Oleksiy Biloshytskyi | Oleksiy Biloshytskyi via Reuters Ukrainian forces are to mine the area in and around Lyman, a logistics hub for Russian occupation forces that was recaptured by Ukrainian troops over the weekend. “The city itself has been cleared [Russian] invaders. Of course, some of them are still running around somewhere, and are now being actively hunted. But stabilization measures continue there. First of all, there is a very dangerous situation with mines,” Eastern Command spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi said on Monday, according to comments carried by the Ukrinform news agency. “The occupiers left many anti-personnel mines, the so-called trip wires, ‘butterfly mines’ that cannot be seen behind the sheets,” he added. He said foreign journalists have asked to enter the retaken city, but it is still very dangerous as “the minefields are doing everything to make it safe,” Tserevati said. — Holly Elliott
Ukrainian forces are gaining ground in the southern region of Kherson
Ukrainian forces are gaining ground in liberated areas of the southern Kherson region, according to a spokesman for the southern military command. Southern command spokeswoman Natalia Humeniuk told reporters on Monday that Ukrainian forces in the south were “waging battles and gaining ground in the areas that have already been liberated and those that are still maintaining defense.” “We also continue to work with local people along the contact line, along the front line, in those settlements that are under enemy fire. About 45 settlements have been shelled in the last day,” Humeniuk told reporters, according to comments reported by the news. Ukrinform agency, with efforts to evacuate civilians. Humeniuk also said that Russian troops are inspecting households in occupied areas of the region for men between the ages of 18 and 35 in order to call them up and replenish their military units. CNBC was unable to verify Humeniuk’s comments. — Holly Elliott
An official stationed in Russia admits that Ukraine has made “excavations” in the Kherson region
Pro-Ukraine volunteers from Chechnya train near Kyiv. The Zelenskyy government has shown growing confidence in recent weeks, increasingly taking the initiative in a conflict that the Kremlin itself has admitted has stalled. Genya Savilov | Afp | Getty Images Ukrainian forces appear to be making progress in a counteroffensive in the southern region of Kherson, one of four areas Moscow “annexed” last week, with an official based in Russia admitting that Kiev forces are making gains around Kherson. “It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” Vladimir Saldo, the head of Ukraine’s Kherson region who is based in Russia, said on state television, Reuters reported. He said Ukrainian forces had made some breakthroughs in the area and had taken control of some settlements. Ukraine continued to make advances both in the country’s northeast, in the Kharkiv region, and in Kherson in the south, seemingly undeterred by President Putin’s announcement last week that Moscow was “annexing” four regions to Ukraine: Kherson, Zaporizhia and self-proclaimed “republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, separatist and pro-Russian. Ukraine and its allies condemned the move, calling it illegal and illegal. — Holly Elliott
Pro-Russian groups raise funds in crypto to support paramilitary operations
Pro-Russian groups are raising funds in cryptocurrencies to support paramilitary operations and avoid US sanctions as the war with Ukraine continues, an investigation published Monday revealed. As of Sept. 22, these fundraising groups had raised $400,000 in cryptocurrency since the hack began on Feb. 24, according to TRM Labs, a digital asset compliance and risk management firm. The investigation revealed that groups, using encrypted messaging app Telegram, are offering ways for people to send funds used to supply Russian-linked militia groups and support combat training in locations near the Ukrainian border. Russian paramilitary groups are raising cryptocurrency funds using the messaging app Telegram, according to research published by TRM Labs. Matt Cardy | News Getty Images | Getty Images One group TRM Labs identified raising funds is Task Force Rusich which the US Treasury Department describes as a “neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has fought alongside the Russian military in Ukraine.” The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFCA) sanctioned Task Force Rusich. In a Telegram channel, TRM Labs discovered that this group wanted to raise money for items such as thermal imaging equipment and radios. Read more about the story here
The only way to end war is on the battlefield, says the lawmaker
Ukraine won’t negotiate with Russia unless it agrees to withdraw all its troops from Ukrainian soil — but with that increasingly unlikely, a resolution to the conflict is currently on the table, a Ukrainian lawmaker told CNBC . “Ukraine is ready for negotiations at any time, but negotiations about what? About the withdrawal of Russian troops from our territory? Sure,” Oleksii Goncharenko, a Ukrainian lawmaker, told CNBC on Monday. “But Putin is not going to do that. He claimed that the territories he invaded are Russian … so clearly he chose the escalation mode and that’s why the only response is on the battlefield and Ukraine is doing that.” Goncharenko noted that Putin’s partial military mobilization, which is expected to call up 300,000 men to fight in Ukraine, will only prolong the war rather than allow Moscow to win it. Likening the Russian army and state to a dinosaur, he said:[It has] a huge body, tiny head and very tiny brains inside that head.” “When Russia will realize [it can’t win] we are ready to negotiate, but it seems that Putin will never do it,” he said. — Holly Elliott
Russian mobilization characterized by dysfunction and disorganization, UK says
Reservists who enlisted during the partial mobilization attend a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, on September 27, 2022. – Stringer | Afp | Getty Images The “partial military mobilization” announced by President Putin two weeks ago is proving dysfunctional and disorganized, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defence. President Putin announced the call on September 21, prompting thousands of eligible fighters to try to leave the country. Other reports state that the men going to fight in Ukraine are poorly trained and poorly equipped for war. There have been many reports of men being recruited by mistake. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said even Putin had acknowledged problems with the draft, telling his National Security Council on September 29 that “many questions will be raised during this mobilization campaign and we must immediately correct our mistakes and let’s not repeat them. “ Reservists who enlisted during the partial mobilization attend a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, on September 27, 2022. Stringer | Afp | Getty Images “Putin’s unusually quick acknowledgment of the problems underscores the mobilization’s dysfunction in the first week. Local officials are likely unclear about the exact scope and legal rationale of the campaign,” the ministry said on Twitter. “They have almost certainly enlisted some personnel who are outside the definitions claimed by Putin and the Ministry of Defense. “, the ministry added. — Holly Elliott
Criticism of the invasion of Ukraine is growing in Russia, even from pro-Kremlin figures
Ukrainian troops pose for a photo in Lyman, Ukraine, in this photo released on social media on Oct. 1, 2022. Oleksiy Biloshytskyi | Oleksiy Biloshytskyi via Reuters The Russian defeat at Liman in northeastern Ukraine and elsewhere in the Kharkiv region, combined with the Kremlin’s failure to carry out a partial military mobilization effectively and fairly, are “radically changing the Russian intelligence space,” according to analysts at the Institute for the Study. war’s. “The Russian intelligence space has diverged significantly from the narratives preferred by the Kremlin and the Russian Defense Ministry that things are generally under control,” analysts at the defense and foreign affairs think tank said on Sunday, noting that the recapture of the Lyman from Ukraine in northeastern Kharkiv This weekend leads to growing criticism of President Putin’s regime, top officials and the so-called “special military operation” (as Russia calls it) in Ukraine. “Kremlin-backed media and Russian millbloggers — a prominent Telegram community comprised of Russian war correspondents, former proxy officials, and nationalists — mourn Lyman’s loss while criticizing the bureaucratic failures of the partial mobilization,” noted the analysts in their latest assessment of the war. Ukraine recaptures Lyman, key logistics hub for Russian forces. Institute for the Study of War “Kremlin sources and bloggers attribute the defeat around Liman and Kharkiv Oblast to failures by the Russian military to properly supply and reinforce Russian forces in northern Donbass and complain about a lack of transparency about the war’s progress,” they added. ISW noted that it is becoming more common for even the most pro-Kremlin TV shows in Russia to host guests who are critical of the development of the conflict, and some even criticized Putin’s decision to annex four Ukrainian regions last Friday “before securing the administratively their borders or even the front line, expressing doubts about Russia’s ability to ever occupy all of these territories.” “Kremlin propagandists are no longer hiding…
