WAR IN UKRAINE: September 9, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 198
A resident walks by a street market destroyed by military strikes in Saltivka, one of the most damaged residential areas of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 7.
Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky paid tribute to the Queen after the announcement of her death at Balmoral. One of the final official messages she issued during her reign was to pay tribute to people of Ukraine. The Queen marked Ukrainian independence day last month with a moving tribute to the nation and its people. She wrote: “It gives me great pleasure to send Your Excellency and the people of Ukraine my warmest greetings on the celebration of your Independence Day. “In this most challenging year, I hope that today will be a time for the Ukrainian people, both in Ukraine and around the world, to celebrate their culture, history and identity. May we look to better times in the future.”
Mr Zelensky earlier tweeted: ‘It is with deep sadness that we learned of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. ‘On behalf of the people, we extend sincere condolences to the @RoyalFamily, the entire United Kingdom and the Commonwealth over this irreparable loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.’
Shelling on Tuesday damaged a backup power line at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in Ukraine, which has already lost all four of its regular power lines, the U.N. nuclear watchdog said in a statement on Wednesday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said there was no immediate impact from the damage to one of its three backup power lines because the plant was already disconnected from the grid - Reuters
The Ukrainian military says its forces have been able to advance 50 kilometers (about 31 miles) in the Kharkiv region, liberating 20 settlements in their counter-offensive.
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken visits Kyiv and announces $2.2B in additional aid to bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 other countries in the region. The Biden administration has informed the US Congress of its “intent to make a further $2.2B available in long-term investments under Foreign Military Financing to bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors; including many of our NATO Allies, as well as other regional security partners potentially at risk of future Russian aggression”. This new funding is in addition to the latest $675M tranche of security assistance for Ukraine, which US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced during remarks made in Germany.
Russian tankers continue to export oil products after being banned from entering EU ports. Journalists from the Schemes project discovered that fuel is being transhipped onto vessels flying the flags of EU countries in the Black Sea near Romania.
After more than six months of closure, the first MacDonald’s outlets have begun to re-open in Ukraine
Required reading…
Russia may not survive Putin’s disastrous decision to invade Ukraine
Russia’s war in Ukraine has demonstrated that the Kremlin does not respect the fundamentals of international law or the sanctity of international borders. This imperialistic foreign policy may soon rebound on Russia itself. Russia’s territorial integrity looks set to become increasingly disputed by the country’s numerous internal republics and regions as the disastrous invasion of Ukraine serves as a catalyst for imperial collapse.
My new book, Failed State: A Guide to Russia’s Rupture, contends that the Russian Federation has been unable to transform itself into a nation-state, a civic state, or even a stable imperial state. The approaching rupture of the Russian Federation will be the third phase of imperial collapse following the unraveling of the Soviet bloc in Eastern Europe and the disintegration of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Read the full Atlantic Council analysis by Janusz Bugajski here