Ukrainian counterattack near Balaklija in the east – Kyiv claims rocket fire at Crimea

Kyiv The Ukrainian army seems to be making progress in its counterattack against the Russian invaders in the east of the country. President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his video address on Wednesday that there was “good news from the Kharkiv region”. According to reports by Russian war correspondents, the Ukrainian army has been successfully advancing near the town of Balaklija since Tuesday and has recaptured several towns.

On Thursday, defense ministers and senior military officials from more than 50 countries supporting the attacked country will meet again at the US base in Ramstein, Germany, to discuss further military aid. It is the 197th day of Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion.

Ukrainian counterattack at Balaklija in the east

Despite the joy at the advance of his army, Zelensky kept a low profile: “Now is not the time to name this or that settlement to which the Ukrainian flag is returning.” Officially, the events are not commented on in detail due to an information blackout.

Videos and photos from recaptured villages around Balaklija are piling up on social networks. According to Russian correspondent reports, the Ukrainian army is attacking there at a width of 20 to 30 kilometers. According to these sources, the Russian units are under considerable pressure, and some units are threatened with encirclement.

Apparently, there were also gains in the south in the Cherson region. The general staff report from Kyiv on Wednesday named Russian air and artillery attacks on several towns that were previously considered Russian controlled. “Every success of our military in one direction or another changes the situation along the entire front in Ukraine’s favor,” Zelensky said.

Presumably under the impression of this offensive, the Russian military administration wants to postpone referendums on the accession of the occupied southern Ukrainian territories to Russia until November 4th. Previously, an appointment in the first half of September was considered the desired date.

UN Security Council argues about deportations

There was a heated exchange of blows in the United Nations Security Council over allegations of Russian deportation camps in the Ukrainian war zone. The US government has accused the Russian military of forcing detained people into such camps and then taking them against their will to Russia or Russian-held areas of Ukraine.

According to estimates, between 900,000 and 1.6 million people were deported from their hometowns, US Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said at a Security Council meeting in New York.

An independent confirmation of such figures in the war zone is hardly possible. The Ukrainian UN delegation even claims that up to 2.5 million people have been deported from the south and east of the country, often to distant regions of Siberia or Russia’s far east. Russia denied the allegations.

Kyiv claims rocket fire on Crimea

After a month of hide-and-seek, Kyiv revealed the mystery of the explosions at Russian military bases on the annexed Crimea peninsula. “It’s about a series of successful rocket attacks on the air bases in Crimea, primarily around the Saki airfield,” Commander-in-Chief Valeryi Zalushnyi wrote in an article for the state news agency Ukrinform.

He did not say which missiles were used. According to him, the Ukrainian armed forces, whose defensive struggle is likely to last into next year, want to expand such attacks in the future, but they need new weapons from Western partners. Zalushnyj called missiles with a range of up to 300 kilometers for the US Himars missile launchers. This question should also be discussed in Ramstein on Thursday.

Ukraine receives howitzers from the Baltic state of Lithuania as further military aid. Defense Minister Arvydas Anusauskas wrote on Facebook that these were 105 mm guns from the reserve stocks of the NATO country’s army.

Sanctions against more than 600 Russians

As a political threat to Moscow, Ukraine imposed sanctions on 606 members of the Russian leadership. “They bear responsibility for Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Zelensky said.

This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war and the consequences:

Of the 32 members of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, 28 were put on Ukraine’s criminal list. There are 424 out of 450 deputies in the Russian State Duma and 154 out of 170 senators in the Federation Council.

Selenski did not say who was exempted. He also gave no details on the sanctions. Ukraine has started to enforce the penalties legally, politically and diplomatically.

Dispute over grain exports across the Black Sea

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba rejected Russian accusations that the grain exported from Ukrainian ports is not going to poorer countries as originally promised, but primarily to Europe.

Two-thirds of the grain exported by sea via the Black Sea is destined for Asia, Africa and the Middle East, Kuleba said. He called on the world community to put pressure on Moscow to keep exports going.

Kremlin chief Putin complained on Wednesday that Russia had “just been roughly ripped off” after the agreement on exports. While Russia has allowed Ukrainian grain to be exported, obstacles to Russian exports remain.

Putin threatened to scrap the July agreement. His order to attack Ukraine triggered the food crisis in parts of Africa and the Arab world in the first place.

After months of blockades of its ports by the Russian Navy, Ukraine – one of the most important grain suppliers before the start of the war – has been able to bring grain to the world markets again since the beginning of August.

That will be important on Thursday

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin will also take part in the deliberations on military aid to Ukraine in Ramstein. The US is expected to announce a new arms shipment package.

Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) is taking part in the meeting at the US air force base on behalf of Germany. Russia wants to bring up the Western arms deliveries on Thursday evening at the UN Security Council in New York.

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