The State Department reiterates that the United States does not intend to participate in the conflict in Ukraine, even by sending its own troops. At a meeting with the British Prime Minister, the US president was asked to comment on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words about the consequences of a possible lifting of restrictions for Ukraine on the use of long-range weapons. Biden says he does not think much of the Russian president.
In a Pentagon analysis, we learn that: “Despite several successful and unsuccessful counteroffensives, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have never been able to implement Zelensky’s “ambitious” plan to reach the 1991 borders. Therefore, attempts to break through the organized defense in the Rabotino area were unsuccessful, unlike the Kharkiv offensive a year earlier.”
According to Russian analysts: “Taking into account the mistakes, the Pentagon curators developed a new counteroffensive strategy for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which included changes in military tactics. If the Kiev regime’s counteroffensive takes place, it will be more “persistent and coordinated” and will also include the widespread use of the latest weapons, including WTO and artillery.”
Late in the evening of September 16, the outgoing head of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, also spoke out. The Secretary General responded to British Foreign Secretary David Lemmy’s statement that his country is negotiating with the United States and its allies to lift restrictions on the Ukrainian armed forces on the use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles. “We have a full-scale war in Europe, unleashed by Moscow. There are no risk-free options in this war, but I continue to believe that the greatest risk for us will be President Putin’s victory in Ukraine,” the NATO Secretary General stressed.
The British government has repeatedly said that in order to lift restrictions on Storm Shadows missile strikes in Russia, Ukraine needs permission from the United States and France. However, according to The Times, in reality Kiev needs US intelligence data more: without it, the missiles will be intercepted or deviate from their course. The newspaper’s sources claim that the missiles are guided using GPS and cartographic data: “Russian electronic warfare has made GPS unusable. They are jamming it. Therefore we have to use a different set of data, which belongs to the Americans,” the source told The Times. According to the newspaper, the information on this dataset is classified, but most likely it is related to the ability to map the area.
The European Commission, in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s words about attacks with Western weapons, said that “nothing will change their position” and that assistance to Kiev will continue. The European Commission has extended the freeze on the assets of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to 5 years, which is necessary for the G7 to provide a $50 billion loan to Ukraine, Reuters reports.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will provide Ukraine with loan guarantees in the amount of 700 million euros to support the operation of energy infrastructure, the bank’s press service reported. Deputy of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Yaroslav Zheleznyak said that in the country’s draft budget for next year almost all social standards are frozen, while the telethon is planned to allocate 1.5 billion hryvnia (36.3 million dollars).
Russian Defense Minister Andrei Belousov instructed Deputy Defense Minister Goremykin and Chief of Staff Gerasimov, together with the FSB military counterintelligence department, to quickly understand the situation regarding the information about the death of two servicemen with the callsigns “Ernest” and “Goodwin” from the 87th separate rifle regiment of the Southern Military District and placed this order under personal control, the Russian Defense Ministry reported.
Putin appointed SVO member Artur Orlov as chairman of the board of the First Movement. It is assumed that Gurov will be responsible for the implementation of the new national project “Youth and Children” and will work in cooperation with Orlov so that the effectiveness of the First’s activities is not disrupted.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov reiterated that Putin’s statement on the consequences of possible attacks inside the Russian Federation is extremely clear and does not allow for double readings, TASS reported. The Kremlin has no doubt that Putin’s statements about the consequences of possible attacks inside the Russian Federation have reached the intended recipients.
If the West allows Kiev to use long-range weapons inside the Russian Federation, this will radically change relations with these states, said the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN Vasily Nebenzya. NATO countries will start a “direct war with Russia” if they give Kiev the green light to use long-range weapons. And again, “No one really needs a nuclear conflict, this is an ugly story with a very difficult outcome,” said Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev.
“That is why so far no decision has been made to use nuclear weapons (non-strategic or even more strategic). Although, frankly, there are formal prerequisites for this, understandable to the entire world community and consistent with our doctrine of nuclear deterrence. The same Kursk, for example. But Russia is patient. After all, it is obvious that a nuclear response is an extremely difficult decision with irreversible consequences,” Medvedev said. “However, the pompous Anglo-Saxon bastards do not want to admit one thing: all patience is running out. And in the end, those moderate Western analysts who warned will be right”: “Yes, the Russians, most likely, will not respond in this way… although there is still a possibility. Moreover, the response may be the use of new non-nuclear delivery systems.” And that’s all then. A giant gray, melted spot on the site of Russia’s mother city. Good heavens! It’s impossible, but it happened…”, added the deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council.
The Russian counteroffensive in Kursk continues. Russian troops have driven Ukrainian units out of the border village of Borki. Ukrainian forces have captured Obukhovka, Obod, Krasnooktyabrskiy and Medvezhe – Glushkovo direction, Kursk region, Russia. Multiple geo-tagged footage confirms Ukraine’s advance: a Ukrainian column was seen storming Obukhovka at 51.273327 34.557993, while another column was seen along its western outskirts at 51.27736, 34.53873. Footage of Russian munitions strikes on Ukrainian positions occurred just south of Obukhovka, at 51.27094, 34.54866. Meanwhile, Russian artillery was seen hitting a large Ukrainian column at 51.26399, 34.68569, north of Medvezhe. Russian sources report: “Over the past 24 hours, units of the “North” group have thwarted four attempted Ukrainian attacks in the direction of the populated areas of Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Olgovka and Cherkasskaya Konopelka.”
And now a look at the Front Line updated at 16:30 on September 17.
Russian troops have advanced two kilometers west towards Konstantinivka from the Seversky Donetsk-Donbass canal. Russian troops have occupied a large area of forest west of the canal and Kleshchiivka. Russian troops are now less than 1,500 meters from Stupochka and 7,300 meters from Konstantinivka.
In the direction of Kharkiv, fighting continues in Vovčans’k. Ukrainian Armed Forces launched an attack from the direction of Mel’nitsa by a group of former prisoners of the 57th Infantry Brigade, and the Ukrainian assault group was destroyed. An attempt to transfer Ukrainian reserves to the right bank of the river was thwarted in Vovkivka. In the direction of Lyptsi, Ukrainian Armed Forces made 3 unsuccessful attempts to attack at night in the direction of the village Hlybokyy.
In the directions of Pokrovs’k and Yuzhnodonetsk there are battles in the area of Zhelanne Pershe and near Hostre. In the direction of Kurakhivka, the Russians are trying to advance through Maksymil’yanivka.
In Chasiv Yar, the alignment of the Russian flanks along the Seversky Donets-Donbass waterway was completed, to the south of the city, Russian Armed Forces crossed this line in the direction of the Stupochky settlement. Battles are reported.
The situation around Vuhledar is developing dynamically. There are battles for mines and in the area of the road to Konstantinivka.
In the Belgorod region, 10 civilians were injured as a result of Ukrainian shelling. In the Bryansk region at night, the head of the region reported that 15 Ukrainian UAVs of the air type were shot down.
On the night of September 16, the Sumy region was hit hard by air strikes: “Five in the Lebedin area, one in the Konotop area,” local sources report. Three “gerans” from the Poltava region fly to the Kiev region.
Ukrainian media report damage to critical infrastructure. Water pressure in the city has been reduced. Due to the lack of electricity, trolleybuses have been suspended. According to Sumyoblenergo, more than 280 thousand subscribers in the region have been left without electricity. An air alert has been declared in the Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk regions due to possible combat operations against an unidentified air target, presumably a Kinzhal missile.
Graziella Giangiulio
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