Ukraine war: military offices in Russia burn

Created: 09/26/2022, 04:57

By: Sandra Kathe, Helena Gries, Moritz Serif, Karolin Schäfer, Tim Vincent Dicke, Stefan Krieger, Christian Stör

The war is ongoing in Ukraine – and it is now also making itself felt in the minds of the people in Russia.

Does the mood change?

The news ticker.

• UN Security Council:

  Kuleba attests Russia no interest in peace talks.

• Partial mobilization:

  Russia still does not speak of war. 

• Editor

  's note: You can read all the news about the Ukraine conflict in this news ticker.

  Some of the information comes from warring factions in the Ukraine war and cannot be checked directly and independently.

This news ticker has ended: You can read all current military developments in the Ukraine war in the new ticker.

According to their own statements, the Ukrainian military has freed another village in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian forces have taken control of the village of Yatskivka and recaptured previously lost positions in the direction of Bakhmut, reports the

portal , citing the General Staff.

Ukraine war news: UN finds evidence of Russian war crimes

+++ 1:48 p.m .:

As reported by the US news agency

, the United Nations (UN) found evidence of Russian war crimes.

In presenting their findings, the team of experts from the commission of inquiry into Ukraine referred to testimonies from former detainees who reported beatings, electric shocks and enforced nudity in Russian detention facilities.

The experts also said that there were executions in the Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

“We were amazed at the large number of executions in the areas we visited.

The commission is currently investigating such deaths in 16 towns and settlements," said Erik Mose, the commission's chair.

However, Moses did not indicate which side carried out the executions.

Ukraine war: military offices in Russia burn

+++ 1:23 p.m .:

The partial mobilization causes a lot of excitement among the people in Russia.

The Russian-language newspaper

reports that five military recruiting offices have been set on fire.

Two fires broke out in the night of Thursday (09/22/2022) in the Khabarovsk and Amur oblasts.

Previously there had been attempts to burn down military offices, reports

- including one in the metropolis of St. Petersburg.

News about the Ukraine war: "Referendums" start in the east

+++ 9:21 a.m .:

In four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, the sham referendums on the annexation by Russia have begun.

Votes are taking place in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine's Donbass and in the southern Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia.

The "referendums" are scheduled to run until Tuesday (September 27, 2022), after which a rapid annexation by Moscow is expected.

also read

Ex-oligarch warns the West: In this scenario, "Putin will be at the NATO border tomorrow"

First extrapolation from Italy: Melonis post-fascists strongest force - "worrying"

According to reports from Russian news agencies, voting began at 7 a.m. on Friday morning.

Accordingly, due to the short preparation time, the mock referendums will not take place by electronic vote, but with paper ballot papers.

Pro-Russian officials will go door-to-door for the first few days to collect votes.

War in Ukraine: Klingbeil (SPD) warns of third world war

+++ 8.37 a.m .:

Lars Klingbeil warned of a third world war in the Ukraine conflict.

"We will continue to consistently support Ukraine," Klingbeil told the editorial network Germany.

"At the same time, it is clear that a third world war must be prevented," said Klingbeil.

Arms deliveries are important.

Lars Klingbeil is Federal Chairman of the SPD.

© Fabian Sommer/dpa

News about the Ukraine war: Russian soldiers are said to desert

Update from Friday, September 23, 6:26 a.m .:

President Volodymyr Zelenskyj called on the Russians in his daily video message on Thursday to protest against the mobilization and to evade conscription.

"Protest!

fight!

Running away!

Or go into Ukrainian captivity!

These are the options for you to survive,” said Zelenskyj in his speech, which was in Russian.

According to him, 55,000 Russian soldiers have already died in Ukraine.

+++ 10.30 p.m .:

According to information from Kiev, many of the prisoners returned to Ukraine on Wednesday show signs of torture.

"Many of them were brutally tortured," said Ukrainian intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov, without giving details.

There are also prisoners whose physical condition is "more or less normal, apart from chronic malnutrition due to poor prison conditions," he said.

According to Ukraine's Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky, all exchanged Ukrainians need psychological treatment. 

Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyj (l) talks to the released commander of the Azov regiment, Denys Prokopenko.

© Uncredited/Ukrainian Interior Ministry Press Office via AP/dpa

+++ 9.45 p.m .:

The NATO states have denied the planned mock referendums in the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories any validity and have strongly condemned the corresponding plans.

"Mock referendums in the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson have no legitimacy and constitute a blatant violation of the UN Charter," said a statement from the North Atlantic Council of 30 member states.

"NATO allies will not recognize their illegal and unlawful annexation."

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

News about the Ukraine war: Kuleba attests Russia no interest in peace talks

+++ 8:20 p.m .:

The Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba only sees interest in “a military solution” from the Russian side, but not in peace talks with Ukraine.

The 41-year-old said that before the UN Security Council.

He also accused Russia's diplomats of an "extraordinary amount of lying".

In fact, with Putin's announcement of partial mobilization, Russia would have admitted defeat, the diplomat continued: "You can draft 300,000 or 500,000 people, but you will never win this war," said Kuleba.

On the other hand, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who demonstratively showed up far too late to only stay 23 minutes at the UN Security Council session, reproached the West: "This policy of wearing down and weakening Russia is the direct one Western interference in the conflict, making it a party to the conflict".

The aim of the West is apparently to delay the fighting "for as long as possible, despite the casualties and destruction," said Lavrov.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia begins conscripting reservists

+++ 18.45:

exchange of prisoners in the Ukraine war: The Russian Ministry of Defense has confirmed the return of 55 soldiers from Ukrainian captivity.

These are soldiers from the Russian army and soldiers from the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, said spokesman Igor Konashenkov in Moscow.

Russia and Ukraine exchanged prisoners on a large scale on Wednesday.

According to Kyiv, 205 Ukrainian soldiers returned from Russian captivity.

Ukraine let the imprisoned pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk, a confidante of Russian President Vladimir Putin, leave the country.

+++ 5.40 p.m .:

The announcement of a partial mobilization of numerous reservists triggered an enormous wave of outrage in Russia.

The Russian capital Moscow now wants to reward the conscripted reservists with a special payment.

The capital pays each person affected monthly 50,000 rubles (about 830 euros) on top of the pay, said Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, according to Die

.

In the case of a serious injury, the reservist should also be compensated with one million rubles, in the case of a minor injury it should be half.

When a soldier dies, the family receives three million rubles, i.e. almost 50,000 euros.

War in Ukraine: Faeser wants to offer Russian deserters protection in Germany

+++ 16:18:

The Federal Minister of the Interior, Nancy Faeser, would like to offer protection in Germany to Russian deserters who are threatened with severe repression.

Anyone who opposes the Russian regime and is therefore in great danger can apply for asylum because of political persecution.

The decision-making practice of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees has already been adjusted accordingly, Faeser explained to the

.

News in the Ukraine war: Russia still does not speak of war - despite partial mobilization

+++ 2.30 p.m .:

Russia wants to continue to describe the war against Ukraine as a “special operation” – even after the partial mobilization ordered.

According to Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov, it is still legally a "special military operation".

Calling up 300,000 recruits will not change that.

Ukraine War: Several people die in explosions in Donetsk and Melitopol

+++ 2:19 p.m .:

At least six people were killed in explosions in a marketplace in the eastern Ukrainian Donbass metropolis Donetsk.

Six others were injured, Russian mayor Alexei Kulemsin wrote on the Telegram news service.

He attributed the explosion to a Ukrainian artillery attack.

In the city of Melitopol, too, six soldiers died in an explosion in the market square, according to exiled Ukrainian mayor Ivan Fedorov.

According to him, the number of civilian casualties is not yet known.

The mayor in exile blames the Russian occupation forces on Telegram.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia begins conscripting reservists

+++ 1:33 p.m .:

As various independent media report, after Putin’s announced partial mobilization, the first reservists have now received appropriate summonses to be examined.

Russia is already beginning to call up reservists.

A total of 300,000 people in Russia are said to be affected.

Ukraine war: Medvedev threatens west with use of nuclear weapons

+++ 12.31 p.m .:

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev threatens to use nuclear weapons to defend annexed areas in Ukraine.

Russia is ready to use any means, including nuclear weapons, to defend the territories, Medvedev, who is currently deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council, said on Thursday (September 22).

News on the Ukraine war: EU announces further sanctions against Russia

+++ 10.30 a.m .:

The European Union wants to react to the partial mobilization announced by Putin with further sanctions against Russia.

Final decisions would follow.

"It is clear that Russia is trying to destroy Ukraine," said EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Wednesday evening (September 21, local time) after a special meeting of EU foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.

"We will take new restrictive measures at both a personal and sectoral level," Borrell continued, according to the

.

This should be done in coordination with the international partners.

Accordingly, the new punitive measures would have further effects on the Russian economy, for example on the technology sector.

According to Borrell, Ukraine should also receive more weapons.

However, he has not yet given any details.

+++ 8.45 a.m .:

As the Ukrainian General Staff reports, Russia is forcibly relocating residents in the occupied Luhansk region.

According to the General Staff, Russian troops forcibly took residents from villages in the Svativskyi district, which lies across the Oskil River from the liberated Izium, to more distant occupied territories.

Ukraine-News: Thousands of people arrested after protest in Russia

Update from Thursday, September 22, 6:50 a.m .:

Several thousand people protested in Russia in view of the Kremlin’s announcement that 300,000 reservists would be called up.

According to the civil rights portal OVD-Info, the police arrested more than 1,380 protesters in 38 cities by Wednesday evening (September 21), most of them in St. Petersburg and Moscow.

This is reported by the

.

In Moscow, people shouted "No to war!" and demanded a "Russia without Putin".

Photos and videos showed police roughly grabbing the mostly young demonstrators and dragging them onto buses.

From there, those arrested were taken to police stations.

There were similarly large protests in the days immediately after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

Many young men fled Russia on Wednesday to avoid the risk of being called up.

According to media reports, the prices for plane tickets to Turkey, Serbia, Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia have skyrocketed.

Ukraine War News: Chief of Armed Forces Unfazed by Putin's Announcement

+++ 9:20 p.m .:

After the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, the head of the country’s armed forces was now unimpressed by Putin’s announcement of partial mobilization.

"No statement by the aggressor's military or political leadership has any bearing on our willingness to fight for our freedom," Valery Zalushny, commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, said in a statement posted to the social media platform Facebook.

"The enemy's large-scale offensive" would not have terrified the people fighting for their country in Ukraine, but only allowed them to grow closer together.

Russia's new plans would not change that.

Zalushnyi announced that his people will continue to fight: "We will destroy anyone who enters our country with weapons - whether of their own free will or as a result of mobilization."

Ukraine war: Putin wants to 'drown Ukraine in the blood of his own soldiers'

+++ 3.30 p.m .:

The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has also commented on the announced partial mobilization in Russia.

This move would show that Moscow has problems with its military personnel.

“We already know they mobilized cadets, guys who couldn't fight.

These cadets have fallen.

They couldn't even finish their education," said Selenskyj in an interview with

.

They came to Ukraine to die.

Russian President Vladimir Putin needs "an army worth millions," but sees "that his units are simply running away," Zelenskyy said.

Putin wants to “drown Ukraine in blood, but also in the blood of his own soldiers.”

News about the Ukraine war: Klitschko calls for "radical annihilation".

+++ 2.40 p.m .:

After the renewed nuclear threat from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko called on what he saw as the “civilized world” to “radically destroy evil”.

"The mobilization announced by Putin and the nuclear threats will not help the aggressor in his quest to subdue and destroy Ukraine and the Ukrainians," the 50-year-old said in a statement on Wednesday.

The "tyrant" Putin has started processes in Russia that would ruin him himself.

It was no longer time to talk about "any illusory peace negotiations," emphasized the ex-boxing world champion. 

News about the Ukraine war: Partial mobilization in Russia – Putin creates new facts

+++ 12.10 p.m .:

Almost seven months after the start of the Ukraine war, Vladimir Putin ordered an immediate partial mobilization of his own armed forces in a TV speech (see update from 08.55 a.m.).

According to Putin, the partial mobilization means that reservists will be drafted.

They would get the same status and the same pay as the current contract soldiers and would receive military training again before going to the front, he assured.

Kyiv reacted with mockery to Putin's ordered partial mobilization.

"Is everything still going according to plan or not?" Asked Presidential Advisor Mykhailo Podoliak on Twitter.

The war planned for “three days” has already lasted 210 days.

The Russians, who demanded Ukraine's annihilation, have now received mobilization, closed borders, blocked accounts and prison sentences for deserters, among other things.

"Life has a wonderful sense of humor," concluded Podoljak.

News on the Ukraine war: Donetsk and Kherson bosses ask Putin for help

First report from Wednesday, September 21:

The Moscow-backed separatist areas of Donetsk and Luhansk and the regions of Donetsk and Zaporizhia that were conquered in the war are planning referendums from September 23 to 27.

They announced this on Tuesday.

The heads of administration in Donetsk and Kherson approached Putin directly.

They asked him to support joining Russia.

"This event will restore historical justice," said Donetsk separatist leader Denis Puschilin.

It is difficult to say how many people are in the parts of Ukraine controlled by Moscow.

The population there has been severely decimated since February through death, flight or deportation to Russia.

According to estimates, Moscow still occupies more than a sixth of Ukraine's territory, including Crimea, despite the Ukrainian counter-offensive.

(with agencies)