Ukrainian Troops Liberate Lyman
Russians attack another civilian convoy where 10 children are killed
When I began writing up the events yesterday, the news that Lyman was about to liberated broke. That was great news, but I wanted to be able to write with certainty that the Russians had retreated. Within 24 hours, the official line was that Ukraine had broken through and encircled the Russians, who have liberated Lyman—a key logistical hub for the Russians.
Russia has admitted that they had to retreat, and that Ukraine had recaptured Lyman. Russian men of mobilisation age continue to seek ways to leave Russia. Now we look to the UN to see what they will do about the illegal annexation, and what will NATO do with the Ukrainian application to join NATO? NATO has stated support for Ukraine and reiterated their open door policy, but they don’t actually wish to deploy their troops, and only want them as a deterrent. Window dressing if you will, and there will have to be some serious discussions as to how to show Ukraine support and not to escalate the war, that Russia has already done by illegally annexing partially occupied territories in Ukraine. Putin is effectively daring the UN and NATO to stop him. The question is whether either entity has the guts to stand up to Putin, rather than to hide behind a statement.
Day 220 (1 October)
In the useless UN, Russia vetoed the UN Security Council resolution that had been introduced by the US and Albania, which was to condemn the illegal annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia . 10 states voted in favour of the resolution, Russia obviously opposed it, and China, Gabon, India, and Brazil abstained. This means that the UN will now turn to the general assembly to introduce a resolution to condemn the legal annexation. You may think what use is all of this, and you be quite right to wonder what practical use a UN resolution is. The 193 states will then have to publicly state what side they are on, either Ukraine or Russia. Those who abstain are those who don't support Ukraine but are too afraid to say that they support Russia.
Mark Hamill from Star Wars has become an ambassador for United 24, which is the Ukrainian governments fundraising platform. This is to raise money for drones and other equipment to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia.
While Putin in Russia celebrates the legal annexation of four regions in Ukraine, they have done so without declaring any specific borders, or have declared any details of the planned governance. We know already that teachers have been fired tortured and detained for refusing work with the Russian proxies, and to teach the Russian version of events of the invasion of Ukraine, and to change the facts to state that Ukraine doesn’t exist and has always been Russian territory.
The Director General of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was abducted by the Russians. He was blindfolded and taken away. No further details have been released as to why this happened, what the IAEA observers did, and where he is being held. Ihor Murashov was arrested on Friday afternoon as he drove from the plant to Enerhodar. The company, Energoatom has sought the assistance of the IAEA to secure his release.
Ukrainian troops have encircled Lyman, and all on track to operate the town. The Russians are outnumbered and have two choices–surrender, push through. Reports claim that 5,000 Russians soldiers had asked to leave Lyman, but this request was refused.
Later we find out that Russian soldiers opted to retreat regardless of the orders as they knew it would mean an instant death. Ukrainian flags fly across the moment again. Lyman is in Donetsk, one of the regions that Putin has annexed, yet Russia does not fully control the region. Begs the question as to how a region can be annexed when Ukraine has liberated multiple settlements in the past few days in the illegally annexed areas.
Even Turkey has stated that they will not recognise the annexed regions as Russian. Erdogan of Turkey has ties and alliances with Russia and Putin, but it is hard to see which side Turkey is on, as they are NATO members, but also wish to mediate between Russia and Ukraine.
“In accordance with this stance adopted in 2014, we reject Russia's decision to annex the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine. This decision, which constitutes a grey violation of the established principles of international law, cannot be accepted. "
Ukraine has continued in the counteroffensive to liberate Crimea, and Russian airbase there was damaged by Ukrainian missiles.
Russia has targeted another civilian convoy where 20 people were killed. This was in the north-eastern Kharkiv region of Ukraine where the vehicles were shot at close range in the grey zone. No further information has been made available as to the exact day the incident occurred, or where the convoy was headed. The only comment made is that it is a war crime, and was near Kupiansk (recently liberated) and occupied Svatore in Luhansk. There were 7 vehicles, 20 civilians were killed, where 10 were children, and this was near the Russian border.
Gazprom has suspended gas supplies to Italy, stating that they cannot supply gas through Austria. It's suspected that this is a Russian tactic to punish the countries that support Ukraine. On the other hand, a new pipeline from Norway to Poland is now functional. That means that countries in Eastern Europe have an alternative to Russian energy supplies. Poland has been cut off from Russian energy supplies in April when they did not pay in rubles. This now means that Russia is not dependent on Russian gas as it used to be. This action came about from the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014, and Warsaw decided that it was wise to source energy elsewhere and not to depend on Russia.
Mongolia has experience high levels of Russians crossing the border in the past week. Russians can enter Mongolia visa free and stay for 30 days, but then must request an extension. More than 6268 Russians had entered via Altanbulag, which is a border town.
Kazakhstan has said that more than 98,000 Russians has cross the border since Putin's announcement of the partial mobilisation. In Georgia, there is an estimated 10,000 Russians that cross the border every day.
Day 221 (2 October)
Zaporizhzhia was attacked by Russia again overnight. Not all parts are occupied by Russia, and it has been a target due to the nuclear power plant.
Further details of the liberation of Lyman has been revealed, where the Russian left in a hurry and left behind their documents and all the items they had looted.
Australia imposes further sanctions against Russian conspirators and proxies who assisted in the illegal annexation. Hopefully, the US and countries in Europe will follow suit.
“ (Sanctions are imposed against )…individuals who are flouting international law to legitimise Russia’s illegal actions in Ukraine through sham referenda, disinformation, and intimidation.”
The IAEA chief, Rafael Grossi is scheduled to travel to Kyiv, and Moscow to discuss a safe zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, and to monitor the rotation of the team in place there. He will also seek the release of the director of the plant who had been abducted yesterday.
In response to Ukraine's accelerated application for membership to NATO, the heads of nine European NATO members (Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and North Macedonia) issued a statement backing Ukraine's membership. There are 30 NATO nations, and the statement is to encourage other states to support Ukraine’s immediate membership. This is one way to prevent a World War, and it is an important decision because this is the only deterrent that Russia will acknowledge.
“We firmly stand behind the 2008 Bucharest NATO summit decision concerning Ukraine's future membership.”
Interestingly there is an absence of support from France, Italy, the UK or Germany. The US statement (Jake Sullivan, the US National Security Advisor) said that this was not the time to discuss NATO membership, preferring to promote a defensive position. The countries that support Ukraine’s NATO membership are all close neighbours who fully understand the Russian threat, and that if Ukraine suffers, so do they and they also know they are on the Russian hit list.
At 12.30 pm, Zelenskyy made an announcement that Lyman had been completely cleared of Russian troops who had been occupying the land. The counteroffensive continues, and is still tough with brave Ukrainians fighting to save their country. While this is excellent news, one cannot be complacent for Russia has a legally annexed four regions and hopes to mobilise troops of Ukrainians to fight against their own.
It is no wonder the countries which support the accelerated NATO membership of Ukraine include the Baltic countries, having lived under Soviet oppression and worse while part of the former USSR.