Ukraine Update…579 days into the Russian move on Ukraine…Ukraine arms future*….

Russia released more video of its Black Sea Fleet commander, Adm. Viktor Sokolov, whom Ukraine claimed to have killed in a strike in the annexed Crimean Peninsula last week. The video published Wednesday showed Sokolov speaking to reporters, but it was not clear when it was recorded. Earlier, the Ukrainian special operations command said it would clarify information on Sokolov.

Speaking in Kyiv, Stoltenberg said Ukrainian forces “are gradually gaining ground” in southeastern Ukraine, where “they face fierce fighting” with Russian troops. “Every meter that Ukrainian forces gain is a meter that Russia loses,” he said. Also on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Sept. 30 a national holiday to mark Russia’s claimed annexation of eastern Ukraine, even though the territory remains contested and parts of it are not under Russian control.

Air defense systems in southern Ukraine destroyed more than 30 drones in a Russian attack overnight, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s southern command said Thursday. Natalia Humeniuk said air defenses were activated in the port of Odessa and nearby Mykolaiv. Odessa regional governor Oleh Kiper reported no casualties or major damage. The Mykolaiv governor said debris from intercepted drones damaged a building and power line but did not cause casualties.

Navalny described his prison transfer as the “strictest possible punishment,” on his account on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter. He lost his appeal against a 19-year prison sentencethis week. Navalny has already spent several months in a one-person “punishment cell” for purported disciplinary violations, according to the Associated Press.

Putin met with Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Muslim-majority Chechen Republic, in Moscow on Thursday. The two discussed, among other topics, the role of Chechen fighters in Ukraine, Kadyrov said on Telegram. Kadyrov is an ardent Putin loyalist, but raised ire among some Russians last week when he praised his son’s actions in a video that appeared to show him beating a prisoner accused of burning the Quran, Reuters reported.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said a dispute over grain between Kyiv and Warsaw can be resolved “if there is a desire.” In comments published Thursday, he told Interfax-Ukraine: “We don’t need this grain war, and neither does Poland.” The conflict has left Ukraine in need of other grain export routes, while Poland and other neighboring countries try to protect their farmers from a market flooded with low-cost Ukrainian grain.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has apologized after a veteran of a Nazi unit was applauded in Parliament during a visit by Zelensky last week. Yaroslav Hunka was praised at the event by the speaker of Canada’s House of Commons, who resigned after Jewish groups said 98-year-old Hunka fought in a Waffen-SS unit during World War II. “This was a mistake that has deeply embarrassed Parliament and Canada,” Trudeau told reporters.

A U.S. government shutdown could endanger funding for Ukraine, despite $6 billion in aid announced Tuesday as part of a bipartisan Senate plan to fund government operations until mid-November. The uncertainty “underscores the political challenges Kyiv’s supporters have” in continuing to seek billions of dollars for Ukraine, The Washington Post reports. President Biden will welcome European Union leaders in Washington on Friday for a summit centering on U.S.-E.U. cooperation, including support for Ukraine as it fights to reclaim territory, the White House said.

On Wednesday night, the House Rules Committee stripped $300 million meant for Ukraine from the Department of Defense appropriations bill, The Post reported. The move was to appease Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who said her vote was contingent on no funding for Ukraine in the legislation. The money for Ukraine will now be voted on separately and is likely to pass, given an earlier vote that demonstrated widespread support for the funding.

How the war in Ukraine helped stoke an Armenian tragedy: In a matter of days, roughly half of the ethnic Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh, within Azerbaijan, have fled their homes to nearby Armenia after a surprise offensive by Azerbaijani forces. The latest turn in the long-drawn-out conflict has highlighted the shifting role of Russia and the trickle-down effect of the war in Ukraine, writes Ishaan Tharoor.

“Though it has maintained solid ties with Azerbaijan, Moscow has long counted Armenia as an ally and security partner in its immediate neighborhood. But it appears to lack the capacity to enforce its role as peacekeeper and guarantor of stability not just in the South Caucasus, but in Central Asia,” he writes….

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*Note….

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said he wants his country to become a “‘big Israel’ with its own face” after the Russian invasion ends, stressing that security would likely be the main issue in Ukraine during the post-war period.

In comments to local media posted on the president’s official website on Tuesday, Zelenskyy stressed that his vision for Ukraine’s post-conflict future included having armed forces in “all institutions, supermarkets, cinemas, there will be people with weapons”…..

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