Ukraine August 2024-

3 October
New NATO chief Mark Rutte visits Ukraine in his first trip since taking office
The new head of NATO vowed when he took office on Tuesday to help shore up Western support for Ukraine, which has been fighting Russia’s full-scale invasion since February 2022 and has for most of this year been on the defensive due to a relentless Russian army push in the country’s eastern regions.
Rutte expressed confidence that he can work with whomever is elected president of the United States, the alliance’s most powerful member, in November. That could be a key moment for Ukraine’s effort to ensure continuing Western support.

2 October
The fall of Vuhledar is a microcosm of Ukraine’s wartime predicament
Vuhledar’s fall is a microcosm of Ukraine’s predicament in this chapter of the nearly three-year war. It reflects the U.S.’s refusal to grant Ukraine permission to strike targets deep inside Russian territory, preventing Kyiv from degrading Moscow’s capabilities. Meanwhile, Russia’s dominance of the skies allows it to develop and advance devastating aerial glide bombs for which Ukraine has no effective response, while a controversial mobilization drive has failed to produce a new class of Ukrainian fighters capable of holding the line.
‘Ukraine’s very existence is at stake’: Zelenskyy enters the US election
An aide to Zelenskyy says Ukraine will not play favourites after the president’s meetings with Trump and Harris.
An aide to Zelenskyy told Al Jazeera that his boss and administration could not openly endorse a candidate, despite their political preferences.
“We need to be pragmatic, we can’t play favourites. Our very statehood, Ukraine’s very existence is at stake,” the aide told Al Jazeera on condition of anonymity, a particularly diplomatic response.

1 October
‘Everything is dead’: Ukraine rushes to stem ecocide after river poisoning
Russia is suspected of deliberately leaking chemical waste into a river, with deadly consequences for wildlife
(The Guardian) Ukrainian officials say the Russians deliberately poisoned the Seym River, which flows into the Desna. The Desna connects with a reservoir in the Kyiv region and a water supply used by millions.
A toxic slick was detected on 17 August coming from the Russian border village of Tyotkino. According to Kyiv, chemical waste from a sugar factory had been dumped in vast quantities into the Seym. It included ammonia, magnesium and other poisonous nitrates. At the time, fierce fighting was going on in the surrounding area. Ukraine’s armed forces had launched a surprise incursion into Russia and had seized territory in Kursk oblast.
The pollution crossed the international border just over a mile away and made its way into Ukraine’s Sumy region. The Seym’s natural ecosystem crashed. Fish, molluscs and crayfish were asphyxiated as oxygen levels fell to near zero. Settlements along the river reported mass die-offs.

30 September
Has Russia’s military improved enough to take on NATO?
Al Jazeera’s defence editor on why Russia’s army is ill-prepared for a direct conflict with NATO, a scenario Putin has warned of.
The war in Ukraine has thrown into bold relief the possibility of a future conflict between Russia and NATO.
Not since the Cold War have tensions been so high. Russia is deeply involved in a war that shows no sign of slowing down or stopping.

27 September
What is Zelenskyy’s ‘Victory Plan’ against Russia?
Long-range missiles and NATO membership for Ukraine: Here’s more about Zelenskyy’s plan to end the war on Kyiv’s terms.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is visiting the United States to lobby support for Ukraine.
On Thursday, he met US President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris to detail what he has described in recent weeks as his “victory plan” for Ukraine in its war against Russia.
What is the big picture?
Zelenskyy’s blueprint for Ukraine’s victory is believed to be a five-point plan. In an interview with ABC News, the Ukrainian president described the plan as a “bridge” towards a strong enough negotiating position for Ukraine to force Russia to end the war on Kyiv’s terms.
Specifically, Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine’s peace plan – which lays out what is acceptable to Kyiv in any future talks with Moscow. Under that plan, Ukraine demands that Russia withdraw from all Ukrainian territory that it currently holds, including parts of the provinces of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk, and all of Crimea. Ukraine’s peace plan demands accountability for the alleged war crimes committed by Russian authorities, led by President Vladimir Putin.

25 September
Facing GOP attacks, Zelenskyy looks to sell White House on victory
Republicans are sharply criticizing his Sunday visit to a Pennsylvania munitions factory.
The Biden administration does not appear ready to lift restrictions on American-made missiles, allowing Kyiv to strike deeper into Russia.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is racing to secure more U.S. military aid — and broader authorization to use Western-supplied weapons — as Russia makes slow-but-steady progress on the battlefield, his country’s energy grid nears the point of collapse, and Ukraine confronts the possibility of the reelection of a hostile Donald Trump.
Putin issues nuclear warning to the West over strikes on Russia from Ukraine
Putin warns West over nuclear powers supporting strikes
Russia is changing its nuclear doctrine, Putin says
Says conventional attack could lead to nuclear response
Ukraine says Russia has only nuclear blackmail left
(Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin warned the West on Wednesday that Russia could use nuclear weapons if it was struck with conventional missiles, and that Moscow would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.
Zelensky warns U.N. that Russia is preparing to attack nuclear plants
The Ukrainian president addressed world leaders ahead of a pivotal White House meeting, where is he expected to outline a “victory plan” for President Joe Biden.
(WaPo) Russia is making plans to attack Ukraine’s nuclear power plants, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned fellow world leaders at the United Nations on Wednesday, issuing a stark call for global leadership to help him attain peace as his country stares down a cold, dark winter with most of its energy infrastructure destroyed.
In his highest-platform address during a week of high-stakes diplomacy, Zelensky singled out his Russian counterpart, President Vladimir Putin, and said Ukraine has a right to its territorial integrity. He decried Moscow’s veto on the U.N. Security Council, which has stymied the strongest global repercussions for Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine bets on India to help get peace deal with Putin
Why Narendra Modi is Kyiv’s best hope.
(Politico Eu) As part of a blossoming diplomatic relationship, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Modi on Monday evening in New York, during which the two leaders and their entourages discussed the pathway to a peace deal.
A high-ranking Ukrainian official, granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive subject, confirmed that India was Kyiv’s big hope to reach a peace pact it can live with.

24 September
To Be or Not to Be – Ukraine and the Biden Legacy
Since our unquestioned assumption was that Ukraine would lose, we had trouble, and still do have trouble, thinking that Ukraine could win. And until we get to that thought, we cannot get to peace.
Timothy Snyder
“To be or not to be.” President Zelens’kyi of Ukraine once told me that “everything is in Shakespeare.” Early in the war he quoted that famous line from Hamlet to the British parliament. It is certainly a propos right now. It applies, in different ways, to his administration and to that of Joe Biden. Will Ukraine win and survive? And will the Biden team assist and be remembered?
Ukrainians and Americans both want peace. Indeed, no one can possibly want peace more than the Ukrainians. For the past two weeks, Ukrainian leaders have tried to persuade American journalists and the Biden administration of how this can come about, tried to convey a simple strategic truth: Russia will make peace only when Putin believes that Russia is losing. They are now presenting what they call a victory plan to try to get into that position.
This is realism. Using the word “negotiations” in any other sense is misleading, since the Russians themselves have made clear, over and over, that their goal is the humiliation and the destruction of Ukraine as a first step towards a world order in which such actions are normal. There is a thought which one hears outside of Ukraine to the effect that one can simply choose negotiations at any point without appropriately altering the power position. This is not realism. It is wishful thinking.

21 September
Zelenskyy hopes for quick US action as another arms depot is hit in Russia
(AP) — A massive Ukrainian drone attack set a Russian arms depot ablaze deep inside the country, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said ahead of his visit to the White House that Kyiv’s multi-point “victory plan” demands quick action from the United States.
Ukraine launched over 100 drones at Russia and occupied Crimea overnight, Russian news reports and the Defense Ministry said Saturday. The depot appeared to be just kilometers (miles) from another that was struck by Ukrainian drones early Wednesday, injuring 13 people and also causing a huge fire.

20 September
Ukraine bans Telegram messenger app on state-issued devices because of Russian security threat
(AP) — Ukraine has banned government officials, military personnel and other defense and critical infrastructure workers from installing the popular Telegram messaging app on state-issued devices, describing the move as necessary for national security during the war with Russia.
Ukraine’s National Cybersecurity Coordination Center said it issued the ban for the official devices of government employees, military personnel, security and defense workers, and critical infrastructure employees.

18 September
Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says ‘victory plan’ is ready
(Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Wednesday that his “Victory Plan”, intended to bring peace to Ukraine while keeping the country strong an avoiding all “frozen conflicts”, was now complete after much consultation.
Zelenskiy pledged last month to present his plan to U.S. President Joe Biden, presumably next week when he attends sessions of the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly.
While providing daily updates on the plan’s preparation, Zelenskiy has given few clues of the contents, indicating only that it aims to create terms acceptable to Ukraine, now locked in conflict with Russia for more than 2 1/2 years.
Dispatch from Kyiv: The Kursk offensive is working, but Ukrainians are worried about US wobbling
John E. Herbst, Former US Ambassador to Ukraine and Uzbekistan
(Atlantic Council) The mood here is largely upbeat, as I discovered after two days in Kyiv to attend the twentieth anniversary convening of the Yalta Economic Summit (YES). The conference, founded by Ukrainian businessman Victor Pinchuk (a member of the Atlantic Council’s International Advisory Board), brings together the country’s political elite with prominent European and US leaders, foreign policy thinkers, and journalists.
The YES conference convened thirty-eight days after the start of Ukraine’s daring thrust into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. On a previous trip to Kyiv in late August, all my Ukrainian interlocutors were encouraged by Ukraine’s rapid gains in Kursk but concerned that perhaps their troops would advance too far and fall into a Russian trap. Since then, Ukraine has made additional advances and fortified their gains south of the Seim River. According to Ukraine’s State Agency for Fisheries, this prompted Moscow to poison the river, which would be yet another war crime committed by the Kremlin in its aggression against Ukraine. (Environmental groups should be up in arms about this, along with Russian damage to the environment at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and elsewhere.)

Blast from attack on Russian arms depot picked up on earthquake monitors
Ukrainian drone attack causes large explosion at arsenal in Toropets, more than 300 miles north of Ukraine.
(The Guardian) Ukrainian drone attack causes large explosion at arsenal in Toropets, more than 300 miles north of Ukraine
A Ukrainian drone attack on a large Russian weapons depot caused a blast that was picked up by earthquake monitoring stations, in one of the biggest strikes on Moscow’s military arsenal since the war began.
Pro-Russian military bloggers said Ukraine struck an arsenal for the storage of missiles, ammunition and explosives in Toropets, a historic town more than 300 miles north of Ukraine and about 230 miles west of Moscow.
Videos and images on social media showed a huge ball of flame rising high into the night sky and detonations thundering across a lake, in a region not far from the border with Belarus.
The strike was part of a broader Ukrainian drone campaign targeting Russian oil refineries, power plants, airfields and military factories, and highlights Kyiv’s enhanced long-range drone capabilities.

4 September
Zelenskiy reshuffles Ukraine cabinet as Russian missile strike targets Lviv
President carries out biggest government shake-up since start of war as deadly attacks continue

Ukrainian foreign minister resigns ahead of expected reshuffling of government leaders
(AP) — Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, one of Ukraine’s most recognizable faces on the international stage, resigned Wednesday ahead of an expected reshuffling of government leaders. Russian strikes, meanwhile, killed seven people in a western city, a day after one of the deadliest missile attacks since the war began.
Kuleba, 43, gave no reason for stepping down. Four other Cabinet ministers tendered their resignations late Tuesday, likely making this reshuffle the biggest since Russia’s invasion in February 2022.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy indicated last week that the reshuffling was imminent, with the war poised to enter a critical stage and to mark its 1,000th day in November.
He said Wednesday that Ukraine needs “new energy, and that includes in diplomacy.” He said during a Kyiv news conference with visiting Irish Prime Minister Simon Harris that he could not announce any replacements yet because he did not know whether the candidates would accept his invitation to join the government.

3 September
Russian attack in Ukrainian city of Poltava kills at least 50 people
Volodymyr Zelenskiy says more than 206 people injured as unconfirmed reports say strike targeted military ceremony
The strike has triggered anger on Ukrainian social media after unconfirmed reports said it had targeted an outdoor military ceremony, or roll call, with many blaming officials who allowed the event to take place despite the threat of Russian attacks.
Ukraine’s land forces confirmed that service personnel were killed in the strike and said an investigation was under way to establish whether enough was done to protect those in the facility. It said measures would be taken to prevent a recurrence.
Separately, it was announced on Tuesday evening that four Ukrainian cabinet ministers had resigned, ahead of an expected government reshuffle.

1 September
Ukrainian drone attacks hit power stations and refineries in Russia
Russia plays down overnight strikes as its forces make incremental gains in Donbas and launch missiles at Kharkiv

30 August
Zelenskiy fires head of air force after fatal crash of donated F-16 fighter jet
Mykola Oleshchuk’s dismissal thought to be linked to death of pilot and loss of plane newly delivered to Zelenskiy fires head of air force after fatal crash of donated F-16 fighter jet
“I have decided to replace the commander of the air forces … I am eternally grateful to all our military pilots,” Zelenskiy said in his evening video address on Friday, without giving a reason for the dismissal of Mykola Oleshchuk.
But Zelenskiy spoke of the need to “protect” the lives of those defending the country, suggesting the dismissal is probably related to the F-16 crash in which Lt Col Oleksiy Mes died.
The crash was more unwelcome news in a week when Russia has continued to make rapid advances in eastern Ukraine toward the key city of Pokrovsk, sparking public criticism of the Ukrainian military leadership and Zelenskiy even as the bold incursion into the Russian Kursk region continues.
For months, Russian forces have been attempting to seize Pokrovsk, a strategically important mining town with a prewar population of about 60,000, but their advance has gained considerable momentum in recent weeks.
Deep State, a Ukrainian group close to Ukraine’s defence ministry that tracks frontline activities, reported that Russian forces on Friday were less than 10km (6 miles) from the outskirts of Pokrovsk, where local officials have ordered a mass evacuation.
Russian pro-war military bloggers also reported on Friday that forces had entered the city of Selydove, south of Pokrovsk.