#AceBreakingNews – Twenty-three killed, 28 wounded amid shelling of column of civilians at Zaporizhia exit โ regionโs head
09:5330.09.2022: One min read
According to preliminary information, 23 civilians were killed and 28 wounded as a result of shelling of a humanitarian convoy at the exit of Zaporizhia, said head of the Regional Military Administration Oleksandr Starukh.
“At present, it is known about 23 killed and 28 wounded. All civilians, our fellow countrymen. Burn in hell, damn ruscists!” he wrote on the Telegram channel.
KIYV, Ukraine (AP) โ KYIV โ Ukrainian officials say a Russian missile strike on the city of Zaporozhzhia has killed at least 23 people and wounded 28.
Live Updates: Russia-Ukraine War
Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh said in an online statement Friday that Russian forces targeted a humanitarian convoy heading to Russian-occupied territory. Online video purportedly of the site of the attack shows bodies lying motionless next to a cars with their windows blown out.
Starukh said those in the convoy planned to travel into Russian-occupied territory to pick up their relatives and then take them to safety. He said rescuers were at the site of the attack.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian presidentโs office said four of 16 S-300 missiles that Russia launched struck a car market as well as an area where civilians had gathered leaving to pick up relatives.
Russia did not immediately acknowledge the strike that comes as Moscow prepares to annex four regions into Russia following an internationally condemned, Kremlin-orchestrated โreferendumโ vote.
Zaporozhzhia, the capital city of the Zaporozhzhia region, remains in Ukrainian hands. THe regionโs Russian-occupied areas were included in the sham vote.
KEY DEVELOPMENTS:
โ Russian strike kills 23 as Kremlin to annex Ukraine regions
โ Russia opens more border draft offices amid call-up exodus
KYIV โ Ukrainian officials in the Zaporizhzhia region have declared Oct 1 as a day of mourning for the 23 civilians who were killed following a Russia missile strike on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia.
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KYIV โ: A Ukrainian official says there were no military facilities or equipment situated in the Zaporizhzhia area where Russia’s missile strikes killed 23 people and wounded 28.
Ukraineโs Parliamentary Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said in an online statement there were โjust cars and peaceful civiliansโ with women and children among them.
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KYIV โ Russian state media are accusing Ukraine of carrying out the Zaporizhzhia attack on its own citizens, without providing any evidence to support the claim.
Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukrainian civilians in the fighting since the war began in February.
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KYIV โ Russian-installed officials in the southern Kherson region said Thursday that a Ukrainian missile strike on the city of Kherson killed a deputy head of the regionโs pro-Kremlin administration. A report in Russian state news agency RIA Novosti offered no details as to when the alleged strike took place, saying only that it hit the center of Kherson. Officials in Kyiv have not commented on the alleged attack.
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KYIV โ Russian and Western analysts say Ukrainian forces have likely encircled the Russian-occupied city of Lyman as Kyiv pushes on in an eastern offensive.
Lyman, a city some 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraineโs second-largest city, had been a key node for ground communications and Russian military operations in the region.
Analysts said Friday it appears Russia faces a last stand with reservists and some tank units as Ukraine has cut off all routes out of the city.
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceBreakingNews – Moscow tries to draft fleeing Russian men at the borders
LARSI, Georgia (AP) โ Long lines of Russians trying to escape being called up to fight in Ukraine continued to clog highways out of the country on Wednesday, and Moscow reportedly set up draft offices at borders to intercept some of them.
North Ossetia, a Russian region that borders Georgia, declared a state of โhigh alertโ and said that food, water, warming stations and other aid should be brought in for those who have spent days in queues. Volunteers on the Georgian side of the border also have brought water, blankets and other assistance.
North Ossetia restricted many passenger cars from entering its territory, and set up a draft office at the Verkhy Lars border crossing, Russian news agencies said. Some media outlets released photos at the crossing showing a black van with โmilitary enlistment officeโ written on it.
Another such draft checkpoint was set up in Russia along the Finnish border, according to the independent Russian news outlet Meduza.
Tens of thousands of Russian men have fled in the week since President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilization to bolster struggling Russian forces in Ukraine. Although Putin said the callup was โpartial,โ aimed at calling up about 300,000 men with past military service, many Russians fear it will be much broader and more arbitrary than that. There are numerous reports of men with no military training and of all ages receiving draft notices.
Aleksandr Kamisentsev, who left his home in Saratov for Georgia, described the scene on the Russian side of the border.
โItโs all very scary โ tears, screams, a huge number of people. There is a feeling that the government does not know how to organize it. It seems that they want to close the border, but at the same time they are afraid that protests may follow, and they let people leave,โ he told the AP.
He said he decided at the last moment to leave โbecause I am not going to kill my Ukrainian brothers or go to prison.โ
Protesters carrying Georgian and Ukrainian flags and signs like โRussia Killsโ greeted Russians at the border Wednesday. Giga Lemonjava of the political party Droa, which organized the protest, said the evacuees threaten Georgiaโs security and economy.
One protester, Helen Khoshtaria, tweeted: โWe organized a protest at the border today so that the incoming Russians know how we feel about their `Russian world.โโ
Russians have been crossing by car, bicycle, scooter and on foot.
There also are long lines at the border with Kazakhstan, which has taken in more than 98,000 Russians in the past week.
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceBreakingNews – Russian men have been lining up for kilometres at the borders of several neighbouring countries to avoid President Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation efforts.
This image of traffic near the Russia-Georgia border was captured on September 26.(Maxar Technologies via AP)none
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said over 53,000 Russians had entered the country since last week, and Kazakhstan said 98,000 had made the crossing into its territory.
Finland’s border agency said more than 43,000 arrived in the same period, and media reports suggested 3,000 Russians had entered Mongolia, which also shares a border with the country.
Russian authorities have reportedly now established a makeshift enlistment office at the Verkhny Lars crossing into Georgia, sparking concerns about wider conscription announcements.
Here’s what we know about the situation at border crossing checkpoints, who is trying to leave Russia, and what authorities have said.
The border
Some main roads out of Russia are almost completely gridlocked, with some people choosing to leave their cars and walk.
Space tech company Maxar, which has captured satellite images of the queues, said on Wednesday the traffic jam at the border between Russia and Georgia stretched to about 16 kilometres.
People have lined up for hours and even days to cross borders, but some people attempting to get into Georgia have reportedly been faced with a new roadblock when they finally reached the checkpoint out of the country.
Russia’s state news agency posted on Telegram that Russian citizens who were “subject to conscription” would “receive summonses at the border with Georgia”, quoting North Ossetia officials.
The TASS news agency also reported that a hotline established by Russian authorities to answer questions about the partial mobilisation had processed almost 500,000 calls in just days.
Georgia’s Interior Ministry said over 53,000 Russians had entered the country since last week, and Kazakhstan said 98,000 had made the crossing into its territory.
This image of traffic near the Russia-Georgia border was captured on September 26.(Maxar Technologies via AP)none
Finland’s border agency said more than 43,000 arrived in the same period, and media reports suggested 3,000 Russians had entered Mongolia, which also shares a border with the country.
Russian authorities have reportedly now established a makeshift enlistment office at the Verkhny Lars crossing into Georgia, sparking concerns about wider conscription announcements.
Here’s what we know about the situation at border crossing checkpoints, who is trying to leave Russia, and what authorities have said.
The border
Some main roads out of Russia are almost completely gridlocked, with some people choosing to leave their cars and walk.
Space tech company Maxar, which has captured satellite images of the queues, said on Wednesday the traffic jam at the border between Russia and Georgia stretched to about 16 kilometres.
People have lined up for hours and even days to cross borders, but some people attempting to get into Georgia have reportedly been faced with a new roadblock when they finally reached the checkpoint out of the country.
Russia’s state news agency posted on Telegram that Russian citizens who were “subject to conscription” would “receive summonses at the border with Georgia”, quoting North Ossetia officials.
The TASS news agency also reported that a hotline established by Russian authorities to answer questions about the partial mobilisation had processed almost 500,000 calls in just days.These cars are queued at the Upper Lars checkpoint on the Russian-Georgia border.(Maxar Technologies via AP)none
The people:
Men of fighting age have been fleeing the country since Putin announced a partial mobilisation of reservists a week ago.
Plane tickets sold out almost immediately, leaving some men and their families to attempt to leave Russia by road.
“A week ago, I could not imagine I’d be in Kazakhstan,” said 25-year-old Vladislav, while fleeing his home country.
Most people leaving Russia did not want to be identified by their full names.
Another man, Vsevolod, spent four days driving from Moscow to the southern border with Georgia before having to abandon his car and continue on foot.Tens of thousands of Russians have entered Georgia in the past week, according to the interior ministry.(Reuters: Irakli Gedenidze)none
“At 26, I do not want to be carried home in a zinc-lined [coffin] or stain [my] hands with somebodyโs blood because of the war of one person that wants to build an empire,” he said.
For 24-year-old Fyodor, his decision to leave Russia was made “as a precautionary measure” to “take a head start, just in case”.
He said he walked five kilometres to the border and waited in line for six hours in the rain before getting to the northern Kazakh city of Oral.
” There is full chaos [in Russia],” he said:
“We don’t understand what will happen.”Thousands have passed through the Verkhny Lars checkpoint on the Russia-Georgia border in the past week.(RFE/RL’s Georgian Service via Reuters)none
Another man from St Petersburg, who didn’t give his first or surname over fears for his safety, said he drove for three days to Uralsk in north-western Kazakhstan.
“People worry that sooner or later, a full mobilisation will be announced, and no-one will be able to cross the borders,” he said.
The destinations
Georgia’s Interior Ministry says over 53,000 Russians have entered the country since last week, and tens of thousands of Russians have also fled to Kazakhstan, Finland and Mongolia, among other nations.
Kazakhstan’s Interior Minister Marat Akhmetzhanov said authorities would not send those avoiding the call-up home unless they were on an international wanted list for criminal charges.
“This is a political and humanitarian issue,” Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.This group of Russians made it across the border into Georgia on Tuesday.(AP: Zurab Tsertsvadze)none
Russia’s Defence Ministry said in a Telegram statement that it had “sent no appeals to state authorities of the Republic of Kazakhstan, Georgia or other countries regarding [the] forced return of Russian citizens located there, has not prepared any and does not plan to”.
Countries like Kazakhstan and Georgia were both part of the former Soviet Union and they offer visa-free entry by Russian nationals, but nations such as Finland and Norway require visas.
However, Finland’s Council of State released a statement last week outlining plans for a “significant restriction of the entry of Russian citizens and the issuance of visas based on the serious damage to Finland’s international position”, meaning it could soon become more difficult for those fleeing to get in.
The authorities
Putin and Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu had previously promised that only people who had already served in the country’s defence force or those with specialised military skills would be called up.
But reports from the ground have indicated that people with no military service or experience are being issued draft papers.
A Russian interior ministry official acknowledged there was a backlog of about 5,500 cars waiting to cross the Georgian border on Tuesday, adding that a mobile draft office would be set up at the border in the “near future”.
Independent Russian news sources have previously reported unconfirmed claims that draft-age men will be banned from leaving.
Meanwhile, Kremlin-backed polls on joining Russia have come to a close in four regions in eastern Ukraine.
According to Moscow, all of those polls finished with huge majorities in favour of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk joining Russia.
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceBreakingNews – A US Coast Guard patrol boat spotted Russian and Chinese ships in the Bering Sea off the coast of Alaska, the Associated Pressreports.
The Kimball boat first spotted a Chinese missile cruiser. It was said that on September 19, the Chinese cruiser traveled 138 kilometers from the island of Kiska, one of the islands of the Aleutian archipelago. Later, two more Chinese and four Russian warships were spotted off the coast of Alaska.
According to the US Coast Guard, there was one destroyer among the Russian ships.
The ships were traveling in a single formation, but then dispersed. The United States scrambled a Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft for patrols.
The 17th Coast Guard District noted that the ships were traveling in accordance with international norms. However, the US will act to respond with presence to the presence of foreign warships near its coasts to ensure that US interests are not violated.
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceBreakingNews – Russian officials said the unidentified shooter had killed himself after the incident, with the death toll initially reported as six.
More information is still being released about the situation in Izhevsk. (Reuters: Alexey Malgavko )none
Russia’s investigative committee said the victims includedseven school children, two teachers, and two security guards: They said those wounded were 14 children and seven adults.
In a statement on the Telegram messenger app, Governor Alexander Brechalov of the Udmurtia region, of which Izhevsk is the capital, said he had arrived at the city’s School No. 88.
He said security services and ambulance teams were present.
Russia has seen several school shootings in recent years.
In May 2021, a teenage gunman killed seven children and two adults in the city of Kazan.
In April 2022, an armed man killed two children and a teacher at a kindergarten in the central Ulyanovsk region before committing suicide.
The school educates children between grades 1 and 11. It has been evacuated and area around it has been fenced off, the governor said.
No details about the gunman or his motives have been released.
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceBreakingNews – KYIV, Ukraine (AP) โ Russian-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans Tuesday to start voting this week to become integral parts of Russia.
The concerted and quickening Kremlin-backed efforts to swallow up four regions could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war following Ukrainian successes on the battlefield.
The scheduling of referendums starting Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions came after a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the votes are needed and as Moscow is losing ground in the invasion it began nearly seven months ago, increasing pressure on the Kremlin for a stiff response.
Former President Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russiaโs Security Council chaired by Putin, said referendums that fold regions into Russia itself would make redrawn frontiers โirreversibleโ and enable Moscow to use โany meansโ to defend them.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced the votes as a sham and tweeted that โUkraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say.โ
The votes, in territory Russia already controls, are all but certain to go Moscowโs way but are unlikely to be recognized by Western governments who are backing Ukraine with military and other support that has helped its forces seize momentum on battlefields in the east and south.
In Donetsk, part of Ukraineโs wider Donbas region that has been gripped by rebel fighting since 2014 and which Putin has set as a primary objective of the invasion, separatist leader Denis Pushilin said the vote will โrestore historic justiceโ to the territoryโs โlong-suffering people.โ
They โhave earned the right to be part of the great country that they always considered their motherland,โ he said.
In partly Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia, pro-Russia activist Vladimir Rogov said: โThe faster we become part of Russia, the sooner peace will come.โ
Pressure inside Russia for votes and from Moscow-backed leaders in Ukrainian regions that Moscow controls increased after a Ukrainian counteroffensive โ bolstered by Western-supplied weaponry โ that has recaptured large areas.
Former Kremlin speechwriter and Russian political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said on Facebook that Moscow-backed separatists appeared โscared that the Russians will abandon themโ amid the Ukrainian offensive and forged ahead with referendum plans to force the Kremlinโs hand.
In another signal that Russia is digging in for a protracted and possibly ramped-up conflict, the Kremlin-controlled lower of house of parliament voted Tuesday to toughen laws against desertion, surrender and looting by Russian troops.
Lawmakers also voted to introduce possible 10-year prison terms for soldiers refusing to fight. If approved, as expected, by the upper house and then signed by Putin, the legislation would strengthen commandersโ hands against failing morale reported among soldiers.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there are no prospects for a diplomatic settlement. Medvedev, who served as Russiaโs president from 2008-2012, said on his messaging app channel that separatist region votes are important to protect their residents and would โcompletely changeโ Russiaโs future trajectory.
” After they are held and the new territories are taken into Russiaโs fold, a geopolitical transformation of the world will become irreversible,โ Medvedev said.
โAn encroachment on the territory of Russia is a crime that would warrant any means of self-defense,โ he said, adding that Russia would enshrine the new territories in its constitution so no future Russian leader could hand them back.
โThat is why they fear those referendums so much in Kyiv and in the West,โ Medvedev said. โThat is why they must be held.โ
Ukrainian analyst Volodymyr Fesenko, head of the independent Penta Center think-tank based in Kyiv, said the Kremlin hopes the votes and the possibility of military escalation will raise the pressure from Western governments for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to start talks with Moscow.
The move โreflects the weakness, not the strength of the Kremlin, which is struggling to find levers to influence the situation that has increasingly spun out of its control,โ he said.
The recapturing of territory, most notably in the northeastern Kharkiv region, has strengthened Ukraineโs arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries.
More heavy weaponry is on its way, with Slovenia promising 28 tanks and Germany pledging four additional self-propelled howitzers. More aid also is expected from Britain, already one of Ukraineโs biggest military backers after the U.S. British Prime Minister Liz Truss is expected to promise that in 2023, her government will โmatch or exceedโ the 2.3 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) in military aid given to Ukraine this year.
The swiftness of the Ukrainian counteroffensive also saw Russian forces abandon armored vehicles and other weapons as they beat hasty retreats. Ukrainian forces are recycling the captured weaponry back into battle. A Washington-based think tank, The Institute for the Study of War, said abandoned Russian T-72 tanks are being used by Ukrainian forces seeking to push into Russian-occupied Luhansk.
In other developments:
Meanwhile, Ukraineโs southern military command said its troops sank a Russian barge carrying troops and weapons across the Dnieper River near the Russian-occupied city of Nova Kakhovka. It offered no other details on the attack in the Russian-occupied Kherson region, which has been a major target in the Ukrainian counteroffensive.
โ Ukraineโs presidential office said fresh shelling killed three civilians and injured 19 more in a 24-hour span.
โ Moscow has likely moved its Kilo-class submarines from their station on the Crimean Peninsula to southern Russia over fears about them being struck by long-range Ukrainian fire, the British military said.
โ McDonaldโs restaurants in Kyiv began serving again for the first time since the invasion, offering only delivery service initially but marking a step of sorts back toward the life Ukrainians knew before the war.
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceNewsDesk – Investigators searching through a mass burial site in Ukraine have found evidence that some of the dead were tortured, including bodies with broken limbs and ropes around their necks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says.
Witnesses and a Ukrainian investigator said some of the bodies found were shot and others were killed by artillery fire, mines or air strikes.(AP: Evgeniy Maloletka)none
The site near the north-eastern city of Izium, recently recaptured from Russian forces, appears to be one of the largest discovered in Ukraine.
“As of today, there are 450 dead people, buried. But there are others, separate burials of many people. Tortured people. Entire families in certain territories,” Mr Zelenskyy said.
The head of the pro-Russian administration, which abandoned the area last week, dismissed the accounts of the burials outside the city of Izium and accused Ukrainians of staging atrocities.
“I have not heard anything about burials in Izium,” Vitaly Ganchev told Russian state television.
Outside the city on Friday, men in white overalls were digging out bodies at the site in a forest where about 200 makeshift wooden crosses were scattered among trees.
Some of the markers bore peopleโs names and had flowers hanging from them.
The Izyum burial site could be the biggest mass grave found in Europe since the aftermath of the 1990s Balkan wars.(AP: Evgeniy Maloletka)none
Roughly 20 white body bags could be seen.
Protected by head-to-toe suits and rubber gloves, investigators gently felt through the decomposing remains of the victimsโ clothing, seemingly looking for identifying items.
“We are at the site of the mass burial of people, civilians who were buried here, and now according to our information they all have the signs of violent death,” Kharkiv Governor Oleh Synehubov said at the site.
“There are bodies with hands tied behind [their backs],” he said.
“Each fact will be investigated and will be properly and legally evaluated.”
“For months a rampant terror, violence, torture and mass murders were in the occupied territories,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted in English.
“Anyone else wants to ‘freeze the war’ instead of sending tanks? We have no right to leave people alone with the Evil.”
Ukrainian police chief Ihor Klymenko told a news conference all of the bodies recovered so far at the site appeared to be of civilians, although there was information that some soldiers might have been buried there too.
If the number of bodies is confirmed, the site in the former Russian front-line stronghold of Izium would be the biggest mass burial found in Europe since the aftermath of the 1990s Balkan wars.Zelenskyy confirms mass graves found in Izium. (Image: AP)
Putin says Russia has not yet deployed its full forces
Russian President Vladimir Putin did not immediately respond to the accusations, but did defend his operations in Ukraine, saying on Friday he had sent his troops into Ukraine to prevent Western plans to break up Russia.
Speaking at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, and discussing the war publicly for the first time since Ukraine routed Russian troops in the Kharkiv region last week, Mr Putin vowed to press on with the war.
“Our offensive operation in the Donbas is not stopping,” he said.
“They’re moving forward โ not at a very fast pace โ but they are gradually taking more and more territory.”Russia is not using its full force in Ukraine, Vladimir Putin says.
He also noted that Russia had so far not deployed its full forces, adding that Russia has only deployed volunteer soldiers to fight in Ukraine.
“I remind you that the Russian army isn’t fighting in its entirety,” Mr Putin said.
Mr Putin warned that Moscow could ramp up its strikes on the countryโs vital infrastructure if Ukrainian forces target facilities in Russia.
“We will see how [Ukraine’s counteroffensive] ends.”
Russia has reported numerous explosions and fires at civilian infrastructure sites near Ukraine, as well as munitions depots and other facilities.
Ukraine has claimed responsibility for some of the attacks and refrained from commenting on others.
Wong says ‘horrific’ discovery provides more evidence of war crimes
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said the discovery of the mass civilian burial site was “horrific”.
“It is yet more evidence of Russia’s egregious war crimes in Ukraine,” she said in a statement posted to Twitter.
“Those responsible must be held to account.”
Earlier, Acting Prime Minister Richard Marles praised Ukraine for its efforts resisting Russia’s invasion since February, and said Australia was considering requests for additional military aid.
Mr Marles said Australia, which is the largest non-NATO contributor to Ukraine, has already supplied around $400 million worth of support and stands ready to provide more assistance.
“I’ve spoken with the Ukrainian ambassador, I’ve spoken with Oleksii Reznikov, my counterpart, the Defence Minister in Ukraine; we will continue to work out ways in which Australia can support Ukraine in an ongoing way,” Mr Marles said.
“We are aware of the requests that Ukraine has made of us, will obviously consider them.
“We will continue to work with the Ukrainian government to look at the ways in which we can best support them to sustain their effort in resisting this Russian aggression.”
No electricity, no phones, no news
In Kupiansk, a north-eastern railway junction city whose partial capture by Kyiv’s forces on Saturday cut Russia’s supply lines and led to the swift collapse at the front, small units of Ukrainian troops were securing a nearly deserted ghost town.
A formerly Russian-occupied police station had been hastily abandoned in Kupiansk, about 60 kilometres north of Izyum.
Russian flags and a portrait of President Vladimir Putin lay on the floor of the station amid broken glass.Retreating Russian forces in some areas have left destroyed ghost towns in their wake.(Reuters: Umit Bektas)none
Records had been torched. Behind the steel doors of the station’s cells, there was blood on the floor and stains on the mattresses.
Three piglets on the loose from an abandoned sty were foraging in the city street.
Serhiy, a middle-aged man in a thin jacket, was hungry for news.
“There’s no electricity, no phones. If there were electricity, at least we could have watched TV. If there were phones, we could have called our relatives,” he said.
“If only there hadn’t been all this bombing with everyone in their basements.”
Reports Russia is preparing defence
After a week of rapid gains in the north-east, Ukrainian officials have sought to dampen expectations that they could continue to advance at that pace.
Russian troops that fled the Kharkiv region are now digging in and planning to defend territory in neighbouring Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, officials say.
“It is of course extremely encouraging to see that Ukrainian armed forces have been able to take back territory and also strike behind Russian lines,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg told BBC radio.
“At the same time, we need to understand that this is not the beginning of the end of the war. We need to be prepared for the long haul.”
It comes as Russia said it had killed or wounded more than 400 Ukrainian service members in recent attacks on military units in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions.
During a defence briefing on Friday, Russia Defence Ministry’s chief spokesperson Igor Konashenkov said the Ukrainian forces in Kharkiv and near a settlement in Seversk in the Donetsk region had been targeted by shelling.
“As a result of the strikes, the enemy’s losses amounted to more than 400 Ukrainian servicemen killed and wounded, more than 20 units of armoured and motor vehicles,” Mr Konashenkov said.
The claims could not be independently verified.Ukraine has launched a major offensive to recapture Kherson in the south of the country.(AP: Evgeniy Maloletka)none
Ukraine launches major offensive in south
Mr Putin has yet to comment publicly on the battlefield setback suffered by his forces this month. Ukrainian officials say 9,000 square kilometres have been retaken, about the size of the island of Cyprus.
Ukraine has also launched a major offensive to recapture territory in the south, where it aims to trap thousands of Russian troops cut off from supplies on the west bank of the Dnipro river, and retake Kherson, the only large city Russia has captured intact since the start of the war.
Russia’s state-run RIA news agency released video showing smoke billowing from Kherson’s Russian-occupied administration building after apparent Ukrainian rocket attacks.
Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy head of the region, told Russian state TV that one wing of the building had been practically destroyed, and there were dead and wounded though it was too soon to say how many. Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment.
In the east, the chief prosecutor of the pro-Russian separatist administration in Luhansk was killed by an explosion in his office, along with his deputy, according to Russian news agencies. Russia also reported strikes across the border in its Belgorod region.
The speed of Ukraine’s advance has boosted its morale and bolstered its case for more weapons from Western allies.
In Washington, US President Joe Biden announced a new $US600 million ($897 million) arms package for Ukraine, including High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) and artillery rounds.
The United States has sent about $US15.1 billion ($22.6 billion) in security assistance to Kyiv since Russia’s February 24 invasion.
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceNewsDesk – In late August, Russian authorities launched what they described as an alternative to Wikipedia — Runiversalis or “Runi”.
โข Updated: 15/09/2022 – 12:19
A picture taken n Moscow shows the Wikipedia logo on a tablet screen. – Copyright KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP, FILE
A recent report by the DFRLab found that Runiversalis had endured a “rough start” online……………..The website became temporarily unavailable only a few days after its launch due to a cyberattack…………….According to its Telegram page, Runiversalis was restored on September 12 before being targeted in another cyberattack, which didn’t take down the website.
The Runiversalis authors even claim that theyโre former editors and administrators of Wikipedia.
The state-supported website labels itself โan encyclopedia of common senseโ and bares many resemblances to the world-famous Wikipedia site, which is written and edited by volunteers across more than 300 languages.
The site was launched by Moscow amid the war in Ukraine, as many internet platforms faced censorship pressure from the Kremlin.
Search engines are now forced to inform online users in Russia that Wikipedia violates the countryโs legislation and companies face penalties for deliberately sharing so-called “fake news” about Russian entities abroad.
Moscow has criminalised the use of the words “invasion” or “war” and instead refers to its aggression in Ukraine as a “special military operation”.
And the Runiversalis article about the “special military operation” repeats the Kremlin’s narrative that Russia wants to “denazify” and “demilitarise” Ukraine.
The website also states that its authors will only promote โtraditional valuesโ on subjects such as gender and sexuality, raising concerns from the LGBTQ community.
“Editors will proceed not from what is written in Western scientific journals that have succumbed to pressure from the LGBT lobby,” claimed a statement by Runiversalis on their Telegram page.
“When one starts to read Runiversalis, you notice that it’s a platform for Kremlin narratives of disinformation and propaganda,” said Eto Buziashvili, a Research Associate for the Caucasus at the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab (DFRLab) in an interview with Euronews.
“Another interesting point is when you go down to the references, the vast majority of the sources are Kremlin official platforms like the Ministry of Defense or Kremlin-controlled media,” said the researcher.
In her report, Eto Buziashvili wrote that Runiversalis is no Wikipedia.
“Wikipedia has transparent editing policies and editorial oversight. Runiversalis, in contrast, is a propaganda website masquerading as a wiki, using the stylistic trappings of Wikipedia to give it a veneer of credibility.”
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceBreakingNews – Monday saw Ukraine pressing on with a counter-offensive in which its forces have retaken swathes of territory in the north-east of the country.
Ukrainian forces are claiming further success in their counter-offensive in the northeast Kharkiv region
In its latest update, Ukraine’s army said it had taken back 20 villages in the past 24 hours alone in the Kharkiv region, adding to its claimed gains of more than 3,000 sq km (1,158 sq miles).
But the day also saw defiance from the Kremlin, which insisted that Russia’s war would continue until all its goals were met, despite the dramatic military reverses of the past week.
Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the president was in constant communication with his military commanders.
But he sidestepped a question on whether Mr Putin still had confidence in his generals, and would not comment on reports that the commander of the Western Military District had been sacked.
Meanwhile, the mayor of Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, said electricity and water supplies had again been cut off due to Russian strikes on critical infrastructure. Similar attacks on Sunday damaged a power plant and caused blackouts.
Mayor Ihor Terekhov suggested the attacks were a vile and cynical attempt at revenge for the Ukrainian army’s successes.
What will Russia’s losses mean for Putin?
After six months of war, it is still unknown what the Russian president will do next
You can normally expect Russian state TV’s flagship weekly news programme to trumpet Kremlin successes. But Sunday’s edition opened with a rare admission, says the BBC’s Russia editor, Steve Rosenberg.
“On the frontlines of the special operation [in Ukraine], this has been the toughest week so far,” declared sombre-looking anchor Dmitry Kiselev.
“It was particularly tough along the Kharkiv front, where following an onslaught by enemy forces that outnumbered ours, [Russian] troops were forced to leave towns they had previously liberated.”
So will this have political consequences for Vladimir Putin?
The last six months suggest that President Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine was a major miscalculation, our editor says. Unable to secure a rapid victory, Russia got bogged down in a long, bloody offensive, and has suffered a series of embarrassing defeats.
Vladimir Putin will know Russia’s history. It hasn’t ended well for past Russian leaders who fought wars and didn’t win them.
You can read Steve Rosenberg’s full analysis here.
A successful surprise attack – but danger still looms
The Ukrainian military has released these pictures of destroyed Russian tanks in a river
Jonathan Beale, the BBC’s defence correspondent, has been examining what Ukraine’s recent gains mean for the wider conflict.
Ukraine’s ability to surprise has become a hallmark of this war, our correspondent says.
Until now, it was Russia making most of the advances – albeit a slow and grinding affair that was proving costly to its army. Now it’s Ukraine making the gains, taking back thousands of square miles of territory in just a matter of days.
It’s clear it successfully wrong-footed Russia. Over the past few months, Russia’s been redeploying forces from the east to bolster its defences in the south. Both fronts are now vulnerable.
But Ukraine is finding it harder to make gains in the south where they’re more exposed, having to fight in mostly open countryside.
Natalia, 50, lived under Russian occupation for five months#AceNewsDesk report โฆโฆโฆ..Published: Sept.13: 2022:
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
#AceBreakingNews – MOSCOW โ Russians began voting on Friday in the first nationwide elections since the invasion of Ukraine, as the Kremlin tried to assure the public that it was business as usual despite a climate of wartime censorship and repression.
The vote for local and regional governments across the country includes the first municipal-level elections in Moscow, the capital, since 2017, when the opposition won a sizable minority of seats despite the Kremlinโs dominance of the political system and accusations of fraud. But the ranks of the opposition have since been depleted as anti-government politicians have fled the country and others have been arrested or blocked from running.
Although President Vladimir V. Putin has dominated Russian politics for two decades, he has long relied on elections with a semblance of competition to try to legitimize the rule of his United Russia party.
And while those elections were rife with fraud, the vote-counting process in major cities like Moscow retained a modicum of transparency, making them an opportunity for Kremlin critics to express their discontent even if a major opposition victory was virtually impossible.
After the upheaval in Russiaโs economy from inflation and international sanctions over the war in Ukraine, the question is whether that logic still holds.
Mr. Putin has done everything in his power, critics say, to prevent his opponents from being able to repeat even their modest success of five years ago.
โFinally for the first time, elections are totally senseless,โ said Andrei Kolesnikov, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace based in Moscow. Almost no one is allowed to participate, he added, referring to the opposition.
The elections, which are being held over three days on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, are also a test of the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalnyโs ability to influence Russian politics from prison.
Despite the Russian authoritiesโ crackdown on the opposition, some low-profile critics of the Kremlin and of the Ukraine war remain on the ballot. And while they are unlikely to win, Mr. Navalnyโs advisers said they believed the Kremlin would be hard-pressed to paper over a strong showing by some of them that would convey disapproval of the war.
โIt is very difficult for Moscow to organize some kind of total falsification system at polling stations,โ one exiled adviser to Mr. Navalny, Vladimir Milov, said in a phone interview from Vilnius, Lithuania. โI see great enthusiasm from activists, candidates and many voters, and even in these conditions, they want to do something.โ
Editor says โฆSterling Publishing & Media Service Agency is not responsible for the content of external site or from any reports, posts or links, and can also be found here on Telegram: https://t.me/acenewsdaily and all wordpress and live posts and links here: https://acenewsroom.wordpress.com/and thanks for following as always appreciate every like, reblog or retweet and free help and guidance tips on your PC software or need help & guidance from our experts AcePCHelp.WordPress.Com
