LIVE – War in Ukraine: Europe “cannot replace” American support, according to the EU

Josep Borrell warns that Europe “cannot replace” US support for Ukraine.

More than 26,000 Ukrainians, including 15,000 military personnel, have been missing since the start of the Russian invasion in February 2022, the Ukrainian government announced. “Among them, 11,000 are civilians and around 15,000 are military personnel,” Deputy Interior Minister Leonid Tymchenko said on national television.

In a vote this Thursday, MEPs approved a package of 50 billion euros to support the recovery, reconstruction and modernization of Ukraine from 2024. “One of the main demands of MEPs is that the resources of the Russian Federation or other entities or individuals directly linked to the Russian war of aggression be used to rebuild Ukraine”, according to the communicated of the European Parliament, reflecting a will of the EU already expressed by Ursula von der Leyen. In other words, if this resolution is definitively passed, the frozen assets of Russian oligarchs could be directly used in the reconstruction of the country.

The Russian fleet will set up a base in Abkhazia, a pro-Russian separatist region of Georgia, the leader of this territory announced. “We have signed an agreement and, in the near future, the Russian military navy will have a permanent anchor point in the Ochamchire district” on the Black Sea coast, Aslan Bjania told the Russian newspaper Izvestia. The Kremlin spokesperson declined to comment.

According to former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, Ukraine has only 23 million inhabitants left because of the war. In May, the Ukrainian Institute for the Future put the population at 29 million people in the country and 8 million abroad.

Save Ukraine, a Ukrainian humanitarian NGO, says it has rescued 19 children from Ukrainian territories under Russian occupation. Since the start of the Russian invasion, many NGOs have accused the Russian authorities of deporting children from Ukraine to educate them and acclimate them to Russian culture. Some child victims were able to testify to our LCI teams on site.

According to the findings of UN investigators, the deaths of more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war in the shelling of Olenivka prison in July 2022 in eastern Ukraine were not caused by fire from Ukrainian Himars rocket launchers. Moscow accuses kyiv of having bombed this prison camp, which the Ukrainian authorities refute, who instead assert that these detainees were massacred by Russian forces. More information will be needed to establish the precise circumstances of the bombing and assign responsibility, according to this new report.

The Ukrainian president announces that he “arrived in Granada, Spain, to participate in the Summit of the European Political Community.” On Twitter, Volodymyr Zelensky emphasizes paying, on the occasion of this meeting, “particular attention to the Black Sea region as well as to our common efforts aimed at strengthening global food security and freedom of navigation”. According to him, “Ukraine’s main priority, especially as winter approaches, is to strengthen air defense.”

According to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, 280,470 Russian soldiers have died since the start of the invasion of the country on February 24, 2022. A report regularly updated by kyiv but difficult to verify by independent sources.

Ukraine says it shot down 24 Russian drones out of a total of 29 overnight. These Iranian-made Shahed-type aircraft were fired from eastern Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow before being shot down in southern and central Ukraine, the Air Force said. Ukrainian on Telegram, without specifying which targets the other five hit.

The Russian mobilization, which began on October 1, should not send men to Ukraine. Meanwhile, international aid to kyiv is threatened by internal political situations. Here is the information from the last 24 hours on the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian journalist Marina Ovsiannikova was sentenced in absentia in Russia on Wednesday to eight and a half years in prison. Exiled in France, she was the guest of LCI this Thursday morning.

She revealed that she was “not surprised” by the judgment handed down yesterday. “We are already accustomed to the fact that justice in Russia is a puppet justice. In 20 years of governance, Putin has destroyed all independent media and independent justice.” And the journalist denounces a “politically motivated decision”.

“I will appeal [du verdict]. I was unable to participate in this trial because there was a court-appointed lawyer, who did not contact me. But I contacted an association of lawyers and I am going to hire a lawyer and appeal,” continues the woman who became known after brandishing a sign opposing the war in Ukraine, in the middle of the television news in Russia, in March 2022.

Slovakia opposed sending additional military assistance to Ukraine after the election victory of former Prime Minister Robert Fico, seen as pro-Russian. The latter is now responsible for forming a new government.

According to the Slovak press, President Zuzana Čaputová refused to sign an aid program for Ukraine, prepared by the Ministry of Defense, while the current Prime Minister was still in office. The leader refused, believing that the legislative elections should be respected. After Poland’s withdrawal from the aid provided to kyiv, this is a further erosion of European solidarity.

A drone strike reportedly hit infrastructure in the Kursk oblast in Russia last night, according to Governor Roman Starovoit. Facilities in the Sudzha, Korenevsky and Glushkovsky districts were reportedly targeted, causing power outages. “The border town of Rylsk came under fire from cluster munitions by Ukraine,” the local official wrote on Telegram. “A woman was injured by shrapnel, she was hospitalized,” according to the governor.

Reports of drone strikes in the Kursk Oblast and on this border with Ukraine have increased in recent weeks. The Ukrainian government rarely comments on these claims, according to the Kyiv Independent.

According to the Kiev School of Economics, recorded direct damage increased by $700 million compared to June 2023. “As of September 1, 2023, the total documented direct damage caused by the large-scale invasion of Russia on Ukrainian infrastructure amounted to $151.2 billion.

Russia is accused by London of wanting to attack civilian ships in the Black Sea, using sea mines to prevent the export of Ukrainian grain. “Intelligence (…) suggests that Russia is seeking to target civilian ships using the ‘humanitarian corridor’ in Ukraine in order to disrupt the export of Ukrainian grain,” the British Foreign Office wrote in a statement.

Moscow “will certainly want to avoid openly sinking civilian ships and will falsely blame Ukraine for any attacks.” According to the United Kingdom, since withdrawing from the agreement on Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea in July, Russia has destroyed 130 port infrastructure in Ukraine and destroyed 300,000 tonnes of grain.

Hello and welcome everyone to this live broadcast dedicated to the conflict in Ukraine and its consequences across the world. You find the latest information throughout the day.