Ukraine Counteroffensive Update for Sept 27 (Europe Edition): ‘Too Bad, Vlad’

Overview:

• Shoigu announces Russian military has planned for two more years of war
• Former Russian president addresses troops in occupied Donetsk
• Russians bolting southward in Zaporizhzhia, ISW believes
• VIDEO: Hear a Kherson woman’s story about sheltering wounded soldiers
• See sweeping aerial footage of destruction left behind in Andriivka
• Former US Secretary of State says Ukraine’s NATO bid is Russia’s own fault

Medvedev delivers narrative in Donetsk about ground troops’ “will and firmness”

AFP reported that Russian President Vladimir Putin sent his unofficial spokesman for incendiary remarks and deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, former President Dmitry Medvedev, to visit forces near the front lines in the occupied Donetsk Region on Tuesday to rally the troops.

“On the instructions of the president, I visited a firing range near the contact line on the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic,” said Medvedev, who regularly delivers saber-rattling about Russia’s potential use of nuclear weapons to “defend Russia’s sovereignty” and other comments unbefitting of a sitting Russian president.

“The servicemen are demonstrating excellent combat qualities of will, firmness and a general attitude to victory,” Medvedev said in a video posted on social media. His commentary comes as numerous Russian soldiers and bloggers on the ground have posted about their commanders’ unsuccessful strategies and forces’ poor performance, and general indifference to combat outcomes, while openly blasting the Kremlin’s obfuscation.

Russian Defense Minister: ‘Implementation of plans until 2025 will let us achieve our goals’

Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu told an assembly on Tuesday that Russia has planned to continue its “special military operation” in Ukraine until at least 2025, as seen in this post shared by Ukraine’s former Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs, Anton Gerashchenko.

Other Topics of Interest

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“Cynical actions by the West and their henchmen in Kyiv are only pushing Ukraine toward self-destruction,” Shoigu said. “We continue to build up the combat power of the armed forces. Consistent implementation of these measures and plans until 2025 will allow us to achieve the goals we set.”

Operations: Zaporizhzhia; Russians draw back as far south as Tokmak

The Institute for the Study of War reported Tuesday that some Russian units in Zaporizhzhia apparently pulled back as far as Tokmak, 30 km south of the former front lines in Robotyne, indicating that “the Russian command has not manned the multi-echeloned defense in southern Ukraine in depth,” ISW analysts wrote.

“Russian sources reported on Sept. 25 and 26 that elements of the 71st Motorized Rifle Regiment’s 3rd Battalion were involved in an altercation with military police from the 70th Motorized Rifle Regiment in occupied Tokmak… [This] suggests that Russian forces have deployed elements of these regiments throughout the multi-echeloned defense between the current frontline and Tokmak.”

Neither Russian nor Ukrainian forces, however, were reported to have made significant gains on Tuesday along the several fiercely contested fronts in Ukraine’s southern regions.

Hear the story of a woman who nursed and sheltered Ukrainian soldiers during city’s siege

A video posted on Twitter on Tuesday by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense features a resident of the Kherson Region who talks about how she took in wounded soldiers during her town’s Russian occupation.

“Sofia Bila, a Kherson Oblast resident, saved three wounded Ukrainian soldiers. She kept them hidden in her basement for two months until her village was liberated,” the post reads.

“They call me on the phone,” Bila says. “‘Mom…’ They call me Mom.”

See AP drone footage of the aftermath of battles along the road to Bakhmut

Have you wondered what the landscape looks like after invading Russian soldiers and Ukrainian defense forces battled for control of villages in the Donetsk region?

The AP posted aerial footage on Tuesday of the smoldering fields and obliterated settlements around the hotly contested town of Andriivka.

Watch the video here.

Clinton to Putin on Ukraine’s NATO bid: “You brought it on yourself”

AFP reported Tuesday that former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton “taunted her old nemesis” Russian President Vladimir Putin about Ukraine’s potential ascension to NATO membership, upon a visit to her old haunts on C Street.

“Too bad, Vladimir,” Clinton scoffed while visiting the State Department HQ for the unveiling of her portrait. “You brought it on yourself.”

“It was such a point of contention. And we always said, people are not forced to join NATO, people choose and want to join NATO,” AFP quoted her as saying.