RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine could have avoided conflict – Trump

Ukraine could have avoided hundreds of thousands of deaths and lost less land if it had reached a peace deal with Russia before the conflict began last February, former US President Donald Trump told NBC News in an interview aired on Sunday.

The loss of Ukrainian territory to Russia is “something that could have been negotiated,” Trump told NBC host Kristen Welker, adding that “a lot of people expected” Kiev to abandon its claims to “Crimea and other parts of the country” in exchange for peace.

“So they could have made a deal where there’s less territory [lost] than Russia has already taken,” Trump continued. “They could have made a deal where nobody was killed…they would have had a Ukrainian country. Now nobody even knows if Ukraine is going to be totally taken over.”

By “other parts of the country,” Trump was likely referring to the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, whose sovereignty Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized three days before Russia’s military operation in Ukraine began. Following referendums last September, both regions have now joined the Russian Federation, along with the formerly Ukrainian territories of Kherson and Zaporozhye. Crimea voted to rejoin Russia in 2014.

Trump then repeated his claim that if elected next year, he would have a peace deal worked out within 24 hours.

“I’d get [Russian President Vladimir Putin] into a room, I’d get [Ukrainian President Vladimir] Zelensky into a room, then I’d bring them together and I’d have a deal worked out,” he told Welker. 

“It would have been easier if the war didn’t start, and you’d have hundreds of thousands of people living, most importantly,” he noted. “But I can get it done and I can get it done quickly.”

Trump then claimed that he kept Ukraine and Russia “from doing anything”during his presidency, arguing that the low oil prices that characterized his term in the White House would have made it too costly for Russia, a leading oil exporter, to finance a military operation.

Trump’s position on Ukraine is diametrically opposed to that of President Joe Biden, who has vowed to bankroll Kiev’s military “for as long as it takes” to defeat Russia on the battlefield. With the exception of businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, all of Trump’s opponents in the Republican primary field support some sort of continued military aid to Ukraine.

Among them is Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence. Speaking to CNN on Sunday, Pence accused Trump of “embracing the politics of appeasement,” and “letting Vladimir Putin have what he wants.” 

** Russian Armed Forces deliver 11 strikes on Ukrainian port infrastructure over week

Russian forces have delivered 11 massive surgical strikes on port infrastructure targets, personnel locations and the production and storage facilities of Ukrainian unmanned motorboats over a week, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

"Over the September 9-16, 2023 period, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation have delivered 11 massive strikes with sea-and ground-based long-range high-precision weapons as well as with unmanned aerial vehicles on port infrastructure targets, the production and storage locations of unmanned motorboats, fuel products, ordnance, Western armaments and stations of Ukrainian military personnel," the ministry said.

It specified that the strikes disrupted supplies to Ukrainian troops in the Donetsk and Zaporozhye areas and eliminated a large arsenal of the Ukrainian army’s armaments.

WESTERN PERSPECTIVE

Ukraine recaptures village near Bakhmut, Zelenskiy says

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday his forces had recaptured an eastern village on the southern flank of Bakhmut, in what would be Ukraine's second significant gain in three days in its grueling counteroffensive against the Russian army.

"Today I would like to particularly commend the soldiers who, step by step, are returning to Ukraine what belongs to it, namely in the area of Bakhmut," Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

The heavy fight for the Klishchiivka village, spread on higher grounds about 9 km (6 miles) south of Bakhmut, has taken weeks and comes after Kyiv said on Friday it had gained control of a tiny nearby village of Andriivka.

The gains have been among the most significant in Ukraine's counteroffensive, which began in June and has struggled to break through entrenched Russian lines.

Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine's ground forces who is also in operational control of the counteroffensive, posted a video of Ukrainian forces displaying the blue and yellow national flag on ruined buildings with the sound of fighting in the background.

"Klishchiivka was cleared of the Russians," Syrskyi, who has often visited the Bakhmut frontline to devise strategy and boost the troops' morale, said on the Telegram messaging app.

Reuters could not verify the Ukrainian reports and there was no immediate comment from Moscow. On Sunday, Russia's defence ministry said in its daily briefing that its forces kept up their attacks near Klishchiivka, which had a pre-war population of around 400.

Ukrainian military analysts said this week the liberation of settlements near Bakhmut would allow the military to advance from the southern flank in the Bakhmut area.

"Ukraine always gets its own back," Zelenskiy's chief of staff Andriy Yermak wrote on the Telegram.

Zelenskiy thanked the successful units which he said were the 80th airborne assault brigade, the 5th assault brigade, the "glorious 95th" and a national police assault brigade.

Ilia Yevlash, spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the battle inflicted "powerful damage" on Russian airborne units, the "Akhmat" battalion of Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Storm-Z made up of Russian criminals, the Russian General Staff's military intelligence, and motorised rifle units.

"So, now we have gained a base that will allow us to continue to develop offensive actions and liberate our land from the invaders," Yevlash wrote on Telegram.

Ukrainian Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russia was still trying to regain lost positions at the village.

"Today we had to fight off enemy attacks all day," she said.

Russia has been in control of Klishchiivka since January. Moscow still controls large swaths of Ukraine's land in the east and south.

Klishchiivka, just like Andriivka and other settlements in eastern Ukraine, has been turned into ruble in the long months of the fight for Bakhmut, which fell into Russian hands in May.

** Ukraine farm worker killed when tractor hit mine

One farm worker died and another was injured on Sunday in Ukraine's southern Kherson region after their tractor hit a mine while ploughing a field, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.

Liberated after a long Russian occupation, the Kherson region is heavily mined and farmers risk their lives trying to work in fields that have not yet been cleared of mines.

"I'm once again appealing to the residents of the region. Do not start any work until the fields have been inspected by sappers. Take care of your safety," Prokudin said on the Telegram messaging app.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal earlier this year said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had created the world's largest minefield with an area of 250,000 square kilometres (96,525 square miles).

RT/Tass/Reuters