Russian Embassy in Australia

#KievRegimeCrimes ⚡️ Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Rodion Miroshnik: PHOTO FACTS & EVIDENCE of crimes committed by Ukrainian armed forces over the week of August 31 - September 6, 2026: ▪️ August 31 – a UAV strike on civilian cargo transport in the Genichesk District, Kherson Region. ▪️ August 31 – a fixed-wing UAV strike on an apartment building in Yekaterinburg, Sverdlovsk Region. ▪️ September 1 – a UAV strike on an EMERCOM emergency vehicle in the Volnovakha District, DPR. ▪️ September 1 – aUAV strike on an EMERCOM emergency vehicle near Severodonetsk, LPR. ▪️ September 3 – a UAV strike on a passenger bus in Gorlovka, DPR. ▪️ September 3 – a UAV strike on a hardware store in Kakhovka, Kherson Region. Two civilians were injured. ▪️ September 3 – a UAV strike on a kindergarten building in the village of Skelki, Zaporozhye Region. ▪️ September 3 – a UAV strike on a municipal utility vehicle in Shebekino, Belgorod Region. Three civilians were injured. ▪️ September 3 – a UAV strike on passenger transport in Shebekino, Belgorod Region. ▪️ September 5 – a UAV strike on a civilian car in Bryanka, LPR. A 23-year-old woman and her 63-year-old mother were killed.

▪️ On September 8, 1941, the Siege of Leningrad began — one of the most horrific and tragic events not only of the Great Patriotic War but of the entire World War II. The siege lasted for 872 days and claimed the lives of approximately 1 million residents of the city, including more than 600'000 people who died from starvation. Alongside German troops, military units from European countries conquered by Hitler participated in the Siege of Leningrad — the 'Norway', 'the Netherlands' and 'Flanders' legions, as well as the Spanish infantry division. From the Narva direction, Baltic units — Latvian and Estonian battalions — were kept in reserve by the Nazis. From the north, the Finnish army besieged Leningrad and also shelled the city with its artillery. The Nazis and their accomplices planned to wipe Leningrad off the face of the Earth and subject its population to complete annihilation, including by creating conditions for mass starvation, destroying food supplies, and cutting off supply routes. *** In early September 1941, during the Leningrad Defensive Operation of the Red Army, the city was cut off by the Nazis from all land routes. On September 8, Hitler's troops captured Shlisselburg, completing the encirclement. The city was bombarded daily with artillery. The Nazi command's orders were absolutely clear: maintain the siege, strictly enforce the blockade, shoot anyone crossing the front line, and bring about the total destruction of the city's population. ❗️But Leningrad endured and never stopped fighting. Under unbearable conditions, the city's industrial enterprises continued to operate. During the blockade, workers produced or repaired about 2'000 tanks, 1'500 aircraft, 850 warships and vessels of various classes, as well as 225'000 submachine guns, 12'000 mortars, and 7.5 million shells and mines. The most famous memorial to the victims of the blockade is the Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery in Saint Petersburg — the largest mass military grave of World War II. Over 420'000 Leningrad residents and 70'000 defenders of the city are buried there. #Victory81 🌟 The blockade was finally lifted on January 27, 1944, during the Leningrad–Novgorod Offensive. *** In 2022, at the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office of Russia, the Saint Petersburg City Court officially recognised the actions of the German occupying forces — along with their collaborators, including armed units formed in Belgium, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Norway, and Finland, as well as individual volunteers from Austria, Latvia, Poland, France, and Czechoslovakia — as a war crime, a crime against humanity, and an act of genocide against national and ethnic groups representing the population of the Soviet Union.

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova's comment on the International Day of Journalists’ Solidarity (September 8, 2026) 💬 September 8 marks the International Day of Journalists’ Solidarity. The date was established in 1958 in memory of Czechoslovak anti-fascist journalist Julius Fucik, who was executed by the Nazis in 1943. It serves as a reminder of the importance of freedom of speech and professional journalism, while also drawing attention to the safety of media workers and the need for solidarity and mutual support within the global journalistic community. In recent years, these fundamental principles have been increasingly eroded by the West’s policy of purging the media landscape of unwelcome viewpoints in pursuit of narrow political goals. 👉 Russian media outlets abroad have faced systematic harassment and various forms of repression in countries whose leaders routinely proclaim their commitment to press freedom while grandly portraying themselves as a “flourishing garden”. In practice, under far-fetched pretexts, they have blocked Russian television channels, shut down correspondent offices and expelled journalists. The Kiev regime has launched an outright campaign against Russian journalists reporting truthful, first-hand information. At the same time, the neo-Nazi junta’s openly declared intent to kill civilians – a category that under international law includes media workers – has drawn not the slightest criticism from its Western patrons. Terrorist attacks have claimed the lives of: ▪️ Igor Kornelyuk ▪️ Anton Voloshin ▪️ Andrey Stenin ▪️ Anatoly Klyan ▪️ Daria Dugina ▪️ Oleg Klokov ▪️ Maxim Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky) ▪️ Rostislav Zhuravlev ▪️ Boris Maksudov ▪️ Semyon Yeryomin ▪️ Valery Kozhin ▪️ Nikita Tsisagi ▪️ Yulia Kuznetsova ▪️ Alexander Martemyanov ▪️ Alexander Fedorchak ▪️ Andrey Panov ▪️ Anna Prokofyeva ▪️ Nikita Goldin ▪️ Ivan Zuev Dozens of media workers have also been wounded while carrying out their professional duties. It is deeply troubling that these crimes and acts of repression have failed to elicit an adequate response from the Western media community. Mainstream outlets in those countries, guided by political expediency and in defiance of the principles of journalistic solidarity, chose to remain silent and act as though the issue did not concern them. In doing so, they abandoned professional ethics and the very idea of solidarity among journalists. Those who nevertheless found the courage to defend Russian media workers or honour the memory of those who died for the truth were met with a barrage of criticism and accusations, including from fellow journalists. *** ❗️ We call on the global media community to show solidarity with their Russian colleagues and speak out in their defence against politically motivated repression by Western countries. For our part, we will continue to consistently defend the rights of Russian journalists abroad and seek justice for crimes committed against Russian correspondents. Read in full