War in Ukraine: Russian counter-offensive in Kursk, threats from Putin, ICRC employees killed… an update on the situation

Every day, Midi Libre takes stock of the situation in Ukraine. This Thursday, September 12, 2024, discover the latest news around this conflict.

The Russian army has launched a counteroffensive in the Russian region of Kursk

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that the Russian military has launched a counteroffensive in Russia's border region of Kursk, where Kiev's forces have seized more than 1,000 km2 since they began their assault in August.

“The Russians have launched counteroffensive actions”, Zelensky said, while assuring that the response by Moscow's forces” “is in line with the Ukrainian plan”, without providing further details.

Ukraine accuses Russia of bombing grain carrier

Ukraine on Thursday accused Russia of firing a missile overnight at a bulk carrier that had left a port in the Odessa region with a load of grain bound for Egypt.

The civilian ship was hit shortly after leaving Ukrainian territorial waters, while sailing near the coast of NATO member Romania, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that the attack did not cause any casualties. Russia did not immediately comment.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha accused Moscow of undermining “freedom of navigation and global food security”. According to the Ukrainian Navy, Russian Tupolev Tu-22 strategic bombers fired several cruise missiles at 23:02 Wednesday night, one of which targeted the bulk carrier.

British maritime security firm Ambrey said in a note that the St Kitts and Nevis-flagged bulk carrier Aya, operated by a Greek company, was struck by a Russian missile after leaving the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk and suffered damage to its cargo hold.

This is the first time a missile has struck a civilian grain ship at sea since Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Some ships have been damaged in Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports where they were docked.

The attack came amid heightened tensions between Moscow and Ukraine's Western allies, who are considering allowing Kiev to use the missiles they supply to strike military targets deep inside Russia.

A Western green light to send missiles would mean that “NATO countries are at war with Russia,”

Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that if the West allowed Ukraine to strike Russian territory with the long-range missiles it has been supplied with, it would mean that “NATO countries are at war with Russia,” NATO are at war with Russia”.

“If this decision is taken, it would mean nothing less than direct involvement of NATO countries in the war in Ukraine. This would change the very nature of the conflict. It would mean that NATO countries are at war with Russia”, Putin said, according to a video posted on Telegram by a journalist from the Russian presidential pool.

Three ICRC employees killed in Russian shelling in the East

Three Ukrainian employees of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were killed and two others wounded on Thursday in a Russian shelling of Viroliubivka, a village in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Ukrainian authorities reported.

“Another Russian war crime. Today, the occupier attacked vehicles of the humanitarian mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Donetsk region”, President Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on X. The Prosecutor General's Office said on Telegram that ICRC employees were delivering fuel briquettes to residents so they could heat their homes during the winter. They were unloading their vehicles when the shelling happened, it said.

Three employees were killed, two others hospitalized, one in serious condition, the prosecutor's office reported. Separately, Russian attacks on energy facilities and civilian infrastructure left 14 people injured in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Konotop, Sumy regional authorities said.

The strikes caused power outages that emergency services were trying to fix in the city, which had a population of about 83,000 before the war. According to regional authorities, 10 explosions were recorded during the attack, and Mayor Artem Semenikhin said the electrical system was in critical condition. “At the moment, energy workers are doing everything they can to provide electricity to the hospital and the water supply system.” “The hospitals have continued to operate,”, he added.

Seven residential buildings were also damaged in Konotop, as well as medical and educational institutions, a store, a bank and a section of the city tram. The Sumy region has been a particular target of Russian aggression in recent weeks after serving as a base for Ukraine to push into Russia's Kursk region.

The Ukrainian air force also said it had shot down 44 of the 64 drones launched overnight by Russia, which also used five missiles. Serhiy Tyurin, regional governor of Khmelnytskyi in central Ukraine, reported a fire in a furniture warehouse after a drone attack.

The governor of the Chernihiv region in northern Ukraine said Russia had stepped up its attacks in recent days, causing damage to local infrastructure. He did not give details of the damage.