Heading towards World War III?

Multiple regions of southeastern Ukraine suffered electricity shortages and blackouts late on Sunday. Top Ukrainian officials, including President Vladimir Zelensky, have said the blackouts were caused by Russian missile strikes on “critical infrastructure.”

Full blackouts have hit Kharkov and Donetsk regions, Zelensky said in a social media post, apparently referring to the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donetsk People’s Republic. Sumy, Dnepropetrovsk, Poltava, Zaporozhye and Odessa regions have been hit by partial blackouts, according to the president, who blamed the incident on “Russian terrorists.”

So, far Moscow has remained silent on the matter, neither confirming nor denying its involvement into the Ukrainian blackout. Still, the incident has been preceded by reported launch of multiple cruise missiles from Russian military ships positioned in the Black and Caspian Seas.

The blackout has affected the operations of Ukrainian railways, which reported delays in its schedule across the country. It also brought to a halt the subway system in the eastern city of Kharkov, footage circulating online purports to show.

So, far, emergency services have managed to restore power supply only in Poltava, Sumy and Dnepropetrovsk regions, according to Ukrainian media reports.

www.rt.com/russia/562602-ukraine-blackout

Blackouts allegedly caused by Russian strikes on the Ukrainian power grid were partially dealt with overnight, according to President Vladimir Zelensky’s deputy chief-of-staff.

In a Telegram post, Kirill Timoshenko reported the full restoration of electricity supplies in the Ukrainian cities of Sumy, Dnepropetrovsk and Poltava. Grid capacity in Kharkov region, which was the scene of a successful Ukrainian counter-offensive last week, was at 80% on Monday morning, according to the official.

The Mayor of Kharkov, Igor Terekhov, said on Monday morning that the city’s subway and trolleybus systems were back online and that the water supply would be fully restored during the day. Electric-powered transport was paralysed during the Sunday outage.

Kiev blamed the blackouts in several of its regions on Russian missile attacks targeting power stations and key nodes of the transmission grid. The Russian military has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out such attacks.

The purported Russian military action on Sunday followed Ukraine’s counter-offensive in the north of the country. Last week, Kiev forced Russian troops to leave a swath of previously captured territory in Kharkov region.

Kiev called it a major success for its military and a harbinger of further victories on the battlefield. Moscow has described the loss of territory as a temporary setback, necessary to win time for regrouping Russian troops.

www.rt.com/russia/562603-ukraine-blackout-repair-done

Russian forces have unleashed a heavy barrage on the Ukrainian army on all fronts, with Kiev’s casualties amounting to more than 800 in one day, the Russian Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.

“The Russian Air Force, missile troops and artillery are conducting massive strikes on units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces across all operational areas,” the ministry said.

Russian high-precision attacks have targeted the deployment areas of units of the 95th Airborne Assault Brigade near the towns of Slavyansk and Konstantinovka in eastern Ukraine, the statement read. The ministry went on to say that its forces had also bombarded the 115th Mechanized Brigade near Artemovsk, and the 53rd Mechanized Brigade near Kurdyumovka, both in Donetsk Region.

According to the Defense Ministry, it also conducted strikes on several Ukrainian units both in the south of the country and in the north, closer to Kharkov.

“As a result of the strikes, the losses among Ukrainian service members and foreign fighters exceeded 800 people killed and wounded,” the ministry stated.

The attacks come after Ukrainian troops apparently advanced in Kharkov Region, with Russian and allied forces withdrawing from some areas to “regroup.” On Monday, commenting on the recent development in Ukraine, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov insisted that Russia will continue with its military operation “until the goals that were set in the beginning are achieved.”

Russia sent troops into Ukraine on February 24, citing Kiev’s failure to implement the Minsk agreements, designed to give the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk special status within the Ukrainian state. The protocols, brokered by Germany and France, were first signed in 2014. Former Ukrainian President Pyotr Poroshenko has since admitted that Kiev’s main goal was to use the ceasefire to buy time and “create powerful armed forces.”

In February 2022, the Kremlin recognized the Donbass republics as independent states and demanded that Ukraine officially declare itself a neutral country that will never join any Western military bloc. Kiev insists the Russian offensive was completely unprovoked.

www.rt.com/russia/562703-russia-ukraine-strikes-ministry-defense

Germany has failed to offer a single substantive argument justifying its “disappointing” decision not to send battle tanks to Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba said on Tuesday.

Writing on Twitter, the foreign minister said Germany had not given a “single rational argument as to why these weapons cannot be supplied” and accused Germany of offering “only abstract fears and excuses.”

Kuleba’s tweet comes after German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht said on Monday that the German Army’s military aid capacities had reached their limit having already “handed over an unbelievable amount from the reserves of the Bundeswehr.”

Kuleba blasted Lambrecht’s words as “disappointing signals” and insisted Ukraine “needs Leopards and Marders now,” referring to the German Leopard 2 battle tank and Marder Infantry Fighting Vehicles.

Berlin has supported Kiev almost since the start of the Russian military offensive in Ukraine, supplying Stinger anti-aircraft missile systems, PzH 2000 self-propelled howitzers and Gepard anti-aircraft gun tanks among other weapons.

Lambrecht said no other nation has so far provided Ukraine with any Western-made battle tanks or infantry fighting vehicles, adding that Germany would not be the first to do so.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s government has faced criticism at home from those who believe Berlin has not done enough to support Kiev. Former Ukrainian ambassador to Berlin, Andrey Melnik went as far as calling Scholz an “offended liverwurst” over his refusal to visit Kiev in May.

Scholz insists his focus remains on “ensuring that there is no escalation of the war,” but has been accused by German Army general, Klaus Wittmann of appearing to be “intimidated” by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Kuleba implied the same in his Tuesday tweet, asking “What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?”

Russia has repeatedly criticized Germany over arms deliveries to Ukraine. On Monday, Moscow’s ambassador in Berlin, Sergey Nechaev, accused Germany of crossing a “red line” and undermining decades of reconciliation since the end of World War II by supplying arms used to kill Russian soldiers and “the civilian population of Donbass.”

www.rt.com/news/562718-ukraine-slam-germany-disappointing-tanks

Ukraine has presented a proposal of recommendations for security guarantees, which would politically and legally bind the country and its guarantor states in a strategic partnership known as the ‘Kiev Security Treaty.’

The proposals, developed at the request of President Vladimir Zelensky and published on Tuesday, were drawn up by an advisory group headed by former NATO secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen.

Kiev suggests countries including the US, UK, Australia and Turkey would act as security guarantors for Ukraine. The “multi-level” approach would see a “core” group of allies making clear commitments to support Ukraine’s military, while a broader group would provide non-military guarantees based on sanctions.

“We need a military force strong enough to repel the Russians’ desire for revenge. And one capable of causing irreparable damage to the aggressor if this desire turns out to be irresistible,” Zelensky’s chief of staff Andrey Yermak said.

He said the agreement would not be a substitute for joining NATO, but a means of ensuring security until Ukraine officially joins the US-led military bloc.

Former NATO secretary general Rasmussen said the “immediate priority” was to achieve victory for Kiev and stressed that Ukraine would require decades of support from its Western partners.

Security guarantees for Ukraine was a main sticking point in talks with Russia in Istanbul in March. Moscow argued that if Ukraine promised not to seek NATO membership, it would be provided with guarantees from a number of countries, including Russia.

Talks eventually came to a halt after Ukraine’s negotiators insisted on sovereignty over the Crimean peninsula, which seceded from Kiev’s rule in 2014 and joined the Russian Federation following a public referendum.

The ‘Kiev Security Treaty’ proposal has been in the works for months. Russia has previously insisted that the only promises of security for Ukraine can be provided by Moscow, but former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said in August that Kiev had given that chance up.

“No one will accept Ukraine into NATO now. The alliance consists of Russophobes, but it is not suicidal,” Medvedev said, adding that the US would dispose of the corrupt Ukrainian regime as soon as it’s convenient for them.

www.rt.com/news/562719-kiev-security-guarantee-proposal

In north-eastern Ukraine, a counter-offensive has seen the nation's forces recapture swathes of territory, and drive out Russian troops.

But in the newly-liberated areas, relief and sorrow are intertwined - as accounts emerge of torture and killings during the long months of Russian occupation.

Artem, who lives in the city of Balakliya in the Kharkiv region told the BBC he was held by Russians for more than 40 days, and was tortured with electrocution.

Balakliya was liberated on 8 September after being occupied for more than six months. The epicentre of the brutality was the city's police station, which Russian forces used as their headquarters.

Artem said he could hear screams of pain and terror coming from other cells.

The occupiers made sure the cries could be heard, he said, by turning off the building's noisy ventilation system.

"They turned it off so everyone could hear how people scream when they are shocked with electricity," he told us. "They did this to some of the prisoners every other day... They even did this to the women".

And they did it to Artem, though in his case only once.

"They made me hold two wires," he said.

"There was an electric generator. The faster it went, the higher the voltage. They said, 'if you let it go, you are finished'. Then they started asking questions. They said I was lying, and they started spinning it even more and the voltage increased."

Artem told us he was detained because the Russians found a picture of his brother, a soldier, in uniform. Another man from Balakliya was held for 25 days because he had the Ukrainian flag, Artem said.

A school principal called Tatiana told us she was held in the police station for three days and also heard screams from other cells.

We visited the police station, and saw the Lord's Prayer scratched on the wall of one of the cramped cells, alongside markings to indicate how many days had passed.

Ukrainian police officers say as many as eight men were held in cells intended for two people. They say locals were scared to even pass the station when the Russians were in charge, in case they were grabbed by Russian soldiers.

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62888388