Russia-Ukraine War Newsletter – SEPTEMBER 4-10, 2023

Situation as of 8:00 a.m. on September 11, 2023 

  • Russian troops have intensified attacks using kamikaze drones, indicating the accumulation of sufficient stocks of relevant weapons. It is likely that the Russian Federation has established its production on its own territory.
  • According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Russia has deployed over 420,000 of its military personnel in the temporarily occupied territories. This does not take into account the personnel of the Russian National Guard, special units, and other Russian security forces.
  • Numerous civilian casualties in Ukraine were the result of Russian missile strikes on Kostiantynivka (September 6) and Kryvyi Rih (September 8).
  • G20 leaders adopted a joint declaration mentioning the detrimental impact of the war in Ukraine on global processes. However, it did not specify that the Russian Federation had conducted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and bore full responsibility for its consequences.

OPERATIONAL SITUATION

The Armed Forces of Ukraine continue offensive operations in the southern (in the Robotyne area) and eastern (in the Bakhmut area) directions; gain tactical success at the Donetsk direction, near the village of Opytne. Strikes on Russian military targets in the temporarily occupied territories also continue. Several drone attacks on objects on the territory of the Russian Federation (in particular in the area of Moscow, Rostov and Bryansk) have been recorded.

Since the beginning of September, the Russian Federation has intensified attacks on the territory of Ukraine with kamikaze drones. According to the Ukrainian military, the scale of the strikes was: on the night of September 3 – 25 drones (22 of them were shot down by the air defense); on the night of September 4 – 32 drones (23 shot down); on the night of September 6 – 25 drones (15 of them were shot down); on the night of September 7 – 33 drones (23 shot down); on the night of September 8 – 20 drones (16 shot down); on the night of September 10 – 33 drones (26 shot down). As a result of the attack on the Kyiv region on September 10th, 4 people were injured. Such a high intensity of the use of UAVs probably indicates the establishment of domestic production of the modernized Shahed-136 drone on Russian territory.

The main attacks were aimed at the infrastructure of Ukrainian ports on the Danube river and agricultural enterprises in the Odesa region. At least 2 UAVs fell on the territory of Romania during the attack on the night of September 4. Romanian officials did not initially confirm this fact, but later the wreckages of drones were found on Romanian territory. Romania has summoned and expressed protest to the head of the Russian diplomatic mission in Bucharest in connection with the fall of drones on Romanian territory, which Russia used to attack Ukrainian ports on the Danube on the night of September 4, 2023.

Russian troops are also using missiles to strike the territory of Ukraine. On the night of September 6, the target of the attack was Kyiv, but all missiles were neutralized by the air defense. On the afternoon of September 6, a missile attack was launched on the city of Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region, as a result of which 16 civilians were killed and 33 people were injured. In addition, an attack was carried out on Zaporizhzhia, where 2 people were injured. On the afternoon of September 8, a missile attack was launched on Kryvyi Rih, as a result of which 1 person was killed and 72 people were injured.

During the week, the losses of civilians in the frontline regions of Ukraine amounted to at least: in the Donetsk region – 24 people killed and 56 people wounded (the vast majority of losses were the result of a missile attack on Kostiantynivka); in the Kherson region – 5 people killed and 15 people wounded; in Kharkiv region – 1 person was killed and 10 people were injured. 6 people were injured in Sumy region; 2 people were injured in Odesa region; 2 people were killed in Zaporizhzhia region.

HUMANITARIAN SITUATION, POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENTS

On July 31, 2023, more than 4.1 million citizens, who fled Ukraine as a consequence of the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, had temporary protection status in EU countries. The largest number of Ukrainian citizens granted this status are in Germany (28% of the total number of those who fled Ukraine), Poland (24%), and the Czech Republic (9%). Among the Ukrainian recipients of temporary protection status in the EU are women (46.6%), children (34.2%), and adult men (19.2%).

On September 5, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed bill №9534 regarding the reinstatement of electronic asset declarations for officials, which includes keeping the declaration registry closed for another year. On 6 September 2023, a petition was registered on the website of the Office of the President of Ukraine urging Volodymyr Zelensky to veto the bill approved by the Verkhovna Rada and send it back to the parliament with a demand to open the registry of officials’ asset declarations. The petition gained the necessary 25,000 votes within a few hours of publication and is currently under consideration by the President of Ukraine.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SSU) has declared Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman a suspect for financing Russian aggression in Ukraine. According to the SSU, since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, Fridman has invested approximately RUB 2 billion in two Russian military plants, namely the “Tula Cartridge Plant” and the “Yalamov Ural Optical and Mechanical Plant”, through assets of the Russian financial and investment consortium Alfa Group, which is under his control. Additionally, the oligarch has used his resources to supply food and clothing to Russian occupiers at the front lines and facilitated the establishment of mobile communication by the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation in temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Furthermore, Fridman’s companies undertook the insurance of military equipment and the lives and health of Russian military personnel on the front lines.

On September 7, 2023, detectives from the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU) with the approval of the head of the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office (SAP) served suspicion papers against the former ultimate beneficial owner of PJSC CB “PrivatBank” Ihor Kolomoyskyi and five members of the organized group for the alleged misappropriation of over UAH 9.2 billion from the bank. According to NABU, in 2015, Kolomoisky devised a plan to appropriate funds from PJSC KB “PrivatBank” with the aim of financing a controlled offshore company and increasing his own stake in the bank’s statutory capital. In addition to the former owner of the bank, the case includes suspicions against the former chairman of the bank’s board and four of his deputies. The total volume of materials in the case currently exceeds 2,500 volumes, making it one of the largest cases in the history of anti-corruption agencies in Ukraine.

FOREIGN POLICY AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

On September 8, a meeting of the United Nations Security Council took place regarding Russia’s attempts to hold so-called local elections in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Thirteen out of fifteen Security Council members (excluding Russia and China) condemned Russia’s actions and recognized the illegitimacy of these so-called elections.

On September 9, in New Delhi, India, the G20 summit was held. As a result of the summit, leaders adopted a joint declaration mentioning the detrimental impact of the war in Ukraine on global processes. However, it did not specify that the Russian Federation had conducted a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and bore full responsibility for its consequences. Additionally, G20 representatives called for the restoration of the Black Sea Grain Initiative and the export of grain and fertilizers from both Ukraine and Russia.

The United States announced the allocation of a new defense assistance package to Ukraine totaling $600 million under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI). This includes equipment for air defense systems, additional ammunition for HIMARS, shells, electronic warfare tools, and counter-Radio Electronic Combat (REC) capabilities, among others. Furthermore, the United States provided an additional defense assistance package of $175 million, aimed at addressing critical security and defense needs in Ukraine. There are also discussions about the possibility of the United States providing tactical ballistic missiles (ATACMS) to Ukraine.

Germany delivered another batch of military assistance to Ukraine, including ammunition for anti-aircraft self-propelled artillery units (GEPARD), a bridge-laying vehicle (Biber), small arms, and ammunition. The United Kingdom supplied Ukraine with armored reconnaissance vehicles of the Scimitar MK2 modification. Lithuania continued to provide military support to Ukraine, including 1.5 million rounds of ammunition and the announcement of the transfer of NASAMS air defense systems. The French company Delair supplied Ukraine with a batch of 150 drones.

International leaders continue to visit Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy held meetings with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, and Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, who visited Kyiv this week. The leaders discussed the strengthening of military and financial assistance, the implementation of the peace formula, and the activities of the grain initiative. In addition, President Zelenskyy met with Michael McFaul, the Director of the Freeman-Spogli Institute for International Studies (FSI), to discuss the International Working Group’s activities regarding sanctions against Russia.

Furthermore, this week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy conducted telephone conversations with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and Saudi Arabia’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud.

The information in the newsletter is collected from official sources—reports of state authorities of Ukraine, Ukrainian and international news agencies. The accuracy of the data is carefully checked by the project team and corrected in case of fake news.