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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Russia's invasion of Ukraine has left tens of thousands of dead, displaced millions and sown economic turmoil across the world in the 18 months since its launch on Feb. 24, 2022. Here are some details of the impact.
AP News: Russian defenses downed Ukrainian drones in Moscow and the region around the capital early Wednesday, the defense ministry and the mayor said. One drone fell into a building under construction in Moscow City, a prestigious business complex hit by drones twice before. No casualties were reported.
Reuters: The United States does not encourage or enable attacks inside Russia, a U.S. State Department spokesperson said. It is up to Ukraine to decide how it chooses to defend itself from the Russian invasion that began in February last year, he said, adding Russia could end the war any time by withdrawing from Ukraine.
AFP: A Russian drone attack hit grain infrastructure in Ukraine's southern Odesa region on Wednesday, the local governor said, the latest strike since the collapse of a deal allowing safe shipments from the Black Sea.
Reuters: Britain will guarantee a 192 million-pound ($245 million) export finance deal for Ukraine to buy nuclear fuel from producers including British companies, British energy minister Grant Shapps announced during a visit to Kyiv.
AP News: Putin took multiple shots at the West on the opening day of an economic summit in South Africa, using a prerecorded speech that was aired on giant screens Tuesday to rail at what he called “illegitimate sanctions” on his country and threaten to cut off Ukraine's grain exports permanently.
ISW: The Ukrainian advance in the Robotyne area brings Ukrainian forces closer to launching operations against second lines of defense that may be relatively weaker than the first Russian defensive line in the area.
Reuters: Russia has appointed a new acting head of its aerospace forces to replace General Sergei Surovikin, who vanished from sight after a brief Wagner mercenary mutiny against the top brass in June.
More News
Reuters: The deputy chair of the Russian security council Dmitry Medvedev said Moscow may annex Georgia's breakaway regions South Ossetia and Abkhazia.
NY Times: Ukraine’s counteroffensive is struggling because it has too many troops in the wrong places, U.S. and other Western officials said.
Reuters: Ukraine has an arsenal of high-tech Western arms to fight Russian forces, but is also deploying custom-built mini-rocket launchers that use parts taken from a Soviet-era system.
Novaya-Europe: The superyacht Graceful, which is linked to Putin, was urgently moved from the Hamburg port to Kaliningrad a month before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine was launched, even though it was meant to remain there for another year for renovations, Russian opposition politician Alexey Navalny’s associates discovered.
FT: The UK will proscribe the Wagner group as a terrorist organisation “within weeks” as part of a fresh crackdown on the Russian mercenary network, according to British government insiders. Home secretary Suella Braverman is expected to announce the designation imminently in line with powers under the Terrorism Act 2000, following months spent by officials building up a detailed legal case.
RFE/RL: Czech authorities have seized property in Prague belonging to the daughter and son-in-law of Boris Obnosov, CEO of the Russian defense company Tactical Missiles Corporation and the country’s chief rocket scientist, over Ukraine-linked sanctions.
AFP: Russian military officials including Moscow's deputy defense minister arrived in Libya on Tuesday after receiving an invite from pro-Moscow military strongman Khalifa Haftar. Haftar is close to Russia's private Wagner mercenary group, whose troops guard military and oil infrastructure in the country.
Meduza: General Surovikin has been relieved of his post as a Commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces, writes the former head of radio station Echo of Moscow, citing an order from Putin. The journalist adds that, according to the presidential order, Surovikin will remain employed by the Defense Ministry. The order has not been officially published.
AFP: "Russia attacked Ukraine, therefore Ukraine has a legal right to defend its country," Germany’s Baerbock said at a press conference in response to a question on the drone attacks.
AP News: Poland’s President Andrzej Duda said Tuesday that Russia already is in the process of shifting some short-range nuclear weapons to neighboring Belarus, a move that Duda said will shift the security architecture of the region and the entire NATO military alliance.
AFP: The leaders of 11 countries of the Balkan region and eastern Europe signed a joint declaration in support of the territorial integrity of Ukraine during a summit in Athens on Tuesday.
Reuters: The World Court will hear Russia's objections to its jurisdiction in a genocide case brought by Ukraine in hearings starting on Sept. 18, the International Court of Justice said on Tuesday.
Novaya-Europe: The drone strikes that damaged five Russians bombers on the airfields in the country’s Novgorod and Kaluga regions between Saturday and Monday were the work of the Ukrainian Defence Ministry’s intelligence department, according to reporting by the Ukrainians news outlet New Voice that cites a source in the department.
Ukrinform: Bulgaria will begin transferring to Ukraine its armored vehicles made in the Soviet period in late September or early October.
The Insider: The American pharmaceutical giant MSD will halt its distribution of the hepatitis C drug Zepatier, a highly sought-after medication for treating hepatitis C, to the Russian market, Kommersant reports.
Reuters: Russian gas giant Gazprom shipped a first cargo of liquefied natural gas from its plant on the shores of the Baltic Sea via the Northern Sea route, according to Refinitiv ship tracking data.
worth mentioning
Danish filmmaker Lars von Trier speaks up in support of Russians: “Russian lives matter also”
Leaked Audio Reveals Moscow Region Governor's Predetermined Election Victory
Two independent Russian lawmakers say hidden cameras were installed in their offices
Russia’s Seaborne Crude Flows Drop to the Lowest Since January
What do we know about drone attacks in Russia? - BBC
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