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Morning Headlines
CNN: The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting on Monday to discuss Russian incursions over Estonia’s airspace, Estonian and UN officials said Sunday.
Politico: The United States is trying to prevent Trump's decision to lift sanctions on Belarusian flag carrier Belavia from opening the floodgate for crucial aviation spare parts to reach Russia's airlines.
The Kyiv Independent: Russian forces launched overnight strikes on Zaporizhzhia, Sumy, and Kyiv oblasts on Sept. 22, killing at least three people and injuring at least three others, authorities reported.
AP News: On a battlefield swarming with deadly Russian drones, Ukrainian soldiers are increasingly turning to nimble, remote-controlled armored vehicles that can perform an array of tasks and spare troops from potentially life-threatening missions.
ISW: Russia has reportedly been forming a strategic reserve from new recruits since July 2025.
The Kyiv Independent: For the first time, Ukrainian forces hit two Russian Be-12 Chayka amphibious aircraft in occupied Crimea, Ukraine's military intelligence reported on Sept. 22.
21.09.2025
Reuters: NATO's North Atlantic Council will meet on Tuesday to discuss Russia's violation of Estonian airspace, two officials familiar with the matter told Reuters on Sunday.
AP News: Air force fighter jets from Germany and Sweden were scrambled Sunday to intercept and track a Russian surveillance plane that was flying unidentified over the Baltic Sea, military officials said.
Euronews: Prior to attending the memorial service of conservative influencer and activist Charlie Kirk on Sunday, Donald Trump stated that he “would” help defend Poland and the Baltic states if Russia keeps accelerating.
Ukrainska Pravda: Ukraine's military intelligence destroyed three Russian Mi-8 helicopters and a radar station in occupied Crimea, the agency reported on Sept. 21.
Reuters: Russian Colonel General Alexander Lapin, a senior commander who served in the first phase of the Ukraine war, has been dismissed from military service, Russian media outlet RBC reported on Sunday, citing an unidentified source.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine unveiled its TOLOKA underwater drone at the Defense Tech Valley 2025 exhibition in Lviv, Ukrainian military news site Militarnyi reported on Sept. 19.
BBC: A secret Russian-funded network is attempting to disrupt upcoming democratic elections in an eastern European state, the BBC has found. Using an undercover reporter, we discovered the network promised to pay participants if they posted pro-Russian propaganda and fake news undermining Moldova's pro-EU ruling party ahead of the country's 28 September parliamentary ballot.
20.09.2025
Reuters: Pentagon officials sat down with a group of European diplomats in late August and delivered a stern message: The U.S. planned to cut off some security assistance to Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, all NATO members bordering Russia.
AFP: Russia's rights situation has dramatically worsened since its expanded war in Ukraine began, according to a new UN expert report, decrying "endemic" torture and medical professionals participating in the abuse.
Reuters: Austrian oil, gas and chemicals group OMV has fired an executive over allegations of spying for Russia and a Russian diplomat has been summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Vienna as a result of the affair, news magazine Profil reported.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukrainian long-range drones struck a series of oil pumping stations in Russia overnight on Sept. 19, resulting in a shutdown of pumping, Ukraine's Security Service said.
Bloomberg: The European Union is considering trade measures to target its remaining Russian oil imports. The bloc’s executive arm is reviewing continued imports of Russian oil via the Druzhba pipeline that feeds Hungary and Slovakia, and the move under consideration would mostly affect those supplies if they’re not phased out (archive).
The Kyiv Independent: Putin has concluded that increasing attacks on Ukraine will improve his negotiating stance and will not push Trump to step in or provide additional defenses to Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 20.
Politico: The G7 is seeking to move from “incremental” to “decisive” actions to end Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne said.
Reuters: Russia unleashed a major drone and missile attack on Ukraine overnight, killing three people, injuring dozens more, and damaging infrastructure and residential buildings, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Saturday.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's General Staff said that it had struck two oil refineries overnight on Sept. 20 in Russia's Saratov and Samara oblasts, confirming earlier reports on social media from Russian residents.
ISW: The Ukrainian Kherson Oblast Prosecutor’s Office reported on Sept. 19 that Russian soldiers executed three civilians in occupied Kozachi Laheri (east of Kherson City) on the night of Sept. 17 to 18.
19.09.2025
Reuters: Ukrainian troops pressed on with a frontline counteroffensive around two cities in the east of the country on Friday, with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy saying heavy losses were being inflicted on Russian forces.
Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday that Ukraine would present a strategy for "guided", or managed, arms exports within the next two weeks and saw the United States, Europe and other countries as potential buyers.
The Kyiv Independent: Four Western companies pledged to invest more than $100 million in Ukraine's defense technology sector at a conference in Lviv this week, the Digital Transformation Ministry said on Sept. 19.
Eurasianet: Serbia is a candidate for European Union membership and Hungary has been a full member since 2004, but that hasn’t prevented them from joining with Russia to undermine EU cohesion and meddle with efforts to break Europe’s dependency on Russian energy.
Reuters: Two Russian fighter jets violated the safety zone of the Petrobaltic drilling platform in the Baltic sea, Polish Border Guards said on Friday, adding that the Armed Forces and other services had been notified.
RFE/RL: New research shared with RFE/RL shows that leading Chinese universities linked to the country’s defense sector have significantly increased their research partnerships with Russian institutions, providing Moscow with access to new technology and expertise that can help counteract Western sanctions.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia has started constructing a drone launch site in Bryansk Oblast, close to the Ukrainian border, open source intelligence analyst Brady Africk said on Sept. 18, citing recent Maxar Technologies satellite imagery.
CNN: NATO intercepted three Russian jets that violated Estonia’s airspace on Friday, the country’s foreign ministry and an alliance spokesperson said. Three Russian MiG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace over the Gulf of Finland without permission and remained there for a total of 12 minutes, the Estonian foreign ministry said.
Politico: The European Commission proposed targeting more Chinese and Indian entities in a sweeping new package of sanctions against Russia, President Ursula von der Leyen announced Friday.
The Moscow Times: Estonia will not reopen its main border crossing with Russia to vehicles until the war in Ukraine is over, the Baltic country’s border authorities said Friday.
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