Biden holds Ukraine call with U.S. allies
U.S. President Joe Biden on Tuesday held a call to coordinate the support efforts of Ukraine’s allies, NBC reported, citing three administration officials. It comes despite Republican resistance in Congress.
The call featured the leaders of Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Poland, Romania and the U.K., as well as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, European Council President Charles Michel and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg.
— Hannah Ward-Glenton
Carlsberg terminates Russia license agreements; shares up 3%
Danish brewer Carlsberg announced it has terminated license agreements that allow Baltika Breweries, its Russia-based subsidiary, to produce, market and sell Carlsberg Group products.
Carlsberg said in a statement it could see “no path to a negotiated solution” for leaving Russia.
“We refuse to be forced into a deal on unacceptable terms, justifying the illegitimate takeover of our business in Russia,” the company said, after a presidential decree issued on July 16 temporarily transferred the management of Baltika to the Russian authorities.
Green bottles of Carlsberg beer move along the production line at the Baltika Breweries LLC plant, operated by Carlsberg A/S, in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The company said it was unclear what the next steps are in relation to Baltika, with Carlsberg retaining title to the shares of the company, while the Russian state takes over its temporary management.
Shares of Carlsberg were up more than 3% in afternoon trading London time.
— Hannah Ward-Glenton
Kremlin: Russia has not abandoned its temporary ban on nuclear testing
The Kremlin said that Russia has not abandoned a moratorium on nuclear testing, Reuters reported, after a spokesperson dismissed the suggestion that Moscow should detonate a thermonuclear device in Siberia.
The editor of the state-funded channel RT suggested in an interview that the detonation could serve as a warning to the West.
“At present, we have not left the regime of abandoning nuclear tests,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov seen during a bilateral meeting at the Second Summit Economic And Humanitarian Forum Russia Africa, on July 28,2023.
Contributor | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly warned the West that he is not bluffing when it comes to the possibility of using nuclear weapons.
“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people, this is not a bluff,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation in September 2022, as translated and reported by Reuters.
— Hannah Ward-Glenton
Zelenskyy visits frontline troops in eastern Ukraine
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Ukrainian troops in a fighting hotspot the east of the country Tuesday.
Ukrainian soldiers of the Bohun brigade fire artillery at Russian lines in the Lyman-Kupyansk area of Ukraine.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
“Today, we are visiting our brigades that are fighting in one of the hotspots, the Kupyansk-Lyman direction where Russian occupiers constantly try to attack our positions,” Zelenskyy said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“We met with brigade and battalion commanders to discuss the battlefield situation, pressing issues, and needs,” he added in the post accompanied by images of Zelenskyy meeting military personnel in what appeared to be an underground bunker.
“Each of our combat brigades, each warrior who destroys the occupiers with every step forward assert that the Ukrainian victory will surely come. They are the power. I thank them for their service,” he said.
— Holly Ellyatt
Ukraine seeks to speed up food exports via Poland with border deal
Ukraine said on Tuesday it hopes to speed up exports of grain and other farm products under a wartime deal that will shift some border checks from its busy frontier with Poland to the Lithuanian port of Klaipeda.
Under the agreement, which Kyiv said had been reached with Lithuania and Poland, Ukrainian agricultural cargo destined for shipping to the world from Klaipeda will no longer undergo veterinary and sanitary checks as they enter Poland in transit.
Instead, the compulsory checks, intended to come into effect in the coming days, will be carried out at Klaipeda, which is on the Baltic Sea, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said in a statement.
“This will speed up transit through the territory of Poland,” it quoted Agriculture Minister Mykola Solsky as saying after talks with the Polish and Lithuanian ministers, Robert Telus and Kyastutis Navickas.
“Robert Telus and Kyastutis Navickas noted that their governments support such a control mechanism and consider it a constructive step,” the statement said.
This picture taken on September 20, 2023 shows trains with Ukrainian grain stored in wagons covered with white tarpaulin on the second and third tracks in Dorohusk station at the Polish-Ukrainian border.
Damien Simonart | AFP | Getty Images
While the deal is intended to speed up Ukrainian grain exports, it will not end Kyiv’s search for alternative export routes since its Black Sea ports become blockaded following Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.
Ukraine, a major global grain producer and exporter, usually relies heavily on its deep Black Sea ports for exports. But its ability to get its goods to the world has been severely dented by 19 months of war and by Moscow’s decision to quit a U.N.-brokered deal on safe Black Sea exports in July.
Kyiv has responded by increasing exports via the Danube River and overland via Poland, but the border with Poland has become clogged and Russia has been carrying out air strikes on Ukraine’s Danube ports.
— Reuters
Russian defense minister says military has no plans for additional mobilization
Russian President Vladimir Putin inspects a training ground in the Ryazan region of Russia for recruits who were summoned for military service under a partial mobilization, on Oct. 20, 2022.
Kremlin Press Office | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said the military has no plans for the additional mobilization of citizens to fight in Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported Tuesday.
“The General Staff has no plans for additional mobilization,” Shoigu said in comments reported by news agency Interfax and RIA Novosti.
“The armed forces have the necessary number of military personnel to conduct a special military operation,” Shoigu said, referencing the Russian invasion of Ukraine that Moscow describes as a “special military operation.”
Shoigu claimed that in September alone, more than 50,000 citizens had signed a contract with the defense ministry and that since the beginning of the year, more than 335,000 people had entered military service and volunteer groups.
Commenting during a conference call with Russian defense officials, Shoigu said the fall conscription campaign, which started on Oct. 1, was taking place within the deadlines established by law.
“In accordance with the presidential decree, 130,000 people are subject to conscription for military service. Once again, I would like to draw your attention to the fact that all conscripts, including those from new regions, will not be sent to the combat zone,” Shoigu said.
— Holly Ellyatt
Homes and schools damaged in attack on Kherson region
Russian shelling damaged homes, schools and administrative buildings in the town of Chornobayivka in the southern Kherson region, officials said.
“From 1:30 am until 3 am in the morning, they attacked residential areas,” the Kherson Regional Military Administration said on Telegram, adding that there were nine instances of shelling recorded.
Destroyed military equipment of the Russian occupation troops is seen in liberated Chornobayivka, Kherson region, southern Ukraine.
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
“As a result of the shelling, people’s homes, educational institutions, and administrative buildings were damaged,” the post said, adding that no casualties had been reported.
CNBC was unable to immediately verify the information. Russia says it doesn’t target civilian infrastructure.
— Holly Ellyatt
Russia successfully using ‘foreign agent’ designation to manipulate public opinion, UK says
Russia’s authorities are successfully using the “foreign agent” designation as a tool to manipulate public opinion, U.K. defense officials said Tuesday.
New polling by Russia’s state-owned Russian Public Opinion Research Center assessed Russians’ attitudes toward people and organizations registered as “foreign agents” — a designation increasingly given to any person or entity seen to be under foreign influence, funding or a viewpoint contrary to the Kremlin’s.
The VTsIOM poll, published a week ago, found that 61% of those surveyed said that they considered “foreign agents” to be “traitors” who “disseminate lies” about Russia.
Commenting on the poll’s findings, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it showed Russia had been successful in manipulating public opinion to support the state’s anti-West and pro-war narratives.
One of the entrances to the Memorial rights group office in Moscow, on March 21, 2013. The graffiti on the facade reads: “A Foreign Agent.”
Afp | Afp | Getty Images
It also note that “Russia has broadened the foreign agent legislation since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine” meaning that the measures “significantly narrow the information space within Russia, making it increasingly difficult to articulate any viewpoint, including dissenting about the war, which deviates from the official line.”
Human Rights Watch describes Russia’s “foreign agent” legislation as vast and oppressive, saying the law “is yet another attack on free expression and legitimate civic activism in Russia, and should be repealed.”
“The law expands the definition of foreign agent to a point at which almost any person or entity, regardless of nationality or location, who engages in civic activism or even expresses opinions about Russian policies or officials’ conduct could be designated a foreign agent, so long as the authorities claim they are under “foreign influence.” It also excludes “foreign agents” from key aspects of civic life.”
— Holly Ellyatt
29 incoming drones, 1 missile destroyed by Ukraine overnight
Ukraine’s Air Force reported that it had destroyed 30 out of 31 “air targets” launched by Russia overnight.
The launches were carried out from Russian-occupied Crimea, the air force said in a post on Telegram, and were targeting the south and east of the country. The force added that air defense systems and units in the region were used to shoot down the “air targets.”
Parts of UAV (unmanned aerial vehicles): Orlan-10, Granat-3 , Shahed-136, Eleron-3-SV, used by the Russia against Ukraine, are seen during a media briefing of the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv, Ukraine on 15 December 2022.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
“The targets were destroyed in the areas of responsibility of the “South” and “East” air commands within Mykolaiv and Dnipropetrovsk regions,” the air forces noted.
CNBC was unable to immediately verify the information in the post.
— Holly Ellyatt
U.S. and Ukraine discuss battlefield situation, ‘urgent’ defense needs
Top U.S. and Ukrainian officials discussed the situation on the battlefield and Ukraine’s “urgent” defense needs on Monday.
The head of Ukraine’s presidential office, Andriy Yermak, and U.S. national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, had a phone call Monday to “discuss the situation at the front, Russian drone attacks, Ukraine’s defense needs and the issue of joint production of weapons,” the president’s office said in a statement.
Yermak briefed Sullivan on front-line developments, as well as the recent Russian air attacks — using Iranian-made drones — on Ukrainian infrastructure facilities.
“The parties discussed the urgent defense needs of the Ukrainian defense forces,” the statement added.
U.S. national security advisor, Jake Sullivan, speaks at the daily press briefing at the White House on Sept. 15, 2023.
Kevin Dietsch | Getty Images
The officials also discussed joint arms production that was announced during President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s recent visit to Washington.
“Yermak expressed gratitude to U.S. President Joseph Biden, the U.S. Congress for the continued support of Ukraine, and to all the people of America who support Ukrainians and our defenders in confronting Russia’s unjust aggression and authoritarianism,” the statement said.
The call comes at a tricky moment in U.S.-Ukrainian relations. Over the weekend, the U.S. Congress passed a stopgap funding bill that introduced a 45-day pause on new financial assistance for Kyiv. Since the start of Russia’s full-scale war in Ukraine, the U.S. has pledged more than $43 billion in security assistance to Kyiv.
— Holly Ellyatt
Mon, Oct 2 202310:05 AM EDT
Zelenskyy: ‘Our common victory explicitly depends on our cooperation’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Europe’s common victory “explicitly depends” on cooperation.
“I am confident that Ukraine and the entire free world can prevail in this confrontation. But our victory explicitly depends on our cooperation,” Zelenskyy said in an EU-Ukraine Foreign Ministers’ meeting published on the Ukrainian presidency website.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi.
Global Images Ukraine | Getty Images News | Getty Images
“The more powerful and principled steps we take together, the sooner this war will end. End fairly. With the restoration of our territorial integrity and a reliable guarantee of peace for the whole of Europe.”
The speech comes as war fatigue appears to be growing among some of Ukraine’s allies, with a pause in U.S. funding for Ukraine and a pro-Russian candidate having won Slovakia’s general election over the weekend.
— Hannah Ward-Glenton
Mon, Oct 2 20238:26 AM EDT
Russia says it sees war fatigue growing among Ukraine’s allies
Russia claimed Monday that war fatigue is spreading among Ukraine’s allies, stating that this was exemplified by the pause in U.S. funding for Ukraine and the triumph of a pro-Russian candidate in Slovakia’s weekend election.
“As we said earlier many times, according to our estimates, people in many countries, including the U.S., will be growing tired of this conflict, tired of this totally absurd sponsoring the Kyiv regime. This tiredness will lead to the political establishment splitting,” Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, told reporters Monday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) talks to his Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov (L) during his meeting with African leaders at the Konstantin Palacein Strelna on June 17, 2023 in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Contributor | Getty Images
Nonetheless, Peskov said the U.S.’ plan to temporarily halt funding for Ukraine for 45 days, as part of a stopgap funding bill passed by Congress at the weekend, did not mean U.S. support for Kyiv was over.
“This is a temporary occurrence, evidently. The U.S. will continue their involvement into this conflict, almost a direct involvement,” he said.
— Holly Ellyatt
Mon, Oct 2 20237:47 AM EDT
German military exports to Ukraine surge fourfold this year
German exports of military equipment to Ukraine grew more than fourfold so far this year, making Kyiv the main recipient of German arms, the economy ministry said on Monday.
Ukraine accounted for 3.3 billion euros ($3.48 billion) out of Germany’s total value of authorised military exports of 8.76 billion euros in the first nine months of the year.
By contrast, for the same period last year, 775 million euros’ worth of equipment had been approved for Ukraine.
Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz and France’s President Emmanuel Macron visit the Brandenburg Gate, while it is illuminated in the colors of the Ukrainian flag, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Berlin, Germany May 9, 2022.
Michele Tantussi | Reuters
Germany has repeatedly promised to support Ukraine for as long as necessary following the Russian invasion in February 2022, which prompted German Chancellor Olaf Scholz to speak of a turning point in Germany’s attitude towards defense.
Hungary, which has long said it would increase its military spending, was the second-largest recipient at 1.03 billion euros, followed by the United States with 467 million euros.
— Reuters
Mon, Oct 2 20237:14 AM EDT
Kremlin says it wants to see cool-headed leadership in Slovakia
Russia said it is watching political developments in Slovakia after the pro-Russian populist, and former prime minister, Robert Fico won a parliamentary election at the weekend.
When campaigning, Fico promised to halt military support for Ukraine and called on Kyiv and Moscow to reach a compromise to end the war.
On Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said it was ridiculous that European politicians like Fico were labelled pro-Russian.
“Now anyone who thinks about the sovereignty and independence of their country are getting called pro-Russian. We would surely like to see experienced and cool-headed leaders in Slovakia,” he said, in comments translated by NBC.
Robert Fico, chairman of the Slovak Social Democracy (SMER), during an interview at the party headquarters in Bratislava, Slovakia, on Tuesday, April 25, 2023.
Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Fico and his Smer party still needs to form a coalition in order to govern so their future coalition partner could determine which direction the country goes in when it comes to support for Kyiv.
— Holly Ellyatt
Mon, Oct 2 20234:38 AM EDT
Ukraine says U.S. support for Kyiv is not weakening
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmytro Kuleba attends a joint media briefing amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in Odesa, Ukraine 14 September 2022.
Nurphoto | Getty Images
Ukraine’s top diplomat said on Monday Washington’s support for Kyiv was not weakening, and played down the significance of a stopgap funding bill passed by U.S. Congress that omitted aid to Ukraine.
U.S. and other Western military assistance has been vital for Ukraine to fight back against the full-scale invasion launched by Russia in February 2022.
Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv was in talks with Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress, and that the drama around the stopgap bill that averted a government shutdown on Saturday was an “incident” rather than something systemic.
“We don’t feel that the U.S support has been shattered… because the United States understands that what is at stake in Ukraine is much bigger than just Ukraine,” he told reporters as he greeted European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell before a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Kyiv.
“It’s about the stability and predictability of the world and therefore I believe we will be able to find necessary solutions.”
Kuleba said the question was whether what happened in the U.S. Congress at the weekend was “an incident or a system”.
“I think it was an incident,” he said. “We have a very in-depth discussion with both parts of the Congress – Republicans and Democrats. And against the background of the potential shutdown, the decision was taken as it was.
“But we are now working with both sides of the Congress to make sure that it does not (get) repeat(ed) again under any circumstances,” he said.
— Reuters
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