Front: over the past seven days, we have advanced – address by the President of Ukraine

10 September 2023 – 22:28

Fellow Ukrainians!

At the end of this week, it is important to say a few things. First of all, the frontline.

Over the past seven days, we have advanced.

There is movement in the Tavria directions. There is movement in the Bakhmut direction.

Kupyansk and Lyman directions, Avdiivka and Maryinka – we are holding our ground there.

I am grateful to all the warriors who make this possible! Every week, our warriors continuously keep the initiative in the hands of Ukraine.

It is Ukrainian heroism that determines how this war will end. We must all remember this.

Secondly, I want to thank all our people who have been helping to overcome the consequences of Russian shelling and rescuing people over the past week. Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk region, Donetsk region, cities of Odesa region. Thank you!

Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region. Paramedic Ruslan Hubanov, Police Lieutenant. After the Russian terrorists attacked, he rescued the wounded and pulled people out of the rubble. In total, he saved 82 people during his time on duty. Thank you, Ruslan! Police Lieutenant Oleh Sizov also works as a paramedic. He saved 153 people during his time on duty. Just imagine how many lives are saved by one person. Thank you, Oleh! Police Captain Olena Vasylenko arrives at the sites of the attacks, documents the consequences of the shelling, and helps the wounded. She herself came under artillery fire, was wounded, and returned to duty. Thank you, Olena!

And I thank the guys, the Ukrainian rescuers who were the first to arrive after the Russian attack on Kostiantynivka, on the market: firefighter-rescuer Roman Dychko, Chief Master Sergeant Denys Sukhanov, Captain of the Civil Defense Service Serhiy Chikin.

Brutal shelling of Kryvyi Rih. One person was killed. My condolences to the family… 60 wounded. I thank each and every one of you who helped save people! And I would like to especially mention Vadym Kuchkurda, Yevheniy Huba and Vladyslav Kurasov, employees of our State Emergency Service. The guys rescued three people from under the rubble. Thank you! I would also like to mention police officers Bohdan Kovalenko and Valeriy Velykyi. They were among the first to arrive at the site of the attack and began to get people out of the rubble.

Sumy. Police Senior Lieutenant Yaroslav Kuts arrived at the site of the Russian shelling and quickly extinguished the fire in close proximity to people trapped under the rubble. I thank you for this speed, Yaroslav! I would also like to recognize the employees of the Sumy region’s State Emergency Service: Sergeants of the Civil Defense Service Pavlo Zhuk and Ihor Tokarenko, and Colonel of the Civil Defense Service Serhiy Halat. Thank you guys for saving the lives of our people!

Odesa region, the city of Kiliya. Andriy Nosov, Andriy Mosienko, Andriy Vasylenko – our firefighters. Thank you, guys! The city of Reni. I would like to recognize a police officer, Major Denys Bandarenko. After the Russian attack by “Shaheds”, he saved four people, provided them with medical care and took them to the hospital. I thank you, Denys!

I also thank every Ukrainian doctor, every nurse and all Ukrainian combat medics who save the lives of our people and restore their strength! This is truly a great job.

And one more thing.

Today, near the city of Chasiv Yar in Donetsk region, Russian terrorists attacked a volunteer vehicle. A direct hit from an anti-tank missile system. As of this time, we know for sure that Anthony Ignat of Canada was killed. Unfortunately, Emma Igual of Spain is also likely to have been killed. My condolences to their families. Two other volunteers were taken to Dnipro hospitals – German citizen Mawick Ruben and Swedish citizen Johan Mathias – and they are being provided with the necessary assistance. This Russian shelling once again confirms how close the war against Ukraine is to everyone in the world who truly values human life and who believes it is the common moral duty of humanity to stop terror and defeat evil.

Glory to all our warriors! Glory to all our people! I thank everyone in the world who helps Ukraine survive and protect lives! We will definitely prevail!

Glory to Ukraine!

https://twitter.com/Euan_MacDonald/status/1700463349643747359

The rationalizations here should be good…

https://twitter.com/HenryJFoy/status/1700881708634227064

From The Financial Times: (emphasis mine)

It took until close to midnight on Friday for a handful of leading developing countries to propose their compromise. Accept this, was the pitch, or bear the consequences of a fractured G20.

After five days of gruelling discussions, the western delegates took the deal. When their bosses assembled the next day at the summit in New Delhi, the scale of their concession was made stark.

The US, EU and other western allies had agreed to remove condemnation of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s war against Ukraine from the meeting’s communique, in exchange for pledges from all 20 states — including Russia and China — to respect territorial integrity and work towards a “just peace” for Kyiv.

“This is a climbdown,” said Sarang Shidore, director of the Quincy Institute’s Global South programme.

The degree to which the western allies were willing to compromise, despite Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Putin skipping the summit, highlighted just how keen they were to salvage the credibility of a grouping that had come under severe pressure since Russia invaded Ukraine just over 18 months ago.

“If we would be writing the text ourselves, it would be looking very different,” said a senior EU official. “It’s a process of building a global consensus. So if this means formulating compromises, then this is what . . . needs to be done.”

US officials echoed that argument. The west needed big developing countries onside to have any chance of them pressurising Russia to keep in check with global rules and achieve peace in Ukraine.

“The major economies of the world — including, by the way, Brazil, India, South Africa — are united on the need to uphold international law and for Russia to respect international law,” said Jon Finer, the deputy US national security adviser.

Russia’s lead negotiator praised the statement — which also calls for a return to the Black Sea grain deal to export Ukrainian foodstuffs that Moscow has withdrawn from — as “balanced”. Ukraine, however, condemned the shift in rhetoric as “nothing to be proud of”.

Having accepted that they cannot force Putin to back down alone, the New Delhi declaration represents the most far-reaching effort by Washington, Brussels and other western capitals to forge a shared position with the world’s most powerful developing economies.

It is also a largely unexpected win for Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, who is facing national elections next year. Modi’s decision to parlay his rotating G20 presidency into a year-long platform to promote India’s culture, foreign policy goals, and ambition to serve as a leader of the so-called Global South developing countries has paid off, analysts said.

“Washington clearly has gone the extra mile to ensure that its burgeoning and increasingly close partner India was not embarrassed with what would otherwise have been the first G20 without a joint declaration,” Shidore said.

“There were question marks about the future of the G20. And I think India’s strong leadership has preserved the G20,” the senior EU official said.

Western diplomats argued that their willingness to compromise on dropping the reference to Russian “aggression” had ensured China and others agreed to wording on stopping attacks on infrastructure, restoring the Black Sea grain deal, and upholding territorial integrity.

However, other western delegates claimed this weekend’s compromise will aid their efforts to persuade developing nations to pressure Moscow into ending the war. Their negotiating partners would now go back to their capitals with pledges on preserving Ukraine’s territory and infrastructure in mind.

“It’s not the end of the discussion,” the senior EU official added. “But it’s another stepping stone in the right direction.”

Next year’s G20 is in Brazil. Its president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva courted controversy late on Saturday when he said Putin could travel to Rio de Janeiro without fear of reprisal, despite being the subject of an international arrest warrant.

“What I can tell you is that if I am president of Brazil and he goes to Brazil there is no way he will be arrested,” Lula, who has repeatedly accused the US and EU of “encouraging” the war in Ukraine, told local media in India.

This section:

US officials echoed that argument. The west needed big developing countries onside to have any chance of them pressurising Russia to keep in check with global rules and achieve peace in Ukraine.

And this one:

Next year’s G20 is in Brazil. Its president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva courted controversy late on Saturday when he said Putin could travel to Rio de Janeiro without fear of reprisal, despite being the subject of an international arrest warrant.

“What I can tell you is that if I am president of Brazil and he goes to Brazil there is no way he will be arrested,” Lula, who has repeatedly accused the US and EU of “encouraging” the war in Ukraine, told local media in India.

Are in complete opposition.

This agreement IS ABSOLUTELY FUCKING TERRIBLE!!!! Russia is not going to be constrained by it and neither is the PRC. Brazil’s position before and during the summit regarding how they’re going to deal with Putin and Russia indicates that the document isn’t even overcome by events (OBE) because the events preceded the summit communique’s drafting. This isn’t diplomacy, this is strategic incoherence. The US and our EU allies should be ashamed of themselves. All they’ve done here is given Russia and Putin a win while pumping up Modi who is a Hindu religious extremist that if given a chance will further degrade India into an illiberal democracy. No communique would have been better than this.

Novoprokopivka:

https://twitter.com/bayraktar_1love/status/1700796750963917160

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1700936326265090149

Robotyne:

https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1700650699686596866

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1700891821918871724

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1700895782671417640

https://twitter.com/Tatarigami_UA/status/1700898081158369361

Avdiivka:

https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1700938798454984880

Bakhmut Axis:

https://twitter.com/ChuckPfarrer/status/1700928543427813581

Kyiv:

https://twitter.com/maria_avdv/status/1700749456478543886

For the Russian military equipment goes kablooey enthusiasts:

https://twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1700925906481529186

Commenter Feathers sent along the following:

Long time reader and commenter (Feathers) first time emailer. Thanks again for all you do on keeping the invasion of Ukrainian and the Russian war on the West front and center in people’s minds.

I just read last night’s post, saw that yesterday was Ukraine’s Sports Day. By happy coincidence, Iryna Pidgaina and Artem Koval, one of Ukraine’s junior ice dance teams (the under-18 division, but taken very seriously) won the Junior Grand Prix competition in Istanbul. The Grand Prix is the top level competition series in each division.

Attempts Larry King voice:

Poughkeepsie hello!

More seriously, here’s what Feathers sent along:

The video of the Ukrainian ice dancers performance:

The playing of the Ukrainian national anthem at the award ceremony:

https://twitter.com/yuzutenchi/status/1700535918258426204?s=46&t=mG9oWY_sUs8FMjuoMPDDQQ

The post performance and post awarding of the gold medal interview, which is in English so no subtitles needed:

That’s enough for tonight.

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