Russian troops have launched a missile attack on Kurakhove, Donetsk Oblast, hitting a house and injuring 12 people, including two children, Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko reported on Sept. 21. Ukraine’s State Emergency Service continues the rescue operation, as one more person may still be under the rubble, according to Kyrylenko.
"Those who are silent today are serving – whether against their will or secretly with a certain complicity – the cause of a new imperialism," French President Emmanuel Macron said at the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 20.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in his speech at the UN General Assembly called Putin's actions "flagrant imperialism" and his plans to hold pseudo-referendums on occupied Ukrainian territories "a new round of escalation." "If we want Putin's war to end, then we cannot be indifferent to how it ends," Scholz tweeted later on Sept. 21. "This is why we will not accept a peace dictated by Russia – and we will not accept any sham referendums either."
Russia had also lost 2,227 tanks, 4,748 armored fighting vehicles, 3,610 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,340 artillery systems, 318 multiple launch rocket systems, 168 air defense systems, 253 airplanes, 217 helicopters, 932 drones, and 15 boats, Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Sept. 21.
According to data from Google Trends, the search for fleeing the country became highly popular in Russia on Sept. 20 after the Kremlin and its proxies announced plans to annex occupied territories in Ukraine. The annexation plans also coincided with speculation that mobilization will be announced following the Russian parliament's adoption of tighter penalties for deserters during mobilization and martial law. Russian dictator Vladimir Putin is expected to make a statement about these issues on Sept. 21.
Dozhd, a Russian independent TV channel, reported that conscripts of Russia's 25th Motorized Rifle Brigade based in the city of Luga, Leningrad Oblast, are being transferred to the town of Valuyki in Belgorod Oblast. According to the channel, Russia plans to transfer up to 400 conscripts from the brigade to Belgorod Oblast. Russian conscripts have been sent to the frontline in Ukraine before.
According to Bloomberg, a new guidance by the European Commission says that the transfer of some Russian goods, including coal and related products, “should be allowed to combat food and energy insecurity around the world.” Poland and the Baltic countries have criticized the updated sanctions guidance during meetings between European ministers, asking the commission to “withhold publication of the document until the matter was addressed,” Bloomberg reported, citing its anonymous sources.
U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said on Sept. 20 that Russia is rushing to hold pseudo-referendums on the annexation of Ukrainian territories in response to Ukraine’s gains on the battlefield, as well as to prepare for its “potential mobilization." He said that it’s an “affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that underpin the international system and lie at the heart of the United Nations Charter.”
Ukraine’s main defense company did not specify the name of the NATO member country but said the agreement had already been signed. Ukroboronprom did not provide any details on the location of the factory.
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Russia’s plans to hold pseudo-referendums on Sept. 23-27 to annex occupied Ukrainian territories. He said that “referendums” in regions that have been bombed by Russian troops are "a signature of cynicism."
Ukraine's Air Force Command said that the Su-25 aircraft was shot down in Kherson Oblast, while the Iranian-manufactured Shahed-136 kamikaze drone was destroyed in Mykolaiv Oblast on Sept. 20.
According to Zaporizhzhia Oblast Governor Oleksandr Starukh, Russian forces attacked the villages of Hryhorivka, Yulivka, Richne, and Komyshuvakha in Zaporizhzhia Oblast on Sept. 20. No casualties have been reported yet.
Due to a lack of personnel, the Russian authorities have decided to withdraw units of its 217th Airborne Regiment from Syria and transfer them to the frontline in Ukraine, the General Staff reported on Sept. 20.
According to Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov, a Russian attack on the village of Hrushivka, not far from the recently liberated Kupiansk, injured nine civilians, including four children, on Sept. 20.
Russia has illegally deported more than 2,000 Ukrainian children, depriving them of parental care, Suspilne reported on Sept. 20, citing Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk. While Ukrainian authorities are trying to return the kids, Russia prepares some of them for “adoption,” Vereshchuk said. On July 13, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said there's evidence that between 900,000 to 1.6 million Ukrainians have been forcibly deported to Russia.
Russia's plans to hold sham referendums on occupied territories will not affect the position of President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine's Armed Forces, Zelensky's spokesman Serhii Nykyforov told Liga.net on Sept. 20. These "referendums," instead, will negate the slightest possibility of ending the war through diplomacy, according to him. "All internationally-recognized Ukrainian territories will be liberated," Nykyforov added.
Ninety-two percent of Ukrainians would like to see their country in the European Union, while 79% want it to join NATO by 2030, according to a poll conducted by the KIIS and the National Democratic Institute on Aug. 2-9. For reference: In December 2021, 58% of Ukrainians said they wanted to join the EU, and 48% – NATO.
Despite Russia's plans to hold pseudo-referendums on occupied Ukrainian territories on Sept. 23-27, Ukraine will continue its counteroffensive, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sept. 20. "Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say," said Kuleba.
Russian lawmakers on Sept. 20 passed a bill to make it quicker for foreigners serving in the Russian army to obtain citizenship. The simplified procedure is now available for foreign citizens who sign a one-year contract with the Russian military. Before, they had to serve for three years to be eligible for it.
Ukrainian authorities found the bodies of two more civilians killed by Russian forces in Kyiv Oblast, the Prosecutor General's Office reported on Sept. 20. The deceased were found with their hands tied behind their backs and scotch tape around their necks in a forest near Bucha.
Russia's proxies in Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts plan to hold "referendums" on joining Russia on Sept. 23-27, reported Russian state-controlled news agency Interfax. Russia's proxies in occupied Melitopol and Kherson are also reportedly preparing for "pseudo-referendums."
Russian lawmakers have adopted amendments to the Criminal Code, introducing longer jail terms – 10-15 years in prison – for surrender and looting. The new law now lists mobilization, martial law and wartime as aggravating circumstances, a label which leads to harsher penalties for a crime. These terms are new to Russia's Criminal Code.
The capital of the Czech Republic will provide Ukraine with used trams to replace those destroyed in Kharkiv by Russian forces, reported news website Novinky, citing Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib. Prague will also donate two buses to Khmelnytskyi.
Judges of the Supreme Court are collecting signatures to dismiss Bohdan Lvov, the Supreme Court's deputy chairman, from the position of the head of the court's commercial division, according to Olena Kibenko, a Supreme Court judge. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Schemes project has published an investigation according to which Lvov has Russian citizenship, which he denies. Lvov has also been investigated for the issuance of unlawful rulings and allegedly helping a top official extort $500,000 for court rulings, which he also denies.
Luhansk Oblast Governor Serhiy Haidai warned that the liberation of Luhansk Oblast would be more difficult than that of Kharkiv Oblast because of the high concentration of Russian forces there.
The plan was announced by Germany's Defense Ministry. The delivery will bring the number of self-propelled artillery sent to Ukraine by Germany and the Netherlands to 22 units, including 14 sent by Germany.
The district was shelled with Smerch multiple rocket launchers but there were no casualties, according to Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Kryvyi Rih military administration. Russia has repeatedly targeted critical infrastructure in Kyryvi Rih. An earlier attack on a local dam on Sept. 14 had caused the flooding of over 100 homes.
Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said on Sept. 19 that investigators were focusing on crimes committed during the Russian occupation of a part of Kharkiv Oblast, especially in Izium. The figure also includes ongoing investigations of cases in Bucha and Irpin in Kyiv Oblast.
Following a call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the Netherlands and Germany would continue supporting Ukraine via Dutch-German military cooperation. Scholz has been repeatedly accused of blocking arms supplies to Ukraine.
Melitopol Mayor Ivan Fedorov said there was a powerful explosion in Melitopol, Zaporizhzhia Oblast, on Sept. 19. Fedorov didn’t provide any details about the attack. Explosions had already been heard at the same airfield on Sep. 16.
According to Nataliia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the Southern Operational Command of Ukraine's Armed Forces, Ukraine offered Russian soldiers the possibility of surrendering. She didn't specify if any Russian soldiers took the offer.
According to the adviser to Mariupol mayor, Petro Andriushchenko, Russian occupiers have recently increased the number of law enforcement patrolling the city and conducting ID checks. The official added that Russians are also stepping up the mobilization campaign among locals and conducting counter-partisan measures. First arrests of locals have already been reported, according to Andriushchenko.
(Updated: )
