September 21, 2022

1. Address by the President of the Russian Federation

September 21, 2022 at 9:00AM (8:17AM Russian text)

Friends,

The subject of this address is the situation in Donbass and the course of the special military operation to liberate it from the neo-Nazi regime, which seized power in Ukraine in 2014 as the result of an armed state coup.

Today I am addressing you – all citizens of our country, people of different generations, ages and ethnicities, the people of our great Motherland, all who are united by the great historical Russia, soldiers, officers and volunteers who are fighting on the frontline and doing their combat duty, our brothers and sisters in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and other areas that have been liberated from the neo-Nazi regime.

The issue concerns the necessary, imperative measures to protect the sovereignty, security and territorial integrity of Russia and support the desire and will of our compatriots to choose their future independently, and the aggressive policy of some Western elites, who are doing their utmost to preserve their domination and with this aim in view are trying to block and suppress any sovereign and independent development centres in order to continue to aggressively force their will and pseudo-values on other countries and nations.

The goal of that part of the West is to weaken, divide and ultimately destroy our country. They are saying openly now that in 1991 they managed to split up the Soviet Union and now is the time to do the same to Russia, which must be divided into numerous regions that would be at deadly feud with each other.

They devised these plans long ago. They encouraged groups of international terrorists in the Caucasus and moved NATO’s offensive infrastructure close to our borders. They used indiscriminate Russophobia as a weapon, including by nurturing the hatred of Russia for decades, primarily in Ukraine, which was designed to become an anti-Russia bridgehead. They turned the Ukrainian people into cannon fodder and pushed them into a war with Russia, which they unleashed back in 2014. They used the army against civilians and organised a genocide, blockade and terror against those who refused to recognise the government that was created in Ukraine as the result of a state coup.

After the Kiev regime publicly refused to settle the issue of Donbass peacefully and went as far as to announce its ambition to possess nuclear weapons, it became clear that a new offensive in Donbass – there were two of them before – was inevitable, and that it would be inevitably followed by an attack on Russia’s Crimea, that is, on Russia.

In this connection, the decision to start a pre-emptive military operation was necessary and the only option. The main goal of this operation, which is to liberate the whole of Donbass, remains unaltered.

The Lugansk People’s Republic has been liberated from the neo-Nazis almost completely. Fighting in the Donetsk People’s Republic continues. Over the previous eight years, the Kiev occupation regime created a deeply echeloned line of permanent defences. A head-on attack against them would have led to heavy losses, which is why our units, as well as the forces of the Donbass republics, are acting competently and systematically, using military equipment and saving lives, moving step by step to liberate Donbass, purge cities and towns of the neo-Nazis, and help the people whom the Kiev regime turned into hostages and human shields.

As you know, professional military personnel serving under contract are taking part in the special military operation. Fighting side by side with them are volunteer units – people of different ethnicities, professions and ages who are real patriots. They answered the call of their hearts to rise up in defence of Russia and Donbass.

In this connection, I have already issued instructions for the Government and the Defence Ministry to determine the legal status of volunteers and personnel of the military units of the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics. It must be the same as the status of military professionals of the Russian army, including material, medical and social benefits. Special attention must be given to organising the supply of military and other equipment for volunteer units and Donbass people’s militia.

While acting to attain the main goals of defending Donbass in accordance with the plans and decisions of the Defence Ministry and the General Staff, our troops have liberated considerable areas in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions and a number of other areas. This has created a protracted line of contact that is over 1,000 kilometres long.

This is what I would like to make public for the first time today. After the start of the special military operation, in particular after the Istanbul talks, Kiev representatives voiced quite a positive response to our proposals. These proposals concerned above all ensuring Russia’s security and interests. But a peaceful settlement obviously did not suit the West, which is why, after certain compromises were coordinated, Kiev was actually ordered to wreck all these agreements.

More weapons were pumped into Ukraine. The Kiev regime brought into play new groups of foreign mercenaries and nationalists, military units trained according to NATO standards and receiving orders from Western advisers.

At the same time, the regime of reprisals throughout Ukraine against their own citizens, established immediately after the armed coup in 2014, was harshly intensified. The policy of intimidation, terror and violence is taking on increasingly mass-scale, horrific and barbaric forms.

I want to stress the following. We know that the majority of people living in the territories liberated from the neo-Nazis, and these are primarily the historical lands of Novorossiya, do not want to live under the yoke of the neo-Nazi regime. People in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, in Lugansk and Donetsk saw and are seeing now the atrocities perpetrated by the neo-Nazis in the [Ukrainian-] occupied areas of the Kharkov region. The descendants of Banderites and members of Nazi punitive expeditions are killing, torturing and imprisoning people; they are settling scores, beating up, and committing outrages on peaceful civilians.

There were over 7.5 million people living in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions before the outbreak of hostilities. Many of them were forced to become refugees and leave their homes. Those who have stayed – they number about five million – are now exposed to artillery and missile attacks launched by the neo-Nazi militants, who fire at hospitals and schools and stage terrorist attacks against peaceful civilians.

We cannot, we have no moral right to let our kin and kith be torn to pieces by butchers; we cannot but respond to their sincere striving to decide their destiny on their own.

The parliaments of the Donbass people’s republics and the military-civilian administrations of the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions have adopted decisions to hold referendums on the future of their territories and have appealed to Russia to support this.

I would like to emphasise that we will do everything necessary to create safe conditions for these referendums so that people can express their will. And we will support the choice of future made by the majority of people in the Donetsk and Lugansk people’s republics and the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions.

Friends,

Today our Armed Forces, as I have mentioned, are fighting on the line of contact that is over 1,000 kilometres long, fighting not only against neo-Nazi units but actually the entire military machine of the collective West.

In this situation, I consider it necessary to take the following decision, which is fully adequate to the threats we are facing. More precisely, I find it necessary to support the proposal of the Defence Ministry and the General Staff on partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation to defend our Motherland and its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to ensure the safety of our people and people in the liberated territories.

As I have said, we are talking about partial mobilisation. In other words, only military reservists, primarily those who served in the armed forces and have specific military occupational specialties and corresponding experience, will be called up.

Before being sent to their units, those called up for active duty will undergo mandatory additional military training based on the experience of the special military operation.

I have already signed Executive Order on partial mobilisation.

In accordance with legislation, the houses of the Federal Assembly – the Federation Council and the State Duma – will be officially notified about this in writing today.

The mobilisation will begin today, September 21. I am instructing the heads of the regions to provide the necessary assistance to the work of military recruitment offices.

I would like to point out that the citizens of Russia called up in accordance with the mobilisation order will have the status, payments and all social benefits of military personnel serving under contract.

Additionally, the Executive Order on partial mobilisation also stipulates additional measures for the fulfilment of the state defence order. The heads of defence industry enterprises will be directly responsible for attaining the goals of increasing the production of weapons and military equipment and using additional production facilities for this purpose. At the same time, the Government must address without any delay all aspects of material, resource and financial support for our defence enterprises.

Friends,

The West has gone too far in its aggressive anti-Russia policy, making endless threats to our country and people. Some irresponsible Western politicians are doing more than just speak about their plans to organise the delivery of long-range offensive weapons to Ukraine, which could be used to deliver strikes at Crimea and other Russian regions.

Such terrorist attacks, including with the use of Western weapons, are being delivered at border areas in the Belgorod and Kursk regions. NATO is conducting reconnaissance through Russia’s southern regions in real time and with the use of modern systems, aircraft, vessels, satellites and strategic drones.

Washington, London and Brussels are openly encouraging Kiev to move the hostilities to our territory. They openly say that Russia must be defeated on the battlefield by any means, and subsequently deprived of political, economic, cultural and any other sovereignty and ransacked.

They have even resorted to the nuclear blackmail. I am referring not only to the Western-encouraged shelling of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant, which poses a threat of a nuclear disaster, but also to the statements made by some high-ranking representatives of the leading NATO countries on the possibility and admissibility of using weapons of mass destruction – nuclear weapons – against Russia.

I would like to remind those who make such statements regarding Russia that our country has different types of weapons as well, and some of them are more modern than the weapons NATO countries have. In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.

The citizens of Russia can rest assured that the territorial integrity of our Motherland, our independence and freedom will be defended – I repeat – by all the systems available to us. Those who are using nuclear blackmail against us should know that the wind rose can turn around.

It is our historical tradition and the destiny of our nation to stop those who are keen on global domination and threaten to split up and enslave our Motherland. Rest assured that we will do it this time as well.

I believe in your support.

Executive Order on partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation (main contents)

The President signed Executive Order On Declaring Partial Mobilisation in the Russian Federation.

September 21, 2022 (09:20AM)

As per federal laws No. 61-FZ On Defence, dated May 31, 1996, and No. 31-FZ On Mobilisation Preparations and Mobilisation in the Russian Federation, dated February 26, 1997, and Federal Law No. 53-FZ On the Military Duty and Military Service, dated March 28, 1998, the President declared a partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation as of September 21, 2022.

The Executive Order provides for calling up citizens of the Russian Federation for service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as part of the mobilisation effort. Citizens of the Russian Federation called up for military service as part of mobilisation will enjoy the status of military personnel serving in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation under contract.

The Executive Order sets forth money allowances for the citizens of the Russian Federation called up for military service as part of mobilisation, as well as the duration of the military service contracts signed by the military personnel, grounds for discharging military personnel serving under contract, as well as citizens called up for military service in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation as part of mobilisation.

Corresponding instructions have been issued to the Government of the Russian Federation and top government officials in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

Under the Executive Order, citizens of the Russian Federation employed by defence companies will benefit from an exemption from the mobilisation draft for the period of their employment by these organisations. The Government of the Russian Federation shall define the categories of citizens of the Russian Federation who have the right to draft exemptions and the manner in which these exemptions shall be provided.

[Note: the full text is available at the Kremlin.ru in Russian language]

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2. Kiev created a “Bucha” 2.0 fake

After the withdrawal of the RF Armed Forces from the Kharkov Region, the Ukrainian media, as expected, began to spin stories about torture and massacres of local residents. Everything is already happening according to the scenario already known since last spring in Bucha, Kramatorsk and some other places. All stories have been totally faked [see relevant my Reports].

The Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine published a video from the basement of Izyum. The video says that a torture room has been discovered. Another similar room was allegedly found in Balakliya.

Ukrainian propagandists claim that Russian servicemen in one of the police stations put on masks and tortured civilians with bare wires in one of the police stations. As evidence, they provide “instruments of torture”: a hammer, a broom, a skein of stationery tape. The prayer “Our Father” in Russian is scrawled on the wall for entourage.

Propagandists supplement the finds with “stories of local residents.” They refer to a group of teenagers aged 15-17 who claim that they were kept in the basement for several days.

According to the latest data, about 400 graves have been found in Izyum. But almost all the bodies lying there belong to the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose burial was carried out by the military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation due to the refusal of the Ukrainian command to accept the remains of their own. There are some GI corpses brought from nowhere land with items in their pockets that usually do not have them on the battlefield, like smartphones. There are graves that have clear-cut data of their death that took place before Russian troops have arrived at this places

All these stories appeared on September 16, when a press tour was specially organized for journalists from Western publications. But as early as September 15, journalists from the British edition of The Daily Telegraph, who visited Izyum, did not notice any signs of massacres or torture.

3. The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continue the special military operation.

Ukrainian Armed Forces fired again at the Zaporozhye NPP at night. As RT was told in the administration of Energodar, gaps were recorded 100 meters from the perimeter of the station. As a result, a high-voltage power line and communication equipment of one of the power units and cooling system were damaged, the block transformer and transformers for the power unit’s own needs were switched off.  

In Donetsk 13 people have been killed by AFU two days ago at the shopping street and bus stop.

In the city of Zaporozhye, as a result of the shelling of three districts of the city, infrastructure facilities and houses in the private sector were damaged. Three people were also reported injured.

In Nova Kakhovka, the Nazis fired on residential infrastructure. Investigators of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation examined the destruction in the city of Novaya Kakhovka, Kherson region, which was fired upon by the Nazis using the Tochka-U missile system. As a result of shelling by the Nazis, 5 civilians were injured of varying severity.

The enemy lost more than 60 people killed and wounded, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Subdivisions of the RF Armed Forces destroyed 12 ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kharkiv, Kherson regions and Donbass. The Armed Forces of Ukraine lost more than 200 people near Pravdino in the Kherson region. Air defense systems and aircraft of the Aerospace Forces shot down 11 drones, including Bayraktar, as well as 28 HIMARS shells and three HARM missiles. The Kyiv regime continues shelling the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, yesterday its forces damaged the pipes of the cooling system.

Ukrainian troops lost more than 200 people near the village of Pravdino in the Kherson region, the brigade commander sent a counterattack to the minefield – the Russian Defense Ministry.

After the referendums, an attack on the liberated territories will become an attack on Russia with all the consequences, said Deputy Speaker of the Federation Council Konstantin Kosachev.

In repelling Ukrainian aggression Russian Aerospace Forces have launched attacks with high-precision armament at the manpower and military equipment concentration areas of 53rd, 58th and 93rd mechanised brigades near Toretsk, Zaytsevo, Nikolayevka, as well as of 80th Airborne Assault Brigade near Seversk (DPR).The attacks have resulted in the elimination of over 200 Ukrainian servicemen and 11 armoured vehicles.

Ukrainian troops lost more than 200 people near the village of Pravdino in the Kherson region, the brigade commander sent a counterattack to the minefield – the Russian Defense Ministry.

The enemy lost more than 60 people killed and wounded, the Russian Defense Ministry said. Subdivisions of the RF Armed Forces destroyed 12 ammunition depots of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Kharkiv, Kherson regions and Donbass. The Armed Forces of Ukraine lost more than 200 people near Pravdino in the Kherson region. Air defense systems and aircraft of the Aerospace Forces shot down 11 drones, including Bayraktar, as well as 28 HIMARS shells and three HARM missiles.

High-precision attack launched at a manpower and equipment concentration area of 46th Airmobile Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) near Belogorka (Kherson region) has resulted in the elimination of 3 armoured vehicles and up to 15 Ukrainian servicemen.

Massive fire attack launched at a provisional base of the units from 59th Mechanised Infantry Brigade near Pershotravnevoye (Dnepropetrovsk region) has resulted in causing casualties of over 30 Ukrainian servicemen killed and more than 50 wounded.

Massive fire attacks launched at manpower and equipment concentration areas of 128th Mountain Assault Brigade near Dolinka, 102nd Territorial Defence Brigade near Rybnoye (Zaporozhye region), as well as at a provisional base of Karpatskaya Sech nationalist battalion in Zaporozhye have resulted in the elimination of over 70 Ukrainian servicemen and militants, as well as of 4 armoured vehicles.

Operational-tactical and army aviation, missile troops and artillery have neutralised 7 AFU command posts near Verkhnekamenskoye, Viyemka (Donetsk People's Republic), Poltavka, Charivnoye (Zaporozhye region), Kostomarovka (Kirovograd region), Barmashovo (Nikolayev region), as well as 52 artillery units, 134 AFU manpower and military equipment concentration areas.

High-precision attack launched by Russian Aerospace Forces has resulted in the destruction of the workshops at Iskra plant located in Zaporozhye and tasked to maintain U.S.-manufactured HIMARS multiple rocket-launching systems.

Russian air defence facilities have shot down 1 Su-25 airplane of Ukrainian Air Force near Aleksandrovka (Kherson region).

Moreover, 14 Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles have been shot down near Lidiyevka, Novomikhaylovka, Chkalovo, Novobakhmutovka, Ryasnoye, Verkhnetoretskoye, Zavitne-Bazhannya, Lyubovka (Donetsk People's Republic), Snigiryovka (Nikolayev region), Chernyanka, Maksima Gorkogo (Kherson region), as well as in Dorozhnyanka (Zaporozhye region).

2 U.S.-manufactured HARM anti-radar missiles have been intercepted near Novaya Kakhovka (Kherson region).

In addition, 2 Tochka-U ballistic missiles have been intercepted near Belozyorka and Chervony Mayak (Kherson region), 24 rocket-propelled projectiles launched by HIMARS and Olkha multiple rocket-launching systems have been intercepted near Volnovakha, Korsun (Donetsk People's Republic), Kherson, Tavriysk, Berislav, Vesyoloye and Novaya Kakhovka (Kherson region), as well as near Chervony Promin (Nikolayev region).

In total, by September 20, 294 airplanes and 155 helicopters, 1,995 unmanned aerial vehicles, 375 air defence missile systems, 5,028 tanks and other armoured combat vehicles, 839 combat vehicles equipped with MRLS, 3,401 field artillery cannons and mortars, as well as 5,692 units of special military equipment have been destroyed during the special military operation.

4.The Ukrainian Armed Forces are refusing to move into forward positions

The Ukrainian Armed Forces are suffering significant losses and refusing to move into forward positions, including near Artemivsk, a senior lieutenant of the 58th brigade of the Ukrainian security forces, Oleg Rozhkovsky, who was taken prisoner by the “Wagners” from the “Bakhmut” group, told RIA Novosti reporters.

Earlier it was reported that the Vagner unit had secured positions in the industrial zone of Artemivsk and continued to advance deeper into the populated area.

“Most of them are refuseniks (in the ranks of the AFU near Artemivsk), they refuse to go to the positions, because there are very heavy losses: wounded and killed. There are many who refuse to go to the front line,” a captured Ukrainian officer said.

The captured officer specified that deputy political officers and the military prosecutor’s office work with Ukrainian soldiers who refuse to go to the front line. “They refused to go into battle, then they went into battle,” he stated. According to Rozhkovsky, only 10 out of 70 mobilized men knew how to use a machine gun. He noted that people were trained for only a week and sent straight to the front.

“People are untrained, untrained. The 127th Brigade of territorial defence arrived when I was there. The same mobilized, they were in combat for three days and the battalion (about 350 people) ceased to exist,” Rozhkovsky said.

Written by Vladimir P. Kozin