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10:55 PM

US House of Representatives passes funding bill to avoid government shutdown.

NBC News reported on Sept. 30 that the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bipartisan funding bill to avoid a government shutdown but that the deal currently lacks additional defense aid for Ukraine.

8:13 PM

NATO announces additional peacekeeping forces in Kosovo.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg announced on Sept. 29 that the military alliance had approved additional peacekeeping forces in Kosovo after unrest along the Kosovo-Serbia border that left four people dead.

7:39 PM

Foreign Ministry: Belarus to showcase abducted Ukrainian children at meeting with foreign diplomats.

Belarus is planning to organize a visit for foreign representatives at locations where Ukrainian children taken from regions temporarily occupied by Russia are kept, the Foreign Ministry said on Sept. 30.

7:13 PM

Medvedev threatens Russia will seize more Ukrainian regions.

In a Telegram message commemorating one year since Russia's illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions, Medvedev said "there will be more new regions within Russia."

6:27 PM

Media: Nearly 100,000 people have left Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia.

As of 8:00 p.m. on Sept. 29, 98,625 people have left Nagorno-Karabakh for Armenia, a spokesperson for Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Nazeli Baghdasaryan, said.

5:50 PM

Borrell makes unannounced visit to Odesa.

"Odesa is a beautiful historic city. It should be in the headlines for its vibrant culture (and) spirit," Borrell wrote on Twitter. "Instead, it marks the news as a frequent target of Putin's war."

5:18 PM

Media: Russian soldier working with intelligence defects to Ukrainian forces.

The soldier, Daniil Alfyorov, had been working with Ukrainian intelligence since July and had successfully convinced 11 other Russian soldiers to defect to the Ukrainian side, Andriy Yusov, a HUR spokesman, said.

5:15 PM

Zelensky meets with Slovak defense minister.

According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, he and Slovak Defense Minister Martin Sklenar discussed cooperation with Slovakia regarding the Ukrainian military's needs, the situation at the front line, and de-mining.

4:15 PM

Special forces extract two soldiers who were in occupied land since start of invasion.

The Navy's intelligence arm was several weeks ago informed about the two Ukrainians who had been in occupied territory since the full-scale invasion began in February 2022.

3:03 PM

Kuleba: African countries interested in hosting Ukrainian defense plants on their soil.

Plagued by weapon and ammo shortages, Ukraine is not able to export anything defense-related at this time but is looking to return to being one of the world's leading armorers. The production of Ukrainian weapons on African soil is seen as an alternative to currently-impossible exports, Kuleba said, calling it a "new trend."

2:05 PM

Zaporizhzhia missile strike injures five, damages infrastructure.

Five people were injured on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia as the result of a Russian missile attack that also damaged five homes and a unit of infrastructure on Sept. 30, according to the regional military administration.

1:17 PM

Bulgaria bans Ukrainian sunflower imports until November.

Bulgaria has banned the import of Ukrainian sunflowers until the end of November after a meeting between both countries' agriculture ministers, Bulgaria's Agriculture Ministry said on Sept. 29.

12:25 PM

Dozens of international firms join Kyiv's new defense industry alliance.

Among other capabilities, the alliance will eventually pave the way for Ukraine to localize production of licensed foreign weapons on Ukrainian soil, said Andriy Yermak, head of the president's office. During his recent visit to Washington, Zelensky and U.S. President Joe Biden agreed to have their teams hammer out a roadmap for this kind of localization.

11:21 AM

Romania investigates another possible airspace violation by Russia.

The ministry reported that, as Russia was attacking Ukraine's ports on the Danube river, air alert sirens were activated in the nearby Romanian cities of Tulcea and Galati as radar systems detected an unsanctioned object heading towards the latter in Romania's airspace.

11:07 AM

General Staff: Russia has lost 278,130 troops since Feb 24, 2022.

This number includes 470 casualties Russian forces suffered just over the past day.

10:09 AM

Military: Ukraine shoots down 30 drones from overnight attack.

Most of the drones targeted Vinnytsia Oblast, where 20 of them were destroyed, the military said. Some are believed to have gotten through, striking infrastructure and causing a fire in Vinnytsia Oblast's Kalynivka community.

7:17 AM

General CQ Brown succeeds Mark Milley as US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs.

The chairman is the highest-ranking member of the U.S. military. Milley served in the role for four years before retiring on Sept. 29.

6:19 AM

ISW: Russia's FSB supports law expanding digital surveillance.

Amendments to a proposed bill in the Russian State Duma would allow law enforcement agencies direct access to personal data from Russian internet, banking, and telecom companies.

5:25 AM

Ukrainian refugee children in EU face 'perpetual uncertainty'.

Children who fled Ukraine for EU countries following Russia's all-out war struggle with language barriers, disrupted education, and psychological trauma, the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) reported on Sept. 29.

4:20 AM

Bryansk Oblast governor claims Ukrainian attack disrupted local power supply.

Governor Alexander Bogomaz claimed that Ukrainian forces attacked the village of Pogar and disrupted the local power supply in the early hours of Sept. 30.

3:53 AM

Russian forces attack 9 communities in Sumy Oblast.

The communities of Esman, Shalyhyne, Mykolaiv, Putyvl, Velyka Pysarivka, Khotin, Krasnopillia, and Yunakivka came under fire.

3:29 AM

Putin declares holiday commemorating occupation of Ukrainian regions.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin signed a decree marking Sept. 30 as a "reunification day" commemorating Russia's illegal annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson oblasts.

2:34 AM

Russian attack damages infrastructure in Vinnytsia Oblast.

On attack on Vinnystia Oblast the night of Sept. 30 damaged an infrastructure facility in the region, Oblast Governor Serhii Borzov reported via Telegram.

2:17 AM

Armenia sues Azerbaijan in International Court of Justice.

The request calls on the court to uphold the rights protected under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

1:32 AM

Front-line photographer Volodymyr Myroniuk killed in action.

Myroniuk, aged 59, was an independent photographer who documented Ukrainian soldiers at the front.

MORE NEWS

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ISW: Putin's Christmas ceasefire announcement likely campaign to damage Ukraine's reputation

by The Kyiv Independent news desk January 6, 2023 5:54 AM 2 min read

This audio is created with AI assistance

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s announcement on Dec. 5 that Russian forces will conduct a 36-hour ceasefire along the entire front line in Ukraine is likely an information operation intended to damage Ukraine's reputation, the Institute for the Study of War said in its latest report.

Putin ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu to implement a temporary ceasefire along the entire front line in Ukraine from midday on Jan. 6 to midnight on Jan. 7, according to Russian state media agency RIA Novosti, citing an official Kremlin press release.

Considering that Putin "cannot reasonably expect Ukraine to meet the terms of this suddenly declared ceasefire, (he) may have called for the ceasefire to frame Ukraine as unaccommodating and unwilling to take the necessary steps towards negotiations," the ISW wrote.

Ceasefires also take time to organize and implement, and if Putin were serious about the Jan. 6-7 ceasefire, it would not have been announced 24 hours in advance, according to the ISW.

Earlier on Jan. 5, Patriarch Kirill, leader of the Russian Orthodox Church and a fervent supporter of Russia's war in Ukraine, had called for a "Christmas Truce" inspired by the famous ceasefire on the Western Front on Dec. 24, 1914, so that Orthodox Christian soldiers on both sides "could visit church services on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day."

Putin’s announcement was ostensibly a response to Patriarch Kirill's statement, the ISW wrote in its assessment.

Both Ukrainian and Western officials, including U.S. President Joe Biden, immediately called out the hypocrisy of the ceasefire announcement, stressing that Russia had conducted attacks across Ukraine at military and civilian infrastructure on Dec. 25--when many Ukrainians celebrate Christmas--and New Year's, the ISW said.

On New Year's Eve, Russia attacked Ukraine with missiles, followed by an attack with 45 drones minutes after New Year's, killing one and injuring 28 civilians around the country, including three children.

The Kyiv Independent news desk

We are the news team of the Kyiv Independent. We are here to make sure our readers get quick, essential updates about the events in Ukraine. Feel free to contact us via email with feedback and news alerts.

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