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Ukraine Invasion
Defense Policy / Programs
Foreign Policy
News Reports

Ukraine Invasion

• Senior Defense Official Holds a Background Briefing DoD 23 Sep 2022
• Ukraine Says Residents Coerced Into Russian Annexation Vote VOA 23 Sep 2022 -- Western nations and Ukraine say voting is a sham that began Friday on Russian referendums aimed at annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine. Some local officials said voters were being intimidated and threatened.
• Russia Forces 'Sham' Vote On Annexation Of Partially Controlled Ukrainian Territories RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- Russia-backed officials in four partially occupied Ukrainian regions are holding so-called referendums on joining the Russian Federation - which some have called sham votes because they are illegal under international law - that the Kremlin is planning to use to annex the territories amid increasing signs that its invasion of Ukraine is faltering.
• 'Complex' Battlefield Situation In Eastern Ukraine As Fighting Continues RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- Britain's Defense Ministry says Ukrainian forces have secured bridgeheads on the eastern bank of the Oskil River in the eastern part of the Kharkiv region, where Russian forces had attempted to establish a consolidated defense line following their hasty withdrawals in the face of the Ukrainian offensive.
• Russian-Orchestrated Voting Begins in Ukraine's Occupied Regions VOA 23 Sep 2022 -- Russian-orchestrated voting has begun in occupied regions of Ukraine in referendums that ask voters if they want their regions to become part of Russia.
• Ukrainian Official Says 436 Bodies Exhumed In Izyum, Including 30 With 'Signs Of Torture' RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- The head of the regional military administration in Ukraine's Kharkiv region, Oleh Synyehubov, says 436 bodies, including 30 with signs of torture, were exhumed from a mass burial site near the eastern city of Izyum recaptured from Russian forces in early September.
• War crimes have been committed in Ukraine conflict, top UN human rights inquiry reveals UN News 23 Sep 2022 -- Almost seven months to the day since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, UN-appointed independent human rights investigators said that war crimes have indeed been committed in the conflict.
• UN Commission Says Evidence Shows War Crimes Have Been Committed In Ukraine RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- UN investigators have concluded that war crimes have been committed during Russia's unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, including the bombing of civilians areas, numerous executions, torture, and horrific sexual violence.
• Russian Troops Have Committed War Crimes in Ukraine, UN Investigators Say VOA 23 Sep 2022 -- U.N. investigators say there is evidence that Russian forces who invaded Ukraine in February 2022 committed war crimes. The Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine presented its findings Friday to the U.N. Human Rights Council.

Defense Policy / Programs

• Russian Military Eyes Central Asian Recruits Amid Mobilization Drive RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- Central Asian migrants are accustomed to doing Moscow's dirty work.
• Across Russia, Putin's Mobilization Seeps Deeper Into An Anxious Society RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- In some regions, men are driven off in buses, with wives, mothers, and sisters sobbing openly and waving goodbye. In other places, men say they're steeling themselves for battle. On the borders with Kazakhstan, Georgia, and Mongolia, long lines of cars are reported as people try to urgently leave the country.
• Thousands of Russians Flee Military Mobilization as Anti-War Protests Erupt VOA 23 Sep 2022 -- Thousands of Russians are trying to flee the country to escape the partial mobilization of civilians into the military. The move was announced Wednesday in a televised address by President Vladimir Putin, after Russian armed forces suffered significant losses in recent weeks of their invasion of Ukraine.

Foreign Policy

• Meeting with permanent members of Security Council President of Russia 23 Sep 2022 -- The President held a meeting with permanent members of the Security Council via videoconference.
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with members of the Arab League's Contact Group on the Ukrainian Crisis Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's talks with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's talks with Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Peter Szijjarto on the sidelines of the 77th session of the UN General Assembly Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Indonesia Retno Marsudi Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Vice President of South Sudan Hussein Abdelbagi Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Panama Erika Mouynes Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Laos Saleumxay Kommasith Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan Ayman Safadi Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Minister of the Republic of Nicaragua Denis Moncada Colindres Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Ethiopia Demeke Mekonnen Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Secretary of Mexico Marcelo Ebrard Casaubon Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with President of the Republic of Guinea-Bissau Umaro Sissoco Embalo Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Minister of the State of Eritrea Osman Saleh Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Foreign Minister of Cuba Bruno Rodriguez Parrilla Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of the Syrian Arab Republic Faisal Mekdad Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Press release on Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's meeting with President of the Republic of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic Russia Ministry of Foreign Affairs 23 Sep 2022
• Finland To 'Significantly Restrict' Border Crossings From Russia RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- Finland says it will "significantly restrict" Russian citizens from entering the country after President Vladimir Putin's decree announcing a partial mobilization of military reservists for the war in Ukraine triggered an exodus from Russia that has clogged its borders.
• Joint Statement - Concrete Steps to Support Expansion of UN-mediated Truce in Yemen US Dept. of State 23 Sep 2022 -- On 21 September 2022, vice ministers and senior official representatives of the permanent five members of the United Nations Security Council and the European Union, Germany, Kuwait and Sweden, hereafter referred to as the P5+4, met to discuss concrete steps to support an extension of the truce agreed upon by the Yemeni parties until 2 October and the start of a political process to end the conflict in Yemen.
• Nations Focused on Conflicts, Concerns New and Old at UN VOA 23 Sep 2022 -- At the U.N. General Assembly Friday, leaders from all corners of the world continued to call for an end to Russia's war in Ukraine, and many condemned President Vladimir Putin's threat of using nuclear weapons.

News Reports

• The Week In Russia: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures? RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- Faced with more military setbacks in Ukraine, Russia seeks to rope in four regions by staging referendums widely denounced as a sham, and President Vladimir Putin decrees a "partial" mobilization in a bid to bolster the ranks of his struggling forces. Will that move backfire at home?
• Russia's Mir Payment System Stops Functioning In Uzbekistan Amid Fears Of Breaking Sanctions RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- Internationally issued payment cards by Russia's Mir reportedly have stopped functioning in Uzbekistan in the face of repeated warnings over failing to adhere to international sanctions against Moscow for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
• Embassy Warns Kyrgyz Nationals With Dual Citizenship They're Considered Russians While In Russia RFE/RL 23 Sep 2022 -- The Kyrgyz Embassy in Moscow has warned Kyrgyz men and women with dual Kyrgyz-Russian citizenship that they are considered Russian citizens while residing in the Russian Federation, and thus could face military service after President Vladimir Putin announced a partial military mobilization to boost troop levels during the war with Ukraine.