Day: October 5, 2023

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainians will “do everything” in their power to prevail over invading Russian forces despite all difficulties as U.S. President Joe Biden said he plans a “major speech” soon on the importance of continuing Western aid for Ukraine.

“There is fatigue but we will do everything to win against the enemy, and our counteroffensive goes ahead, even if slowly we do everything to repel the enemy,” Zelenskiy told Italian news station SkyTg24 on October 4.

Zelenskiy also said Russia was weaker than at the start of the invasion in February 2022 and was trying to freeze the conflict.

He thanked Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni for Italy’s support for Ukraine and mentioned his “personal relationship and human relationship [with Meloni] based on shared values.”

Biden, in comments to reporters, expressed concerns that U.S. aid to Ukraine could be hurt by the current chaos in Congress, but he said he saw a path to deliver aid even if support for Kyiv falters among some lawmakers, particularly Republicans.

Biden also said he will give a “major speech” soon to stress the importance of helping Ukraine defeat the Russian invaders, although the White House did not specify when such remarks might come.

“It doesn’t worry me,” Biden said about some hesitancy toward Ukraine aid. “I know there is a majority of members of the House and Senate and both parties who have said that they support funding Ukraine.”

Despite growing signs of war fatigue in the U.S. Congress and in some European Union countries, Zelenskiy said Kyiv still sees support in Washington and that he hoped to discuss with EU leaders ways to improve Ukraine’s air defenses ahead of the cold season, when fresh Russian strikes are expected on the country’s energy infrastructure.

Facing a likely roadblock from House Republicans on aid for Ukraine, U.S. President Joe Biden on October 4 said he’s planning to give a “major speech” on the issue and suggested there may be “another means” to provide support for Kyiv if Congress continues to balk.

“I’m going to be announcing very shortly a major speech I’m going to make on this issue and why it’s critically important for the United States and our allies that we keep our commitment” to Ukraine, Biden told reporters at the White House. White House officials declined to say when Biden planned to give his speech.

In Britain, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on October 4 urged Western allies to continue supplying Ukraine with weapons.

“I say this to our allies: If we give President Zelenskiy the tools, the Ukrainians will finish the job,” Sunak told the Conservative Party conference in northern England.

Earlier on October 4, air-raid alerts sounded across Ukraine’s south, east, and center on October 4 amid reports of explosions in the southern region of Dnipropetrovsk, as Moscow claimed that it had “destroyed” swarms of Ukrainian drones over three Russian areas.

RFE/RL’s Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia’s full-scale invasion, Kyiv’s counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL’s coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

There was little initial information about the blasts that were reported in Kryviy Rih. Alerts were declared early in the day in Odesa, Mykolayiv, and the Kherson regions, regional officials said.

In Russia, sirens also wailed across the country and TV stations interrupted regular programming to broadcast warnings on October 4 as part of sweeping drills intended to test the readiness of the country’s emergency responders amid the fighting in Ukraine.

The exercise follows Ukrainian drone attacks on Moscow and other cities.

As the readiness drill went on, the Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses shot down 31 Ukrainian drones over border regions early on October 4.

“Air-defense systems intercepted and destroyed 31 Ukrainian aircraft-type unmanned aerial vehicles over the Belgorod, Bryansk, and Kursk regions,” the ministry said on Telegram on October 4.

“Russian aircraft prevented an attempt to penetrate the territory of Crimea by a Ukrainian landing group traveling in the direction of Cape Tarkhankut on a high-speed military boat and three jet skis,” it added.

The information could not be independently confirmed. Russia, which has launched countless deadly drone and missile attacks on Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure since the start of its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, has been in recent months subjected itself to increasingly frequent aerial and naval drone strikes targeting regions close to the border and even Moscow. On the battlefield, Ukrainian forces have been engaged in heavy fighting with Russian troops in the east and south, the military said, amid a seesaw of offensive and defensive actions by both sides in the Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Zaporizhzhya regions. Offensive operations were under way in the Melitopol area of Zaporizhzhya and Bakhmut in Donetsk, the General Staff reported early on October 4, adding that Ukrainian forces also repelled Russian counterattacks near Bakhmut.

“During the past 24 hours, 43 close-quarter battles took place along the front line,” it said.

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 4, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s spokesperson Nazeli Baghdasaryan has commented on Kristinne Grigoryan’s appointment as Director of the new Foreign Intelligence Service (FIS).

In an interview with Armenpress, Baghdasaryan also spoke about the mission of the new intelligence agency.

Armenpress: Ms. Baghdasaryan, Prime Minister Pashinyan has signed an order on appointing Kristinne Grigoryan as the Director of the Foreign Intelligence Service. This appointment marks the inception of the Foreign Intelligence Service. What functions will the service carry out?

Baghdasaryan: The main objective of the service is to predict the foreign threats and opportunities facing our state and society and to provide political decision-makers with the relevant reliable, trustworthy and applicable intelligence data that will have applied significance in terms of managing and preventing possible threats and existing challenges. This is essentially a function carried out by any country’s foreign intelligence service. I have to mention that the service is a politically neutral body, with a mission to serve exclusively for the state interests. The FIS will also closely cooperate with other bodies and actors of Armenia vested with intelligence [gathering] functions, for strengthening the independence, sovereignty and security of the Republic of Armenia. With this purpose the FIS will also establish cooperation with international partners.

Armenpress: What is the reason that the new foreign intelligence agency is being opened in this particular period? Why now?

Baghdasaryan: The launch of the Foreign Intelligence Service is envisaged in the government action plan. The creation of the new service is an important part of the government’s ongoing strategic reforms in the security sector. The law on the Service was adopted and took effect back in December 2022, so the creation of the service is the result of a normal process. The government has been consistently preparing for the practical launch of the establishment of the service over the course of the past nine months.

Armenpress: And does the service already have a physical location, a headquarters? Where can citizens apply to for possible recruitment?

Baghdasaryan: After the appointment of the Director, the law envisages a certain period of time for institutional formation, including its location, as well as adoption of by-laws regulating operational issues of the service.

These questions will have the answers as soon as the service becomes functional and the necessary information will be provided additionally. Certainly, the complete establishment of the service will take some time.

Armenpress: The Prime Minister has appointed former Human Rights Defender Kristinne Grigoryan as the Director of the FIS. Is Grigoryan the right candidate for this position given the fact that she doesn’t have any experience in the field?

Baghdasaryan: The Director of the new service has the objective to create an intelligence service that would effectively respond to modern-day challenges, that will have a strong institutional foundation and will be able to serve the vital interests of the Republic of Armenia. We are certain that Kristinne Grigoryan’s experience in public administration is sufficient to solve the abovementioned objectives.

Armenpress: And which Western service model is chosen as the foundation of the service?

Baghdasaryan: I’d like to emphasize that neither a Western, nor Eastern, nor Northern and nor Southern model was chosen. In our discussions, we were guided exclusively by the principles of assessing the security challenges and foreign intelligence needs of the Republic of Armenia and developing a modern foreign intelligence service quintessential to a democratic society. Reasonably, the analysis of accessible information on various professional services having the capacity to effectively respond to modern-day challenges has an important role in the FIS works, which will be assessed according to the degree of applicability in Armenia.

Issued on: 29/09/2023 – 13:42

2 min

“Since the mission is now on Azerbaijani territory, this will be a subject of our discussion with the Azerbaijani side,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia deployed nearly 2,000 forces to the mountainous region in 2020 as part of a ceasefire deal it brokered between Azerbaijan and Armenia that ended six weeks of brutal fighting for control of the territory.

Peskov’s statement came a day after Moscow said Armenians fleeing after Azerbaijani forces retook control of Nagorno-Karabakh had nothing to fear.

“It’s difficult to say who is to blame (for the exodus), there is no direct reason for such actions,” Peskov told reporters on Thursday.

“People are nevertheless expressing a desire to leave… those who made such a decision should be provided with normal living conditions,” he  added.  

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has warned of “ethnic cleansing” in the region and called for the international community to act.  

Pashinyan had criticised the Russian peacekeeping force for failing to intervene when Azerbaijan launched its lightning offensive to regain control of the region. 

Russia denied the accusations.

The exodus of ethnic Armenians from the enclave marks a fundamental shift in ethnic control of lands disputed by mostly Christian Armenians and predominantly Muslim Azerbaijanis for the past century.

UN refugee agency readying for up to 120,000 refugees in Armenia

The UN refugee agency on Friday said more than 88,000 people have crossed into Armenia from Nagorno-Karabakh and the total could reach 120,000, a figure matching estimates of the entire population of the breakaway region.

Kavita Belani, UNHCR representative in Armenia, told a UN press briefing by video link that huge crowds of tired and frightened people were gathering at registration centres.

“This is a situation where they’ve lived under nine months of blockade,” she said. “And when they come in, they’re full of anxiety, they’re scared, they’re frightened and they want answers.”

“We are ready to cope with up to 120,000 people. It’s very hard to predict how many will come at this juncture,” she added in response to a question about refugee numbers. Initial planning figures were for between 70-90,000 refugees but that needs updating, she added.

Read more‘I lost everything’: Displaced Nagorno-Karabakh residents arrive in Armenia

Nearly a third of the refugees are children, another UN official told the briefing.

“The major concern for us is that many of them have been separated from their family,” said Regina De Dominicis, UNICEF regional director.

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies representative Hicham Diab said there was a massive need for mental health support for refugees.

“The situation often involves families arriving with children so weak that they have fainted in their parents’ arms,” he said.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and Reuters)