The air war rages. Ukrainian air defense destroyed more than thirty attack drones during the night of Wednesday to Thursday, September 28, during a “massive Russian attack” in the regions of Odessa and Mykolaiv, in the south of the country, declared a army spokesperson. “The enemy does not stop attacking, does not stop the pressure and the search for new tactics, especially with the use of massive attacks,” she said.
Russian forces regularly target this region of southern Ukraine overlooking the Black Sea where crucial port infrastructure for maritime trade is located. Attacks have increased since the abandonment in July of the grain agreement which allowed Ukraine to freely export its production.
Trudeau apologizes after tribute to ex-Nazi soldier
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau presented his “deepest apologies” to Parliament on Wednesday after the scandal caused by the tribute paid, during Volodymyr Zelensky’s visit, to a Ukrainian veteran who fought with the Nazis during the Second World War. “I would like to offer my most sincere apologies for what happened on Friday and for the situation in which President Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation were placed,” he told parliament. “It was a terrible mistake and a violation of the memory of those who cruelly suffered at the hands of the Nazi regime,” added the Canadian Prime Minister.
On Friday, MPs from all parties, Justin Trudeau, his government and Volodymyr Zelensky, of Jewish faith, stood up to applaud Yaroslav Hunka, a 98-year-old Ukrainian veteran accused of having fought in the SS, ignoring the details of his pass. Justin Trudeau apologized in front of all MPs “for the situation in which President Zelensky and the Ukrainian delegation were placed.” This statement comes the day after the resignation of the Speaker of the House of Commons of Canada, Anthony Rota. It was the latter who made Yaroslav Hunka applaud in the Canadian parliament.
Navalny’s prison conditions further tightened
The main opponent of the Kremlin, Alexeï Navalny, announced on Wednesday September 27 that he had learned that he would be transferred to a cell with even stricter detention conditions, the day after the rejection of his appeal for a sentence of 19 years in prison. Imprisoned since his return to Russia at the beginning of 2021 after convalescence due to poisoning, Alexandre Navalny is currently detained in the IK-6 penal colony in Melekhovo, 250 kilometers east of Moscow, where he is regularly sent to a disciplinary cell.
This time, the opponent must be incarcerated in a so-called “EPKT” cell, the isolation cell with the strictest conditions within the Russian prison system. “Yesterday, immediately after the appeal in the case against me, they took me to the commission and announced that due to my incorrigibility I will be transferred to the EPKT for 12 months,” announced Navalny via a message published by his lawyers on his social networks. “One year of EPKT is the harshest sentence possible in the penal colonies,” he explained, humorously asserting that he felt “like a tired rock star on the verge of depression, who has reached the peak of the charts and who has nothing left to aspire to”.
It was not immediately clear whether these 12 months in the disciplinary cell will delay Alexei Navalny’s transfer to a new colony with even stricter conditions, as required by his new conviction. According to this judgment, the opponent must in fact serve his new sentence in one of the “special regime” colonies, i.e. establishments in the Russian prison system usually reserved for life prisoners and the most dangerous criminals. From his cell, the 47-year-old anti-corruption activist has continued in recent months to denounce the Russian offensive in Ukraine and called on the Russians to continue to “resist” the Kremlin.
Lecornu in Ukraine to launch a military industrial partnership
French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu arrived in Kiev on Thursday September 28 accompanied by defense industrialists to discuss the evolution of French aid to Ukraine and industrial partnerships in a conflict set to last. Representatives of around twenty French companies specializing in the production of armored vehicles, artillery, drones, cyber and mine clearance must for their part discuss and sign partnerships with Ukrainian industry. For example, this involves developing the on-site production of spare parts to maintain equipment delivered by France.
This trip comes on the eve of the first Defense Industries Forum organized by Ukraine and which is expected to bring together more than 160 companies from 26 countries. Nineteen months after the start of the conflict, the country is preparing for a long war and intends to develop its own military equipment production capacities to meet its immense needs. With international help, Volodymyr Zelensky said he wanted to “create a new and powerful arsenal for Ukraine and all defenders of international law”.
If France has already supplied numerous air weapons and vehicles to Ukraine, it has limited stocks of equipment to sell under penalty of weakening its army. For Paris, it is a question of ensuring viable long-term support by supporting the Ukrainian industrial base. “We are moving from a logic of transfers to an industrial partnership which is becoming the norm,” the minister’s entourage told AFP. Kiev is seeking to increase the number of agreements of this type: the German manufacturer of tanks and armored vehicles Rheinmetall has set up a tank repair workshop in Ukraine and plans, through a joint venture created for the occasion, to produce certain of its equipment in Ukraine. The country also announced this summer the production of CV-90 infantry fighting vehicles with Sweden and the co-production of anti-aircraft defense systems with the United States.
Havana and Moscow discuss recruitment of Cubans
Moscow and Havana are in “contact” regarding the issue of recruiting Cubans to participate in the war in Ukraine, said Wednesday the Russian ambassador to Cuba, who said he “does not know how many” nationals of the island are concerned.
The Cuban government announced in early September the arrest of 17 people in Cuba for their alleged link with a network operating from Russia for illegal recruitment. In early September, a media outlet in Miami revealed the cases of Andorf Velazquez and Alex Vega, two 19-year-old Cubans who claimed in videos that they had been tricked via Facebook into working as masons on construction sites in Ukraine with the military. Russian and having been sent to the front. AFP also reports Cubans were allegedly offered contracts to work in construction for the Russian army in exchange for residency in Russia and a salary in rubles equivalent to around $2,000.
On September 14, the Cuban Minister of Foreign Affairs recalled on his X account the “unequivocal position” of his government “against the participation of Cuban citizens in any conflict, against mercenarism and against human trafficking.” Shortly before, the Cuban ambassador in Moscow had told Russian media that his government was not opposed to the participation of Cubans in the conflict as long as it was legal. Moscow and Havana have grown closely together since a meeting in November between Cuban and Russian presidents Miguel Diaz-Canel and Vladimir Putin. Delegations have since followed one another between the two countries.