Ukraine has received a new super-defensive weapon against Russia’s attacks. Putin apparently wants to close the Russian borders in three days. what happened today
Ukraine has received two Nasams (Norwegian Advanced Surface to Air Missile System) air defense systems from the United States. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an interview with the US television channel CBS. Selenskyj thanked US President Biden and the US Congress for the decision. At the same time, however, he emphasized that even this would not be enough to “protect civil infrastructure”.
Nasams is a short- and medium-range air defense system. This can be used to shoot down unmanned drones, helicopters and airplanes, among other things. But cruise missiles can also become the target of the defense system. It is the first Advanced Nato Air Defense System to be delivered to the Ukrainians.
Experts consider the delivery a very important step for Ukrainians. Recently, the Russian army had increasingly attacked recaptured towns and villages from the air, especially in the Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has made it clear that he takes Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats seriously. “Maybe it was a bluff yesterday. Now it could be a reality, ”Zelenskyj told the US broadcaster CBS News in an interview published on Sunday, according to the translation. Zelenskyy referred to the skirmishes around the Russian-occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia and said: “He (Putin) wants to scare the whole world. These are the first steps in his nuclear blackmail. I don’t think he’s bluffing.”
Putin announced on Wednesday the mobilization of 300,000 reservists for the war of aggression against Ukraine – he also said: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will definitely use all available means to protect Russia and our people. That’s not a bluff.” Observers saw it as a threat to use nuclear weapons.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss has urged Western countries not to allow themselves to be provoked by Russian President Vladimir Putin. “We shouldn’t listen to his saber-rattling and empty threats,” Truss told CNN in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “Instead, we must continue to sanction Russia and support the Ukrainians.”
If Putin were to succeed, it would not only send a terrible message to Europe and pose a major threat to the Ukrainian people themselves, Truss said. “It would also send a message to other authoritarian regimes around the world that it’s somehow acceptable to invade a sovereign country.” That’s why it’s so important that the West continues to act as one.
Putin has realized that he will not win the war, but that he made a strategic mistake by invading Ukraine. That is the reason for his actions.
According to a report by the news portal “Meduza”, Russia wants to close its borders to men of mobile age in a few days. “Meduza” refers to two unspecified sources in the Kremlin. According to this, the borders are to be closed on Wednesday, September 28th, in order to prevent conscripts from fleeing.
It is said that they want to wait until after the “referendums” in the four occupied regions of Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Cherson.
Since the partial mobilization by President Vladimir Putin, thousands of Russians have left the country, and hundreds are trying their luck on the borders with Georgia and Finland.
The Ukrainian General Staff reports heavy Russian losses. Accordingly, 400 pro-Russian soldiers were killed between Saturday (September 24) and Sunday (September 25).
In addition, 20 vehicles were destroyed and 10 drones destroyed. The Kramatorsk and Donetsk regions were particularly affected, according to the General Staff.
According to its own statements, Ukraine has again been attacked with drones manufactured in Iran. “Odessa was again attacked by enemy kamikaze drones,” the Ukrainian army said on Sunday. An administration building in the center of the southern Ukrainian port city was hit three times. A military spokeswoman said the drones were Iranian. According to the information, there were no dead or injured, a drone was shot down by the Ukrainian air defense.
According to Kiev, two civilians were killed in a Russian attack with Iranian drones on Friday in Odessa. According to the Ukrainian army, four Iranian-made drones were also shot down in the south of the country.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin is currently exchanging many top military officers. The example given is the post of deputy defense minister, which Putin filled with the “Butcher of Mariupol” on Saturday. However, the ISW suspects that Putin will not solve his army’s problems with this – quite the opposite.
“Replacing senior military figures is unlikely to solve the fundamental, structural problems of the Russian army,” writes the ISW in its daily briefing. Instead, the factors that have led to the previous failure of the Russian army in Ukraine would be amplified.
After new protests against the ongoing partial mobilization in Russia for the war in Ukraine, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Moscow’s fighters to surrender. It is better to refuse to be called up for service than to die as a war criminal on foreign soil, Zelensky said in a video message in Russian published on Saturday evening. At the same time he offered that Russian soldiers could voluntarily go into captivity. There they would be treated in a civilized manner.
The head of state addressed the neighbors in Russian for the second time this week – against the “criminal mobilization”. With a view to the high penalties for deserters in Russia, which Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin put into effect on Saturday, Zelenskyj said that nobody would know under what circumstances the soldiers gave up. “If you’re afraid to return and don’t want a prisoner exchange, then we’ll find a way to ensure that, too.”
On Saturday, more than 700 people were arrested during new protests in Russia against partial mobilization. The human rights portal ovd.info reported in Moscow in the evening of 747 arrests in 32 cities across the country. It is only about the men and women who are known by name, in custody significantly more people could be, it said. At least 380 arrests were reported for the Russian capital Moscow alone – and 125 for St. Petersburg.
The Russian police took brutal action against participants in the anti-war protests banned by the authorities. Videos were published on social networks in St. Petersburg showing men in combat uniform and helmets beating demonstrators. The portal ovd.info, citing eyewitnesses, reported that the security forces had used stun guns.
Meanwhile, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov used his appearance at the general debate at the UN General Assembly on Saturday in New York to launch an angry all-out attack on the West. He rejected criticism of the war against Ukraine and the sham referendums in occupied territories. Lavrov accused the West of wanting to divide the world and destroy his country. Referring to the US, the EU and their allies, he said: “They are no longer even embarrassed to openly declare that the intention is not just to inflict a military defeat on our country, but to destroy Russia, to dismember it. “
Western countries have imposed tough sanctions on Russia and are distancing themselves from its leadership after Moscow’s troops invaded neighboring Ukraine at the end of February. With a view to Western military aid for Ukraine, Lavrov accused the United States in particular of merely using Ukraine as “material in the fight against Russia”.
Moscow’s chief diplomat rejected criticism of the sham referendums now taking place in several occupied eastern Ukrainian regions. The West’s “outburst of anger” was unfounded, he said. The inhabitants of the regions would only take “their land where their ancestors have lived for hundreds of years”. Since Friday, mock referendums have been held in the four Russian-occupied areas of Cherson, Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhia about joining Russia. UN Secretary-General António Guterres recently described a possible annexation of the areas as a violation of international law.
Lavrov once again criticized Western arms deliveries to the attacked Ukraine. Against this background, the USA, NATO and the EU could not claim to be uninvolved in the “conflict”. At a press conference afterwards, he made it clear: “The entire territory of the Russian Federation, which is defined in the Russian constitution and can be additionally defined, is in any case under the full protection of the state.”
Sham referendums on accession to Russia continue this Sunday in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine. Ukraine and the West see a breach of international law in the compulsory votes scheduled until Tuesday. Russia, on the other hand, invokes the “right of peoples to self-determination”.
The areas are expected to be annexed and possibly declared Russian territory by Putin as early as Friday (September 30).
Ukraine update in the evening – Lavrov grumbles, Putin sends demonstrators directly to war
According to the ISW, the Russian mobilization should not be able to implement Putin’s plans. Ukrainian President Zelenskyy warns his citizens in the occupied territories against Russian recruitment. Traffic light ministers want to grant asylum to Russian deserters. What happened tonight in the Ukraine war.
They drive up in an SUV, pay their fee with 100-euro bills and complain about fruit with bruises: Ukrainian refugees are causing displeasure at the food bank in Weimar. Volunteers are fed up with being bullied.
The Ukraine war has reached a new level of escalation. The Ukrainian offensive and the partial mobilization of Russia have increased the risk of a third world war. The task now is to campaign for peace from a position of strength. The West must also persuade the Ukrainian President to give in.
