Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has cited a “sequence of victories” on the battlefield towards invading Russian forces following stories that Ukrainian troops reached the jap financial institution of a significant river within the northeast, however he joined Western navy and different officers cautioning of recent dangers within the almost seven-month-old battle.
An assault by Russian troops on a nuclear energy plant close to Mykolayiv within the south reportedly didn’t injury any reactors however underscored ongoing dangers to Ukrainian atomic services.
Stay Briefing: Russia’s Invasion Of Ukraine
RFE/RL’s Stay Briefing offers you all the newest developments on Russia’s ongoing invasion, how Kyiv is preventing again, Western navy support, world response, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s protection of the conflict, click on right here.
Zelenskiy warned late on September 18 that any “lull” was a part of “preparation for the subsequent sequence” of operations. In the meantime, President Joe Biden mentioned that whereas Ukrainians “are defeating Russia,” there’s nonetheless rather more to be completed.
The chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Workers signaled considerations about how Moscow would possibly react to setbacks in battle, urging U.S. troops in Europe and allies to be at “excessive states of readiness [and] alert.”
“Perhaps it appears to a few of you that after a sequence of victories we now have a lull of kinds,” Zelenskiy mentioned in his nightly video handle. “However there might be no lull. There may be preparation for the subsequent sequence…. For Ukraine should be free. All of it.”
Earlier within the day, Ukraine’s navy mentioned through Telegram that its troops had established a bridgehead ver the Oskil River of their counteroffensive within the northeastern Kharkiv area, the place they seem to have retaken hundreds of sq. kilometers up to now this month.
Specialists recommend the foothold on the Oskil may threaten Russian troops within the Donbas area of jap Ukraine that Moscow has prompt is a precedence and the place Russia-backed separatists have held swaths of territory for eight years.
The Oskil flows south to the Siverskiy Donets River, which bisects the Luhansk area that together with Donetsk composes what’s often known as the Donbas.
Ukraine’s navy mentioned late on September 18 that its troops “have pushed throughout the Oskil,” including, “From yesterday, Ukraine controls the east financial institution.”
WATCH: The pace and effectivity of Ukraine’s counteroffensive within the northeastern area of Kharkiv got here as a shocking shock to the Russian navy. Ukraine went to nice lengths to maintain its counteroffensive secret, together with intentionally deceiving Russian forces about its navy maneuvers.
The governor of Luhansk, Serhiy Hayday, wrote on Telegram that “Luhansk area is true subsequent door. Decoccupation isn’t far-off.”
Early on September 19, the Ukrainian Common Workers mentioned there had been six Russian missile strikes prior to now day and a half, 22 air strikes, and greater than 90 strikes from multiple-rocket launchers.
It mentioned infrastructure in additional than 30 cities and cities had been broken and warned Ukrainians of the continued menace of air and missile strikes all around the nation.
The Ukrainian nuclear operator, Enerhoatom, accused Russian troops of hanging the Pivdennoukrayinska nuclear energy plant within the southern Mykolayiv area however mentioned none of its three reactors had been broken. The power is functioning usually, Enerhoatom mentioned.
Ukrainian officers on September 18 accused Russian troops of pounding civilian infrastructure with artillery together with within the metropolis of Zaporizhzhya, the place Europe’s largest nuclear facility lies.
Russians have occupied Zaporizhzhya since shortly after the February launch of their invasion, and electrical energy was reportedly restored over the weekend to the plant to assist allay fears of a catastrophic catastrophe there.
RFE/RL can not independently confirm battlefield claims in areas of probably the most intense preventing.
WATCH: The pace and effectivity of Ukraine’s counteroffensive within the northeastern area of Kharkiv got here as a shocking shock to the Russian navy. Ukraine went to nice lengths to maintain its counteroffensive secret, together with intentionally deceiving Russian forces about its navy maneuvers.
After a go to to a base in Poland the place troops from the US and different international locations are aiding Ukraine’s defenders, U.S. Military Common Mark Milley, who’s chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Workers, mentioned “the conflict isn’t going too effectively for Russia proper now.”
Whereas he mentioned U.S. troops in Europe should not beneath fast menace, questions on Russian President Vladimir Putin’s response to battlefield losses imply it’s “incumbent upon all of us to keep up excessive states of readiness [and] alert.”
U.S. and NATO officers have warned Moscow that any assault on NATO territory would elicit a robust navy response.
President Biden mentioned throughout a tv look that “successful the conflict in Ukraine is to get Russia out of Ukraine fully and to acknowledge [Ukrainian] sovereignty.”
He prompt that “they’re defeating Russia,” and mentioned, “Russia’s turning out to not be as competent and succesful as many individuals thought they had been going to be.”
Requested concerning the danger of Putin contemplating the usage of nuclear weapons amid setbacks in its Ukraine conflict, Biden had easy phrases for the Russian president: “Do not. Do not. Do not. It might change the face of conflict in contrast to something since World Struggle II.”
