Day 579 of the Invasion of Ukraine: Kyiv has received American Abrams Tanks

Ukraine | September 25, 2023, Monday // 12:49|  views

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Day 579 of the invasion of Ukraine. Summary of key events in the last 24 hours:

  • Ukraine has already received American Abrams tanks
  • Ukraine claims the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been killed
  • Putin ordered Shoigu to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive by October
  • The UN confirmed: Russia tortured Ukrainian prisoners to death
  • Orban threatened Ukraine and demanded that it restore rights to Hungarians
  • A Russian attack on Odesa has wounded one person and caused damage to infrastructure, a Ukrainian regional governor said
  • Russian air defense systems shot down four Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea, Moscow said
  • Zelensky is confident that the world supports Ukraine's position on the reform of the UN Security Council
  • Russia's Northern Fleet has conducted exercises to counter unmanned enemy vessels


Ukraine has received American Abrams tanks

Ukraine has already received a delivery of American Abrams tanks, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced.

A few days ago, US President Joe Biden said that Abrams tanks will be sent to Kyiv this week.

Ukraine will receive armor-piercing shells with depleted uranium for the tanks. The Pentagon promised more cluster munitions for the heavy artillery, as well as precision-guided munitions for the HIMARS systems.

Ukraine claims the commander of Russia's Black Sea Fleet has been killed

Ukraine claims that the head of the Russian Navy, Admiral Viktor Sokolov, was killed in Friday's attack on the naval headquarters in Sevastopol.

According to Kyiv, more than 100 Russian servicemen were injured in the strike. So far, Moscow has neither confirmed nor denied the death of Admiral Sokolov.

Putin ordered Shoigu to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive by October

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu until early October to improve the situation at the front, stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive and return the initiative to Russian forces, an inside Kremlin source said.

This is precisely what can be attributed to the active Russian strikes, says the new analysis of the Institute for the Study of War, cited by UNIAN.

"The inside source's words, if true, could mean that the Russian military command may order relentless counterattacks in the hope of wearing down the Ukrainian counteroffensive, even at the cost of Russian military potential," the analysis added.

And it is noted that earlier they have already observed cases where the Russian Ministry of Defense, fearing the imminent loss of Putin's confidence, has intensified its efforts and carried out purges among the command staff. Victims of such purges have expressed negative opinions about the pursuit of unfeasible military goals at the cost of great human losses, UNIAN points out.

Last week, the Russian army carried out over 100 missile and 430 airstrikes, Ukrainian General Staff spokesman Pavlo Kovalchuk said, as quoted by Ukrinform and BTA.

He said Russian forces continued to launch massive missile and airstrikes, combining them with Shahed-type drone strikes to wear out Ukraine's air defense systems.

The emergency service in Odesa reported that last night the Russian forces destroyed buildings at the Marine Station, including the well-known Hotel "Odesa". It was built in 2001, but has not been operational since 2011, Ukrinform notes.

The Ukrainian Navy said on Telegram that this morning Russia sent seven ships to the Black Sea on combat duty. Two of them carry Kalibr cruise missiles with a total salvo of up to 12 missiles.

There is one Russian ship each in the Sea of Azov and the Mediterranean Sea, but they are not missile carriers, the announcement added.

The UN confirmed: Russia tortured Ukrainian prisoners to death

Russia's torture methods in its occupied parts of Ukraine have been so brutal that it has tortured some of its victims to death, the head of a UN-mandated investigative body said on Monday, according to Reuters.

Erik Mose, chairman of the Commission of Inquiry into Ukraine, told the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva that his team had "gathered additional evidence showing that the use of torture by the Russian armed forces in areas under their control is widespread and systematically".

"In some cases, torture was applied with such brutality that it caused the death of the victim," he said.

The Mose commission visited parts of Ukraine previously held by Russian forces, such as the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. It found that the torture was mainly carried out in detention centers run by the Russian authorities.

The commission previously reported that violations committed by Russian forces in Ukraine, including the use of torture, may amount to crimes against humanity.

Russia denies committing atrocities or targeting civilians in Ukraine. Russia was given an opportunity to respond to the allegations during the council hearing, but a Russian representative was not present.

Orban threatened Ukraine and demanded that it restore rights to Hungarians

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has threatened Ukraine that he will not support it on any issue at the international level if it does not restore the rights of ethnic Hungarians.

Such a request directly affects the process of "Ukrainization", which began five years before the war with a law regulating the use of the mother tongue in schools. This strained relations between Kyiv and Budapest, and caused concern in other capitals such as Sofia.

Nearly 150,000 ethnic Hungarians live in Ukraine, although some of them fled to neighboring Hungary after the full-scale Russian invasion on February 24, 2022. At the end of the last decade, they became a source of tension between the two countries and with the issuance of Hungarian passports.

"They want to turn (Hungarian schools) into Ukrainian schools and if that doesn't work, they want to close them," Orban said in a speech quoted by Reuters. The agency notes that the Hungarian leader commented on the topic after presenting a vision for an enlarged European Union with the participation of Ukraine this month. EU countries must also decide in December whether to allow Ukraine to start accession talks.

Orban, who has been in power since 2010, maintains close ties with Russia and refrains from criticizing President Vladimir Putin. Hungary refuses to send weapons to Ukraine.

Orban told parliament that Brussels' plan to cut Europe off Russian energy was against the interests of Europe and Hungary. Hungary is heavily exposed to Russian oil and gas supplies, but Orban said it had taken steps to diversify its supplies, citing recent talks with Qatar, Turkey and Azerbaijan on future gas supplies.

A Russian attack on Odesa has wounded one person and caused damage to infrastructure, a Ukrainian regional governor said

Russia again attacked Ukraine's Odesa region with 19 drones and 14 missiles, authorities said, injuring one person and damaging port infrastructure, AFP reported.

Moscow "attacked Odesa region with drones and two types of missiles," Governor Oleg Kiper said in a Telegram message, citing several strikes, including an attack on port infrastructure. "One civilian was injured by the blast," he added, specifying that the victim was transferred to a hospital.

According to the Ukrainian army, Russia used 19 Iranian-made Shahed drones, two Onyx supersonic missiles and 12 Kalibr missiles in the attack. A submarine was also activated, according to the same source. All drones and 11 Kalibr missiles were shot down by air defenses, the resort city suffered "significant" damage. A fire broke out in a hotel building, which was quickly extinguished.

Two of the 11 Kalibr missiles were destroyed in Mykolaiv Oblast and Kirovograd Oblast. Onyx missiles have destroyed grain warehouses without causing human casualties. The army also reported warehouses and businesses in the suburbs of Odesa damaged by falling debris.

Russian forces regularly strike this Black Sea region of southern Ukraine, where infrastructure facilities related to sea trade are located, AFP recalls. Attacks have increased since the withdrawal of the grain deal in July.

At the same time, the governor of Russia's Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, reported that a Ukrainian drone strike had damaged an administrative building and several private homes. So far, there is no information on the scale of the attack and the information cannot be verified by an independent source, Reuters notes.

Russian air defense systems shot down four Ukrainian drones over the Black Sea, Moscow said

Russian air defense systems have destroyed four drones launched by Ukraine over the northwestern Black Sea and over the Crimean peninsula, Reuters reported today, citing the Russian Defense Ministry.

So far, no information has been released about damaged buildings or injured people as a result of the attacks in question, the agency specifies. Reuters also makes the caveat that it is unable to confirm the reliability of the information through an independent source.

Separately, the Russian Defense Ministry said four other drones were downed overnight over Russia's Kursk and Belgodord regions.

The Ukrainian drone attack in the Kursk region has damaged several private homes and an administrative building, the governor of the region, Roman Starovoit, announced today. Reuters specifies that at the time of the information there is no data on the scale of the attack in the area bordering Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine reported that it shot down 22 Russian attack drones and 11 cruise missiles fired by Russia last night.

Zelensky is confident that the world supports Ukraine's position on the reform of the UN Security Council

The President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky expressed confidence that the world supports Ukraine's position to give more rights and opportunities in the UN to all countries that respect other countries of the world and peace. Zelensky stated this in a video address to his compatriots last night, Ukrinform reported.

"This year, Ukraine presented to the UN a vision for the reform of the key institution of the UN - the Security Council," Zelensky recalled.

According to him, the UN Security Council as a whole is now unable to stop aggression and indeed restore peace because of the outdated veto system, where there is no limit to the abuse of this right by an aggressive power. The Ukrainian head of state stressed that this must change.

"And in general, it is necessary to give more rights and opportunities in the UN to all countries that respect other countries and peace. I am sure that the world supports our Ukrainian position," Zelensky emphasized.

Zelensky also announced some details about the latest defense packages announced by the US and Canada as part of ongoing military aid to Ukraine.

"From the US we get artillery, shells, HIMARS missiles, air defense missiles, additional air defense systems, tactical vehicles. And some other types of weapons that will be used on the battlefield," he noted.

At the same time, Canada decided on 500,000 dollars in long-term defense support for Ukraine. "In particular, these are medical evacuation vehicles, which are really needed at the front. We have agreed on production and supplies," Zelensky summarized.

Russia's Northern Fleet has conducted exercises to counter unmanned enemy vessels

Russia's Northern Fleet, operating in the Arctic, has conducted exercises to counter unmanned enemy vessels, the Russian news agency Interfax reported, as quoted by Reuters.

Referring to the press service of the navy, Interfax clarifies that some of the country's largest destroyers and amphibious ships took part in the exercises in the Arctic.

"During the exercises in the East Siberian Sea, the crews of the large anti-submarine ship ‘Vice-Admiral Kulakov’ and the large landing ship ‘Alexander Otrakovsky’ carried out actions to protect a detachment of ships in case of a threat from the enemy with the help of unmanned vessels," the agency reported, but it is not clear when the exercises took place.

Novinite is still the only Bulgarian media that publishes a summary of events and highlights related to the conflict, every single day. Our coverage began on day one - 24.02.2022 and will not stop until the war has concluded. Despite the pressure, our independent media will continue to provide its readers with accurate and up-to-date information. Thank you for your support! #stayinformed

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Tags: Ukraine, Russia, odesa, Zelensky

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