Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin appoints ‘Grey Hair’ warlord to lead Wagner mercenaries

Andrei Troshev, a founding member and Executive Director of the Wagner Group, reportedly met Valdimir Putin and Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov on Thursday night.

The meeting underscored the Kremlin’s attempt to show that the state had now gained control over the mercenary group after a failed June mutiny by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash in August.

Just days after the Wagner’s mutiny, Putin offered the mercenaries the opportunity to keep fighting but suggested that commander Andrei Troshev take over from Prigozhin, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper has reported.

Addressing Troshev, Putin said that they had spoken about how “volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of a special military operation.”

“You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year,” Putin said. “You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the RIA news agency that Troshev worked at the defence ministry. “He now works in the defence ministry.”

Key Points

• Greenpeace raise major concerns over the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

• New video of ‘dead’ Russian Black Sea fleet commander raises doubts over Ukraine’s claim

• Ukraine repel Russian attacks in Bakhmut

• Russia lauches huge drone strike on Ukraine from Black Sea

First Ukrainian soldiers welcome US Abram tanks

11:21 , Athena Stavrou

Ukrainian tank crews in eastern Ukraine are the first to have received the arrival of the new tanks.

In January, the US pledged to supply 31 advanced M1A2 tanks after months of shunning the idea. US General Mark Milley praised the Abrams tanks, saying they “will make a difference” in the ongoing 19-month war.

Tank crews training in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine said that once they were deployed, the Abrams tanks, which reportedly cost $10 million to make, would be a big step up from the Soviet-era tanks they are currently operating, Reuters reports.

“The Abrams tank....has protection against ammunition detonation. (This tank) does not have it. If ammunition detonates, there is no chance to survive,” said tank driver Vitalii, 29.

The tank is considered particularly lethal against heavy armour forces with a powerful engine, 120mm main gun and special armour.

UK sanctions officials in annexed Ukrainian regions

11:32 , Athena Stavrou

The British government has today implemented sanctions agsinst officials from the annexed Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Crimea.

The sanctions will freeze assets and impose a travel ban on the officials from the regions.

Foreign minister James Cleverly said the UK “will never recognise Russia’s claims to Ukrainian territory” following the announcement, Reuters reports.

Britain also added Russia’s emergencies minister Alexander Kurenkov and the secretary of the Russian Central Election Commission Natalya Alekseevna Budarina to the sanctions list.

The move is part of Britain’s wider sanctions and reaffirms the UK’s ongoing stance against the annexation of Ukrainian territories.

Zelensky blessed by Ukraine’s chief rabbi

11:00 , Athena Stavrou

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accompanied Ukraine’s chief Rabbi today to pay respects on the anniversary of the massacre there in the second world war.

Zelenskyy was blessed by chief rabi Moshe Reuven Azman during the visit Babyn Yar.

In a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the chief Rabi said: “I blessed the President of Ukraine at this holy place and wished him, on the eve of the Sukkot holiday, strength of spirit, inspiration and God’s protection for the entire Ukrainian people. May the blessings of the Almighty accompany Ukraine on the way to peace and prosperity.”

Putin recruits former Wagner commander ‘Grey Hair’ Troshev to oversee Ukraine mercenaries

10:30 , Athena Stavrou

President Vladimir Putin recruited a former aide of late Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin to oversee mercenary fighter units in Ukraine.

The Russian president met Andrei Troshev, who is known by his nom de guerre “Sedoi” or “grey hair“, along with deputy defence minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov on Thursday night, the Kremlin said in a statement.

Mr Putin reportedly said that they had spoken about how “volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of the special military operation”.

Read more on this from The Independent below:

Putin recruits former Wagner commander ‘Grey Hair’ Troshev

Russia ‘reduce tempo’ of some operations in Ukraine

10:00 , Athena Stavrou

Russian forces have reportedly ‘reduced the tempo’ of some localised offensive operation, war monitoring think-tank say.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) say that both Russian and Ukrainian officials are increasingly reporting fewer Russian ground attacks in the Kupyansk and Lyman directions in Ukraine. This reportedly indicates that Ukrainian offensive operations have ‘drawn Russian forces away’ from the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line.

ISW has previously assessed that Russian offensive operations on the Kupyansk-Svatove-Kreminna line aimed to pin Ukrainian forces on this line and away from more critical areas of the front.

Ukrainian forces ‘continue offensive operations near Bakhmut'

09:40 , Athena Stavrou

The Ukrainian General Staff reported on Thursday that troops have continued offensive operations in the Melitopol and Bakhumut regions.

Earlier this week, a Ukrainian spokesperson said troops “enjoyed success” in villages near Bakhmut, a key town seized by Russian forces in May after some of the heaviest fighting in the 19-month-old war.

Russian volunteer battalions have claimed that sources have spread “false information” a Ukrainian breakthrough in the Robotyne-Verbove area, according to war monitoring think-tank the Institute for the Study of War.

The think-tank said that they have been unable to confirm the report.

Russia begin new round of conscriptions - but won’t send them to Ukraine

09:20 , Athena Stavrou

Russia will begin a new round of conscriptions on Sunday according to the defence ministry.

In a statement from Rear Admiral Vladimir Tsimlyansky released by the Russian MoD, it was announced that new conscripts would not be sent to Ukraine to fight.

A statement read: “Servicemen undergoing conscription military service will not be sent to the points of deployment of units of the armed forces of the Russian Federation in new regions of the Russian Federation: Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, or to participate there in carrying out the tasks of a special military operation.”

Every other year, Russia calls up those eligable for military service in autumn.

‘Difficult questions’ need to to be answered before EU membership talks with Ukraine

08:56 , Athena Stavrou

The Hungarian Prime Minister says that “very difficult questions” would need to be answered before the European Union could even start membership talks with Ukraine.

EU countries are due to decide in December whether to allow Ukraine to begin accession negotiations, which would require the unanimous backing of all 27 members.

Diplomats have said Hungary may be an obstacle as Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Monday that the country will not support Ukraine on any issue in international affairs until the language rights of ethnic Hungarians there are restored.

“We cannot avoid the question - when during the autumn we will have negotiations in Brussels about the future of Ukraine - whether we can actually seriously consider membership for a country, to start accession talks with a country that is at war,” Orban told state radio on Friday morning.

“We don’t know how big the territory of this country is, as the war is still ongoing, we don’t know how big its population is as they are fleeing ... to admit a country to the EU without knowing its parameters, this would be unprecedented.

“So I think we need to answer very long and difficult questions until we get to actually deciding about the start of accession talks,” he said.

Ukraine ‘hits power substation’ in drone attacks on Russian border regions

08:25 , Athena Stavrou

Ukraine launched a new wave of drone strikes on Russia’s border regions of Kursk and Kaluga overnight, according to the Russian defence ministry.

At least one drone targeted a power substation, Russian officials said, blowing up a transformer and cutting power supplies to the village of Belaya, less than 25km from the border.

Russia’s defence ministry said it shot down at least 10 drones over Kursk and one over Kaluga, according to an official quoted in state media.

Kyiv is yet to comment on the attacks, which began on Thursday evening and continued into Friday morning, and does not typically claim responsibility for operations across the border in Russia.

Wagner troops redeployed to frontline, says UK

08:03 , Athena Stavrou

Wagner fighters have “likely” begun redeployment to Ukraine, says the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD).

In it’s latest intelligence update, the MoD say the exact status of redeploying personnel is “unclear” but that it is likely they have returned to Bakhmut, where they are particularly in demand as Ukrainian counteroffensives continue in the region.

This news follows prior reports from Ukraine on Wednesday, claiming that hundreds Wagner fighters had returned to the frontlines.

Wagner withdrew from combat operations in Ukraine by early June 2023 and shortly after staged a mutiny on June 24. Their former leader Yevgeny Prigozhin was killed in a plane crash last month.

Putin recruits “grey hair” Wagner commander

07:41 , Athena Stavrou

Russian President Vladimir Putin was on Friday shown meeting one of the most senior former commanders of the Wagner group, Andrei Troshev.

Alongside Deputy Defence Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov, they discussed how volunteer units could fight in Ukraine. The Kremlin also confirmed that the mercenary now worked for the defence ministry.

Addressing Troshev, Putin said that they had spoken about how “volunteer units that can perform various combat tasks, above all, of course, in the zone of a special military operation.”

“You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year,” Putin said. “You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way.”

The meeting underscored the Kremlin’s attempt to show that the state had now gained control over the mercenary group after a failed June mutiny by Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash in August.

Just days after the Wagner’s mutiny, Putin offered the mercenaries the opportunity to keep fighting but suggested that commander Andrei Troshev take over from Prigozhin, Russia’s Kommersant newspaper has reported.

Troshev is a founding member and Executive Director of the Wagner Group.

ICYMI: Houses left in ruins in Ukrainian city after Russian bombardment of residential area

06:00 , Eleanor Noyce

At least one civilian was injured during the Russian bombardment of a residential area in Kostyantynivka, Ukraine, officials said.

Firefighters extinguished fires at the scene on Wednesday 27 September and pulled down the remains of a damaged roof as the house’s owner, Olena Kononenko, looked on.

Liudmila Ivanchuk, another resident, said the windows shattered during the bombardment and that she was taken to hospital for stitches.

“Everything was falling on me. The door was stuck. You can see what happened,” Ivanchuk, 61, said.

Kostyantynivka is located in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.

Read more:

Houses left in ruins in Ukrainian city after Russian bombardment of residential area

Kosovo accuses Serbia of direct involvement in deadly clashes and investigates possible Russian role

05:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Kosovo’s interior minister on Thursday accused Serbia of direct involvement in weekend clashes and was investigating the possibility of Russian involvement in the violence that left four people dead and further strained relations between the former wartime foes.

One Kosovo police officer and three gunmen were killed in Sunday’s shootout between Serb insurgents and Kosovo police. Eight people were initially arrested, but four of them have been released from custody because of a lack of evidence.

Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla told The Associated Press in an interview that investigators were looking at evidence linking Russia, an ally of Serbia, to the armed assault. Russian weapons, other equipment and documents suggesting Russian involvement were discovered after the daylong gunbattle, he said.

Read more:

Kosovo accuses Serbia of direct involvement in deadly clashes and investigates possible Russian role

ICYMI: Russia airs ‘new interview’ of Black Sea admiral who Ukraine claimed was killed in strike

04:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia has published a second clip purporting to show a top naval officer alive and well, after Ukraine claimed he had been killed in a missile strike on the headquarters of Moscow’s Black Sea Fleet in Crimea.

Ukraine’s special forces claimed on Monday that the Russian fleet’s commander, admiral Viktor Sokolov, was among 34 officers killed in the huge strike on Sevastopol, which they said had caused irreparable damage to the headquarters building.

But the military body backpedalled the following day, saying its units were “clarifying the information” which had been based on open sources, adding that many of those killed in the strike “still have not been identified due to the disparity of body fragments”.

Read more:

Russia airs ‘new interview’ of top commander who Ukraine claimed was killed in strike

Swiss court acquits former Belarusian security operative in case of enforced disappearances

03:00 , Eleanor Noyce

A court in northern Switzerland on Thursday acquitted a former security Belarusian operative over the enforced disappearances of three of President Aleksander Lukashenko’s political opponents in the late 1990s, said an advocacy group that spearheaded the case.

Judges in the northern town of Rorschach said they were not convinced that the defendant, Yuri Harauski, a former member of a Belarusian military unit known as SOBR, was involved in the disappearances.

According to the Geneva-based advocacy group TRIAL International, the court ruled that Harauski’s participation in the crimes could not be established beyond reasonable doubt.

Jamey Keaten reports:

Swiss court acquits former Belarusian security operative in case of enforced disappearances

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

02:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russia’s neighbour needed to be “demilitarised and de-Nazified”, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

Read more:

Here’s why Putin really invaded Ukraine

Grant Shapps visits President Zelensky in Ukraine

01:00 , Eleanor Noyce

Grant Shapps has visited Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Defence Secretary used the visit to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to support Ukraine as it defends itself against the Russian invasion of its territory.

In his second visit to Kyiv in two months, Mr Shapps held meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov, alongside the UK’s chief of defence staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

Read more:

Grant Shapps visits President Zelensky in Ukraine

Ukraine says hundreds of Wagner fighters back on battlefield months after failed coup

Friday 29 September 2023 00:01 , Eleanor Noyce

Several hundred fighters of the Wagner mercenary group have returned to Ukraine to fight in Russia’s continuing invasion but have not made a significant impact on the battlefield, military officials in Kyiv said.

“We have recorded the presence of a maximum of several hundred fighters of the former Wagner PMC (private military company),” spokesperson for the eastern military command Serhiy Cherevatyi said.

These Wagner fighters were scattered in different places, were not part of a single unit, and had had no significant impact, he said.

Read more:

Ukraine says Wagner fighters back on battlefield months after failed coup

Ukraine repel Putin’s attacks as fighting escalates in Russia’s push to retake lost land

Thursday 28 September 2023 23:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian soldiers fought off fierce Russian attacks on the battlefield on Wednesday as the invading troops continued to recapture lost territory in eastern Ukraine, military officials said.

Some progress was also seen in southern Ukraine – another pocket of heavy territorial battle in Russia’s 20-month-old invasion.

“We continue to repel intense enemy attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka. The enemy is still storming these positions with the hope of recapturing lost positions, but without success,” Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern group of forces, told national television.

Arpan Rai has more:

Ukraine repel Putin’s attacks as fighting escalates in Russia’s push to retake land

Putin’s shameless UN charm offensive - with stolen grain from Ukraine

Thursday 28 September 2023 22:15 , Eleanor Noyce

A desperate Vladimir Putin, increasingly isolated on the world stage, is eyeing a return to the UN Human Rights Council – and he has launched a shameless charm offensive to get him there.

Armed with stolen Ukrainian grain, the Russian president is on a mission to curry favour with potential backers ahead of a vote for council membership next month, although his efforts are likely to fall short.

Two years after being kicked off the panel for invading its neighbour, Putin has ordered his diplomats to try and secure the backing of enough countries for Moscow to beat two other eastern European nations on 10 October.

Russia is on a mission to grab a seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council - and to add insult to injury it’s using crops plundered from its illegal war to curry favour with potential backers, writes Arpan Rai:

Vladimir Putin’s charm offensive to stop Russia being a global pariah

Ukraine's Zelensky taps celebrities for roles as special adviser and charity ambassador

Thursday 28 September 2023 21:15 , Eleanor Noyce

President Volodymyr Zelensky has appointed former Ukrainian soccer great Andriy Shevchenko as a special adviser and British actor Mark Strong as an ambassador to the charity that the Ukrainian president set up to raise money for Ukraine, his office announced.

It was not clear what Shevchenko’s duties as adviser to the president would entail but the former star striker for Ukraine and squads across Europe suggested it would expand on his work as ambassador of United24, a charity created by Zelensky to collect donations for his nation after Russia’s invasion in 2022.

“My role hasn’t changed that much but I’m going to work even harder now,” he said after playing in an all-star golf match preceding the Ryder Cup outside Rome on Wednesday. “It’s an important job helping my country abroad through soccer and charity events and keeping people talking about Ukraine.”

Read more:

Ukraine's Zelenskyy taps celebrities for roles as special adviser and charity ambassador

Putin says votes in Russian-held parts of Ukraine mark step towards 'full entry' into Russia

Thursday 28 September 2023 20:45 , Eleanor Noyce

President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that elections conducted this month in Russian-held parts of Ukraine marked a step towards their full integration into Russia.

The votes in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions - all partly under Russia’s control following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine last year - were denounced by Kyiv as illegal.

Russia said a year ago that it was annexing the four regions, in an act condemned as unlawful by most countries at the United Nations.

“This is, of course, a significant event, an important step towards the full entry of the new regions into the single legal, state space of our big country”, Putin told a meeting of newly elected governors, referring to the recent elections and describing them as fair.

Ukrainian, French defence ministers pledge to work together on arms

Thursday 28 September 2023 20:15 , Eleanor Noyce

France and Ukraine pledged on Thursday to work together to continue securing arms for Kyiv’s three-month-old counteroffensive against Russian occupying forces and to jointly develop weapons production.

Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov said he and his French counterpart had focused on boosting cooperation in terms of training Kyiv’s armed forces and in the technical field.

“Dozens of projects have either been launched or are under discussion, aimed at organising joint production of new weapons or maintenance of weapons already with us,” Umerov told a news conference alongside French minister Sebastien Lecornu.

The two sides, he said, were considering the establishment of a fund “to support joint ventures with our partners and companies which want to begin production in Ukraine“.

Lecornu said France would “continue to help Ukraine as much as is necessary,” but gave no details on arms that might yet be provided.

“This war could keep going on,” he told reporters. “Let me restate our confidence in the Ukrainian arms for making this counteroffensive a success.”

Ukraine‘s counteroffensive has focused on retaking areas of eastern Ukraine seized by Russian troops earlier this year and in advancing south to sever a land bridge established by Russia between annexed Crimea and positions held in the east.

Russian strikes kill five in Kherson and Donetsk regions

Thursday 28 September 2023 20:11 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian strikes have killed five and injured six in the Kherson and Donetsk regions of Ukraine, officials have said.

Three women were killed in the street after artillery hit a residential area in Kherson, internal affairs minister Ihor Klymenko confirmed, whilst in the east of the country, two men were killed in attacks on Krasnohorivka.

A further three people were injured, with three more injuries sustained by further shelling nearby in Kostyantynivka.

ICYMI: Ukraine says hundreds of Wagner fighters back on battlefield months after failed coup

Thursday 28 September 2023 19:45 , Eleanor Noyce

Several hundred fighters of the Wagner mercenary group have returned to Ukraine to fight in Russia’s continuing invasion but have not made a significant impact on the battlefield, military officials in Kyiv said.

“We have recorded the presence of a maximum of several hundred fighters of the former Wagner PMC (private military company),” spokesperson for the eastern military command Serhiy Cherevatyi said.

These Wagner fighters were scattered in different places, were not part of a single unit, and had had no significant impact, he said.

Arpan Rai has more:

Ukraine says Wagner fighters back on battlefield months after failed coup

NATO's secretary-general meets with Zelensky to discuss battlefield and ammunition needs in Ukraine

Thursday 28 September 2023 19:15 , Eleanor Noyce

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg met with President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss the status of the war and needs of troops on Thursday, the day after Russia accused Ukraine’s Western allies of helping plan and conduct last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet’s headquarters on the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Zelensky said that Stoltenberg agreed to make efforts to get NATO members to help provide additional air defense systems to protect Ukraine’s power plants and energy infrastructure that were badly damaged in relentless and deadly attacks by Russia last winter. He also reminded the secretary-general of the persistent attacks that often strike civilian areas, including 40 drone attacks overnight.

“In the face of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, our ports, which are crucial for global food security, we need a corresponding intensity of pressure on Russia and a strengthening of our air defense,” Zelensky said. “The world must see how Russia is losing dearly so that our shared values ultimately prevail.”

More here:

NATO's secretary-general meets with Zelenskyy to discuss battlefield and ammunition needs in Ukraine

Swiss court acquits former Belarusian security operative in case of enforced disappearances

Thursday 28 September 2023 18:45 , Eleanor Noyce

A court in northern Switzerland on Thursday acquitted a former security Belarusian operative over the enforced disappearances of three of President Aleksander Lukashenko’s political opponents in the late 1990s, said an advocacy group that spearheaded the case.

Judges in the northern town of Rorschach said they were not convinced that the defendant, Yuri Harauski, a former member of a Belarusian military unit known as SOBR, was involved in the disappearances.

According to the Geneva-based advocacy group TRIAL International, the court ruled that Harauski’s participation in the crimes could not be established beyond reasonable doubt.

Jamey Keaten reports:

Swiss court acquits former Belarusian security operative in case of enforced disappearances

Why this week's mass exodus from embattled Nagorno-Karabakh reflects decades of animosity

Thursday 28 September 2023 18:15 , Eleanor Noyce

The exodus of ethnic Armenians this week from the region known as Nagorno-Karabakh has been a vivid and shocking tableau of fear and misery. Roads are jammed with cars lumbering with heavy loads, waiting for hours in traffic jams. People sit amid mounds of hastily packed luggage.

As of Thursday, about 70,000 people had left the breakaway region for Armenia. That’s a huge number — more than half of the population of the region that is located entirely within Azerbaijan.

Still, it’s not the largest displacement of civilians in three decades of conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan following the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union.

After ethnic Armenian forces secured control of Nagorno-Karabakh and surrounding territories in 1994, refugee organizations estimated that some 900,000 people had fled to Azerbaijan and 300,000 to Armenia.

Read more:

Why this week's mass exodus from embattled Nagorno-Karabakh reflects decades of animosity

Poland says none of its helicopters violated Belarusian airspace

Thursday 28 September 2023 17:49 , Eleanor Noyce

Poland said none of its helicopters had violated Belarusian airspace, denying an earlier report from the Belarusian defence ministry that Polish aircraft had crossed the border on Thursday.

“The Operational Command unequivocally denies these reports. None of the Polish helicopters crossed the airspace of Belarus,” a spokesperson of the Operational Command of the Armed Forces told Reuters.

Food prices are rising as countries limit exports. Blame climate change, El Nino and Russia's war

Thursday 28 September 2023 17:30 , Eleanor Noyce

How do you cook a meal when a staple ingredient is unaffordable?

This question is playing out in households around the world as they face shortages of essential foods like rice, cooking oil and onions. That is because countries have imposed restrictions on the food they export to protect their own supplies from the combined effect of the war in Ukraine, El Nino’s threat to food production and increasing damage from climate change.

For Caroline Kyalo, a 28-year-old who works in a salon in Kenya‘s capital of Nairobi, it was a question of trying to figure out how to cook for her two children without onions. Restrictions on the export of the vegetable by neighbouring Tanzania has led prices to triple.

More here:

Food prices are rising as countries limit exports. Blame climate change, El Nino and Russia's war

Why did Russia invade Ukraine?

Thursday 28 September 2023 17:16 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia’s “special military operation” in Ukraine has been raging for one year now as the conflict continues to record devastating casualties and force the mass displacement of millions of blameless Ukrainians.

Vladimir Putin began the war by claiming Russia’s neighbour needed to be “demilitarised and de-Nazified”, a baseless pretext on which to launch a landgrab against an independent state that happens to have a Jewish president in Volodymyr Zelensky.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.

More here:

Here’s why Putin really invaded Ukraine

Belarus says Polish helicopter violated its airspace

Thursday 28 September 2023 16:58 , Eleanor Noyce

Belarus said on Thursday that a Polish helicopter had violated its airspace.

“Around 1520 (1220 GMT) the aircraft crossed the border of the Republic of Belarus, flew to a depth of up to 1.5 kilometres. At 1622, the helicopter repeatedly violated the state border, going 300 metres deep,” the Ministry of Defence of Belarus said in its Telegram channel.

Belarus, Russia’s closest ally, said it had scrambled military aircraft in response.

ICYMI: Grant Shapps visits President Zelensky in Ukraine

Thursday 28 September 2023 16:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Grant Shapps has visited Kyiv and met Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The Defence Secretary used the visit to reaffirm the UK’s commitment to support Ukraine as it defends itself against the Russian invasion of its territory.

In his second visit to Kyiv in two months, Mr Shapps held meetings with his Ukrainian counterpart Rustem Umerov, alongside the UK’s chief of defence staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

Read more:

Grant Shapps visits President Zelensky in Ukraine

Putin’s shameless UN charm offensive - with stolen grain from Ukraine

Thursday 28 September 2023 16:40 , Eleanor Noyce

A desperate Vladimir Putin, increasingly isolated on the world stage, is eyeing a return to the UN Human Rights Council – and he has launched a shameless charm offensive to get him there.

Armed with stolen Ukrainian grain, the Russian president is on a mission to curry favour with potential backers ahead of a vote for council membership next month, although his efforts are likely to fall short.

Two years after being kicked off the panel for invading its neighbour, Putin has ordered his diplomats to try and secure the backing of enough countries for Moscow to beat two other eastern European nations on 10 October.

Russia is on a mission to grab a seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council - and to add insult to injury it’s using crops plundered from its illegal war to curry favour with potential backers, writes Arpan Rai:

Vladimir Putin’s charm offensive to stop Russia being a global pariah

Ukraine's Zelensky taps celebrities for roles as special adviser and charity ambassador

Thursday 28 September 2023 16:26 , Eleanor Noyce

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has appointed former Ukrainian soccer great Andriy Shevchenko as a special adviser and British actor Mark Strong as an ambassador to the charity that the Ukrainian president set up to raise money for Ukraine, his office announced.

It was not clear what Shevchenko’s duties as adviser to the president would entail but the former star striker for Ukraine and squads across Europe suggested it would expand on his work as ambassador of United24, a charity created by Zelenskyy to collect donations for his nation after Russia’s invasion in 2022.

“My role hasn’t changed that much but I’m going to work even harder now,” he said after playing in an all-star golf match preceding the Ryder Cup outside Rome on Wednesday. “It’s an important job helping my country abroad through soccer and charity events and keeping people talking about Ukraine.”

More here:

Ukraine's Zelenskyy taps celebrities for roles as special adviser and charity ambassador

Ukraine says hundreds of Wagner fighters back on battlefield months after failed coup

Thursday 28 September 2023 16:08 , Eleanor Noyce

Several hundred fighters of the Wagner mercenary group have returned to Ukraine to fight in Russia’s continuing invasion but have not made a significant impact on the battlefield, military officials in Kyiv said.

“We have recorded the presence of a maximum of several hundred fighters of the former Wagner PMC (private military company),” spokesperson for the eastern military command Serhiy Cherevatyi said.

These Wagner fighters were scattered in different places, were not part of a single unit, and had no significant impact, he said.

Read more:

Ukraine says Wagner fighters back on battlefield months after failed coup

Germany and Israel sign an agreement for Berlin to buy a US-Israeli missile defense system

Thursday 28 September 2023 15:50 , Eleanor Noyce

Germany and Israel on Thursday signed an agreement for Berlin to buy the sophisticated Arrow 3 missile defense system, designed to intercept long-range ballistic missiles. The development is the latest step in Berlin’s bid to strengthen its air defenses following Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine.

Germany aims to integrate the system into wider NATO air defense efforts. Last year, Berlin launched the European Sky Shield Initiative, which now includes 19 countries.

Israel secured U.S. approval in August for the $3.5 billion deal, which was needed because the system was jointly developed with the United States.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his Israeli counterpart Yoav Gallant signed a memorandum of understanding in Berlin on Thursday for the purchase of Arrow 3.

Read more:

Germany and Israel sign an agreement for Berlin to buy a US-Israeli missile defense system

Kosovo accuses Serbia of direct involvement in deadly clashes and investigates possible Russian role

Thursday 28 September 2023 15:35 , Eleanor Noyce

Kosovo’s interior minister on Thursday accused Serbia of direct involvement in weekend clashes and was investigating the possibility of Russian involvement in the violence that left four people dead and further strained relations between the former wartime foes.

One Kosovo police officer and three gunmen were killed in Sunday’s shootout between Serb insurgents and Kosovo police. Eight people were initially arrested, but four of them have been released from custody because of a lack of evidence.

Kosovo Interior Minister Xhelal Sveçla told The Associated Press in an interview that investigators were looking at evidence linking Russia, an ally of Serbia, to the armed assault. Russian weapons, other equipment and documents suggesting Russian involvement were discovered after the daylong gunbattle, he said.

Zana Cimili has more:

Kosovo accuses Serbia of direct involvement in deadly clashes and investigates possible Russian role

Vladimir Putin’s charm offensive to stop Russia being a global pariah

Thursday 28 September 2023 15:18 , Eleanor Noyce

Russia is likely using Ukraine’s own grain supplies to buy votes for its return to a seat on the UN’s Human Rights Council, experts say, less than two years after it was kicked off the panel for invading its neighbour.

Vladimir Putin has ordered a charm offensive by his diplomats to try and secure the backing of enough countries for Moscow to beat two other eastern European nations in a vote for council membership on 10 October.

A Russian position paper circulated to dozens of other countries ahead of the vote strikes a markedly different tone to the nuclear threats and wartime sabre-rattling of Putin’s addresses since he invaded Ukraine, calling for “constructive mutually respectful dialogue” and referring to the 47-member Human Rights Council as “a key body in the United Nations system”.

Russia is pressuring smaller countries to vote in its favour next month when the membership of the UN Human Rights Council is decided, 18 months after it was kicked out of the panel for invading neighbour Ukraine. Arpan Rai speaks to experts about Moscow’s chances:

Vladimir Putin’s charm offensive to stop Russia being a global pariah

Chechen leader Kadyrov meets Putin after storm over prisoner beating

Thursday 28 September 2023 15:15 , Eleanor Noyce

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said he discussed his region’s contribution to Russia’s war effort in Ukraine at talks with President Vladimir Putin on Thursday that came at a sensitive moment in relations between the two sides.

Kadyrov enjoys wide leeway from Putin to run Chechnya ruthlessly as his personal fiefdom, but he angered even pro-Kremlin hardliners this week by praising his 15-year-old son for beating up an ethnic Russian prisoner in Chechen custody.

Kadyrov posted on Telegram that he and Putin had talked about a range of topics including the role of Chechen fighters in Ukraine. He added teasingly that “other issues” were raised, and promised “more on this later.”

It was not clear if he was referring to the beating incident last month in which his son Adam kicked and punched a prisoner called Nikita Zhuravel who is accused of burning the Koran.

Kadyrov posted a video of the attack on Monday and said he was proud of his son for defending his Muslim religion.

The alleged Koran-burning did not take place in Chechnya but Russian investigators said they transferred Zhuravel to Chechen custody because Muslims there saw themselves as victims of the incident.

Ukraine repel Putin’s attacks as fighting escalates in Russia’s push to retake lost land

Thursday 28 September 2023 14:55 , Eleanor Noyce

Ukrainian soldiers fought off fierce Russian attacks on the battlefield on Wednesday as the invading troops continued to recapture lost territory in eastern Ukraine, military officials said.

Some progress was also seen in southern Ukraine – another pocket of heavy territorial battle in Russia’s 20-month-old invasion.

“We continue to repel intense enemy attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka. The enemy is still storming these positions with the hope of recapturing lost positions, but without success,” Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern group of forces, told national television.

The two villages – Klishchiivka and Andriivka – near Bakhmut were retaken from Russian control in mid-September in a span of three days, marking a significant territorial feat in the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

There had been 544 Russian shelling incidents in the past 24 hours in the area, seven combat clashes and four air attacks, the military spokesperson said.

Arpan Rai has more:

Ukraine repel Putin’s attacks as fighting escalates in Russia’s push to retake land

Kazakhstan won't help Russia evade sanctions, president tells Germany

Thursday 28 September 2023 14:25 , Eleanor Noyce

Germany should not fear that Kazakhstan will try to help Russia circumvent Western sanctions imposed over its invasion of Ukraine, Kazakh president Tokayev said on Thursday after talks with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin.

Tokayev said Kazakhstan continued to call for talks between Russia and Ukraine on ending the war, now in its 20th month, and that it had no concerns about Moscow threatening its own territorial integrity.

The large former Soviet state in Central Asia shares a long border with Russia and is home to a large ethnic Russian minority.

Ukrainian forces are ‘gradually gaining ground’, NATO chief says

Thursday 28 September 2023 14:11 , Eleanor Noyce

NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg, on a visit to Kyiv, said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, Mr Stoltenberg said “every metre that Ukrainian forces regain is a metre that Russia loses”.

“And there is a stark contrast: Ukrainians are fighting for their families, their future, their freedom,” he added. “Moscow is fighting for imperial delusions.”

Zelensky stressed Ukraine‘s need for more air defence against Russian attacks, saying Moscow had used more than 40 Shahed drones in strikes on Ukraine the previous night alone.

“And so it is almost every night. In the conditions of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, ports - which are important for global food security - we need a corresponding increase in pressure on Russia and a corresponding increase in our air shield,” he said.

Mr Stoltenberg said he was “constantly pushing” NATO allies to provide more support to Ukraine and speed up delivery, “not least” of air defence systems.

Mr Stoltenberg announced that NATO now had over-arching framework contracts in place with arms companies worth 2.4 billion euros ($2.53 billion) for ammunition, including 1 billion euros in firm orders.

China makes large purchases of Ukrainian corn - traders

Thursday 28 September 2023 14:04 , Eleanor Noyce

Chinese importers are believed to have made large purchases of animal feed corn from Ukraine in the past two weeks, traders in Asia and Europe said on Thursday.

The traders were unable to say the precise volumes but several said they amounted to several hundred thousand metric tons. A Ukrainian government source also confirmed corn sales to China.

“Importers in China have bought around 10 to 12 Panamax cargoes of Ukrainian corn for November/December shipment,” said a Singapore-based trader at an international grains trading company, referring to a size of ship with a capacity that typically exceeds 60,000 tons of grain.

”Ukraine is the cheapest origin for corn as of now”, the trader said.

A Ukrainian government source said: “I cannot tell you the volume, but I know that many (traders) did it and it is a good trend (for Ukrainian corn).”

China is traditionally one of the biggest buyers of Ukraine‘s corn to meet its animal feed needs. Chinese corn shipments were among the largest freight types transported in the United Nations-backed safe shipping channel from Ukrainian ports that ended in July after Russia quit the deal.

Grant Shapps makes first trip to Kyiv as Defence Secretary

Thursday 28 September 2023 14:00 , Alex Ross

Grant Shapps discussed how to bolster Ukraine‘s air defences during talks in Kyiv with Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday.

The visit to the Ukrainian capital was Shapps’ first to wartime Kyiv since he became defence secretary last month.

Shapps and Zelenskiy discussed beefing up air defences in Ukraine amid fears that Russia will use long-range missiles and drones to target critical energy infrastructure in the depths of winter, according to a statement released by Zelensky’s office.

Ukraine’s new defence minister, Rustem Umerov, also met Shapps and said he had briefed him on the battlefield situation and Kyiv’s urgent needs.

“Focus on air defence, artillery, anti-drone systems. Winter is coming but we are ready. Stronger together,” Umerov said on X.

Power station damaged in Russian attack in southern Ukraine - ministry

Thursday 28 September 2023 13:49 , Eleanor Noyce

Russian shelling damaged a combined heat and power station in southern Ukraine overnight, the Ukrainian energy ministry said.

Ukraine‘s national grid operator, Ukrenergo, had earlier on Thursday described the plant as a thermal power station but an energy ministry statement said all thermal power plants in territory controlled by Ukraine were in operation.

“Unfortunately, last night a combined heat and power station in one of the towns in the south of the country was damaged by shelling,” the ministry said.

It said the station had not been in operation at the time of the attack and a warehouse had caught fire. The blaze was subsequently extinguished, it added.

Ukrainian cities are often equipped with small combined heating and power stations, which not only heat homes but also generate electricity.

In an emailed comment to Reuters, Ukrenergo said it was not able to provide further details under current legislation during wartime.

Fears over a ‘terrorist attack’

Thursday 28 September 2023 13:40 , Alex Ross

Back in June, Ukraine accused Moscow of plotting a terrorist attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Claiming Moscow had reduced its presence at the huge plant, the Ukraine Main Directorate of Intelligence at the Ministry of Defence (GUR) had claimed that the number of military patrols around the site of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe and in the nearby city of Enerhodar had been gradually been decreasing.

Personnel remaining at the plant – occupied by Moscow’s forces – were told to blame Ukraine “in case of any emergency situations”, claimed Kyiv.

Russia reducing military presence at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says Ukraine

“Gradually gaining ground” - NATO Secretary on Ukraine advances

Thursday 28 September 2023 13:20 , Alex Ross

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, said on Thursday that Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Stoltenberg also said Russian troops were fighting for Moscow’s “imperial delusions”.

Stoltenberg announced that NATO now had over-arching framework contracts in place with arms companies for key ammunition.

He said such contracts would allow NATO members to replenish their depleted stockpiles while also continuing to provide Ukraine with ammunition, a key factor in the war.

Stoltenberg also condemned Russian strikes near Ukraine‘s border with NATO member Romania. He said there was no evidence such strikes were a deliberate attack on Romania but branded them “reckless” and “destabilizing”.