Russia admits that Ukraine is making gains in parts of the Kherson region
Russia’s defense ministry acknowledged that Ukrainian forces were making ground in a renewed counteroffensive in the southern Kherson region.
“The enemy’s superior tank units managed to penetrate the depth of our defense towards Zolotaya Balka and Aleksandrovka,” the ministry said in an update, referring to the Dnipro River villages around Kherson.
The ministry said Russian forces had repelled attacks in nearby Mykolaiv, in the Kherson region, and Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Russia’s admission that Ukraine is making slow but steady progress comes after a humiliating retreat in the northeast with Russian forces withdrawing from one of its logistics hubs, Lyman, at the weekend to avoid encirclement .
A woman living in a village on the border of Mykolaiv and Kherson Oblast greets a Ukrainian serviceman on July 25, 2022 in Mykolaiv Oblast, Ukraine.
Global images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images
On Monday, there were several reports citing gains in the southern Kherson region, but officials noted that several Russian-held settlements have been retaken.
“In the last few days, we have seen the first photo of Osokorivka… we have seen our troops near the entrance to Mykhailivka, we have seen our troops in Khreschenivka, next to the monument. This means that Zolota Balka also is under the control of our armed forces, and it means that our armed forces are moving powerfully along the banks of the Dnipro closer to Beryslav,” Serhiy Khlan, a member of the Kherson regional council, told Reuters , naming villages in the Kherson area.
“Officially, there is no such information yet, but (Russian) social media pages that are in a panic… absolutely confirm these photos,” he said, according to the news agency.
—Holly Elliott
The recaptured city of Lyman must be thoroughly demined after the Russian withdrawal
Ukrainian troops pose for a photo in Lyman, Ukraine, in this picture released on social media on Oct. 1, 2022.
Oleksiy Biloshytskyi | Oleksiy Biloshytskyi Via Reuters
Ukrainian forces are to de-mine the Lyman area and its surroundings, a logistics center for the occupation of Russian forces that was retaken by Ukrainian troops at the weekend.
“The city itself has been cleaned [Russian] invaders Of course, some of them are still running somewhere on the outskirts and are now being actively hunted. But stabilization measures continue there. First of all, there is a very dangerous situation with mines,” Eastern Command spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi said on Monday, according to comments reported by the Ukrinform news agency.
“The occupiers left many anti-personnel mines, the so-called trip cables, ‘butterfly mines’ that cannot be seen behind the leaves,” he added.
He said foreign journalists had asked to enter the unoccupied city, but it was still too dangerous with “deminers doing everything to make it safe,” Cherevatyi said.
—Holly Elliott
Ukrainian forces are based in the south of the Kherson region
Ukrainian forces are gaining a foothold in liberated areas of the southern Kherson region, according to a spokeswoman for the southern military command.
Southern command spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk told reporters on Monday that Ukrainian forces in the south are “conducting battles and taking place in the areas that have already been liberated and those that are still defending.”
“In addition, we continue to work with local residents along the contact line, along the front line, in those settlements that are under enemy fire. Over the last day, about 45 settlements have been bombed,” he Humeniuk told reporters, according to comments reported by news outlets. the Ukrinform agency, with efforts underway to evacuate civilians.
Humenyuk also said that Russian troops are inspecting homes in occupied areas of the region for men aged 18 to 35 to call them up and replenish their military units.
CNBC was unable to verify Humeniuk’s comments.
—Holly Elliott
An official stationed in Russia admits that Ukraine has made “progress” in the Kherson region
Pro-Ukraine volunteers from Chechnya train near Kyiv. Zelensky’s government has shown growing confidence in recent weeks, increasingly taking the lead in a conflict that the Kremlin itself has admitted is stalled.
Genia Savilov | Afp | Getty Images
Ukrainian forces appear to be advancing a counter-offensive in the southern Kherson region, one of four regions that Moscow “annexed” last week, with an official based in Russia admitting that Kyiv’s forces were making gains around Kherson.
“It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” Vladimir Saldo, the head of Ukraine’s Russia-based Kherson region, told state television, Reuters reported. He said Ukrainian forces had made some advances in the region and taken control of some settlements.
Ukraine has continued to make advances both in the country’s northeast, in the Kharkiv region, and around Kherson in the south, apparently undeterred by President Putin’s announcement last week that Moscow was “annexing” four regions of Ukraine: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk and Luhansk, independent and pro-Russian, self-proclaimed “republics” in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine and its allies condemned the move, calling it illegitimate and illegal.
—Holly Elliott
Pro-Russian groups are raising crypto funds to prop up paramilitary operations
Pro-Russian groups are raising cryptocurrency funds to prop up paramilitary operations and circumvent US sanctions as the war with Ukraine rages on, an investigative report released Monday revealed.
As of Sept. 22, those fundraising groups had raised $400,000 in cryptocurrency since the invasion began on Feb. 24, according to TRM Labs, a digital asset compliance and risk management firm.
The investigation revealed that the groups, which use the encrypted messaging app Telegram, offer ways for people to send funds that are used to supply Russian-affiliated militia groups and support combat training in locations near the border with Ukraine.
Russian paramilitary groups are raising cryptocurrency funds through messaging app Telegram, according to research published by TRM Labs.
Matt Cardy | Getty Images News | Getty Images
One group that TRM Labs identified as raising funds is Task Force Rusich, which the US Treasury describes as a “neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has engaged in combat alongside the Russian military in Ukraine.” The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFCA) has sanctioned Task Force Rusich.
In a Telegram channel, TRM Labs discovered that this group was looking to raise money for items such as thermal imaging equipment and radios.
Read more about the story here
The only way to end the war is on the battlefield, says the lawmaker
Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia unless it agrees to withdraw all its troops from Ukrainian territory, but with that increasingly unlikely, a resolution to the conflict is currently on the battlefield, a Ukrainian lawmaker told CNBC.
“Ukraine is ready for negotiations at any time, but negotiations on what? On the withdrawal of Russian troops from our territory? Sure,” Oleksiy Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, told CNBC on Monday.
“But Putin won’t do that. He claimed that the territories he invaded are Russian … so clearly he has chosen the path of escalation and that’s why the only response is on the battlefield and Ukraine is doing that.”
Goncharenko noted that Putin’s partial military mobilization, in which 300,000 men are expected to be called up to fight in Ukraine, would only prolong the war rather than allow Moscow to win it.
Comparing Russia’s army and state to a dinosaur, he said: “[It has] a massive body, a small head, and a very small brain inside that head.”
“When will Russia realize [it can’t win] we are ready to negotiate, but it seems that Putin will never do it,” he said.
—Holly Elliott
Russian mobilization marked by dysfunction and disorganization, UK says
Reservists called up during the partial mobilization attend a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, on September 27, 2022. –
Stringer | Afp | Getty Images
The “partial military mobilization” announced by President Putin two weeks ago is proving dysfunctional and disorganized, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence.
President Putin announced the call on September 21, prompting thousands of eligible fighters to try to flee the country. Other reports have suggested that the men going to fight in Ukraine are poorly trained and ill-equipped for war. There have been several reports of men being recruited by mistake.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense said even Putin had acknowledged problems with the draft, telling his National Security Council on September 29 that “many questions are being raised during this mobilization campaign, and we must to quickly correct our mistakes and not repeat them.” “
Reservists called up during the partial mobilization attend a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, on September 27, 2022.
Stringer | Afp | Getty Images
“Putin’s unusually quick acknowledgment of the problems highlights the dysfunction of the mobilization in his first week. It is likely that local officials are unclear about the exact scope and legal justification of the campaign,” said the ministry on Twitter.
“They have almost certainly drafted personnel who fall outside the definitions claimed by Putin and the Ministry of Defense. As conscripted reservists continue to gather in tented transit camps, Russian officials are likely to face difficulties to provide training and find officers to lead new units,” the ministry added.
—Holly Elliott
Criticism of the invasion of Ukraine is growing in Russia, even from pro-Kremlin figures
Ukrainian troops pose for a photo in Lyman, Ukraine, in this picture released on social media on Oct. 1, 2022.
Oleksiy Biloshytskyi | Oleksiy Biloshytskyi Via Reuters
Russian defeat at Lyman in northeastern Ukraine and other parts of Kharkiv…