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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 03-09-2024 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
Alongside the obliteration of the Zhitel station, SSO fighters divulged the results of their operations on the southern operational front, targeting a Russian dugout, military truck, and boat.
The Special Operations Forces (SSO) announced the successful destruction of the Zhitel Russian electronic warfare complex, sharing dramatic footage of the explosive moment via Telegram.
The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.
Five people have died after a parachute failed on an aid package dropped by air into Gaza, reports say. An eyewitness and the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza said the five were killed on Friday when at least one parachute failed to deploy. AFP news agency quoted a Gaza doctor as saying five people were killed. On Friday the EU, UK, US and others said they planned to open a sea route to Gaza to deliver aid that could begin operating this weekend. The US has said it will construct a temporary harbour to ship aid directly into Gaza, but US officials have said it will take weeks to make - BBC
President Biden and his team plan to fan out after the State of the Union address to amplify his message and sell his agenda with visits to key battleground states, the start of a month of campaign-style barnstorming now that the general election contest has begun in earnest. Mr. Biden will head to Philadelphia on Friday and Atlanta on Saturday for campaign speeches, hitting two of the half-dozen swing states that he won in 2020 and is counting on to defeat former President Donald J. Trump again in November. Vice President Kamala Harris will travel to Arizona and Nevada, two other states in that same category - NYT
UK Foreign Minister wades into the current debate in Europe about how best to firm up support for Ukraine
British foreign minister David Cameron said he opposes sending Western troops to Ukraine, even for training missions, in an interview with German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung published on Saturday.
Cameron said training missions are best carried out abroad, noting that Britain has trained 60,000 Ukrainian soldiers that way.
Thanks to the Kremlin’s continual attacks, one of Ukraine’s most Russian-speaking cities is beginning to embrace the neglected Ukrainian of its hinterland.
The Ukrainian city of Odesa isn’t just a Russian-speaking city. Odesites consider their way of speaking Russian special – more malleable and refined by dint of exposure to the world at large. It’s a Russian laced with the playful humor of the huge Jewish community that once lived there and tinged by the salt-of-the-earth Ukrainian spoken across the steppes to the north.
Odesa, the “pearl of the Black Sea,” is a cosmopolitan city by design. Founded by the Russian Empress Catherine II in 1792 atop an abandoned Turkish fort, Italian architects were brought in to plan and build a decidedly European city. It quickly became home to Italians, Greeks, Bulgarians, Russians, Ukrainians, and especially Jews. By 1900, an estimated 40 percent of the city’s population was Jewish. Not surprisingly, one of the founding ideologues of Zionism, Ze’ev Jabotinsky (aka Vladimir Yevgenyevich Zhabotinsky) was born there in 1880.
A seven-year-old boy who suffered from the shelling is under medical supervision.
Ukraine said Saturday a Russian bomb landed near a block of flats in the southern city of Kherson overnight wounding a child, while a teenaged boy died in shelling elsewhere.
Russia's invasion has dragged on for more than two years, with fierce fighting in the east and regular attacks away from the frontline.
Key takeaways from Biden's fiery State of the Union speech
On Thursday, March 8, President Biden delivered the 2024 State of the Union address. Drawing parallels to the presidencies of Abraham Lincoln and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, President Biden accurately stated American democracy is under attack “both at home and overseas at the very same time.”
In describing this threat President Biden cited Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s aggression towards our allies, and the rhetoric and activity of the organizers and co-conspirators of the January 6th insurrection as the greatest challenges towards our democracy.
Support for Ukraine to figure prominently in France's European Parliament elections campaign.
French President Emmanuel Macron's centrist alliance was due on Saturday to launch off its campaign for European Parliament elections in the northern city of Lille, as he tries to curb the rapid rise of the far right and hammer home the importance of greater support for Ukraine.
The European elections are seen as a key milestone ahead of France's next presidential election in 2027, when far-right figurehead Marine Le Pen is expected to mount a fourth bid for the top job and Macron cannot stand again due to term limits.
Prominent Polish-Americans warn against Poland sending troops to Ukraine in an open letter to the Polish government ahead of the Duda-Tusk meeting with Biden.
Thirteen prominent members of the Polish-American diaspora have written an open letter to the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and Polish President Andrzej Duda ahead of their meeting with the US President Joe Biden on March 12. The letter points to the critical importance of the meeting.
In the letter, diaspora members voice their concerns about Poland sending troops to Ukraine which in their view could lead to conflict escalation with Russia and have catastrophic consequences for Poland and the world.
Amid late 2022 nuclear fears, the danger ebbed. However, a senior US official indicates the potential resurgence of nuclear risks in the months to come.
In late 2022, the United States began intense preparations in anticipation of a potential nuclear strike by Russia against Ukraine, according to two senior administration officials who spoke with CNN.
Specifically concerned about the possibility of Russia using a tactical or battlefield nuclear weapon, the Biden administration felt compelled to take rigorous measures to prevent such a scenario.
Financial account significantly negative.
Bonds: Debt rollover ratio remains decent YTD
The Ministry of Finance refinanced 90% of debt redemptions in February in all currencies; however, the rollover ratio YTD exceeds 100%.At last week's primary auction, the MoF raised UAH11bn (US$287m) without changes in interest rates. This was one of the largest weekly borrowings this year. Last week's proceeds were split almost equally between local and hard currencies. See details in the auction review.Thanks to large volumes of UAH borrowings in February, the total monthly refinancing level in all currencies was 90%. YTD, the total rollover rate stood at 119%, including 88% in US dollars and 93% in euros. Borrowings continue to exceed repayments only in local currency. The rollover ratio was 138% in February and 190% YTD.Due to significant redemptions of USD-denominated securities last week, the volume of domestic bonds outstanding slid in February by 0.2%. Except for banks, portfolios of all bondholder groups declined.During March, the Ministry must repay UAH18bn (approximately US$467m) of UAH debt (including UAH16bn next week and UAH2bn at the end of the month) and US$430m in FX-denominated bills (in two weeks). So, in preparation for significant repayments, the MoF has added a new US dollar issue to today's offering and will, thus, offer USD-denominated bills three times in March.
The Kremlin will continue cracking down on dissidents and igniting trouble and turmoil globally until its leadership is replaced, but this requires defeat abroad, a united and effective domestic oppos
There is no Russian Mandela waiting in the wings to replace the martyred Alexei Navalny. The country remains a ruthless dictatorship that has imposed a Stalin-style reign of terror to control its 143.4 million people, 11 time zones, and more than 140 ethnic groups. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s re-election in mid-March is a farce, a foregone conclusion and there is no substitute for Navalny. The Kremlin will continue cracking down on dissidents and igniting trouble and turmoil globally until its leadership is replaced, but this requires defeat abroad and dismantling the empire at home.
The tragedy is that Navalny drew attention to Russia’s corruption and injustice, but could not unite the country’s opposition or populace to overthrow Putin. Russia will only change, wrote former diplomat Boris Bondarev, who resigned after Ukraine was invaded, if opposition forces unite and elites help undermine Putin. “Without taking these steps, the Russian opposition is doomed to become nothing but mouthpieces and bloggers with no influence and agency where it really matters”. They are also doomed to die in prison or in exile.
Fico’s Pro-Russian Slovak government is being shunned by its European partners.
France organized a follow-up teleconference bringing together foreign and defense ministries to discuss the war in Ukraine. However, they ‘learned their lesson’ and did not invite Slovakia because of its pro-Russian stance.
Representatives from 28 countries, including Ukraine and the US, held an ad hoc ministerial teleconference on Thursday (March 7) to follow up on last week’s Ukraine summit in Paris.
Starlink’s technology could allow smartphones to access satellite internet as early as 2025, but some questions have come up about the need for oversight considering the company’s past decisions.
In January, Starlink announced a “Direct to Cell” technology that would enable long-term evolution (LTE) satellite connection accessible from smartphones as early as 2025, with a wide coverage no competitors come close to matching at the time of writing.
At present, the use of Starlink devices remains prevalent in Ukraine and requires a dedicated device, but the new technology could soon eliminate that.
Atlantic Council’s Peter Dickinson on why Ukraine is only the beginning for Putin.
There was no escaping the mounting sense of gloom in late February as the world marked the second anniversary of Russia’s full-scale Ukraine invasion.
While a chorus of international leaders voiced their determination to continue standing with Ukraine, it is now evident that Russia holds the upper hand as the conflict evolves into a grinding war of attrition. Indeed, with the future of US military aid in doubt, the mood among Ukraine’s partners is visibly darkening as thoughts turn to the disastrous consequences of a potential Russian victory.
Biden carries the political fight to Trump as their rivalry for the White House intensifies.
US President Joe Biden stepped up his attacks on Donald Trump Friday as he took his election message to crucial battleground states on the back of a combative, well-received State of the Union address.
Speaking to supporters in the swing state of Pennsylvania, 81-year-old Biden finally attacked Trump by name, a day after he had referred to him only as "my predecessor" multiple times.
How Ukraine’s national poet and former serf bonded with a visiting Afro-American actor and former slave.
From the Editors: March 9 marks the 210th anniversary of Ukraine’s greatest poet and architect of its modern national identity –Taras Shevchenko. We are therefore reprinting an article by our Chief Editor that covers a little-known but very illuminating episode in his life.
A legendary Afro-American actor in the middle of the nineteenth century flees slavery and meets on the other side of the world Ukraine’s leading poet and recent political prisoner who had earlier been freed from serfdom. Imagine the inherent mutual understanding and solidarity between the two irrepressible artists, and the resulting cathartic and creative interaction.
Russian authorities claim a substantial drone assault across four regions, with Taganrog's Beriev aircraft factory possibly among the targets, as 47 drones were reportedly downed.
The Russian Ministry of Defense reported a significant drone attack allegedly targeting Taganrog in the Rostov region, as announced by regional governor Vasiliy Golubev on Telegram.
A total of 47 drones were reportedly downed early Saturday, March 9, across four regions, with 41 drones allegedly intercepted and destroyed in Rostov.
In nine years, Navalny’s sentiments towards the “Crimea Question” shifted. At the time of his death, he firmly asserted that Ukraine’s border should be restored to that defined in 1991.
It was very disappointing to learn that “Ukraine’s First Lady” had “snubbed” an invitation to the White House because (according to numerous reports) “she did not want to be seen with the widow of Alexei Navalny.” US officials had hoped that the image of both Mrs. Zelensky and Mrs. Navalny would have been a powerful backdrop to President Biden’s State of the Union address.
When Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 Navalny had opposed the invasion but his view was in line with the general Russian nationalist and imperialist mindset that saw Crimea as historically Russian. Hence, he claimed that Crimea was “de facto Russian” and ruled out its unconditional return. But, the “Crimea question” had been uncomfortable for him.
Ukraine's foreign minister urged for an "unrestricted and timely supply of weapons and ammunition to ensure that Ukraine beats Russia," declaring the end of an era of peace in Europe.
Ukraine's foreign minister on Friday warned Western allies against the slow delivery of aid to Kyiv, saying timely transfers of military supplies would ensure the war "does not spill over".
"The strategy of dripping aid to Ukraine drop by drop doesn't work anymore," Dmytro Kuleba said during a visit to Lithuania.
Ramzan Kadyrov's army is diverting its personnel from combat to steal copper and transport it to the rear for sale.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov's Akhmat-Vostok army is stealing copper from a Ukrainian mine near Avdiivka in the Donetsk region. According to the Atesh guerrilla movement, Kadyrov's men are engaged in robbery at the Butivka shanty, located in the northern Donetsk district of Yasynuvata.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
