September 11, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The United Nations’ High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative has put “the right to food far out of reach for many people.” 

Speaking at the opening of the Human Rights Council session in Geneva, Switzerland on Monday, Türk said that global hunger levels have returned to as they were in 2005, with almost 600 million people projected to be “chronically undernourished” by 2030.

Türk said the planet has sufficient financial resources, technology, and land to provide “adequate food for all.”

Despite this, he continued, “climate change, the consequences of the pandemic, and Russia’s war on Ukraine” are some of the reasons behind the continued existence of global hunger and food insecurity.

“All of us need to play our part,” he added.

Some context: Ukraine, often referred to as the “breadbasket of Europe,” is a major exporter of grain, much of which is sent to developing countries in Africa. After Russia launched its full-scale invasion of the country, its navy blockaded Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, preventing Ukraine from exporting its crops to countries in need.

The blockade remained in place for several months, before Russia agreed to the Black Sea Grain Initiative in July 2022 – a major diplomatic breakthrough brokered by the United Nations and Turkey – which allowed the exports of grain to continue.

However, Russia allowed the deal to lapse in July of this year. It has since resumed its blockade of Ukraine’s ports – as well as launching a prolonged bombardment of Ukraine’s port infrastructure and grain storage facilities.

Ukrainian forces have regained control of oil and gas drilling platforms off the north-west coast of Crimea, Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence (DI) said Monday.

The platforms, known as the Boyko Towers, have been controlled by Russia since soon after Moscow annexed the Crimean peninsula in 2014.

Ukraine’s DI said the Towers had been used by the Russians as helicopter landing sites and for the deployment of radar equipment.

“During the operation, the special forces managed to capture valuable trophies: a stockpile of helicopter munitions of the UAM type (unguided aircraft missiles), as well as the Neva radar, which can track the movement of ships in the Black Sea,” DI said.

Noting clashes for control of the Towers last month, the UK Defense Ministry said that they could serve “as advanced bases for force deployment, helicopter pads, and sites for the placement of long-range missile systems.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok to attend the meeting of the Eastern Economic Forum, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday, according to state TV Russia 24.

Russia has held the annual Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok since 2015, in an attempt to encourage foreign investment in Russia’s far east.

The annual meeting is being held amid reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be on a train heading to Russia, after US officials warned last week that Kim may meet with President Vladimir Putin to strike a potential arms deal between Pyongyang and Moscow.

The New York Times reported that the potential meeting between Kim and Putin may take place on the campus of a university in Vladivostok.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appears to be on a train headed to Russia, according to officials cited in multiple South Korean media outlets on Monday.

The reports come just days after the US government warned that Kim may soon travel to Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin for discussions on a potential deal to supply Moscow with weapons for its war on Ukraine.

The National Security Council said last week that arms negotiations between Russia and North Korea are “actively advancing,” after Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu visited Pyongyang in July in an attempt to convince North Korean officials to sell artillery ammunition to Moscow.

Watson did not say when and where a potential meeting between Kim and Putin in Russia might take place.

Neither Russia nor North Korea have officially confirmed the meeting.

Remember: In 2019, Kim made his first trip to Russia as the leader of North Korea and traveled from Pyongyang to Vladivostok on an armored green train. Going by train is the preferred mode of travel by the reclusive North Korean leader.

Ukrainian officials reported modest progress against Russian forces around in eastern Ukraine, including and an unexpected success close to the airport of the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk.

Officials also say that intense efforts continue to prevent the Russians from advancing in northern areas.

There were “very high dynamics and activity” on the frontlines, said Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar on Monday.

In Bakhmut, Maliar said Ukrainian forces had "pushed the enemy out of their strongholds" south of the city and described its movements as a success in two villages, namely Klischiivka and Andriivka.

A Russian military blogger acknowledged Monday that the Ukrainian Armed Forces had entered Andriivka.

Ukraine forces regained another two square kilometers of territory while towards north of Bakhmut, Ukrainian units had fended off a number of Russian assaults, Maliar said.

Bakhmut eventually fell to Russian forces in May, after Ukrainian defenders held out for months against a grueling offensive conducted mostly by the mercenary Wagner Group. The tactics deployed by Wagner were often referred to as a "meat grinder," due to the vast quantity of Russian troops used to try to capture the city.

Ukraine has since attempted to wrest the city back from Russian control and over the summer made advances from its northern and southern flanks.

Situation in Donetsk: Russian forces persisted with efforts to break through Ukrainian defenses at several points along the front lines in Donetsk and Kharkiv regions pushing into the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, according to Maliar.

The Russian focus had been in the area of Sinkivka in Kharkiv region's eastern part, she said, adding that Ukrainian forces had "seriously destroyed the enemy's offensive forces there."

Both Ukrainian and Russian sources described heavy fighting north of Donetsk airport, which has been a front line since pro-Russian fighters took control of part of Donetsk region in 2014.

Maliar and other officials said that Ukrainian units have managed to take part of the Opytne village located north of the airport in the direction towards Avdiivka of the Donetsk region.

Meanwhile, unofficial Russian accounts acknowledged a withdrawal from the area, meaning Ukrainian forces are drawing close to the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk.

According to the Ukrainian head of Avdiivka Civil Military Administration, Vitaly Barabash, Ukrainian forces "managed to gain a foothold there."

Maliar said the fighting in the East was still intense, with about 8,000 attacks along the entire Eastern Front line with Russian forces using about 370,000 rounds of ammunition.

In the south, Maliar confirmed that “in some places the first line of [Russian] defense has already been broken through and our troops are moving on.”

Only 1.5 square kilometers had been liberated, but work continued to weaken Russian supply lines and destroy command posts and ammunition depots, Maliar said.

The Ukrainian General Staff said that there were more than 30 combat engagements on Sunday, with the Russians carrying out an unusually high 87 air strikes.

The General Staff also claimed that the Russians would soon begin a “massive forced mobilization” to make up for military losses.

It is the decision of Brazil's judiciary whether to arrest Russian leader Vladimir Putin if he visits the country for next year’s G20 summit, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said Monday.

His latest statement deviated from his earlier stance made on Saturday when Lula said that Putin would not be arrested if he were to come to Brazil for next year's summit in Rio de Janeiro.

Some context: The International Criminal Court (ICC) in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin for an alleged scheme deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. The Kremlin has labeled the ICC’s actions as “outrageous and unacceptable.”

In late August, Putin did not attend the BRICS summit hosted by Johannesburg in person.

The ICC warrant put South Africa in a bind: As a signatory to the treaty governing the Hague court, South Africa is obliged to arrest individuals indicted by the ICC. Though the Kremlin bristled at any implication that Putin ducked out of the BRICS summit because of an ICC warrant.

Putin himself told journalists on July 29 that he didn’t think his presence at BRICS was “more important than my presence in Russia now,” according to state news agency TASS.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock arrived in Ukraine's capital Kyiv Monday for a surprise visit, according to Germany's Foreign Ministry.

Upon arrival at Kyiv's train station, Baerbock said Germany is “resolutely“ supporting Ukraine on its efforts to join the European Union, according to a statement on the ministry's website.

This is Baerbock's fourth visit to Ukraine since Russia launched its war on its western neighbor more than a year and a half ago. 

Ukrainian D-20 gun-howitzers, American-made M777 howitzers, mortar tubes, air defense radars — these are some of the decoy weapons created with one single aim in mind: to be destroyed as quickly as possible.

Metinvest, the steelworks company behind them boasts that these decoy weapons are remarkably successful as hundreds have been targeted by Russian forces almost as soon as they were deployed.

The company has copied weaponry deployed and operational in Ukraine, with its impressive array of replicas of the latest American and European killing technology tucked away on the edge of a vast industrial site in central Ukraine.

Before the war, the company was Ukraine’s largest metallurgy group but had no involvement in arms manufacture, according to a representative of the company who asked to remain anonymous. In fact, it still doesn’t, as its only foray into the world of weaponry is this side line in decoys, remarkably true to life but equipped with neither the firing range, nor the hefty price tag.

Making Russia pay the full price of war: The aim, says the spokesman, is twofold — to save Ukrainian lives and to trick Russians into squandering their own, very expensive, kamikaze drones, shells and missiles.

The idea is that, from the sky, the decoys should look worthy of attack, without spending too much. And that has meant striking a balance in the choice of materials, complementing cheap plywood – which doesn’t give off the right heat signature to trick Russian heat-seeking radars and drones – with enough metal that they should be fooled.

Take, for instance, the M777 155mm howitzer. The real thing costs several million dollars. Metinvest’s version costs under $1,000 to make and involves nothing fancier than old sewer pipes. But – and this is the point – it costs Russian forces just as much to destroy with a drone strike as the real thing.

Read more here.

After hundreds of hours of negotiations at the G20 held in New Delhi, India, representatives of the world’s richest nations accepted a watered-down declaration that stopped short of condemning Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The final group statement said “all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition” without any explicit condemnation of Russia’s invasion.

Moscow on Sunday hailed the G20 Summit as an "unconditional success" while Kyiv said the group had "nothing to be proud of."

Here's what else you need to know: