Latest news
26 September 2022
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has projected global economic growth to slow to just 2.2% in 2023, which is $2.8 trillion lower than the OECD forecast before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Russian troops have launched a missile attack on civilian infrastructure in Pervomaiskyi, killing a 15-year-old girl, Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported on Sept. 26. Two houses were completely destroyed, according to him.
Russian news outlet Meduza reported that at least 11 military enlistment offices had been set on fire in Russia since Vladimir Putin announced mobilization on Sept. 21. Russians have also tried to set on fire six administrative buildings over the last six days.
Russia fires fewer expensive missiles, as in some cases it can now replace them with cheaper Iranian drones, according to Ukraine's Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat. According to him, Iran could have sold "several hundred" kamikaze drones to Russia.
Kazakhstan has no intention of recognizing Russia's sham referendums in Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts, news agency KazTAG reported on Sept. 26, citing the spokesperson of Kazakhstan's Foreign Ministry.
The Japanese government has banned the export of materials that could be used for chemical weapons production to 21 Russian organizations, including science laboratories, Associated Press reported on Sept. 26, citing Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno.
Ukraine's Security Service has found another Russian torture chamber in the liberated village of Lyptsi, where Russia's proxies and military kept pro-Ukrainian residents and brutally tortured them. So far, the Ukrainian police's main investigation department has discovered 18 Russian torture chambers in Kharkiv Oblast.
Moscow-installed proxies have begun military training of Russia's newly-drafted personnel in Sevastopol, Crimea, Ukraine's General Staff reported on Sept. 26. Russia's proxies have also started handing out summonses to residents of Luhansk Oblast.
The first tranches of men enlisted under Russia's mobilization have started to arrive at military bases, but many of them will end up on the front lines "with minimal relevant preparation," the U.K. Defense Ministry reported on Sept. 26.
In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed three civilians and injured 11 in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha, reported Pavlo Kyrylenko, the oblast governor. Russian troops have also shelled Kharkiv Oblast, wounding six civilians and causing a fire at one of the agricultural enterprises, said Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Sept. 26. that Russia had also lost 2,290 tanks, 4,857 armored fighting vehicles, 3,711 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,369 artillery systems, 330 multiple launch rocket systems, 172 air defense systems, 260 airplanes, 224 helicopters, 970 drones, and 15 boats.
The Institute for the Study of War reports that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “is unlikely to overcome fundamental structural challenges” as Russia attempts to mobilize a large number of people to continue its invasion of Ukraine. “The Russian Armed Forces have not been setting conditions for an effective large-scale mobilization since at least 2008 and have not been building the kind of reserve force needed for a snap mobilization intended to produce immediate effects on the battlefield. There are no rapid solutions to these problems,” reads the report.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News on Sept. 25 that the U.S. has made it clear to Russia that the consequences of using nuclear weapons would be “horrific.” Blinken did not share how the U.S. would respond if Russia used nuclear weapons against Ukraine, but said the administration has a plan.
“Criminal mobilization is used by Russia not only to prolong the suffering of people in Ukraine and to further destabilize the world, but also to physically exterminate men - representatives of indigenous peoples” who live in temporarily occupied territory, Zelensky said in his nightly address on Sept. 25.
Ukraine’s Operational Command “South” reported that Ukrainian forces also killed 43 Russian troops and destroyed three tanks, a self-propelled artillery system, and nine armored vehicles on Sept. 25.
Israeli Ambassador to Ukraine Michael Brodsky reported on Sept. 25 that Israel will accept 20 wounded Ukrainian service members for medical treatment. “The treatment includes prosthetics and rehabilitation,” he said.
Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European integration, said that about 1.5 million Ukrainian citizens, mostly women and children, are currently in Russia without the possibility of returning home, and their relatives can’t contact them. “Today, more than ever, it is important to use all available international instruments to protect fundamental human rights and double our joint efforts to prevent the violent exploitation of Ukrainian citizens,” she said during an event on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
Ukraine’s Air Command “South” reported that they destroyed one Russian Su-25 jet and one Mi-8 helicopter.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons “could be a reality.” He added that Putin “wants to scare the whole world” with nuclear blackmail. “I don’t think he’s bluffing. I think the world is deterring it and containing this threat,” Zelensky said in an interview with CBS. “We need to keep putting pressure on him and not allow him to continue.”
Conscripts do not undergo any military training before being sent to the war against Ukraine, Ukraine's General Staff said. With this step, Russian military commanders aim to replenish units that have suffered colossal losses.
Ukraine's Center for Countering Disinformation reported that the Russians are creating a Cossack battalion out of Ukrainian POWs and forcing them to take part in a sham referendum on Donetsk Oblast's annexation to Russia. According to the report, 57 POWs have already been forced to vote in the annexation referendum. Over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed by an explosion in Russian-occupied Olenivka, Donetsk Oblast, on July 29.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that President Joe Biden’s administration had privately communicated with the Kremlin regarding the “decisive” response of the U.S. and other Western allies if Russia uses nuclear weapons. “We have been clear and specific about what that will entail,” Sullivan said.
Patriarch Kirill, the head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, said during a sermon that when a soldier, driven by a sense of duty, dies on the battlefield, his death is “equal to the sacrifice.”
In the city of Kirovsk, Leningrad Oblast, a military enlistment office was set on fire with a fuel canister attached to a window. In Kaliningrad Oblast and the republic of Mordovia, two other enlistment offices were set on fire with Molotov cocktails.
A
number of videos posted on social media show protesters shouting "Down
with the war!" in Makhachkala, the capital of Dagestan. The footage also
shows demonstrators trying to prevent the police from arresting other
protesters.