Last week (September 18–24), partners announced about the military assistance to Ukraine worth several million USD. The nearest batch for Ukraine includes, among other things, additional air defense systems, tanks, armored vehicles, artillery shells, and, possibly, the long-range ATACMS missiles.

New York hosted a high-level week of the 78th session of the UN General Assembly, when leaders of some countries supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity and condemned Russian aggression.

Russia had not helped their ally Armenia in the conflict with Azerbaijan, enabling Baku for the successful military operation in Nagorno-Karabakh. On the other hand, Georgia’s ruling party accused Ukraine of supporting forces willing to stage a coup in the country, and initiated impeachment of the country’s pro-European President. 

Results of Ramstein and Zelensky Visit to USA and Canada: What Weapons Is Ukraine Receiving

On September, 19, at the Ramstein military base in Germany, the 15th meeting took place of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, attended by 54 states. It was the first time for the new head of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, Rustem Umerov.

According to him, meeting participants agreed to launch an initiative to create a Coalition of Capacities. “The key objective is to prepare the Defense Forces for Ukraine of the future," wrote Umerov on his Facebook. The Defense Ministry also identified 5 clusters that would require attention in the first place:

  • air defense;
  • artillery;
  • aviation;
  • Naval Forces
  • armored vehicles. 

As part of the Contact Group, Ukraine, Estonia, and Luxembourg launched an IT coalition joined by Belgium, Denmark, Lithuania, and Latvia. According to Rustem Umerov, their objective is to provide support to the Defense Forces in communications and in cyber security, which would allow Ukraine to be more efficient in the battlefield. 

Some countries also announced about the new packages of military assistance. Thus, Germany will transfer to Ukraine the armaments worth EUR 400 mln, such as 30,000 155 mm artillery shells, 200 combat armored vehicles MRAP, and 50 aquatic drones.

Denmark and other countries are purchasing additional 45 tanks for Ukraine. According to their Minister of Defense, Trolls Lund Poulsen, the batch will include 30 Leopard 1 tanks, and 15 Soviet tanks T-72. Looking back, earlier Denmark cooperated with Germany, and the Netherlands have already planned to buy and transfer to our country 100 Leopard 1 tanks. In the beginning of September, the first 10 units from the 100 promised tanks arrived to Ukraine.

In addition to Denmark, Sweden also announced about the transfer of tanks. Official Stockholm announced they would transfer to Ukraine 10 Swedish Stridsvagn 122 – those are the licensed versions of the Leopard 2А5 tank, with a modified design.

Pentagon leader Lloyd Ostin said that the Abrams tanks would soon fight in the battlefield. But as soon as on Monday, September 25, it was informed about the delivery to Ukraine of the first batch of U.S. tanks. A propos, the batch in question is 31 U.S. tanks that the U.S. promised to send to Ukraine.  

Also, Norway, informed about the intention to send to Ukraine about 50 track-type trucks designed for delivering cargos to off-road areas, and Britain promised to send dozens of thousands of artillery shells. 

Another important event in the context of military support was a visit of the President of Ukraine to the USA and Canada. Volodymyr Zelensky met senators and a U.S. President Joe Biden, and a Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau. 

During the meeting with senators, the President of Ukraine encouraged the Congress to support a request from the White House for additional financial assistance to Ukraine, worth USD 24 bln. It must be remembered that we do not have a final answer yet whether the MPs would support the decision because there are some serious contradictions in the Republican Party. Some party wing looking forward to Donald Trump believes that the USA is granting to Ukraine too much weapon. And they should rather prioritize internal affairs, such as combatting illegal migration. 

During the meeting with Joe Biden, Volodymyr Zelensky expressed the gratitude for the new package of assistance from the USA worth USD 325 mln. According to the President of Ukraine, the package includes precisely what our soldiers need at the moment. 

“There are many good defense-related and other decisions – defense packages from the United States. It is also artillery, we need shells, missiles for HIMARS, additional air defense systems, tactical machines, and other types of weapons that speak for themselves in the battlefield,” Volodymyr Zelensky summarized the outcomes of the U.S. visit.

At the same time, according to NBC NEWS, President Biden promised to Zelensky that the USA would transfer to Ukraine a small batch of long-range ATACMS missiles, based on the advocacy from the Ukrainian side over the past several months. 

As far as Canada, according to Zelensky, Ukraine received a decision about the long-term defense assistance. “The amount is half a billion USD,” clarified the President. 

“Ukrainian footprint” In Staging the Coup in Georgia and the President’s Impeachment

On September, 18, the National Security Service of Georgia claimed that in the end of autumn or in the beginning of winter, a group of persons planned to change power through public unrest. According to the agency, the organizer and author of the plan is a former deputy Minister of Interior of Georgia, Georgi Lortkipanidze, who is currently a deputy head of the Ukrainian military intelligence.

The National Security Service of Georgia also mentioned Mamuk Mamulashvili as a potential “coup” orchestrator. He is a former bodyguard of the Georgia’s President Mikheil Saakashvili, currently the commander of the “Georgian Legion.” It must be added that according to the Security Service, organizers “plan” to stage the events similar to the Euromaydan in Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the claims of Georgia. In particular, a spokesperson of the Ministry Oleh Nikolenko said: “Current Georgian authorities are making another attempt to demonize Ukraine to resolve their internal political issues. Ukrainian state had not interfered, is not interfering, and does not plan to interfere with Georgia’s internal affairs.”

In the beginning of September, the President of Georgia Salome Zurabishvili started her international visits not approved by the government. Such actions put her under the risk of impeachment.

On September, 18, the ruling party “Georgian Dream” submitted to the Constitutional court the deputy petition complaining about the President’s violation of the Basic Law. On the other hand, the opposition requires the resignation of the Prime Minister who used the government aircraft for a private trip. 

“Peacemaking” failure or how Russia dumps their own in the Caucasus

On September, 19, Azerbaijan launched the “local anti-terrorist measures” in the non-recognized Nagorno-Karabakh region. According to the statement of the President of Azerbaijan, such measures have been undertaken “to ensure the provisions of the Tripartite Declaration, to stop the large-scale provocations in the Karabakh economic area, for disarmament and withdrawal of formations of the armed forces of Armenia from our territories, offsetting their military infrastructure, and ensuring security of civilians.”

Later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Azerbaijan stated that Armenia should withdraw their troops from Nagorno-Karabakh because this is the only “way to peace in the region,” and the presence of the Armenian army “is a serious threat to regional peace and stability.” “The only way to reach peace and stability in the region is to unconditionally and fully withdraw Armenian armed forces from the Karabakh region of Azerbaijan,” says the statement.

At the same time, Russia expressed their “concern.” In response to the actions of Azerbaijan, they said that their “peacemaking contingent” had not been warned about the “anti-terror measures.” Thus, the spokesperson of Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Maria Zakharova said: “​​Russian side was persistently calling on conflicting parties to stop the bloodshed, to immediately stop the military action, and resume the track of political and diplomatic regulation.”

In their statement, the Azerbaijani Defense Minister informed about those measures to the Russian “peacemaking contingent” and the leadership of the Joint Turkey-Russia Monitoring Center. 

In response to the actions of Azerbaijan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Armenia accused Baku in conducting ethnic cleansing of Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh. “On September, 19, Azerbaijan started another full-scale aggression against the people of Nagorno-Karabakh with the objective to end the ethnic cleansing policy,” the statement says. 

The situation in the non-recognized Karabakh was also commented by the NSDC Secretary Oleksiy Danilov. He said that Russia “would turn in” Armenia because the RF is too weak.

“Russia will turn in Armenia, they are not going to fight there, they are not partners to any country. Any commitments that Russia undertook towards Armenia are now nullified, and they would leave Armenia to face the problem on their own. All countries of Central Asia who still have any direct relations with Russia should understand it, too. Russia simply dumps its partners, it never translates their promises into actions,” said Danilov.

UN General Assembly: Ukraine Wants Just Peace, Russia Does Not Consider Any Ceasefire

New York  hosted a week of high-level 78 session of the UN General Assembly. During the event, heads of states and governments, and other national representatives could discuss global tasks for ensuring peace, security, and sustainable development. These events were a significant platform to discuss the Russia-Ukraine war. Thus, US President Joe Biden emphasized that Russia is the only one responsible for the war, and they are able to end it immediately.

“If we abandon the core principles of the UN Charter to appease aggression, can any member state be confident that they are protected?"  asked Joe Biden. 

In his address at the general debate, President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine urged not to trust Russia, and highlighted that many seats in the General Assembly session hall may become empty if the aggressor succeeds in their meanness and aggression. He also mentioned the energy and food blackmail of Russia, and the deportation and abduction of Ukrainian children.

“For the first time in real history we have a real chance to end the aggression on the terms of the nation which was attacked,” said Zelensky. 

Despite the friendship with the RF, Ukraine’s territorial integrity under the UN Charter  was supported by the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic. He compared Russia’s attack with the military operation in Yugoslavia. At the same time, President of Lithuania, Gitanas Nauseda, emphasized that Russia was preparing for even more intense military action rather than for peace. 

Nauseda’s words found the actual confirmation in the address of the Russian delegation member. Thus, the head of Russian MFA, Sergei Lavrov, said that Russia would not consider any proposals about ceasefire. At the same time, though, the country’s leaders are ready for negotiations.

Russian “peace” plans are only about the unacceptable ultimatum-like demands, such as about the territorial concessions, the non-bloc status of Ukraine, strengthening the role of the Russian language, etc. That is why the Ukrainian delegation used the bilateral meetings and UN open platforms to promote our peace plan. Meetings with leaders of  South African Republic, Chile, Mexico, Brazil, Israel, Kenya, Albania, and other countries were mostly about supporting the Ukrainian Peace Formula and preparations for the Global Peace Summit.

The process of implementing the Ukrainian peace plan was also presented at the UN Security Council meeting. In particular, they highlighted two items related to the implementation of the UN Charter, resumption of Ukraine’s territorial integrity, and withdrawal of Russian troops.

However, the UN Security Council, which is supposed to be in charge of global peace, is completely paralyzed because of including the aggressor state who are abusing the veto power. That is why Volodymyr Zelensky  suggested offering to the UN General Assembly a real power to overcome the veto, to expand the permanent composition of the Security Council, and create a system for combatting aggression through preventive sanctions.

Contrariwise, Russia used the Security Council session (the same as other events of the high-level week) for manipulations and propaganda. First, Vasily Nebenzya went outraged that Volodymyr Zelensky would be speaking first. The chairperson, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, mocked the Russian representative in response: “this is not a special operation by the Albanian presidency but a continuation of а long-standing and well-established practice that is fully in line with the UN Charter.”

Then, Sergei Lavrov accused the West in interfering with the Ukrainian politics and staging a “coup d’état” in 2014, and in transforming Ukraine into the anti-Russian battleground. 

Besides, the Russian minister reiterated the established reasoning for the start of the so-called “special operation” and tried to manipulate the provisions of the UN Charter to “explain” the annexation of the Ukrainian territory. In particular, he said that according to the UN Declaration of 1970, the UN Charter’s provisions about the territorial integrity of states is allegedly non-applicable to Ukraine because this state is failing on the principle of equality and self-determination of nations, and Ukrainian authorities cannot represent the entire nation.

“It goes without saying that the Ukrainian neo-Nazis who seized power in Kyiv did not represent the people in Crimea or Donbass,”  said Lavrov.

At the same time, at the press-conference following the General Assembly session, Lavrov said that Russia would recognize the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine according to the 1990  Declaration of independence, provided that Ukraine adheres to the provisions about the non-bloc status and respect for ethnic minorities.

“We have no problems with the territorial integrity of Ukraine. It was destroyed by those who carried out and supported the coup, whose leaders declared war against their own people and began to bomb them,” said he.

However, Lavrov must have forgotten that the Euroatlantic aspirations of Ukraine come from the main intention and willingness to protect oneself from the Russian Federation that used to be the security “guarantor” for our state. The Russophobe attitudes in society keep growing from the Kremlin’s colonial aspirations, murders, and deportations of children, daily missile attacks, and other Russia’s crimes against humanity that in their totality have the signs of genocide of the Ukrainian people.