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ARTICLE

Ukrainian Defence Intelligence identifies a list of Russian facilities to be destroyed
Ukrainska Pravda
Friday, 8 September 2023, 21:42
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/09/8/7419052/

Ukraine’s Defence intelligence has said it has a list of Russian strategic facilities to be destroyed and is methodically working on it.

SOURCE:
Vadym Skibitskyi, representative of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence, on the air of the joint national 24/7 newscast

QUOTE:
“We are working methodically, identifying the most critical targets and the most critical facilities for the Russian Federation itself. These are military facilities, facilities of the defence and military complex that ensure the production of missiles and drones, and facilities related to logistics. So there are many targets.

They are all numbered, hierarchically defined, their significance is determined, and we are purposefully destroying them in order to reduce the potential of the Russian Federation and achieve a domino effect, when the destruction of one facility will lead to the others that are tied to its products stopping their military production.”

DETAILS:
Ukraine is now working with all the means at its disposal, using a comprehensive approach. It includes drones, missile systems and agents on the territory of Russia. It also uses NATO techniques.

BACKGROUND:
On 31 August, Defence Intelligence of Ukraine confirmed the destruction of four Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft during a nighttime drone attack on Pskov.

On 21 August, Russian Telegram channels reported an attempted attack by the Ukrainian Armed Forces drone on an airfield in Kaluga Oblast. According to the Telegram channels, an unused aircraft was damaged.

On 19 August, the Ukrainian Defence Forces attacked a military airfield in Novgorod Oblast, Russian Federation, with drones, damaging at least one aircraft.

Later, the media reported that as a result of the drone attack on the airfield, Ukraine was able to completely destroy a long-range strategic bomber of the Russian Armed Forces for the first time.

Later, an Ukrainska Pravda intelligence source said that the attacks on the Soltsy and Shaikovka airfields resulted in two Tu-22M3 strategic bombers being completely destroyed, and two other aircraft being damaged.

ARTICLE

Ukraine will be ready for EU membership in 2 years – official
Ukrainska Pravda
Alona Mazurenko
Friday, 8 September 2023, 23:36
https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2023/09/8/7419065/

Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, believes that Ukraine will be ready for EU membership within two years, but it may join NATO before joining the European Union.

SOURCE: Stefanishyna in an interview with Voice of America

QUOTE:
“We will be ready for EU membership in the next two years, but naturally, the course of the war will determine the political framework.

I believe that two years will be enough for us to be fully prepared, and when the war is over, we will do 10 times more than we are doing now in order for this decision to be taken.”

DETAIL:
Stefanishyna added that Ukraine is a major part of the European economy even in times of war. In particular, Ukraine is one of the top 20 importers of various products in the EU and the largest market in Europe: “And from this point of view, Ukraine is more ready to join the EU than other countries.”

She added that Ukraine has already made the decision to join the EU: “With all its agricultural territories, with everything it has. There is no reality in which Ukraine will cease to be an agricultural country.”

Stefanishyna noted that the EU is currently reviewing its agricultural policy to adapt to the arrival of new powerful players on the European market.

She noted that Ukraine is also working on its path to NATO membership, but the decision does not depend only on Ukraine.

Stefanishyna said that the issue of NATO is a political decision: “It was made at the summit in Vilnius. We are working to increase compatibility with the Alliance’s forces and strengthen the country’s strategic defence capability through reforms in the security and defence sector and through the lessons of war that we have learnt.”

At the same time, Stefanishyna believes that Ukraine may join NATO sooner than it joins the EU. This is because after Ukraine’s victory, the Alliance will want to have a country with one of the strongest armies, which will be a guarantor of security for Europe.

VIDEO WITH SUMMARIZED COMMENTARY

8 Sep: Russians Introduce Tough Measures. RETREAT = DEATH SENTENCE. | War in Ukraine

Reporting from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sw8mSF3kCwY

⚠️ Watch RFU in 20 languages: https://www.youtube.com/@RFU/channels

I am Ukrainian. My country has been invaded by Russia. In this video I will tell you what happened on the five hundred sixty second day of the war.

Day 562: Sep 08

Today there are a lot of updates from the Tokmak direction.

First of all, Russian sources reported that Russian forces launched yet another massive counterattack in the direction of Robotyne. This time the attack came from the south because as some Russian war correspondents claimed, Russian forces operated north of Novoprokopivka. As a result, Russian sources once again claimed that Ukrainians were completely pushed out of Robotyne, Russians established complete fire control over the region, and the village became an uninhabitable grey zone.

Recently, the Russian Ministry of Defense also claimed that during the last 3 months of the counteroffensive, Ukrainians lost 66 thousand troops and 7600 tanks and armored fighting vehicles. Even the vast majority of Russian analysts concluded that the numbers are absurdly exaggerated, and asked the Ministry of Defense to reconsider their approach to presenting information.

The exaggeration is apparent because, FIRST of all, Ukrainians did not even have so many troops and vehicles engaged in the counteroffensive. And SECONDLY, in order to visualize the sheer number of 7600 tanks and armored fighting vehicles, imagine placing tanks back to back in a line – now, in order to fit all these tanks between Robotyne and the initial contact line, which is more than 4 km, you would have to create more than 10 rows of destroyed equipment.

It seems like the Russian Ministry of Defense is trying to conduct an information operation, primarily targeting the Russians. The goal of this information operation is to overshadow their own losses of equipment, and conceal the failure to hold the second line of defense, which was recently breached near Verbove.

In reality, today’s Russian counterattack had very mild progress – Russian forces managed to push Ukrainians just from one field south of Robotyne. None of the Russian sources also mentioned anything about recapturing the powerful fortifications on a hill south of Robotyne that play a key role and allow to control the whole region, so Russians did not capture any strong points that would allow them to retain even these mild gains.

Some less prominent Russian sources gave more details about the operation and reported that the Russian assault unit got under heavy Ukrainian artillery fire, and tried to retreat. However, what was not mentioned is that Russian forces were NOT ALLOWED to retreat.

After the battle had ended, Ukrainians captured one wounded Russian marine from the 810th Marine Brigade. The Russian soldier claimed that when his unit decided to retreat, their own artillery started firing right behind them, creating a fire wall in the back, and forcing the soldiers to stay and fight for the positions. Eventually, that was what got him wounded and his friends killed.

He said that he had no doubt that it was not an error because the artillery was hitting correct targets initially, and only after they started retreating, the shelling shifted towards them. All of this was happening under the constant supervision of Russian drones that were constantly correcting the fire.

Such an attitude is not surprising. The fortifications south of Robotyne were virtually impossible to breach from the side of Robotyne, and were supposed to stop the Ukrainian advancement. However, not only did Ukrainians capture them, they also did it quite easily because they ambushed the Russian troops during rotation. The commanders of the brigade and division responsible for this region were likely harshly punished, and received an order to fix the situation at any cost.

Overall, Ukrainians managed to retain control over the crucial fortifications and rebuff all attacks. In the meantime, the Russian troops found themselves in between two fires because the moment they stop moving towards Ukrainians, they risk being killed by their own forces in the back, that were supposed to help.

Such an approach is unlikely to motivate and raise the morale of the soldiers. If Russians continue doing it, they will exhaust their defensive capabilities much faster, leaving the defense line understaffed, and creating perfect conditions for a Ukrainian breakthrough.

*** Select the 3 horizontal dots to view the Complete Transcript [Below video/ top right corner]