Putin Dupes Erdogan About Returning Ukrainian Territory

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told PBS Newshour that Russian President Vladimir Putin is willing to talk to Ukraine after Kyiv's lighting counteroffensive pushed Russian troops out of Kharkiv Oblast even as Moscow announced the mobilization of up to 300,000 military reservists to fight in Ukraine, Kyiv Independent reported.

Photo Insert: Despite Russia's plans to hold pseudo-referendums on occupied Ukrainian territories from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27, Ukraine will continue its counteroffensive.

Ninety-two percent of Ukrainians would like to see their country in the European Union (EU) while 79% want it to join NATO by 2030, according to a poll conducted by the KIIS and the National Democratic Institute from Aug. 2 to Aug. 9.

In December 2021, 58% of Ukrainians said they wanted to join the EU and 48% said they approve of Ukraine’s joining NATO.

Despite Russia's plans to hold pseudo-referendums on occupied Ukrainian territories from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27, Ukraine will continue its counteroffensive, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Sept. 20.

"Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say," said Kuleba. Russia's plans to hold sham referendums on occupied territories will not affect the position of President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ukraine's Armed Forces, Zelensky's spokesman Serhii Nykyforov told Liga.net on Sept. 20.

These "referendums," instead, will negate the slightest possibility of ending the war through diplomacy, according to him. "All internationally-recognized Ukrainian territories will be liberated," Nykyforov added.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said in its latest assessment that the Kremlin will use the falsified results of sham referenda to illegally annex all occupied parts of Ukraine and is likely to announce unoccupied parts of Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts as part of Russia.

Ukraine’s General Staff says Russia will transfer paratroopers from Syria to Ukraine. Due to a lack of personnel, the Russian authorities have decided to withdraw units of its 217th Airborne Regiment from Syria and transfer them to the frontline in Ukraine, the General Staff reported on Sept. 20.

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