Worth noting, korrespondent.net has compiled its Invasion of Ukraine series into separate months, beginning May 9th, 2023. Linked in the title.
[Korrespondent] 21:25 Zelensky said in an interview with The New Yorker that any negotiations will fail if they are conducted with Putin. According to the Ukrainian president, Moscow does not want the war to end and does not intend to participate in the second Peace Summit. As for the victory plan, Zelensky said he is now proposing a new "plan A", which means that "we are changing the current course". The plan spells out what "our partners can do without the participation of the Russian Federation". If Biden does not support the victory plan, "then we must continue to live according to plan B, and this is a shame."
"This is a terrible thought. It would mean that Biden does not want to end the war in a way that deprives Russia of victory. And we would have a very long war - an impossible, exhausting situation that will lead to the death of a huge number of people... Now I propose a new "plan A". We are changing the current course, where we have survived only thanks to the strength of our army. If you do not want this war to drag on, we offer you a plan to strengthen Ukraine," Zelensky said.
Zelensky also noted that for Russia to win, Ukraine does not even have to lose completely, because the Russian Federation understands that almost a third of Ukrainian territory is occupied, and can decide that this is enough. "Therefore, it can also strike Poland," the head of state added.
Commenting on Trump's statements about his intentions to end the war, Zelensky said: "I feel that Trump really doesn't know how to stop the war, even if he thinks he knows how."
21:18 Zelensky said in an interview with The New Yorker that the Kursk operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces slowed down the Russians and forced them to transfer some of their forces to Kursk - about 40 thousand soldiers. Already now, Ukrainian fighters in the east say that they are attacked less often, the president added. "I am not saying that this is a resounding success or that this will lead to the end of the war or the end of Putin. This showed our partners what we are capable of," Zelensky explained.
He stressed that the Ukrainian side continues to supply food and water to people in the territories controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Zelensky also added that these people can freely leave, but do not do so. "We showed the Russians a very important truth: that the Russian Federation did not come to their aid, but left them to survive. They should know who they put in power," Zelensky noted.
20:47 British Foreign Secretary David Lammy has called on the US to give Ukraine the green light to strike targets inside Russia. He believes the problems of the war will become deeper and more acute, "particularly in late 2025 and 2026." "So this is a critical time for courage, patience and resilience on behalf of allies supporting Ukraine," he added.
20:09 Russians shelled Kramatorsk in Donetsk Oblast - five people were wounded, including a 16-year-old teenager, reported OVA head Vadim Filashkin.
18:24 The meeting between Alexander Lukashenko and the leader of the so-called "DPR" Denis Pushilin will have consequences for Ukraine's relations with Belarus, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement: "This meeting is yet another confirmation that the position of the current Belarusian government on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is dictated by the Kremlin's instructions and has nothing to do with international law or the international obligations of the Republic of Belarus." Lukashenko and Pushilin met earlier this week in Minsk.
17:18 Ukraine expects its partners to supply French Mirage-2000 fighters, and is also negotiating the Swedish Saab JAS-39 Gripen and German-British Eurofighter Typhoon, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said. "We will soon have results that we will announce. I hope we will announce them soon," the minister noted.
16:22 The Russian army dropped a FAB-250 bomb on a private sector in the city of Slavyansk in Donetsk Oblast, three people were injured, the prosecutor's office reported.
14:15 In the Russian city of Plesetsk, an intercontinental missile Sarmat exploded during testing, OSINT project MeNMyRC reported, citing analyst MT Anderson and satellite imagery. A large crater indicates that the missile likely exploded in a silo, destroying the test site. The fire in the area of ​​the test site was recorded by NOAA-20 and SUOMI NPP satellites.
10:39 A fire broke out in the Donetsk region as a result of Russian shelling of the mine territory - two people were killed, one was injured, the Ministry of Energy reported.
09:44 In Donetsk Oblast, three people were killed as a result of Russian shelling on September 21: two in Udachnoye and one in Kurakhovo. Another 12 people in the region were injured in the past 24 hours, said OVA head Vadim Filashkin.
09:38 In the morning, Russians dropped explosives from drones on two people in Kherson, they were wounded, OVA reported. Over the previous day, five people were wounded as a result of Russian shelling in the region.
09:23 Air defense destroyed 71 of 80 Shahed-type attack UAVs at night, another six drones were lost due to EW countermeasures, the Air Force reported. In addition, at night, the Russian Federation launched a strike with two Kh-59/69 guided air missiles. Air defense operated in the Khmelnytsky, Vinnytsia, Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Zhitomir, Kyiv, Sumy, Poltava, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions.
08:57 At night, the Russians launched a FAB-250 strike on multi-story residential buildings, said OVA head Oleg Sinegubov. 21 people were injured, including three children aged eight to 17. Nine- and 16-story buildings were partially destroyed, and seven more were damaged.
08:49 In Poltava region, as a result of a night attack, the energy infrastructure in one of the districts was damaged, 56 household and 30 legal consumers were left without power, reported the head of the OVA Filipp Pronin.
08:28 In Khmelnytskyi, as a result of a night attack, a residential building was damaged, no one was hurt, reported the head of the OVA, Serhiy Tyurin.
07:56 The General Staff announced the estimated losses of the Russian Federation as of the morning of September 22. At the same time, the total number of cruise missile losses was adjusted, and the losses per day are presented in the usual mode:
- personnel - about 642,420 (+1,500) people,
- tanks - 8768 (+22),
- combat armored vehicles - 17,222 (+52),
- artillery systems - 18,333 (+63),
- MLRS - 1195 (+2),
- air defense systems - 949 (+0),
- aircraft - 369 (+0),
- helicopters - 328 (+0),
- Operational-tactical level UAVs - 15,628 (+67),
- cruise missiles - 2595 (+0),
- ships/boats - 28 (+0),
- submarines - 1 (+0),
- automotive equipment and tank trucks - 25,023 (+57),
- special equipment - 3144 (+19).
01:58 Ukrainian OSINT project DeepState reports that the Defense Forces have restored positions near Zaliznyanskoye in Donetsk Oblast and advanced near Kamyshevka in Kursk Oblast. Meanwhile, the enemy has advanced near Kruglyakovka, Kleshcheyevka, Krasnogorovka, Ostroye, in Nevsky, Pivnichny, Toretsk, Georgievka, and Maksimilianovka.
00:17 Russians launched a drone strike on energy facilities in the Shostka community of Sumy Oblast, OVA reported.