spokesperson Oleksii Dmytrashkivskyi told AFP.

Ukraine’s victory plan fully ready, Zelensky says. “The most important thing now is the determination to implement it,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his evening address on Sept. 18.

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Ukraine’s French Mirage jets will be able to hit ground targets, media reports. French President Emmanuel Macron announced on June 6 that an unspecified number would be transferred to Ukraine, but did not provide a timeline.

WSJ estimates of Ukraine’s casualties ‘exaggerated,’ lawmaker believes. “I think that these are exaggerated data. Definitely… Namely when talking about the recorded number of killed,” secretary of the parliamentary defense committee Roman Kostenko said.

Parliament votes to increase state budget by $12 billion for defense expenditures. Ukraine’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, voted on Sept. 18 in support of increasing the state budget by Hr 500 billion ($12 billion) to spend on defense and military needs.

Kremlin’s war in Ukraine ‘a stunning Russian military failure,’ British diplomat says. “At the military level, Ukraine’s effective use of maneuver warfare stands in stark contrast to Russia’s ‘meat grinder’ tactics,” Nicholas Aucott said.

Harris to meet Zelensky in Washington next week, CNN reports. The impending meeting comes less than 50 days before the U.S. presidential election, a race that has been characterized by dramatic upheavals and sharply contrasting views on Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read our exclusives

‘They attack with quantity:’ With Ukrainian soldiers desperately defending Pokrovsk

“The fighting is tough, it’s very dynamic,” said Oleksandr, a 32-year-old machine gunner who declined to give his callsign; “very often, you simply have a situation where the front line is moving very quickly.”

Photo: Francis Farrell / The Kyiv Independent

Arms depot in Russia’s Tver Oblast built to withstand nuclear explosion heavily damaged by Ukrainian drones

Overnight, Ukrainian drones attacked one of the largest arsenals in Russia, causing a powerful detonation in the town of Toropets in Russia’s Tver Oblast, a source in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) told the Kyiv Independent.

Photo: Olexander Scherba / X

Human cost of war

Russian attacks kill 4, injure 22. Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least four civilians and injured at least 22 over the previous day, regional authorities reported early on Sept. 18.

1 dead, 4 injured after Russian attacks in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Russian attacks across Ukraine killed at least four civilians and injured at least 22 over the previous day, regional authorities reported early on Sept. 18.

General Staff: Russia has lost 637,010 troops since Feb. 24, 2022. This number includes 1,130 casualties Russian forces suffered over the past day.

Opinions and insights

Opinion: A sober look at the successors of the Russian ‘Empire’

“Russian opposition leaders often present themselves as champions of freedom and democracy, and are often embraced as such by well-meaning but sometimes naive Western donors. However, a closer examination reveals that their advocacy largely revolves around maintaining Russia as a unified and powerful state,” writes Adam Sybera, senior research analyst at KI Insights.

Photo: Heikki Saukkomaa/Lehtikuva/AFP/Getty Images

International response

IMF reportedly postpones controversial visit to Russia. The International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) planned visit to Russia has been “postponed indefinitely,” Russian state-controlled news agency TASS reported on Sept. 17.

Finnish president wants Russia excluded from UN Security Council. According to Finnish President Alexander Stubb, any council member engaged in an illegal war “such as Russia is in right now in Ukraine” should be suspended.

Romania urges ‘robust’ NATO response to airspace violations by Russia. Speaking at a meeting of the Bucharest Nine (B9) format, Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar called for “enforcing the rotational air defense and integrated anti-missile model as soon as possible.”

Trump plans appearance with Polish president, claims he will ‘probably’ meet Zelensky next week. Foreign leaders, including Zelensky and Polish President Andrzej Duda, are convening in New York City over the next few days for the 79th General Assembly of the United Nations.

Russia, Pakistan strengthen economic ties, expand trade. Moscow also pledged support for Pakistan’s bid to join the BRICS international alliance.

African POWs on how they ended up fighting for Russia

In other news

Armenia uncovers alleged coup plot with Russian traces. Yerevan on Sept. 18 accused five Armenian citizens and two former residents of Nagorno-Karabakh of undergoing military training in Russia in order to stage an armed coup in Armenia.

Usyk handcuffed in Krakow airport as ‘preventative’ measure, Polish border guard says. Ukrainian boxer Oleksandr Usyk was detained and briefly handcuffed at Krakow Airport on Sept. 17 as a preventative measure, Polish border guard spokesperson Jacek Michalowski told Polish newspaper Dziennik Polski on Sept. 18.

State sells iconic Kyiv hotel to Ukrainian businessman for double starting price. Kyiv’s iconic “Hotel Ukraina,” located on the city’s central Independence Square, also known as Maidan Nezalezhnosti, was sold in an auction for Hr 2.5 billion ($60 million) after being state-owned since 1961, Ukraine’s State Property Fund said.

Shots fired at Moscow office of Russia’s largest online retailer, killing 2, injuring 7. A shooting at the head office of Wildberries, Russia’s largest online retailer, killed two people and injured at least seven others, Russian state-controlled news agency TASS reported on Sept. 18.

Russian troll farm behind fake story about supposed Harris hit and run incident, Microsoft says. CBS News previously debunked the story, but Microsoft’s report was the first indication that Russia was the source of the false news. The story was initially spread by a website disguised as a local San Francisco media outlet and was replete with an embedded video that Microsoft said used a paid actor.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Elsa Court, Teah Pelechaty, Martin Fornusek, Chris York, Nate Ostiller, and Abbey Fenbert.

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