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11:45 PM

Sumy mayor held in custody on corruption charges.

Sumy's mayor, Oleksandr Lysenko, was being held in custody with the possibility of posting an Hr 3,000,000 bail (about $82,000), Ukraine's High Anti-Corruption Court (HACC) announced on Facebook on Oct. 4.

11:30 PM

Bild: Scholz blocking delivery of Taurus missiles to Ukraine for the foreseeable future.

Germany will not send long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine due to Chancellor Olaf Scholz's fears that the move will draw Germany into the war, Bild reported on Oct. 4, citing unnamed German and Ukrainian sources as well as Scholz's previous comments.

11:15 PM

War update

Ukraine war latest: Kyiv says special forces conducted operation in occupied Crimea

10:02 PM

UN report officially rejects Russian claim that HIMARS caused Olenivka prison explosions.

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) categorically dismissed Russia's claim that the Olenivka prison massacre was caused by a Ukrainian HIMARS rocket, according to a report released on Oct. 4.

9:47 PM

Ukraine develops 'invisibility cloak' to protect soldiers from thermal imagery.

Ukrainian developers are looking to bring science-fiction to life with an "invisibility cloak," a lightweight overcoat able to hide soldiers from Russian thermal imagery, Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov announced on Oct. 4.

9:39 PM

US Central Command: confiscated Iranian munitions sent to Ukraine.

Over a million rounds of 7.62mm ammunition confiscated from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was transferred by the U.S. to Ukraine, the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) reported on Oct. 4.

9:05 PM

Culture

Two sisters capture the beauty of Ukraine’s villages before it’s gone

8:12 PM

Ombudsman: Russia to open military camp for youth in occupied Crimea.

Russia will open a new military-oriented camp for youth in Yevpatoria, occupied Crimea, where young people will be indoctrinated with Russian military ideology, Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Telegram on Oct. 4.

8:02 PM

Russian ammunition detonates in Kherson field, man seriously injured.

A man has been seriously injured after he came across ammunition left behind by Russian ammunition, which then exploded, Kherson Oblast Military Administration reported on Oct. 4. The 32-year-old man lost a limb, among other injuries, and was taken to hospital for treatment.

7:46 PM

Russian attack on Nikopol injures 1.

Nikopol was targeted by Russian artillery and an attack drone during the day, injuring one civilian, Dnipropetrovsk Governor Serhii Lysak reported on Oct. 4.

6:53 PM

Hungary issues more demands following suspension of OTP Bank from 'international sponsors of war' list.

Hungary "still needs guarantees," that the Hungarian OTP bank will not be reinstated to Ukraine's international sponsors of war list, Foreign Affairs Minister Peter Szijjarto said on Oct. 4.

6:41 PM

Should Ukraine be in NATO?

5:55 PM

Police announces discovery of fraud scheme selling non-existent cars for military.

Ukraine's National Police uncovered a criminal fraud network, in which individuals allegedly sold non-existent vehicles, including to soldiers and volunteers who planned to use them on the front, the service reported on Oct. 4.

5:34 PM

Bloomberg: Azerbaijani President cancels plans to attend peace talks with Armenia.

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has canceled plans to attend peace talks on Nagorno-Karabakh with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Bloomberg reported on Oct. 4, citing local media.

4:05 PM

Military intelligence: Special forces land in Crimea in military operation.

Ukrainian special forces landed on Russian-occupied Crimea and conducted a combat operation, Ukraine's military intelligence agency (HUR) announced via a video published online on Oct. 4.

3:42 PM

Ambassador: Ukraine in dialogue with most US House Speaker candidates.

"Many names are already being actively discussed, such as Majority Leader (Steve) Scalise, who is next in the party's hierarchy after the speaker," Markarova wrote on social media.

3:02 PM

SBU detains 3 alleged Russian spies operating in Kharkiv, Zhytomyr oblasts.

At the instruction of their Russian handlers, the suspects allegedly collected information on Ukraine's Armed Forces and the consequences of Russian strikes in Kharkiv and Zhytomyr oblasts.

2:50 PM

Moldova to ban pro-Russian party members from running for election.

The Moldovan parliament is set to approve amendments to the election code that will ban members of the pro-Russian Shor party from participating in elections, the parliament's speaker Igor Grosu said on Oct. 4.

2:46 PM

Poll: Most Americans favor Ukraine aid, but partisan divide widens.

Most Americans continue to support for Ukraine's military (63%) and continued economic assistance (61%), which is slightly lower than a year ago.

1:51 PM

Ukraine completes investigation into killing of EuroMaidan protesters, indicts Yanukovych for murder.

The investigation into the killing of EuroMaidan protesters in Kyiv in February 2014 has been completed and former President Viktor Yanukovych has been formally charged with a range of crimes including murder, the General Prosecutor's Office announced on Oct. 4.

1:38 PM

Media: SBU drones hit Russian S-400 air defense system near Belgorod.

The strike was reportedly carried out at night. In videos on Russian Telegram channels, allegedly taken in Belgorod and published in the early hours of Oct. 4, the sounds of explosions can be heard over the city.

12:39 PM

Venice bus crash kills 21 people, including at least 4 Ukrainians.

A bus crash in Italy on Tuesday killed at least four Ukrainians, local media reported on Oct. 4. In total, 21 people on board were killed, the local authorities said.

11:27 AM

Politico: EU to announce Ukraine membership talks in December.

According to Politico, the EU's executive arm will publish its "progress report" in November and will make it "very hard for member states not to say let's open negotiations" for Ukraine.

10:47 AM

Lithuania opens transit corridor for Ukrainian grain.

"Russia destroys food, Lithuania delivers it," Lithuanian Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis wrote on the social platform X. "A corridor for grain transit to Baltic ports has been accepted and agreed upon, relieving pressure at the Ukrainian border and increasing supply to Africa and beyond."

10:25 AM

Russian attacks kill 1, injure 24 over past day.

In Donetsk Oblast, seven people were injured in Russian attacks, the Donetsk Oblast Military Administration reported. Three residents were wounded in Illinivka, three more in Vyshneve, and one in Avdiivka, the officials clarified.

MORE NEWS

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ISW: Russia's military formalization efforts aim at restricting Prigozhin's independence

by Olena Goncharova June 13, 2023 7:35 AM 2 min read

This audio is created with AI assistance

The Institute for the Study of War said in its recent update that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and the Russian military command are seeking to regain favor with Russian President Vladimir Putin following successful defensive operations in southern Ukraine and their pursuit of formalizing Russian irregular forces, which was likely part of their original plan in the early months of 2023.

Shoigu announced on June 10 that Russian volunteer personnel must sign contracts directly with the ministry by July 1. Wagner's mercenary boss brushed off the Russian order to sign contracts: “Wagner will not sign any contracts with Shoigu,” Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group, said on June 11.

A Wagner-affiliated military blogger claimed that Shoigu’s new decree legalizes the destruction of private military companies and that the Russian Ministry of defense will use this decree "to stop providing Wagner forces with ammunition, medical assistance, and military equipment." Under current and longstanding Russian law, private military forces are illegal. Since its inception roughly ten years ago, Wagner has maintained an uneasy peace with Russian lawmakers, justifying its existence by operating in theatres where it has been beneficial for the Russian regular armed forces to maintain plausible deniability, such as Crimea and Donbas in 2014.

The ISW says that Wagner's operations on the Bakhmut front line in winter and spring 2023 and the Russian ministry's lack of decisive victories in Donbas may have limited the Defense Ministry to pursue its desired formalization of Russian forces sooner.

"The move is likely militarily sound and in part unrelated to the dispute with [Yevgeny] Prigozhin, as a formal accounting and direct control of Russia’s array of irregular formations will likely enable the Russian military command to redeploy forces as needed," the ISW said.

Olena Goncharova

Development Manager, Canadian Correspondent

Olena Goncharova is a development manager and Canadian correspondent for the Kyiv Independent. She first joined the Kyiv Post, Ukraine's oldest English-language newspaper, as a staff writer in January 2012 and became the newspaper’s Canadian correspondent in June 2018. She is based in Edmonton, Alberta. Olena has a master’s degree in publishing and editing from the Institute of Journalism in Taras Shevchenko National University in Kyiv. Olena was a 2016 Alfred Friendly Press Partners fellow who worked for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for six months. The program is administered by the University of Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia.

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