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Morning Headlines
Reuters: Ukraine said on Monday it downed 18 Russian drones and 17 cruise missiles attacking its territory overnight. Russia launched 24 drones at the Ukrainian southern regions of Odesa and Mykolaiv overnight, Ukraine's air force said.
AP News: A populist former prime minister whose party is favored to win Slovakia’s early parliamentary election plans to reverse the country’s military and political support for neighboring Ukraine, in a direct challenge to the European Union and NATO, if he returns to power.
Reuters: China's top diplomat, Wang Yi, begins on Monday a four-day trip to Russia during which both nations are expected to pledge deeper mutual political trust, readying for a possible landmark visit by Putin to Beijing in October.
ISW: Prolonged concern about Chechen Republic Head Kadyrov’s health in the Russian information space highlights Putin’s dependence on Kadyrov for continued stability in Chechnya.
UK Ministry of Defence: Throughout the war Russian commanders have attempted to regenerate the airborne forces as a highly mobile, striking force for offensive operations. Once again, they are being used as line infantry to augment over-stretched ground forces.
Bloomberg: A global surge in diesel is benefiting one of Russia’s key export crudes, with the oil that’s pumped from the nation’s Far East trading at a rare premium to global benchmark Brent.
17.09.2023
AFP: Ukrainian authorities on Sunday announced that Kyiv's forces had retaken Klishchiivka, a tactically important town south of the frontline city of Bakhmut.
Reuters: Ukrainian media outlets quoted intelligence sources as saying explosions reported in the Crimean city of Sevastopol on Sunday were due to a joint operation by its forces but a Moscow-installed official said Russia's enemies were trying to claim false victory.
Bloomberg: Top US Senate leaders will host an all-members meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday, according to a Senate leadership aide, as House Republicans are preparing to block a Biden administration request for $24 billion in emergency Ukraine war funds.
The Guardian: US oil and gas multinationals are facing fresh questions over their trade with Russia after customs records revealed that more than $7.1m worth of equipment manufactured by Halliburton has been exported into the country since it announced the end of its Russian operations.
AP News: Two cargo ships arrived in one of Ukraine’s ports over the weekend, using a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Kyiv following Russia’s withdrawal from a wartime agreement designed to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.
Canada will contribute $33 million to the United Kingdom-led partnership that is delivering high priority air defence equipment to Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent: Russia has concentrated 52,000 troops in the area near Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Eastern Force Grouping press officer Illia Yevlash said on Ukrainian TV on Sept. 17.
AP News: South Korea’s president said the international community “will unite more tightly” to cope with deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, as he plans to raise the issue with world leaders at the U.N. General Assembly this week.
Reuters: Russia launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine early on Sunday, targeting chiefly the southern parts of the Odesa region and hitting an agriculture facility there, Ukraine's Air Forces said.
ISW: Ukrainian forces have likely made a significant tactical breach along a section of the current Russian defense layer in the Robotyne area over the past several weeks that they continue to widen.
16.09.2023
The Kyiv Independent: Russian investigative news outlet The Insider reported that the head of Sputnik Moldova, who was recently deported back to Russia, is a Russian intelligence officer specializing in disinformation.
AP News: North Korea may be able to boost Russia’s supply of artillery munitions for the war in Ukraine, but that is not likely to make a big difference, the top American military officer said as he arrived in Norway for NATO meetings that began Saturday and will focus in part on the conflict.
Reuters: Russian forces stationed in the Arctic near Norway are "20% or less" of the number they were before the February 2022 invasion of Ukraine, Norway's chief of defence said on Saturday.
The Kyiv Independent: Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram on Sept. 16 that the German company Quantum Systems would provide Kyiv with 100 next-generation tactical drones which will be passed along to the front line.
Reuters: Thousands of supporters of a pro-Russian Czech opposition party gathered in Prague on Saturday to protest against the country's centre-right government, criticising its economic management and military support for Ukraine.
AFP: North Macedonia has ordered expulsion of three more Russian diplomats in the third such move since the start of the Russian invasion on Ukraine last year, the foreign ministry confirmed on Saturday.
Reuters: Poland will ban the entry of passenger cars registered in Russia from Sunday, state-run Polish news agency PAP reported, citing Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski.
The Kyiv Independent: While Washington "does not encourage nor enable" Ukraine to use U.S.-supplied weapon systems outside of the country, it is "fundamentally" Kyiv's decision how to use those weapons, U.S. State Secretary Antony Blinken said at a press conference.
Reuters: Russia and Ukraine on Saturday disputed control of the devastated village of Andriivka near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, as Ukraine ramped up its efforts to inch closer to reassert control over the pivotal city.
Reuters: Russian-installed 'authorities' in Crimea said on Saturday they planned to sell about 100 Ukrainian properties, including one belonging to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
15.09.2023
Sky News: Ukraine has confirmed that British and French cruise missiles - fired from either wing of a Ukrainian bomber - were used in a major attack against Russia's navy in occupied Crimea and worked "perfectly".
Meduza: Russian draftees won’t be rotated out of combat zones in Ukraine until the “special military operation” is complete, says State Duma Defense Committee Chairman Andrey Kartapolov.
BBC News: Protesters have targeted Berlin's State Opera for refusing to cancel Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko's first performance there since the 2022 war. Chanting "shame", they accused the soprano of failing to condemn Putin for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Reuters: Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports on Friday after the European Commission decided not to extend its ban on imports into Ukraine's five EU neighbours.
The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine's Security Service used a sea surface drone nicknamed "Sea Baby" to strike a Russian missile-carrying hovercraft, a corvette Samum, the Ukrainian media outlet New Voice reported.
The Moscow Times: A shopping mall in the Russian city of Izhevsk is set to be converted into a drone production facility, the third such repurposing in the city over the past year, local activists said Friday.
AFP: The Kremlin said Friday that no agreements had been signed during North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's ongoing visit to Russia, amid Western concern that the two isolated countries could be preparing an arms deal.
AP News: Finland on Friday joined the three Baltic countries in banning vehicles with Russian license plates from entering their territory, a joint move in line with a recent interpretation of the European Union’s sanctions against Moscow over its war on Ukraine.
Reuters: Britain on Friday officially proscribed the Russian mercenary Wagner Group as a terrorist organisation, after announcing the move last week, which will make it illegal to be a member or to support it.
Reuters: The Group of Seven countries is expected to announce an import ban on Russian diamonds in the next 2-3 weeks, Belgian officials told reporters on Friday, in a bid to tighten a squeeze on Russia's capacity to finance the war in Ukraine.
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