Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 1,311

On Saturday, September 27, 2018, this is how things are going.

Fighting

• A 74-year-old woman was killed and two others were hurt in a Russian attack in the Kherson region of Ukraine, according to Regional Governor Oleksandr Prokudin’s post on Telegram. According to Prokudin, the attack damaged about 70 homes and one administration building.
• According to the General Staff of Ukraine, Ukrainian forces attacked the Afipsky oil refinery in Russia. The General Staff confirmed the collision and fire in a Facebook post, adding that the extent of the damage was being looked into.
• According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, Yunakivka in the Sumy region is being held by Russian forces, according to TASS news agency.

diplomacy and politics

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the president of Ukraine, was charged by Russia on Friday with making “irresponsible” threats after he claimed Moscow’s top officials should check for bomb shelters close to the Kremlin if Ukraine doesn’t stop its offensive against him.
• President Zelenskyy stated in an interview with Axios, a newspaper in the United States, that Russian officials “must know where their bomb shelters are,” adding that “they will need it in any case.”
• According to the Wall Street Journal, US President Donald Trump told Zelenskyy he was willing to ease restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American-made long-range weapons to attack deep inside Russia, but he did not, according to unnamed officials at their meeting on Tuesday.
• Unnamed sources cited Zelenskyy as saying he asked Trump for Tomahawk missiles in an Axios report from Friday.

Regional security

• Zelenskyy claimed that Ukraine’s military had recently “reported violations of our airspace by reconnaissance drones, which are likely Hungarian,” along the nation’s border with its neighbor. Zelenskyy later made reference to “very strange incidents” in his nightly video address and demanded “thorough checks.”
• In a response to Peter Szijjarto, the Hungarian foreign minister, Zelenskyy said in a post on X, “President Zelenskyy is losing his mind.” He is now beginning to recognize the absence of certain things.
• Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister of Ukraine, earlier on Friday stated that Kyiv had placed a ban on three senior Hungarian military officials in response to Hungary’s earlier entry ban on them.
• In response to increasing reports of Russian airspace being violated, European Union Defense Commissioner Andrius Kubilius reported that EU defense ministers have agreed to build a “drone wall” along their borders with Russia and Ukraine.

The electoral commission of Moldova forbade two pro-Russian parties from participating in this Sunday’s high-stakes election, which was overshadowed by allegations of Russian interference.
• In advance of the tense Moldovan parliamentary elections this weekend, two people were detained by Serbian police on Friday, accused of conducting “combat-tactical training” for dozens of protesters.
• Maia Sandu, the president of Moldova, claimed Russia had paid “hundreds of people” to destabilize the nation before Sunday’s election.

Energy

• Alexander Lukashenko, the president of Belarus, discussed plans to either build a second nuclear power plant or expand the country’s already-existing one in order to supply energy to Ukraine’s occupied regions at Friday’s Kremlin, according to Russian RIA Novosti news agency.
• Lukashenko added that, according to RIA reporting, he also stated after the meeting that he and Russia have come to an agreement to provide Belarus with gas for the next five years.
• The exiled opposition leader of Belarus’s opposition, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, claimed the energy plans “proves once more” that Lukashenko “is complicit in Russian aggression” and “always puts all of Europe in danger.”