Ukraine Counteroffensive Update for Sept 19 (Europe Edition): ‘Deeply Hurt By News of His Death’

Overview

• Buildings burn after drone attack in Lviv
• Zelensky prepares to encounter Russian delegates at UN
• Photos of destroyed Russian submarine emerge online
• AFU march continues through Russian defensive layer in Donetsk
• Russian units seem to be degrading on front lines
• Body of missing UK volunteer warrior found in Zaporizhzhia

Drones explode in Lviv early Tuesday morning

At least one person was injured and buildings were burning early Tuesday morning after Russian drones attacked Lviv, AFP reported.

“Several waves of drones buzzed overheard starting around 01:30 GMT [about 4:30 a.m. Lviv time] and an AFP journalist heard numerous explosions and movements of heavy vehicles through the streets during the nightly curfew,” the AFP wrote.

At least one building, an industrial warehouse, was destroyed in the attack.

Reuters quoted a social media post from Lviv Region Governor Maxim Kozitsky, saying that “a woman and a man were found under the rubble... According to preliminary information, the woman was not injured. The man is in a serious condition.”

Zelensky arrives in the United States ahead of UN appearance

On the eve of his appearance at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, President Volodymyr Zelensky wondered aloud to reporters there why Russia continues to hold a seat at the UN not to mention one of five seats on the Security Council.

“For us, it’s very important that all our words, all our messages, will be heard by our partners,” Zelensky said, preparing to solicit member states for additional aid in the counteroffensive. “And if in the United Nations still — it’s a pity, but still — there is a place for Russian terrorists, the question is not for me. I think it’s a question for all the members of the United Nations.”

Other Topics of Interest

How Ukrainians React to Zelensky’s New Plan

President Volodymyr Zelensky presented his “Internal Sustainability Plan,” an addition to the “Victory Plan,” but this time addressed not to international partners, but to Ukrainian citizens.

Zelensky will address the Security Council on Wednesday, where Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov is expected to speak as well.

Several member nations, including Germany, have expressed an interest in reforming the Security Council in recent years, now composed of representatives from Great Britain, China, France, Russia, and the US.

At the UN meeting this week, only one leader of the Security Council member nations will be in attendance: US President Joe Biden, who will address the Assembly on Tuesday.

On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the Security Council should be amended to include other nations who have increased in influence since the establishment of the Council in 1945.

AFU continues its recapture of territory south of Bakhmut

Officials of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) on Monday evening updated the total territory reclaimed from Russian occupying forces behind enemy lines in the Donetsk region to seven square kilometers. Earlier on Monday, an outgoing Deputy Defense Minister said Ukrainian forces had recaptured about two square kilometers of land along the southern front and near Bakhmut.

Operations: Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions; Russian units continue to disintegrate

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) noted on Monday that the advances of the AFU south of Bakhmut this weekend have run parallel with the disintegration, if not destruction of Russian units in the area.

The commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, Oleksandr Syrsky, stated that his troops destroyed Russia’s 72nd Motorized Rifle Brigade, the 31st Airborne (VDV) Brigade and the 83rd Guards VDV Brigade during the critical recapture of Klishchiivka and Andriivka over the weekend.

In an online eulogy on Sunday, the commander of Russia’s “Vostok” Battalion, Aleksandr Khodakovsky, spoke about Andrei “Danube” Kondrashkin, the dead leader of the 31st Airborne: “We arrived at the headquarters of the 31st Ulyanovsk Airborne Battalion, with whose fighters we were to carry out a combat mission,” Khodakovky said.

“The brigade was commanded by Colonel Andrei Kondrashkin with the call sign ‘Danube.’ While we were fighting shoulder-to-shoulder we became friends with Andrei, and today we were deeply hurt by the news of his death… I am sure that the wings of his airborne soul will quickly take him to the Throne of God, where he will sit and wait for us…”

ISW reported that three regiments of Kondrashkin’s 42nd Motorized Rifle Division, which once comprised much of the now-punctured defensive layers in the western Zaporizhzhia Region, suffered so many casualties there that they have since had to retreat to secondary defensive trenches further south. Geolocated videos suggest that they are now firing at advancing Ukrainian forces between Verbove (18 km southeast of Orikhiv) and Solodka Balka (20 km south of Orikhiv).

Images surface of Russian sub blown up by Ukrainian missile attack in Crimea

Last week, Western-supplied Ukrainian cruise missiles struck a Russian naval dry dock in Sevastopol, damaging an electric-diesel submarine and a Ropucha Class landing ship, both of which were engulfed in flames. Kremlin sources acknowledged the strike but downplayed the severity, saying the vessels were undergoing repair and would continue to do so.

Images of the damaged B-237 submarine, the Rostov on Don, popped up on social media Monday. From the leaked images it appears that the burned-out sub, first launched in 2014, and the landing ship, the Minsk, will require extensive repairs or may be unrestorable.

Body of UK ex-soldier found in Zaporizhzhia

Ukrainian authorities located the body of a missing English ex-soldier who had been missing since he left Manchester in 2022 to volunteer in the fight against the Russian full-scale invasion, The Independent reported over the weekend.

The body of Daniel Burke, 36, was found in the Zaporizhzhia Region. He had been missing since Aug. 16. Greater Manchester Police officials are working with their Ukrainian counterparts to positively identify and repatriate the remains.

Burke had previously served with the Parachute Regiment of the British Army.