Victory Chronicles-DAY 929

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Andriy Sybiha, has called on the West to increase its assistance to Ukraine after recent cases of Russian drones landing on NATO territory. Sybiha took to Twitter to express his concerns, stating that the incursions into Romanian and Latvian airspace by Russian drones highlight that Russian aggression extends beyond Ukraine. He emphasized that the collective response of NATO allies should be to support Ukraine to end Russian aggression, protect lives, and maintain peace in Europe. 

Sybiha specifically mentioned the need for concrete actions, such as using air defense systems to shoot down Russian missiles and drones over Ukraine, as well as providing increased assistance to the Ukrainian Armed Forces and lifting restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons. He concluded his message by urging the West to take action immediately.

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The Ukrainian Armed Forces Support Forces Command reported that since February 2023, there have been 4,035 cases of Russian troops using special ammunition equipped with hazardous chemicals. In August 2024 alone, there were 447 such cases. The ammunition used includes anti-riot agents like K-51 and RG-VO, which are prohibited as weapons of war. Additionally, many of the cases involved munitions containing unspecified hazardous chemicals. The Ukrainian Defense Forces accuse Russia of grossly violating the rules of warfare and disregarding their obligations under the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling, and Use of Chemical Weapons and on their Destruction.

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Last night, a four-story hotel building was partially destroyed in Mykolayivka, Kramatorsk district, as a result of an air strike. During the rescue operations, rescuers recovered the bodies of two people from the rubble. They dismantled 101 tons of the destroyed structures. The rescue operations have been completed.

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Fighters of the Khoryv battalion of the Bureviy National Guard Brigade deliver fire from an infantry fighting vehicle on the front edge of enemy positions during infantry assault operations.

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Central Intelligence Agency Director (CIA) William Burns cautioned the West against concern about boilerplate Russian nuclear saber-rattling, which ISW has long identified as part of a Kremlin effort to promote Western self-deterrence and influence key moments in Western policy debates about support for Ukraine. 

Burns stated during a panel with United Kingdom Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) Chief Richard Moore on September 7 that Russian President Vladimir Putin will continue to issue periodic threats of direct confrontation against the West but that these threats should not intimidate the West.

Burns stated that the CIA had assessed that Russian forces may have considered using tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine in the fall of 2022 and that he was in contact with Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Director Sergei Naryshkin on the matter. The CIA’s assessment of possible Russian readiness to use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine in the fall of 2022 corresponded with intensified Russian rhetoric about nuclear confrontation amid the successful Ukrainian counteroffensive operations in Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts. This rhetoric was likely more a part of a routine information operation designed to deter Western security assistance to Ukraine than an indicator of Russian readiness to use nuclear weapons, however.

The Kremlin has repeatedly invoked thinly veiled threats of a nuclear confrontation between Russia and the West during key moments in Western political discussions about further military assistance to Ukraine, such as in the fall of 2022, to induce fear among decision makers. ISW continues to assess that Russia is very unlikely to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine or elsewhere.

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Senior fighter Ivan Zakharuk, with the call sign Zakhar, died on February 17, 2024, near the village of Prechystivka in Donetsk Oblast. Despite the continuous assaults of the occupiers, he was unable to leave the body of his fallen fellow fighter. As a result of a direct hit of an artillery shell into a dugout, the defender’s life was cut short.

Ivan was 32 years old. He was an orphan who was born in the village of Mozgove, Sumy Oblast. He has been involved in athletics since childhood and has several vocational education degrees. He studied at Sumy State University, majoring in History and Archeology. He is a professional athlete, a multiple prize-winner and champion in pankration and mixed martial arts, and a master of sports in pankration.

For eight years, he worked as an electric welder at an enterprise in Sumy, where he lived. He played football, volleyball, and table tennis in his spare time and loved fishing.

During the full-scale invasion, he voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine. He served as a gunner in the 15th separate mechanized brigade and was repeatedly honored with certificates of commendation and the medal “For Service in Intelligence.”

”Vania was an incredible person, a caring husband, and a true friend who could be relied on. Despite all the hardships of a difficult childhood, he retained the kindness in his heart, and optimism, and always believed in a better future. He was susceptible to other people’s problems, always came to the rescue, and never stood aside. Vania was very active, constantly energized, and positive. He is forever in my heart…” said his wife, Kateryna.

The warrior was buried on the Walk of Fame at the Novo-Central Baraniv Cemetery in Sumy. Ivan is survived by his wife and family.

*Ivan`s story on the Heroes Memorial – a platform for stories about the fallen defenders of Ukraine.

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• Latvia says Russian drone crashed on its territory
• Russia to participate in Chinese military drills in September
• EU has condemned the holding of local elections by the Russian Federation in occupied Crimea and Sevastopol. 
•  Zelenskyy: 220 people still in Poltava hospitals after Russian strike on Institute of Communication
• Portugal shipped the promised Ka-32 helicopters to Ukraine
• Scholz urges step up efforts to achieve peace in Ukraine