Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin war dead at 70,000 amid claims Moscow warned over Kursk but couldn’t stop raid
Leaked documents reveal Russia’s failure to repel Ukraine’s Kursk incursion after months of warnings
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Russia’s military had been anticipating Ukraine’s assault on its Kursk region and was preparing for months to counter it, according to a trove of documents reportedly seized from Russian positions.
Leaked documents shared with The Guardian suggest mounting anxiety within the ranks, compounded by low morale and rising casualties.
More than 70,000 Russian soldiers have died since the invasion began. Volunteer soldiers, once Russian civilians, now make up the majority of recent casualties for the first time according to figures compiled through an open-source data analysis by BBC Russian and Mediazona. The full toll is believed to be considerably higher.
Russia reacted slowly to the first occupation of its territory since World War II, when thousands of Ukrainian troops crossed the border from Ukraine’s Sumy region on 6 August.
The leaked documents contain months of warnings about possible Ukrainian advances with one handwritten log from 4 January warning of the “potential for a breakthrough at the state border” by Ukrainian armed groups. It ordered increased training to prepare to repel any attack.
The Guardian could not independently verify the authenticity of the documents.
‘The West should stop supplying weapons to Ukraine’, Russia says
Russia said on Friday that the West should stop supplying weapons to Ukraine and sponsoring “terrorist activity” if it wanted to send a signal it was serious about seeking an end to the war.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told reporters that a peace plan put forward by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky had nothing to do with settling the conflict.
Full details of Zelensky’s “victory plan” are yet to be disclosed but he is due to present it to US President Joe Biden and to address a meeting of the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.
In response, Ms Zakharova told reporters that the plan looked like a self-interested gambit from the Ukrainian leader whom Moscow accuses of trying to drag the West into a full-blown war against Russia.
Rachel Hagan20 September 2024 11:28
The European Union set to announce €35bn loan for Ukraine
The European Commission is set to announce a €35 billion ($39 billion) loan to Ukraine as part of a G7 scheme to raise $50 billion on the back of future profits from frozen Russian state assets, the Financial Times reported on Friday, citing three people.
Rachel Hagan20 September 2024 10:57
Ursula von der Leyen arrives in Kyiv
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has arrived in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv to discuss Europe’s support, winter preparedness for defence and progress on the G7 loans.
She wrote on X: “My 8th visit to Kyiv comes as the heating season starts soon, and Russia keeps targeting energy infrastructure.”
Rachel Hagan20 September 2024 09:47
‘We have some sense of contours of Zelensky’s victory plan’, US ambassador to Ukraine says
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink said that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky plans to present his fully completed victory plan first to US president Joe Biden.
In an interview with The Kyiv Independent, she said that while she has some idea of its framework, she looks forward to reviewing the plan’s details to work together on its implementation.
When asked about her expectations from it, she said: “President Zelensky has been very clear that he is going to show this plan first to President Biden. He and his team have been true to that. We have some sense of the contours of this plan, and of course, we’re working hand in glove with the government to support your victory in many different ways. It’ll be very positive for us to receive the details of the victory plan and be able to work together to follow up on this.”
She was also asked if the US remained committed to supporting Ukraine’s complete victory, which would include reclaiming all territories, including Crimea, and fully defeating Russia militarily. Ms Brink said: “Our position has been very clear as articulated by the president, as articulated by Secretary Blinken when he was just here last week in Kyiv. We support Ukraine and its victory in its win against Russia’s aggression.
“Now our support is in support of a vision of Ukraine – sovereign, independent, democratic, prosperous, integrated into Europe and into Nato. So that vision is a vision from Ukrainians, and it’s a vision of the future that we support. That’s our position. We’re leaving the details of the war, the details of when and how to negotiate up to your democratically elected president.”
Maroosha Muzaffar20 September 2024 09:30
Voices: I’ve witnessed first-hand the horrific cost of Putin’s war – as casualties hit 1 million
As the conflict reaches its grim milestone, The Independent’s frontline reporter Askold Krushelnycky explains why Russian forces are taking the brunt of the damage:
Maroosha Muzaffar20 September 2024 09:00
Five Ukrainians killed in past day by Russian attacks
Five Ukrainians have been killed in the past day by Russian attacks and at least 33 have been injured, regional authorities have reported.
Some of those deaths include one in the Sumy Oblast where 17 people were injured, the regional military administration reported.
In Donetsk Oblast, three people were killed and eight injured over the past day, Governor Vadym Filashkin reported.
Russian attacks against Kharkiv Oblast killed an 85-year-old man in the town of Vilcha near Vovchansk, injured a 65-year-old man in Kupiansk, and wounded two people in the village of Shestakove, according to Governor Oleh Syniehubov.
Five people were injured during Russian attacks against Kherson Oblast over the past day, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said. A critical infrastructure facility, five multi-story buildings, and 14 houses were damaged.
Rachel Hagan20 September 2024 08:46
Putin ally warns of nuclear war if Kyiv uses long-range missiles
A senior Russian lawmaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, warned that if Ukraine were to strike deep into Russian territory using Western missiles, it could trigger a global conflict involving nuclear weapons.
He stated that Russia would respond forcefully with more powerful weapons. “Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons,” the speaker of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament said.
His remarks followed a European Parliament vote supporting Ukraine’s ability to target Russian sites with Western weapons.
Mr Volodin emphasised the historical sacrifices of the Soviet Union in World War II, urging Europeans to recognise the speed at which Russia could retaliate with its RS-28 Sarmat missile, which could reach Strasbourg in just over three minutes.
Maroosha Muzaffar20 September 2024 08:30
Ukraine downed 61 drones during Russia’s overnight attack
Ukraine’s forces destroyed 61 out of 70 Russian attack drones and one out of four missiles launched overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force said on Friday.
“The air defence system operated in Dnipropetrovsk, Kyiv, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Sumy, Poltava, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Mykolaiv, Odesa and Kherson regions,” it said on the Telegram messenger.
Rachel Hagan20 September 2024 08:13
Kremlin prisoner-swap exclusive: How I survived 11 months in Putin’s gulag
Jane Dalton20 September 2024 08:00
More than 70,000 Russian military personnel killed in Ukraine
More than 70,000 Russian military personnel have died in Ukraine, with volunteers making up the largest group of casualties since the 2022 invasion for the first time, accounting for about 20 per cent of deaths.
Among the casualties, 13,781 were volunteers — making up the largest chunk of casualties for the first time since the war began, according to data from BBC Russian and the independent website Mediazona.
For much of the first year of the conflict former prisoners made up the highest proportion of Russian casualties, but they now account for 19 per cent of all confirmed deaths. Citizens conscripted into joining the army – mobilised soldiers – account for 13 per cent.
Volunteers typically came from poorer parts of Russia and joined for better pay and benefits, often without realising their contracts were indefinite. The BBC noted that most of the volunteers seem to have signed up of their own free will, though there are reports from some in Chechnya who have described coercion and intimidation to join.
The Russian military is deploying these volunteers to the most challenging frontlines, contributing to high casualty rates, the outlet reported.
Maroosha Muzaffar20 September 2024 07:30