Donald Trump during the US Presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, September 10, 2024

Tuesday’s Coverage: Kyiv’s “Massive” Drone Attack on Russian Regions

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1908 GMT:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has indicated the Biden Administration may finally give permission for Ukraine to use long-range weapons for strikes inside Russia.

Speaking alongside UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Blinken said the US “from day one” had been willing to adapt its policy: “We will continue to do this.

Blinken said he and Lammy would report back to their “bosses”, President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, after talks on Wednesday with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

Lammy said Iran’s deliveries of ballistic missiles to Moscow, reported last week, was a “significant and dangerous escalation”:

The escalator here is Putin. Putin has escalated with the shipment of missiles from Iran. We see a new axis of Russia, Iran and North Korea.

British officials indicated that a decision had already been made to allow Ukraine to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow long-range missiles, but it is not expected to be publicly announced on Friday when Starmer meets Biden in Washington.

UPDATE 1153 GMT:

Russia has carried out another deadly attack on Kostiantynivka in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, killing three people and injuring five.

Artillery shelling around midday slew two women, aged 73 and 81, and damaged four houses, a shop, and a power line.

Two hours later one person was killed and five injured.

Kostiantynivka, with a pre-invasion of around 67,000, is located 10 km (6 miles) southwest of the frontline at Chasiv Yar. It has been recurrently hit, including a missile strike on a supermarket that killed at least 14 civilians and injured 43 last month.

See also Ukraine War, Day 899: Russia’s Mass Murder At A Supermarket In The East

UPDATE 1145 GMT:

Russian officials say the Murmansk region in the Arctic Circle, around 1,500 km (930 miles) from Ukraine, has come under a drone attack.

Governor Andrey Chibis claimed three drones were downed. The airports of Murmansk and Apatity were temporarily closed.

The region hosts the Olenya Airbase, where Russian strategic bombers used in strikes against Ukraine are stationed, and the Severomorsk naval base of the Russian Northern Fleet.

UPDATE 1020 GMT:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy have arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian officials.

The discussions are expected to include the Zelenskiy Government’s request for permission to use long-range missiles — US-supplied ATACMS and UK-supplied Storm Shadows — for attacks on targets inside Russia.

New Ukraine Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha pressed Kyiv’s case in a conversation with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg.

The UK sanctioned 10 Russian vessels as Lammy tweeted:

Putin’s shadow fleet generates critical revenue for his war chest by avoiding sanctions and directly funding his illegal invasion of Ukraine.

We will continue to stand firm with Ukraine and build a more secure and prosperous Europe.

UPDATE 0641 GMT:

The International Monetary Fund has reached a preliminary agreement with Ukraine to provide Kyiv with around $1.1 billion in financial assistance.

The agreement followed on the week-long negotiations with Ukrainian officials in Kyiv on the fifth review of the country’s four-year Extended Fund Facility program.

The EFF, a long-term funding agreement, allows Ukraine to obtain $15.6 billion in financial aid in regular installments.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: In the US Presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, Donald Trump has refused to support Ukraine against Vladimir Putin’s 30 1/2-month invasion.

Asked if he wants Ukraine to repel the Russian aerial and ground assaults, Trump avoided an answer, simply asserting, “I want the war to stop.” He exaggerated that people were being killed “by the millions”, saying the actual death toll is “fake numbers”.

Trump blustered that if victorious in November’s election, he would negotiate a setttlement even before becoming President, while threatening that the US was “playing with World War III”.

When moderator David Muir pressed, “Just to clarify, do you believe it is the US best interest for Ukraine to win this war?”, Trump again declined to answer:

It is in the US best interest to get this war finished, to get it done, negotiate a deal.

Harris responded: “I believe the reason that Donald Trump says this war would be over within 24 hours is because he would just give it up. And that’s not who we are as Americans.”

Harris explained:

We brought 50 countries together to support Ukraine in its righteous defense, and because of our support…Ukraine stands as an independent and free country.

If Donald Trump had been President when Russia launched its full-scale invasion, Putin would be sitting in Kyiv right now…. with his eyes on the rest of Europe, starting with Poland.

She asked Trump:

Why don’t you tell the 800,000 Polish Americans right here in Pennsylvania how quickly you would give up for the sake of favor and what you think is a friendship with what is known to be a dictator who would eat you for lunch?

In 2019 as Russia — which had occupied Crimea five years earlier — was trying to seize more of Ukraine with hybrid warfare and support of separatists, Trump blackmailed Kyiv by freezing US miitary aid. He demanded, unsuccessfully, that the Zelenskiy Government publicly promote disinformation to tarnish Joe Biden, then running for the Democratic nomination for President.

Trump was impeached over the blackmail but escaped conviction because of the Republican majority in the Senate.

Rattled on Tuesday by Harris’s forceful response, Trump lied that the Vice President had been sent as an “emissary” to speak with Zelenskiy and Putin just before Russia’s full-scale invasion.

Harris knocked back the diversionary falsehood: “You’re going to hear a bunch of lies tonight, and that is another one.” She continued with the actual story:

When I went to meet with President Zelenskiy…the reality is it has been standing as America always should, as a leader upholding international rules and norms, as a leader who shows strength understanding that the alliances we have around the world are dependent on looking out for our friends and not favor our enemies because you adore strongmen instead of caring about democracy.