Ukraine Daily
Wednesday, September 28
Russia’s war against Ukraine
Locals draw drinking water from a traditional well in liberated Kupiansk, Kharkiv Oblast, on Sept. 24, 2022. (Francis Farrell/The Kyiv Independent)
Russian proxies announce final results of sham annexation votes. The proxies in Moscow-held territories of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts claimed that nearly all residents voted in favor of joining Russia. Moscow seeks to use sham referendums, held at gunpoint and despite international outrage between Sept. 23-27, to illegally annex Ukrainian lands, as it did in Crimea in 2014. Ukrainian officials said the “referendums” were held under coercive conditions, with Russian soldiers carrying weapons doing house calls to force Ukrainian citizens to vote. Russia’s state-controlled news outlet Ria Novosti claimed, citing proxies, that 99% voted in favor of joining Russia in Donetsk Oblast, as well as 98% in Luhansk Oblast, 87% in Kherson Oblast, and 93% in Zaporizhzhia region.
German Ambassador: Risks of Russia using nuclear weapons against Ukraine are low. German Ambassador to Ukraine Anka Feldhusen told the European Pravda media outlet that she doesn’t brush off the possibility of a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine since Russian dictator Vladimir Putin “has the weapons.” Feldhusen added that the risks of Russia using its nuclear weapons to attack Kyiv are currently “limited, but if it happens, the impact will be very high.”
National Guard: 6 servicemen recently released from Russian captivity have severe injuries. According to the head of the National Guard’s medical department, Denys Trehub, six out of 118 National Guard servicepeople released from Russian captivity on Sept. 21 “have complications” following blast injuries, post-concussion syndrome, and limb fractures. Those people require “long-term and comprehensive treatment,” Trehub said. Other National Guard soldiers released from Russian captivity have health issues caused by malnutrition, according to Trehub.
Russian proxies close Enerhodar for exit, threaten residents with mobilization. Russian troops have banned residents of occupied Enerhodar**,** Zaporizhzhia Oblast, from leaving the city and are threatening people who voted against joining Russia in the sham referendum with mobilization, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported on Sept. 27. “There are Russian patrols on the streets handing out ‘ballots’ for the ‘referendum,’” the report reads. “They point weapons at people, give them these ‘ballots’ and tell exactly which box to check.”
Ukraine’s Armed Forces liberate Kupiansk-Vuzlovy in Kharkiv Oblast. Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said on Sept. 27 that the village of Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi, located on the left bank of the Oskil River, has been liberated. About 6% of the oblast remains under Russian control, according to Syniehubov.
Blinken: Ukraine can use US-provided weapons ‘to regain occupied territories.’ According to CNN, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Sept. 27 that Ukraine “would be able to use” the weapons provided by the U.S. to regain its territory, including in Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson oblasts where Russia held its sham referendums.
ISW: Russia may attempt to reframe invasion of Ukraine as ‘counterterrorism operation.’ The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment that Russian officials may try to justify their occupation of soon-to-be-annexed Ukrainian territory as a “counterterrorism operation.” Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said on Sept. 26 that Russian officials may temporarily shut down the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant while conducting their “counterterrorism operations” in newly-annexed territories, citing a Russian federal law that allows for the suspension of radiological facilities during counterterrorism efforts.
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Ukraine war latest: Russia declares nearly 100% support in sham annexation votes. Russian proxies announced they have calculated the results and claimed that nearly all residents in the four partially occupied regions voted in favor of joining Russia.
Photo: Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
From occupation to active war zone: Danger persists for Ukrainians in liberated territories. For the handful of Ukrainians left in the center of Kupiansk, life since liberation from Russian occupation has been reduced to an exercise in survival.
Photo: Oleksandra Sakharuk
At a camp for displaced persons, Ukrainians fear being kicked out as winter looms. Since its independence, Ukraine’s diplomatic efforts have focused primarily on looking West. Meanwhile, Russia has set its sights all over the world.
Photo: Anastasiia Lapatina/The Kyiv Independent
The human cost of Russia’s war
Police: Over 580 war crimes recorded in liberated Kharkiv Oblast. According to the Interior Ministry’s spokesperson Alyona Matveeva, since Sept. 23, police investigators have recorded more than 582 war crimes committed by Russian forces in Kharkiv Oblast. Matveeva also informed media that since exhumations began in Izium, police have identified 212 deceased women, more than 190 men, five children, and 22 servicemen of the Armed Forces were found. The gender of 12 bodies has not yet been identified.
Russia’s attacks kill 3 civilians in Donetsk Oblast, 1 in Kharkiv Oblast. In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed three and injured 13 civilians in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the oblast governor. Russian troops have also shelled Kharkiv Oblast, killing one and wounding five people, according to Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
General Staff: Russia has lost 57,750 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Sept. 27. that Russia had also lost 2,306 tanks, 4,881 armored fighting vehicles, 3,730 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,378 artillery systems, 331 multiple launch rocket systems, 175 air defense systems, 261 airplanes, 224 helicopters, 977 drones, and 15 boats.
International response
Politico: US, allies step up intelligence following Russia’s nuclear threats. According to five current and former U.S. officials interviewed by Politico, the U.S. and allied intelligence agencies increase their efforts to detect any Russian military moves that might signal Russian dictator Vladimir Putin has ordered the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. The move included tasking additional U.S. and allied intelligence assets — in the air, space and cyberspace — and relying more heavily on commercial satellites to analyze Russian units in the field that might be in position to receive a nuclear strike order, one of the officials said.
Lithuania to provide nearly 25,000 Ukrainian soldiers with winter uniforms. According to Lithuanian media outlet Delfi, the country’s Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said Lithuania will purchase winter uniforms “worth several million euros” and transfer them to Ukraine.
Reuters: US prepares $1.1 billion arms package for Ukraine. The U.S. is preparing a new $1.1 billion arms package for Ukraine which will be announced in the coming days, Reuters reports citing U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. The latest installment of weapons will likely include HIMARS launcher systems and accompanying munitions, different counter-drone and radar systems, along with spares, training and technical support, a source briefed on the plan told Reuters.
CNN: White House requests $35 million to assist Ukraine’s nuclear security. The funds would be used “to support procurement and maintenance of additional sensors, data assessment, and analysis, and to supply the Ukrainian National Guard with protective capabilities at nuclear power plants,” CNN reported citing an unnamed U.S. official. Russia has been using the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in occupied Enerhodar as a base to launch attacks on Ukraine, putting the world’s nuclear security under threat.
In other news
Reuters: Droughts, Russia’s war in Ukraine reduce world grain stocks to 10-year low. By the end of the 2022/23 crop year, the world will face the most significant grain shortage in a decade due to droughts in key agricultural regions and disruption of grain export from Ukraine, Reuters reported on Sept. 27.
Bloomberg: Europe is ready for winter without Russian gas. European countries may import almost 40% more liquefied gas in the coming winter year over year and increase purchases next summer by about 14% to rebuild lost inventories, according to BloombergNEF. “Those shipments are enough (for Europe) to cover a complete halt in Russian pipeline flows from Oct. 1,” it wrote.
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