Ukraine Daily

Sunday, October 2

Russia’s war against Ukraine

A Ukrainian flag waves in a residential area heavily damaged in the village of Dolyna, Donetsk Oblast after the withdrawal of Russian troops on Sept. 24, 2022.

Zelensky: Ukrainian flag is in Lyman, our advances continue. “Ukraine will retrieve what it owns,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Oct. 1. “There is no trace of any pseudo-referendum there,” the president said, adding that Russians will see a “more and more” different reality compared to what their officials say. Russia also confirmed defeat in Lyman. According to Russia’s Defense Ministry, Russian troops pulled out of the strategic city, fearing encirclement.

US defense secretary: Ukraine’s recapture of Lyman from Russia “significant” success. The U.S. is “very encouraged” by Ukraine’s success in entering the city of Lyman in Donetsk Oblast, captured by Russia in May, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters at a news conference, Reuters reports. Austin said that losing access to routes near Lyman that allowed Russia to supply its troops for offensives south and west of the city, “presents a sort of a dilemma for the Russians going forward.”

ISW: Russia’s retreat from Lyman indicates Putin prioritizing occupied territories in Ukraine’s south. The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest update that “the decision not to reinforce vulnerable Kupiansk or Lyman front lines was almost certainly (Russian dictator Vladimir) Putin’s, not that of the military command, and suggests Putin cares far more about holding the strategic terrain of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts than he does about Luhansk Oblast.”

Zelensky cancels autumn conscription, postpones demobilization. President Volodymyr Zelensky has canceled the draft to regular military service in Ukraine this autumn and postponed the demobilization scheduled for October-December, according to a decree published on Sept. 30.

Energoatom: Russia kidnaps head of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant. Russian forces kidnapped Ihor Murashov, the head of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, when he was on his way home on Sept. 30, according to state nuclear company Energoatom. “(They) blindfolded him and took him in an unknown direction,” Energoatom head Petro Kotin said on Oct. 1.

IAEA chief expected to visit Kyiv, Moscow next week. U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi is expected to travel to Kyiv and Moscow next week to discuss the creation of a safe zone around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement on Oct. 1.

Russian strikes disable 2 electrical substations in southern Ukraine. The substations that transform high-voltage electricity from the national grid to lower distribution voltages for households have been damaged. There were no casualties among the staff, and the repair is underway, according to Ukrenergo, the national electricity company.

Explosions reported at a Russian airbase in occupied Crimea. According to the Russian-appointed head of occupied Sevastopol, “an emergency situation occurred at the Belbek airfield.” The Belbek military airfield is located just outside of occupied Sevastopol.

Russia’s Kadyrov urges use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Chechen strongman Ramzan Kadyrov wrote on Telegram that Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, in charge of defending Lyman, did not provide the troops with the means to defend the city, while also accusing Russia’s Defense Ministry of nepotism.

Ukraine sanctions Putin’s relatives, more Russian oligarchs after sham referendums. The National Security and Defense Council has imposed new sanctions on over 3,600 individuals and entities. The list includes Russian dictator Vladimir Putin’s children, Russia’s military command, officials, artists, and propagandists, as well as Moscow-installed proxies in Donbas and Crimea.

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Father loses 5 family members to Russian airstrike: ‘They were killed physically. I was killed mentally with them.’ On March 8, Russia’s airstrike on Yurivka village hit Volodymyr Obodzinskyi’s house, killing his 40-year-old wife, 19-year-old daughter, 14-year-old son, and two grandchildren, both one year old.

Illustration: Karolina Gulshani

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The human cost of Russia’s war

24 dead, including 13 kids, after Russia destroyed civilian convoy in Kharkiv Oblast. Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov reported that 24 people were killed, including a pregnant woman, in a civilian convoy near Kupiansk. Syniehubov says that Russians fired on the evacuation convoy of seven cars on Sept. 25.

Russian rocket kills 1 in Mykolaiv. State Emergency Service retrieved a woman’s body from a five-story residential building in Mykolaiv destroyed by a Russian missile on Oct. 1.

Mayor: 5 injured in Russia’s missile attack on Mykolaiv. Russian forces launched a missile attack on Mykolaiv on Oct. 1, wounding five people, including a 3-month-old baby, according to Oleksandr Sienkevych, the city mayor. Mykolaiv Oblast Governor Vitaliy Kim said Russia had attacked the city with S-300-type missiles. One of them hit a five-story apartment building in central Mykolaiv; its two last floors were destroyed.

Governor: Russian forces kill 4 civilians, injure 6 in Donetsk Oblast on Sept. 30. According to Donetsk Oblast Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko, two people were killed in Maksymilianivka, one in Bakhmut, and one in Sviatohirsk. It is currently impossible to estimate the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovakha, Kyrylenko said.

General Staff: Russia has lost 59,610 troops in Ukraine since Feb. 24. Ukraine’s General Staff reported on Oct. 1 that Russia had also lost 2,354 tanks, 4,949 armored fighting vehicles, 3,786 vehicles and fuel tanks, 1,397 artillery systems, 336 multiple launch rocket systems, 176 air defense systems, 264 airplanes, 226 helicopters, 1,009 drones, and 15 boats.

International response

France prepares to send 6 to 12 Caesar howitzers to Ukraine. The delivery could be taken from an order to Denmark, French newspaper Le Monde reported. The governments of France, Ukraine, and Denmark are working on an agreement. France sent 18 Caesar howitzers to Ukraine out of 76, and Ukraine recently asked for 15 more.

Reznikov meets German Defense Minister in Odesa. Germany’s Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht met her Ukrainian counterpart Oleksii Reznikov in an unannounced visit on Oct. 1. Lambrecht said that Ukraine will receive several IRIS-T air defense systems promised by Berlin “within the next few days.”

Politico: Ukraine’s NATO bid surprises Biden administration. Ukraine’s application for NATO accession came as a surprise to President Joe Biden’s administration, Politico reported, citing two unnamed U.S. officials. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, when talking to Politico, declined to explicitly endorse the bid, but said she supports a “security guarantee” for Kyiv. “We are very committed to democracy in Ukraine,” Pelosi said.

Australia imposes further sanctions on Russian officials, proxies. Australia announced on Oct. 2 new sanctions against 28 Russian proxies, ministers, and senior officials, according to a statement by Australia’s Foreign Ministry. Among those sanctioned are “individuals who are flouting international law to legitimize Russia’s illegal actions in Ukraine through sham referenda, disinformation, and intimidation,” the statement read.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Denys Krasnikov, Alexander Khrebet, Alexander Query, Oleksiy Sorokin, and Lili Bivings.

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