War Column: Frontlines, Mobilization, Referendums, Cyber Attacks

On the battle front

• Kharkiv: The natural barrier of the Oskil River in eastern Kharkiv has prevented the Ukrainian military from pushing the enemy completely back to russia.  Intelligence indicats that Ukraine has taken two or more bridgeheads into fortified occupied territory east of the Oskil, opening the door to further de-occupation.
• Donbas: The enemy has concentrated most of its effort in taking and holding all of Luhansk and Dontetsk Oblasts but have been unable to significantly advance since the fall of Lysychansk at the beginning July.  The enemy has apparently taken a few kilometers of empty land in Donetsk, suggesting that contract fighters paid by the amount of land captured may be reaching for low-hanging fruit.
• Fierce fighting is taking place on several fronts north and south of Lyman as Ukrainian forces push to encircle the key city located half-way between Lysychansk and Kramatorsk.
• The enemy has spent enormous resources on taking Bakhmut for several months but cannot move in.  Bakhmut has been fortified by Ukraine since 2015 and is bi-sected by the Bakhmut River.  Ukrainians recently destroyed one of several main bridges connecting the western half of the city with the eastern.
• South: the Southern Operational Command reported that the enemy sent two kamikaze drones to Odesa Oblast.  One was shot down, but the second successfully hit Ukrainian military infrastructure causing a large blaze at an ammo depot.

 

Ukrainian military ammo depot on fire after a successful enemy kamikaze drone attack.  Photo via Michael MacKay

 

Forced mobilization: how it’s going

Mobilized man killed a drafting office commander in Ust-Ilimsk, Irkutsk region, Russia.

Alexandr Yeliseev, the commander, was shot four times almost point blank.

The murderer is Ruslan Zinin, born in 1997, "partially mobilized". He decided jail is better than death in Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/s0IvHJZJBO

— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) September 26, 2022

Drunk Russian solider went on a suicide mission towards Ukrainian lines. Unlikely he survived following the first shot just before the clip ends pic.twitter.com/hC7gXy6clW

— KT "Special NATO Intelligence Operation" (@KremlinTrolls) September 25, 2022

 

Enemy hopes to take out public heating through cyber attacks in Ukraine, Poland and Baltics

Power plants across Ukraine. Chart via Power Technology 

• The General Staff of the Armed Services of Ukraine report that the enemy is planning an imminent and  massive wave of cyberattacks on critical public energy infrastructure in Ukraine and its neighbors Poland and the Baltic states. Ukrainian intelligence learned that the cyber war in Ukraine will be accompanied by increased shelling of critical energy infrastructure in eastern and southern Ukraine.

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Following fake vote, annexation planned this week

• Fake referendums are staged over five days in four oblasts partially occupied by the enemy aggressor: Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhya and Kherson.  The question on the ballot is whether the occupied territory should be annexed by Russia.  The results of the vote are predetermined and russia is expected to annex these four oblasts by the end of the week.
• Voting started Friday and will continue through Tuesday.  Russian propaganda media reported that in-person voting will take place only on Tuesday.  Starting Friday, the media was full of reports of armed men going from apartment to apartment to force people to participate in the sham referendums.  While some “voters” are given ballots to sign, others reported that ballots were completed by the armed men.  Other reports appeared claiming that children were voting and that Ukrainian POWs were forced at gunpoint to cast votes for russian annexation.
• US President Joe Biden warned Russia there will be “swift and severe” costs if Moscow uses “sham” referendums to annex more of Ukraine.  “Russia’s referenda are a sham — a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in flagrant violation of international law,” Mr Biden said in a statement. “We will work with our allies and partners to impose additional swift and severe economic costs on Russia.”
• Leaders of the Group of Seven issued a statement strongly condemning the so-called referendums in Russian-occupied Ukrainian regions.  The G7 confirmed that the outcome of the referendums will have no legal effect or legitimacy.  “We will never recognize these referendums which appear to be a step toward Russian annexation and we will never recognize a purported annexation if it occurs,” the statement added.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of #Kazakhstan will not recognize the "referendums" in the seized territories of #Ukraine: "The #Kazakh authorities proceed from the principles of territorial integrity of the states and their sovereign equality". pic.twitter.com/cXDrvAxqT4

— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 26, 2022

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