There is fear in Russia because of the partial mobilization. Ukraine reports successes in its counter-offensive. The news ticker.
- Counteroffensive: Kyiv reports further land gains
- war crimes: The United Nations find evidence.
- partial mobilization: Resistance in Russia – recruitment offices set on fire.
- Editor’s note: All news about Ukraine conflict read in this news ticker. The information comes partly from warring parties in the Ukraine war and cannot be directly verified independently.
+++ 2.45 p.m.: Most recently, the Russian army had to accept high losses and losses in land gains. Against this background, the ruler of Russia, Vladimir Putin, is said to have interfered more and more in the strategic planning, like the New York Times reported.
Citing American officials, it is reported that Putin has also rejected requests to withdraw from the city of Kherson. A withdrawal from Kherson would allow the Dnipro to be crossed, thus protecting soldiers’ resources and lives, it is said. But giving up Ukraine’s only Russian-controlled regional capital would mean too much damage to Putin’s image.
Ukraine War: 25 Luftwaffe attacks
+++ 2 p.m.: The army of Ukraine repelled ten attacks by pro-Russian troops, reports the Ukrainian newspaper Kyiv Independent. The Air Force of Ukraine also flew a total of 25 attacks, according to the General Staff. How high the losses are when fending off the attacks is currently being determined. The attacks took place on the front in Donetsk.
The General Staff report also mentions that the army from Russia has started “referendums”. According to this, only a few people are currently going to the polling stations, which is why the army is said to have started visiting people at home.
+++ 11.55 a.m.: The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (Bamf) refers to the possibility of protection for Russian deserters in Germany: “Deserters who are threatened by severe repression usually receive international protection in Germany,” said a representative of the authority Editorial Network Germany. That also applies to Russia.
“The decision-making practice of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has already been adjusted accordingly.” The granting of asylum remains a case-by-case decision, which also includes a security check, it said.
News about the Ukraine war: mobilization is not enough for Putin’s plans
+++ 9.38 a.m.: The Russian partial mobilization is not enough for Putin’s plans. This is reported by the American think tank The Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Accordingly, the partial mobilization is not in a position to produce even reserve forces “of low quality” unless Russia would fix systematic problems.
According to Russian military bloggers, Russia should also publish illegal tenders to mobilize men who do not meet the criteria set by the Kremlin. In particular, the promise of the Russian Defense Minister Shoigu that only men with combat experience would be mobilized would be ignored in the tenders, according to the ISW.
In addition, the information suggests that the mobilization campaign is overtaxing an “ineffective and bureaucratic system” and unable to raise the much-needed reserve forces in the short or long term, the ISW concludes.
+++ 8.32 a.m: US President Joe Biden threatened Russia with severe sanctions in the event of annexations. “Russia’s referendums are a sham – a pretext for attempting to annex parts of Ukraine by force in a flagrant violation of international law,” Biden said on Friday (September 23). The US, along with its allies and partners, worked to take further “quick and tough” economic action against Russia in the event.
Update from Saturday, September 24, 6:20 a.m.: Since the start of its counter-offensive, the Ukrainian army has recaptured around 9,000 square kilometers and liberated 400 towns from Russian control, said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The help of the Ukrainian population played an important role in this.
+++ 10 p.m.: Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny has been placed in solitary confinement again after he criticized the partial mobilization ordered by Vladimir Putin. “I didn’t like what I said about the mobilization – so you, Navalny, get twelve days (carceration)!” Said the opposition figure during a court hearing, according to the Mediazona internet portal. In a hearing earlier on Wednesday, he accused Putin of implicating “hundreds of thousands in his crimes” by sending them to war against Ukraine.
+++ 8.30 p.m.: In the eastern city of Izyum, recently recaptured by Ukrainian troops, exhumations in a patch of forest containing more than 400 new graves are nearing completion. “A total of 436 bodies were found,” said the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Synyehubov, in the news service Telegram. Most of these died violent deaths. 30 bodies showed signs of torture, he explained.
Governor Synyehubov said there were dead with nooses around their necks, hands tied, limbs broken and gunshot wounds. “Some men have had their genitals amputated,” Synyehubov wrote. The majority of the dead were civilians, but 21 soldiers were also buried there.
News about the Ukraine war: Kyiv reports further territory gains
+++ 7.15 p.m.: A Russian attack with Iranian drones caught fire in an administrative building in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. A civilian was killed in the attack, a Ukrainian military official said on Telegram. The Ukrainian air defense shot down an Iranian-made Shahed 136 drone over the sea.
+++ 6.15 p.m.: According to the Ukrainian military, it has achieved further successes in its counter-offensive. The military representative Oleksiy Gromov said on television that the armed forces had recaptured the village of Yatskivka in the Donetsk region. In addition, control of positions south of the city of Bakhmut, also in Donetsk, had been regained.
News about the Uktraine war: Partial mobilization does not apply to journalists loyal to the Kremlin
+++ 5.40 p.m.: After the partial mobilization was announced, the Kremlin complained about the “hysteria” that was now rife. Background: In view of the call-up of reservists for the war in Ukraine, thousands of men are fleeing the country. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called for adequate information. “It’s kind of understandable that there was a hysterical, extremely emotional reaction in the first few hours after the announcement and even on the first day, because there was actually insufficient information,” said Peskow. In the meantime, however, there are also hotlines to clarify questions over the phone.
The Russian Defense Ministry said that high-tech workers should not be drafted. Accordingly, the employees of the state propaganda media do not have to go to war either. They are fueling the war and had called on Putin to do more in Ukraine. Protected are therefore editors, publishers, employees of television, radio and newspapers. They are among Putin’s most important power pillars.
Ukraine war news: Ukrainian forces capture village
+++ 3.20 p.m.: According to their own statements, the Ukrainian military has liberated another village in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian forces have taken control of the village of Yatskivka and recaptured previously lost positions towards Bakhmut, the portal reports Kyiv Independent with reference to the General Staff.
Ukraine war news: UN finds evidence of war crimes
+++ 1.45 p.m.: The United Nations (UN) has found evidence of Russian war crimes. This reports the news agency AP. In presenting their findings, the team of experts from the commission of inquiry into Ukraine referred to testimonies from former detainees who reported beatings, electric shocks and enforced nudity in Russian detention facilities.
The experts also said that there were executions in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions. “We were amazed at the large number of executions in the areas we visited. The commission is currently investigating such deaths in 16 towns and settlements,” said Erik Mose, the commission’s chair. However, Moses did not indicate which side carried out the executions.
Ukraine War: Partial mobilization creates resistance – recruitment offices set on fire
+++ 1:14 p.m.: The partial mobilization causes great excitement among the people of Russia. Like the Russian-language newspaper Meduza reports that five military recruiting offices have been set on fire. Two fires broke out in the night of Thursday (09/22/2022) in the Khabarovsk and Amur oblasts. There had also been previous attempts to burn down military offices, reports Meduza – including one in the metropolis of St. Petersburg.
Ukraine war: Russia starts “referendums” – is the risk of using nuclear weapons increasing?
First report from Friday, September 23, 2022: Kyiv – As bloody fighting continues in Ukraine, so-called referendums on Russia’s annexation have begun in four Russian-controlled areas. Votes are taking place in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine’s Donbass and in the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia. The “referendums” are scheduled to run until Tuesday (September 27, 2022), after which a rapid annexation by Moscow is expected.
According to reports from Russian news agencies, voting began at 7 a.m. on Friday morning. Accordingly, due to the short preparation time, they will not take place by electronic vote, but with paper ballot papers. Pro-Russian officials will go door-to-door for the first few days to collect votes.
News in the Ukraine war: “Won’t let Putin get away with it”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken sharply criticized Thursday’s “referendums” in the UN Security Council. “We cannot and will not allow Putin to get away with this,” he said.
Before the votes began, Putin announced partial mobilization in Russia and issued a nuclear threat. “In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and in defense of Russia and our people, we will certainly use all weapon systems at our disposal. This is not a bluff,” said the Kremlin boss in a TV speech on Wednesday (September 21, 2022). By considering the four Ukrainian regions as Russian territory, Putin can build a larger nuclear threat scenario. (with agencies)