13 votes

Weekly megathread for news/updates/discussion of Russian invasion of Ukraine - September 15

This thread is posted weekly on Thursday - please try to post relevant content in here, such as news, updates, opinion articles, etc. Especially significant updates may warrant a separate topic, but most should be posted here.

If you'd like to help support Ukraine, please visit the official site at https://help.gov.ua/ - an official portal for those who want to provide humanitarian or financial assistance to people of Ukraine, businesses or the government at the times of resistance against the Russian aggression.

7 comments

  1. mycketforvirrad
    Link
    How Ukraine got the upper hand against Russia Vox – Sam Ellis – 16th September 2022

    How Ukraine got the upper hand against Russia

    In the spring and summer of 2022, the war between Ukraine and Russia settled into a stalemate. The first phase of the war had been a rapid invasion that drew new battle lines across Ukraine; this next phase saw those battle lines harden and change very little over a long period of fighting. But in September, that chapter came to an end. For the first time in several months, Ukraine scored a major victory and won back significant territory from Russia.

    Ukraine pulled this victory off by taking advantage of a surprising weakness in the Russian army: the difficulty it’s had maintaining its ranks of skilled soldiers, especially compared to the training and resources that Ukraine’s army has received from its allies. Reports suggest that Russia’s army has suffered catastrophic losses in the war, and that it’s attempted to replace those more highly trained forces with large numbers of mercenaries, prisoners, and men over 40. It’s an army that was stretched thin and vulnerable to the multi-pronged attack Ukraine launched in September.

    Russia still controls a large amount of territory in southern Ukraine, including two major cities. But Ukraine’s victory outside of Kharkiv signals a new chapter in the war — one where, remarkably, Ukraine seems to have a shot at driving out the Russians completely. Watch the video to learn more about why this attack worked and why it matters so much.

    Vox – Sam Ellis – 16th September 2022

    5 votes
  2. skybrian
    Link
    Russia moves toward annexing Ukraine regions in a major escalation (Washington Post)

    Russia moves toward annexing Ukraine regions in a major escalation (Washington Post)

    Officials in the self-declared separatist “republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk, and in the occupied region of Kherson in southern Ukraine, announced “referendums” to be held from Friday to Tuesday. Such votes, which are illegal under Ukrainian and international law, have been widely derided by Western officials as a sham and merely a precursor to annexation.

    After annexing the territories, Moscow probably would declare Ukrainian attacks on those areas to be assaults on Russia itself, analysts warned, a potential trigger for a general military mobilization or a dangerous escalation, such as the use of a nuclear weapon.

    White House spokesman Jake Sullivan said Tuesday that the United States would never recognize Russian claims to annexed territory, calling the planned referendums a direct violation of Ukrainian sovereignty. “We reject Russia’s actions unequivocally,” he said.

    5 votes
  3. skybrian
    Link
    Poland opens new sea waterway to cut dependence from Russia (The Associated Press) [...]

    Poland opens new sea waterway to cut dependence from Russia (The Associated Press)

    Poland’s top leaders celebrated the opening Saturday of a new — albeit unfinished — canal that they say will mean ships no longer must secure Russia’s permission to sail from the Baltic Sea to the ports of the Vistula Lagoon.

    The event was timed to mark 83 years since the Soviet invasion of Poland during World War II and to demonstrate symbolically the end of Moscow’s say on the economy and development of a region that borders Russia’s Kaliningrad exclave.

    [...]

    However, cargo ships cannot use the passage until the approach to the Port of Elblag is deepened to 5 meters (16 feet). The work is expected to cost 100 million zlotys ($21 million), which is a source of controversy between the national government and city authorities.

    4 votes
  4. skybrian
    Link
    Ukrainian strikes into Russia’s border towns compound Putin’s troubles (Washington Post)

    Ukrainian strikes into Russia’s border towns compound Putin’s troubles (Washington Post)

    On Saturday, a new round of strikes hit the Belgorod region in Western Russia, killing at least one person and wounding two.

    On Friday, Ukraine reportedly struck the base of the Russian 3rd Motorized Rifle Division near Valuyki, just nine miles north of the Russia—Ukraine border. Russian officials did not acknowledge that a military target was hit but said one civilian died, and the local electrical grid experienced a temporary disruption.

    Russia blamed the attacks on Ukraine, but Kyiv did not claim responsibility for striking targets in Russian territory.

    Kyiv has assured U.S. officials that donated weapons would not be used to strike targets inside Russia proper. But Ukrainian forces are now so close to the border that they can hit targets using their own less-advanced weaponry.

    4 votes
  5. cmccabe
    Link
    Free Ukrainian Language Offer (Pimsleur) https://www.pimsleur.com/c/free-ukrainian

    Free Ukrainian Language Offer (Pimsleur)
    https://www.pimsleur.com/c/free-ukrainian

    we are offering our complete course for free to support the worldwide humanitarian crisis.

    offer available until 12/31/2022 for access to the course through 12/31/2023.

    2 votes
  6. cmccabe
    Link
    Macron slams nations staying neutral on Ukraine as ‘complicit’ with Russia...

    Macron slams nations staying neutral on Ukraine as ‘complicit’ with Russia
    https://www.politico.eu/article/macron-accuses-neutral-nations-complicity-russia-new-imperialism-ukraine-war-un-general-assembly/

    It will be of particular importance how these non-aligned and no-limits-partnership countries respond if Russia claims to annex more parts of Ukraine, and especially if it uses those annexation claims to argue that Ukraine is attacking Russian territory.

    2 votes
  7. skybrian
    Link
    Kharkiv children went to summer camp in Russia. They never came back (Washington Post)

    Kharkiv children went to summer camp in Russia. They never came back (Washington Post)

    It was Aug. 27, and after months enduring some of the worst conditions imaginable, families in this largely destroyed city [Izium] occupied by Russian forces since March had signed their kids up for camp in Gelendzhik, a Russian resort town on the Black Sea. They hoped the camp, advertised in Russian propaganda news outlets, would give their children a break from war and a semblance of normalcy.

    Days later, Ukrainian forces unexpectedly stormed forward and retook control of Izyum and other occupied areas of the Kharkiv region. The surprise advance forced Russian troops and Ukrainian collaborators to flee, abandoning much of their equipment on their way out.

    Residents of Izyum celebrated the successful counteroffensive, which reignited hopes that the tide of the war was turning in Ukraine’s favor. But the advance also left the children who traveled to the camp in Russia stranded on the other side of a dangerous front line with no clear way home.

    1 vote