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Between 20,000 and 30,000 Russian troops have been killed and wounded in the battle for the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut since it began last summer, Western officials say. The epic nature of the battle is out of all proportion to Bakhmut's strategic significance, they add. But after more than six months of grinding, horrific fighting, the future of Bakhmut still hangs in the balance. Since the fighting began, some 90% of its pre-invasion population has fled.

Andrey Kartapolov: There will be no general mobilization in Russia Subject: Military operation in Ukraine The Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense spoke about new punishments for crimes during wartimeMilitary operation in Ukraine Russia has decided to tighten responsibility for crimes committed against military service during the period of mobilization or martial law, in wartime. The corresponding package of amendments to the Criminal Code was adopted by the State Duma on September 20 immediately in the second and third readings. Andrey Kartapolov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Defense, told in an interview with the Parliamentary Newspaper...

George Soros takes credit for Ukraine war, saying that all the Ukrainian leaders that wanted to join the EU and NATO were in contact with his “civil societies” foundation. ...

The ships laden with grain recently leaving the ports of Ukraine might be taken to suggest that those who doubted it was possible for Ukraine and Russia to negotiate had been wrong. But with the exception of a brief meeting between U.N. Secretary General António Guterres, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky, there have been no recent diplomatic attempts to negotiate an end to the war. Instead, the U.S. has consistently discouraged negotiations. U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson told Zelensky not to negotiate with Russia. In his dying days as prime minister, he repeated that call...

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, ordered the Ukrainian military to re-establish control over coastal regions in southern Ukraine. Ukraine is amassing a million-strong fighting force in order to achieve this goal.Source: Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s Minister of Defence, in an interview for The Times [of London]Details: "Ukraine is massing a million-strong fighting force equipped with western weapons to recover its southern territory from Russia," The Times wrote.Reznikov said that President Zelenskyy had ordered Ukraine’s military to retake occupied coastal areas which are vital to the country’s economy.Quote from Reznikov: "We understand that, politically, it’s very necessary for our country. The president...

The U.S. originally spearheaded NATO against the global hegemony sought by the Soviet Union, which, much like NATO, promoted "conflict and confrontation" with every government that did not share its ideology. The historical irony is that the U.S. emerged from the ashes of the Cold War as an ideological nation itself with the same zeal to remake the world.Reckless NATO expansionism led by Washington contributed to the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian War—which then provided NATO expanders an excuse to invite Finland and Sweden into its ranks. Though the alliance's advocates say these countries are joining of their own volition to seek security...

Russia’s capture of the strategic city of Lysychansk means the front line in Ukraine’s east will shift as Russian forces regroup before pushing further south and west, military analysts and Ukrainian officers said Sunday, ensuring that the next phase of the battle will be just as bloody as the last. To take Lysychansk and its neighboring city of Sievierodonetsk, Russian forces moved in from the north, east and west and created a pocket of territory that became indefensible toward the end of June. Now those Russian forces are in a position to attempt a similar maneuver on other Ukrainian-held cities...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accepted the invitation extended to him by Joko Widodo, President of the Republic of Indonesia, to participate in the G20 summit in November. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine is set to attend the summit. Source: Interfax, a Russian news agency, quoting Yuri Ushakov, an aide to Vladimir Putin Quote from Ushakov: "Yes, we have confirmed that we will participate [in the G20 summit - ed.]. For now, they have invited us to attend in person. There’s plenty of time [until the summit - ed]. I hope that the pandemic will allow this meeting to take...

A veteran Russian legislator has issued an appeal to Vladimir Putin to stop military action, bring his troops home and end the war in Ukraine. Communist deputy Leonid Vasyukevich, 69, blasted the use of Moscow’s servicemen in Ukraine, as a Russian court dismissed more than 100 national guardsmen in the first case of soldiers refusing to fight in Ukraine as politicians demanded the army return home. Members of the National Guard of the Russian Federation, a separate military branch from the Russian army refused to carry out an assignment related to Moscow's 'special operation' in Ukraine. A military court in...