Russian Drone Fragments Land In Romania
Ukrainian grain transported through Croatia and Lithuania
The past few days have been busy, yet none of the stories have really hit the headlines in the media. We know that 17 people were killed in Donetsk in another Russian drone attack on civilians, and that a Challenger 2 tank from the UK has been destroyed but the soldiers managed to escape.
Blinken visited Kyiv as did the Danish Prime Minister (Mette Frederiksen) and Ukraine has a new defence minister. Meanwhile, Ukraine said that a Russian drone had landed in Romania, but Romania said that was false and that their airspace was secure. Less than 48 hours later, Romania issued a statement confirming fragments of a Russian drone did land on Romanian soil. NATO were then quick to state that there was no evidence to indicate this was an intentional attack, but said an investigation is underway. What it means is that Article 5 has not been invoked, and Romania and NATO seek to deescalate the situation.
The above does indicate the haphazard nature of NATO and other border countries for making statements that had not been verified. If things had been in reverse, would Russia have been as accommodating? I doubt it, and they are merely waiting for a chance to shout, ‘escalation’ and ‘provocation’ to justify the war.
Day 560 (6 Sept)
Ukraine became an associate member of the Three Seas Initiative, after the summit was held in Bucharest. This is a platform that seeks to extend commercial ties between the countries located between the Adriatic, the Baltic and the Black Seas (Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, and now Ukraine).
Anthony Blinken arrived in Kyiv for a visit where he announced a $1 billion aid package, visited the memorials in Bucha and Berkovetske, and Yahidne (where a village had been kept captive in a basement) , and had a McDonalds with Kuleba, his Ukrainian counterpart.
The Danish Prime Minister visited Ukraine for the third time on 5 September, since the invasion and paid her respects to the dead in Bucha, and spoke at the Ukrainian parliament.
Romania confirms that fragments of a Russian drone had been found on Romanian soil after declaring Ukraine was wrong in its intelligence. The drone had been independently geolocated and appeared to be targeting the Reni port, and hit Romania across the river. As a result, Romania said it will be boosting the security over their airspace and said this was a gross violation of their territorial integrity if it was confirmed.
The Russian pilot who surrendered in Ukraine with his Mi- 8 helicopter has been given $500,000 reward (or payment for the helicopter). Maksim Kuzminov defected and it appears to have been made public to encourage others to follow suit
.
Ukrainian entrepreneurs have been encouraged to hire internally displaced people so that they can rebuild their lives and settle. 10,300 have been helped today with $3.4 million in government grants.
Russian drones hit Kostiantynivka in Donetsk and killed 17 people with many others wounded. While the air defence systems have prevented more deaths, this reminds us that more air defence systems are needed and it’s not enough merely to repel the missiles. Russia needs to be stopped for good.
The Third Summit of First Ladies and Gentlemen was held in Kyiv, dedicated to the mental health of the state. Blinken and Zelenskyy gave speeches, and Stephen Fry also hosted the event with First Lady Elena Zelenska. Other First Ladies also gave speeches, and included First Lady of Czechia, Eva Pavlova, Estonian First Lady, Sirje Karis, First Gentleman of Slovenia, Ales Muscar, and Serbian First Lady Tamara Vuic.
Day 561 (7 Sept)
Ukrainian grain has been transported via the Croatian ports already as the Black Sea grain deal stalls.
Romanian informed NATO that fragments of a Russian drone did in fact land in the country near the Ukrainian border on 4 September 2023 in Pleura, in Tulcea County, after initially denying an incident took place. NATO quickly issued a statement declaring an investigation is taking place but there is no evidence to indicate that it was an intentional act. The drone appeared to be heading to a port on the Danube River and landed in Romania.
We don't have any information, indicating intentional, attacked by Russia, and we are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing investigation. (Stoltenberg for NATO)
The US has announced it will transfer to Ukraine, $5.4 million of the assets of Russian oligarchs that were confiscated. This was announced by Blinken during his visit to Ukraine. The money is to be used to support veterans in Ukraine.
The French government has purchased 150 Delair drones for Ukraine (that were chosen by Ukraine). This is said to be reminder that France supports Ukraine by Sebastien Decornu, the French defence minister.
Citizens in occupied Mariupol have been told they cannot have life saving insulin if they do not accept Russian passports and citizenship.
Zelenskyy held talks with Netanyahu in the issue if visa free travel as there had been substantial refusals for Ukrainians to enter Israel.
UNESCO has added 20 additional structures as Ukrainian cultural heritage sites in order to give them more protection (not that Russia will care), and include Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
Zelenskyy introduces the new defence minster, Rustem Umerov with the directives he has been charged with. These include reforming the military to NATO standards, preventing corruption, and expanding international cooperation and alliances.
A meeting was held in the UAE for western officials to discuss sanctions imposed against Russia. In particular was concern over technology that could be exported as dual purposed and be weaponised by Russia.
The deputy PM of Ukraine (Osha Stefanishyna) claims that Ukraine will be ready for EU membership within 2 years and NATO possibly earlier. Unfortunately, that is optimistic and unrealistic as membership for NATO can only be considered once the war is over, and as more corruption within the Ukrainian government is exposed, there will be countries who will oppose Ukrainian membership such as Hungary.
Day 562 (8 Sept)
In a book by Walter Issacson, he claims that Elon Musk ordered the Starlink satellites that the Ukrainian army depend on, to shut down the link over Crimea to stop the Ukrainian drone attack on the Russian vessels in the Black Sea. Musk has not commented on the biography due to be published 12 September 2023, but we do know that he threatened to stop the satellites if funding was not made available. A huge public backlash ensued and Musk backtracked on the threat, as the richest man in the world wanted more money for his satellites while thousands die in battle.
As the new school year begins, Russia has updated the curriculum to include military training including how to handle weapons, Russian propaganda on Crimea and the history of Ukraine in order to justify the war. This is of course basic Russian brainwashing
British American Tobacco (BAT) is to sell the Russian and Belarusian parts of the business to the consortium that runs the Russian business, as like other companies, they are under pressure to leave the Russian market. Others that haven’t have been designated sponsors of war and are liable to sanctions. It would then be run under the ITMS group. These are irreversible changes being made to businesses where they have lost millions, but equates to the profits made over the years in the Russian marketplace.