A Ukrainian soldier amid destroyed buildings in Avdiivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine

EA-Times Radio Special: Will Defeat in Ukraine Be End of Putin?

Wednesday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy — “Putin Will Kill As Many of His People As He Needs”

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1717 GMT:

Briefing journalists, “Western officials” have said that Russia has sustained between 300,000 and 400,000 killed and wounded in its 20 1/2-month invasion of Ukraine.

In its month-long assault of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine, the Russians are suffering 500 to 1,000 casualties each day.

The officials said the Ukrainian counter-offensive is likely to make only “village at a time” progress in the Zaporzhzhia region in southern Ukraine.

But they noted that three brigades have probably established themselves on the east (left) bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region. It is unclear how much armor the Ukrainians have brought across the river.

UPDATE 1459 GMT:

At least one person has been killed and two injured by Russian shelling of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine.

The attack destroyed a critical infrastructure facility and damaged residential buildings and a grocery store.

UPDATE 1430 GMT:

A Russian court has condemned artist and musician Alexandra Skochilenko to seven years in a prison colony.

Skochilenko’s “crime” was the replacement of supermarket price labels with anti-war slogans. She was charged with spreading fake news about the Russian military.

Her trial was suspended on Monday after the audience “clapped too hard” in response to a speech by her lawyer Yana Nepovinnova, who said the case “would have seemed barbaric just a few years ago”:

You can’t punish a person for dissent, for feeling differently. You can’t punish someone for objective criticism of the authorities and their decisions. They can’t punish someone for a mistake….

I’ll conclude my speech with a quote from my defendant Skochilenko: “This is a test of your humanity. You’ve been given a chance to pass it.”

UPDATE 1153 GMT:

The toll has risen to three killed and three injured from Wednesday’s Russian missile strike on a residential building in the town of Selidove in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

A body was recovered from rubble on Thursday. Another person is believed to be trapped.

The Russian fired four S-300 missiles, damaging six apartment buildings and 20 homes.

UPDATE 1028 GMT:

Two executives of the major Russian brewery Baltika have been arrested on charges that they tried to sell rights to its brands to its former owner, Danish brewer Carlsberg.

The arrests come four months after Vladimir Putin signed a decree seizing Carlsberg’s holdings. The brewer had announced in June that it was leaving Russia and selling its assets to Baltika.

Police and agents of State security service FSB carried out more than a dozen searches at offices affiliated with Baltika in St. Petersburg.

The two Baltika executives were charged with abuse of trust and large-scale fraud. A third has fled Russia.

UPDATE 0921 GMT:

The Ukraine Air Force says air defenses downed 16 of 18 attack drones and a missile launched by Russia overnight.

Civilian infrastructure in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine were damaged by S-300 missiles, but no casualties were reported.

A thermal power plant in a frontline region was damaged, Ukraine’s largest private energy company DTEK said.

DTEK did not reveal the exact location of the facility, which has been struck four times during Russia’s invasion.

Residents were cut off from electricity and water during the night, but power has been restored.

UPDATE 0756 GMT:

The Zelenskiy Government has completed a deal with international insurers, ensuring affordable coverage to vessels carrying grain and other critical food supplies through the “protected corridor” in the Black Sea.

The corridor was established in mid-August, a month after Vladimir Putin ripped up the July 2022 deal lifting Russia’s blockade of three Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Last week the 100th ship passed through the corridor.

The arrangement with insurance broker Marsh McLennan provides up to $50 million in hull and liability insurance from Lloyd’s of London firms for each vessel carrying agricultural goods.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal hailed the agreement to “provide vital food supplies to the world at the same time as supporting the Ukrainian economy and keeping the Black Sea open for international trade”.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected any settlement of Vladimir Putin’s 20 1/2-month invasion which enshrines a “frozen conflict”, leaving Russian occupiers in control of part of Ukraine.

In an interview with journalists from 11 African countries, Zelenskiy said:

A frozen conflict is the same war. It’s like a dormant volcano that will definitely wake up. It’s a matter of time. Therefore, we cannot afford a stalemate — a temporary weakness….

If this is a frozen conflict, then we must honestly say that our children or our grandchildren will fight. We have already lost many people.

Do we want to live like this, knowing that we will raise children who will definitely fight later? Russia will come again if it is not put in its place.

Russia seized Crimea in May 2014. In September 2022, Putin declared the “annexation” of four other regions — Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south and Luhansk and Donetsk in the east.

Ukraine has maintained control of parts of three of the four regions — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Donetsk — and made gradual advances in them since the start of a counter-offensive in early June.

In a post on Telegram, Zelenskiy added:

We are interested in a strategic partnership between Ukraine and the states of the African continent. Our relations should be based on mutual respect, respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty, language and traditions….

I believe that in defense against aggression, in defence of international law, the world majority will always be with Ukraine.

“Rough Day” as Russian Missiles Kill Civilians and Rescuers

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskiy spoke of a “rough day” with the latest killings of civilians by Russian missile, drone, and artillery attacks.

He referred to Russia’s firing of four missiles on residential buildings, destroying more than 20 houses, in Selidove in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

A woman was killed and three people were wounded. Others were buried under rubble.

In the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, a Russian “double tap” missile attack killed two emergency services personnel as they were putting out a fire set by the initial strike.

The President spoke with other leaders — Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and Slovakian President Zuzana Čaputová — “about ways to provide more protection for Ukraine and all our people from these savages”.