A civilian convoy of cars heading to pick up relatives trying to flee Russian–occupied territory was shelled near the city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday, 30 September, morning, causing fatalities and deaths, as reported by the British media The Guardian.
Footage posted on social media showed a horrific scene with dead and injured lying in the road with reports that the convoy was hit more than a dozen times. The casualty figures from the attack on the convoy is 23 dead and 28 wounded.
The governor of Zaporizhzhia region Oleksandr Starukh said in a statement: «The enemy launched an attack on a civilian convoy and the outskirts of the city. People were standing in line to leave for the occupied territory to pick up their relatives and to deliver aid. There are dead and wounded. Emergency services are at the site.»
It was reported that are indications that Russia might limit the movement of Ukrainians living in the occupied territories after it announces their annexation. Ukrainians have been told that from Saturday they will need to apply for a pass from the occupying authorities.
This comes as the exiled Luhansk regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, said Russia had prevented about 1 000 Ukrainians from crossing the border into Latvia.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has signed decrees paving the way for the occupied Ukrainian regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia to be formally annexed into Russia.
The decrees, made public by the Kremlin on late Thursday, 29 September, evening said Putin had recognised Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as independent territories. This is an intermediary step needed before Putin can go ahead with plans to declare on Friday that they are part of Russia.
However, Ukrainian president Volodomir Zelensky announced on his nightly video address on Thursday, 29 September, on Telegram that «Russia will not get a new territory of Ukraine. Russia will annex itself to the catastrophe that it has brought to the occupied territory of our country. Depriving the entire Russian society of a normal economy, a decent life and respect for any human value will be the price for the fact that one person in Russia wants this war to continue.»
Zelensky to hold urgent security council meeting on Friday, 30 September, as Russia annexes more Ukrainian land. Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said that the council would make crucial and «fundamental» decisions, as reported by Ukrainian media The Kyiv Independent.
The UN secretary general has warned Russia that annexing Ukrainian regions would mark a «dangerous escalation» that would jeopardise the prospects for peace in the region. António Guterres said any decision to proceed with the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions «would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned», as informed by The Guardian.
Despite the warnings, Russia builds a stage and prepares to celebrate the annexations of occupied territories, at the same time ignoring the fact that most likely large number of Russian soldiers will die in Lyman.
Russian forces may face «imminent defeat» in the key north–eastern city of Lyman as Ukrainian soldiers continue their counteroffensive in the east of the country, according to a US thinktank. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), citing Russian reports, said Ukrainian forces have taken more villages around Lyman, about 100 miles (160km) south–east of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second–largest city.
Ukrainian forces have also managed to secure all of Kupiansk and driven Russian troops from their remaining positions on the east bank of the river that divides the north-eastern Ukrainian city. Most of Kupiansk, a strategic railway junction, was recaptured earlier this month as part of a counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops. AFP reported that those Russian troops who held out on the east bank of the Oskil river have been driven out, as informed by The Kyiv Independent.
Meanwhile, Putin’s announced partial mobilisation has triggered a public uproar and caused a major scandal.
Russia’s president rushed to «correct his mistakes» made during the mobiliSation.
He announced that only reservists should be conscripted for the war against Ukraine, as reported by The Guardian.
Nevertheless, Ukrainian non–governmental organization CrimeaSOS said that Russia is sending newly mobilized Crimean men to the front lines. «They are (already) being transferred from Sevastopol, where they had spent only two days since they received their draft summonses,» said Oleksii Tilnenko, the head of the organization’s board, on 29 September. The conscription of residents of occupied territories to the ranks of the occupying army is a war crime.
At the same time Finland is closing its border to Russian tourists after Putin’s partial mobilisation order prompted large numbers of people to flee the country.
From midnight Thursday, 29 September, Russian tourists holding an EU Schengen visa will be turned away unless they have a family tie or a compelling reason to travel.
Meanwhile, The. U.S. officials are urging countries of the Pacific region to put pressure on Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and communicate to him that the use of nuclear weapons will have a harsh economic and diplomatic response, Politico reports, citing unnamed sources in President Joe Biden’s administration.