Weekly Exclusives
Weekly Exclusives - a newsletter that contains author publications, interviews, exclusive comments, photos and videos.
Photo of the week
A chevron on the sleeve of a military serviceman who listens to the performance of artists during a solemn concert for the Day of Defenders of Ukraine near the monument to Taras Shevchenko in Lviv, October 1, 2024.
Interview
Bohdan Kushnir, Second in Command, Safari Assault Regiment, Fury Brigade
Bohdan Kushnir, call sign Hryz, set foot on his warrior’s path in 2014, volunteering into the Azov [Assault Battalion] at the age of 20. Two months after he had taken an automatic rifle into his hands for the first time, he was appointed to lead a platoon. Hryz fought for Ilovaisk, took part in the Shyrokyne operation. He did not hesitate to respond to the war’s challenge on February 24, 2022. Currently, Lieutenant Kushnir is second in command of the Safari Assault Regiment at the Fury Brigade. Since the start of the all-out Russian invasion, he partook in battles in the Kyiv region, Kherson region, in the battle of Bakhmut. He is currently fighting in Toretsk, a town the adversary is assaulting on an hourly basis, using dozens of infantrymen.
In this interview Ukrinform held as part of its Victory Commanders project, Bohdan Kushnir was talking about the challenges facing the Ukrainian forces defending Toretsk, the enemy’s actual losses, his vision of a peace with the Russians, and about what’s most important in the Assault Platoon Leader job.
Publication
Military airfields, oil and fuel storage facilities in Russia under attacks by Ukraine’s Armed Forces. Ukraine will set out further measures to the forthcoming Rumstein Format meeting to achieve a just end to the war with Russia
Ukraine Latest: Weekly Digest for September 30 - October 6, 2024
Fact Check
Russian propaganda trying to manipulate topic of support for Ukrainian army through fake postcards and ads
Kremlin-controlled Russian media outlets, Telegram channels and accounts on social media platform X are spreading disinformation that Ukrainian schoolchildren were given "postcards" to write their wishes to soldiers defending Ukraine on the front lines. However, a photo of this "postcard" shows a map of Ukraine without the territories temporarily occupied by Russia - Crimea, Luhansk and Donetsk regions.
This is a fake. Russian propagandists likely created this postcard in a graphic editor, printed it and photographed it. All the graphic elements in the picture can be found online. In particular, images of military personnel holding hands are available on websites that custom-make images with such a print.
Russian propaganda scaring Ukrainians with tough winter through fake video from 'Energy Ministry'
Russian Telegram channels shared a video about "Ukrainian artist Mykyta Solovii" who allegedly grows strawberries on the graves of fallen Ukrainian soldiers and then sells them. According to propagandists, the "artist" seems to have been implementing this initiative since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The video states that a hundred grams of strawberries cost $100, and all funds are allegedly transferred to the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The propagandists in the video also "quoted" the man as saying that his dream is to "turn all the hundreds of thousands of graves of Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers into plantations in order to change the perception of cemeteries forever."
This is a cynical fake created by Russian propagandists from random footage found in the public domain. They took the real story of another Ukrainian as the basis of the fake video and distorted the facts.
In the first frame of the video, the Russians used a photo that was taken on November 1, 2022, on All Saints' Day, at the Lychakiv Cemetery in Lviv. It can be found in the photo bank of the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.
Video
In Chornomorsk, a high-rise building was damaged by a night attack by Shakheds
News:
War
Horbulin: Territorial losses in 2024 are consequence of divided society
"The first is our objective dependence, about 90 percent, on external support. The second is the absence of harsh punishments for corruption, which in wartime should be equated with treason. The third is too slow progress towards social justice: in the matter of protecting the state, all representatives of society have equal responsibilities, but in fact, we see a somewhat divided society, and we need to work on this. The rear is not yet at war, and therefore our territorial losses in 2024 are precisely the consequences of a divided society, this is the most dangerous challenge," said Volodymyr Horbulin, First Vice-President of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine and Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the Ukrainian Security Studies Institute.
At the same time, if the Ukrainians overcome these negative things, they will be able "not only to defeat the nuclear enemy, but also to ensure the balance of military potential for decades, because our human phenomenon also manifests itself in the rapid development of technologies," he said.
Horbulin names prerequisite for security guarantees before Ukraine gains NATO membership
When asked how to achieve a balanced solution that meets the objectives of Ukraine, which is seeking a "quick victory," and its Western partners, who are seeking "escalation risk management," the academician answered: “Definitely, through the potential of military-technical cooperation.”
“This is not only a powerful and massive integration of Ukraine's defense industry into the Euro-Atlantic defense industrial space, but also the acquisition of the necessary technologies that will provide a technological advantage for the future. In addition, the influx of Western businesses in Ukraine will enable us to transition to modern Western and Ukrainian-Western equipment. This will also serve as a foundation for security guarantees even before Ukraine attains full NATO membership,” Horbulin said.
Politics
PACE preparing new resolution on prisoner exchange - MP
The PACE Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy is preparing a new resolution on political support and facilitation of prisoner of war exchanges in an effort to establish more effective mechanisms for the work of international organizations on all humanitarian issues related to the war in Ukraine.
Economy
Government to determine priority areas for grants as part of Brave1 cluster
The Ukrainian Digital Transformation Ministry is planning to determine priority areas, in which the Brave1 defense tech cluster participants will be receiving increased grant support from the state.
“Due to limited resources, we cannot finance everything. We are planning to increase the amount of grants, but also to determine the clear needs of the army, to understand what has the greatest efficiency. Therefore, we are preparing a list of priority areas for the state that will be financed as part of the Brave1 [cluster],” Borniakov told.
In his words, the priority areas may include electronic warfare systems and AI-based solutions. Meanwhile, the development of drones no longer requires government support, as they “are already developing on their own.”
Ukraine's parliament to consider bill on tax increases this week
In particular, lawmakers propose increasing the military tax rate from 1.5% to 5% on the income of individuals and set it at 1% of the income for payers of the single tax of the third group and at 10% of the minimum wage for individual entrepreneurs of the first, second and fourth groups.
Under this document, the Cabinet of Ministers is instructed to develop a bill on the inclusion of the military tax in the special fund of the state budget.
It is also proposed to set the income tax rate for banks for 2024 at 50% and for non-bank financial institutions (except insurers) at 25% from January 1, 2025.
Japanese envoy: JETRO’s office in Kyiv to facilitate business cooperation between two countries
According to the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Ukraine Kuninori Matsuda, with the start of the Russian full-scale invasion, Japan provided urgent humanitarian and financial assistance to Ukraine. Later, the country sent non-lethal defense equipment using public funds, and then partly loan guarantees in cooperation with the World Bank. However, in the conditions of a protracted war, the need arose to involve the private sector of Japan in providing assistance to Ukraine.
Matsuda mentioned that JETRO’s office, which is opening soon in Kyiv, would be able to collect information about the current situation in Ukraine and the needs of Ukrainian companies, and provide it to the Japanese side, as well as find partners for Japanese companies on the Ukrainian market to conduct new business.
Japan to send power equipment, gabions for its protection to Ukraine – ambassador
“From October, we are preparing to provide generators, large transformers, and other power equipment. In particular, we will hand over small generators to settlements in eight regions, such as Kharkiv, Sumy, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Poltava, Zhytomyr and Kirovohrad, as well as state-owned energy companies,” Matsuda said.
Auditors to check NABU's undercover detective unit - Kryvonos
Independent auditors, who have started working at the National Anti-Corruption Bureau (NABU), will check the work of a secret unit of undercover detectives.
Mykolaiv region’s harvest of melons, watermelons grows 20% this year
For the 2024 harvest, farmers sowed 2,241 hectares with gourds, including 1,550 hectares with watermelons (up 20% against 2023), 691 hectares with melons (up 8%).
The majority of gourds are located in private households, representing approximately 80% of the total. The remaining gourds are situated in agricultural enterprises.
Recovery
About 3,000 Polish companies want to participate in Ukraine's reconstruction
The expert said on October 7-8, Poznan would host the Congress for Reconstruction of Ukraine "Common Future," with PUCC among its partners.
"The purpose of this event is to present to Polish entrepreneurs Ukraine, its economy, legal norms, and social situation in the context of Ukraine's needs related to the so-called small reconstruction of the country, current economic cooperation with Ukraine and prospects for the further participation of Polish companies in the reconstruction of Ukraine," said Vice President of the Polish-Ukrainian Chamber of Commerce (PUCC) Dariusz Szymczycha.
He said the organizers expect the event to be attended about 1,000 Polish entrepreneurs and Ukrainian business representatives who have established their enterprises and companies in Poland.
According to him, during the two days of discussions, the participants will be able to get acquainted with the offers of Polish government support for investments in Ukraine, and "there are many of them."
Society
Decisions made in Paris to boost Coalition on return of Ukrainian children – Ambassador
The decisions made by the foreign ministers of France and Canada during their meeting in Paris will significantly accelerate the efforts of the International Coalition focused on return of Ukrainian children deported by Russia.
Kyiv court arrests Kremlin ideologue Chistilin
Kyiv's Shevchenkivskyi District Court has chosen a measure of restraint in the form of detention until December 4 without the possibility of posting bail for Dmitry Chistilin, a Kremlin ideologue of Russia's armed aggression who was deported from Moldova.
According to the investigation, the suspect lives in Russia and is an active fighter for the "Russian world." After the start of Russia's full-scale armed aggression against Ukraine, he began to actively and publicly deny it and, acting together with Russian officials and political figures, he developed and implemented a strategy of information warfare with Ukraine with the aim of its speedy integration into the Russian sphere of influence.
Also, the suspect came to Moldova to fulfill the task of his curators, in particular an ex-adviser to the Russian president, to promote Russian narratives on its territory and to strengthen the informational influence of the aggressor state on the internal and foreign policy of the sovereign state.
Moldova's special services established that the suspect posed a threat to its national security and deported him to Ukraine, where the man was detained on suspicion of committing a number of crimes.
The case is being investigated by employees of the main investigations department of the Security Service of Ukraine.
See you next Friday!