Today's developments
Since 6 September, Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 300 settlements in the Kharkiv region, taking back more than 3,800 sq km (1,467 miles) of Russian occupied territory, said Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian deputy minister of defence. At least 150,000 Ukrainians had been living under Russian occupation in these areas for almost the entirety of the invasion. Maliar said that these were only the confirmed figures and that the real number of reoccupied territories in the Kharkiv region “is almost twice as much”.
While Ukraine celebrates the tremendous gains its military has made in its dramatic counter-offensive, officials remain stoic about the challenges ahead in the newly reoccupied territory. Lesia Vasylenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, spoke of discovering the beheaded bodies of Ukrainian military, human faeces everywhere, widespread looting and terrorised teenagers who were still too scared to leave their basements. “Liberation uncovers many crimes. It’s as if we are on the verge of hundreds, if not thousands Buchas, just of a smaller scale,” Vasylenko said, referencing the civilian mass graves and evidence of torture uncovered in Bucha when Ukrainian forces recaptured the Kyiv region. “But whatever the scale there will be tribunals, retribution and justice.”
Ukrainian officials said there was a torture chamber set up by the Russian military in now liberated Balakliia. Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the Kharkiv Region National Police Investigation Department, said that 40 people had been detained during the occupation.
Speaking of looting, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces warned that Russian forces were continuing to loot as they withdrew from occupied territories. On a stretch of highway heading into Russian territory, Ukrainian officials spotted civilian vehicles with license plates from the Kharkiv region, driven by Russian military and weighed down with looted belongings. In the south, there were reports of Russian occupants breaking the gates of private garages and taking cars, as well as removing furniture.
Russian forces continued to hit a number of civilian and civilian infrastructure facilities today throughout the eastern and southern portions of Ukraine, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said. Via air attacks and missile strikes and high mobility artillery rocket systems, Russian force attacked settlements in the Luhansk oblast and the Donetsk oblast in the east, and the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy oblasts in the south.
Russia covertly spent more than $300m since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries, according to declassified cables released by the US. Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said he is concerned Russia could try to “stir the pot” in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to distract from Ukraine. He added that Russia could also use its influence in the region to help “calm the waters”.
– Vivian Ho, Guardian staff
Russia has spent $300m since 2014 to influence foreign officials, US says
From the AP:
Russia has covertly spent more than $300m since 2014 to try to influence politicians and other officials in more than two dozen countries, according to a newly declassified state department cable.
The cable, signed by the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and released on Tuesday, cites a new intelligence assessment of Russia’s global covert efforts to support policies and parties sympathetic to Moscow. The cable does not name specific Russian targets but says the US is providing classified information to select individual countries.
It is the latest effort by the Biden administration to declassify intelligence about Moscow’s military and political aims, dating back to ultimately correct assessments that Russia would launch a new war against Ukraine.
Many of Joe Biden’s top national security officials have extensive experience countering Moscow and served in government when Vladimir Putin launched wide-ranging campaigns to influence the 2016 and 2020 US presidential elections.
A senior administration official declined to say how much money Russia is believed to have spent in Ukraine, where President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his top deputies have long accused Putin of meddling in domestic politics. The official noted allegations of Russian influence in recent elections in Albania, Bosnia and Montenegro.
Unlike declared efforts by foreign governments to lobby for preferred initiatives, Russia’s covert influence involved using front organizations to funnel money to preferred causes or politicians, the cable alleges. That includes thinktanks in Europe and state-owned enterprises in Central America, Asia, the Middle East and north Africa.
The US has historically also covertly funded political groups and been responsible for efforts to topple or undermine foreign governments. The official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity under rules set by the administration, rejected comparisons between Russia’s activities and current US financing of media and political initiatives.
Russians left a ghost town behind in Bohorodychne. The AFP has this heartbreaking dispatch from the village, where just two people remained:
Nina Gonchar and her son Mykola, standing in front of their shattered house, appear to be the last two residents still left in the village.
Some of their family members were murdered, they told AFP.
“The Russians came, they killed my brother and my sister-in-law,” says 58-year-old Mykola.
Russian soldiers wanted to use his brother’s home as a base, but after he refused, they gunned the house down, killing the couple at the same time.
Mykola says he wrapped the bodies in blankets and buried them himself.
He and his frail 92-year-old mother “barely survived” the occupation thanks to food jars, a few poultry and some vegetables in the garden.
“How can I describe it with words? It was difficult, I was afraid,” Mykola says.
His mother, traumatised by the fighting, still goes back into hiding in the shelter her son dug in their garden, even though the area is back in the hands of Ukraine again.
“I cry every day. They killed my son,” Nina says, wiping tears from her eyes with a veil.
Luke Harding in Lviv and Dan Sabbagh report:
Ukraine consolidated its control of the Kharkiv region on Tuesday, raising flags on towns and villages occupied by Russian troops for six months, and reclaiming areas seized by Moscow on the first day of Vladimir Putin’s invasion.
The state border service in Kyiv said it had liberated the city of Vovchansk, a couple of kilometres from the international border. Russian soldiers left on Sunday, it added, after the stunning Ukrainian counter-offensive.
In the space of a few days Ukraine has pushed the Russians out from more than 6,000 sq km of territory, including zones in the south of the country where a separate counter-offensive is ongoing to recapture the city of Kherson.
Russian units have fled in disarray. Serhiy Hadai, the governor of the Luhansk region, said local partisans had raised the Ukrainian flag over the key town of Kreminna, which was “completely empty”. Its Russian occupiers had either left the area or were too scared to take it down, he suggested.
Russian battalions have fallen back to new positions east of the Oskil River, about 10 miles from the freshly liberated city of Izium. The city was almost entirely destroyed and more than 1,000 residents killed during five months of occupation and in recent fighting, Kyiv says.
Video confirmed the scale of the damage. It showed pulverised high-rise apartment blocs, trashed schools, blown up bridges, and burnt-out Russian military vehicles marked with the letter Z. The Kremlin used Izium as a garrison and arms depot in its operation to seize the Donbas.
Ukrainian officials said there was a torture chamber set up by the Russian military in now liberated Balakliia. Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the Kharkiv Region National Police Investigation Department, said that 40 people had been detained during the occupation.
The BBC has reported some graphic accounts of torture from local residents:
Artem, who lives in the city of Balakliya in the Kharkiv province told the BBC he was held by Russians for more than 40 days, and was tortured with electrocution. The epicentre of the brutality was the city’s police station, which Russian forces used as their headquarters.
Artem said he could hear screams of pain and terror coming from other cells.
The occupiers made sure the cries could be heard, he said, by turning off the building’s noisy ventilation system.
“They turned it off so everyone could hear how people scream when they are shocked with electricity,” he told us. “They did this to some of the prisoners every other day... They even did this to the women”.
And they did it to Artem, though in his case only once.
“They made me hold two wires,” he said.
“There was an electric generator. The faster it went, the higher the voltage. They said, ‘if you let it go, you are finished’. Then they started asking questions. They said I was lying, and they started spinning it even more and the voltage increased.”
Artem told us he was detained because the Russians found a picture of his brother, a soldier, in uniform. Another man from Balakliya was held for 25 days because he had the Ukrainian flag, Artem said.
A school principal called Tatiana told us she was held in the police station for three days and also heard screams from other cells.
We visited the police station, and saw the Lord’s Prayer scratched on the wall of one of the cramped cells, alongside markings to indicate how many days had passed.
Ukrainian police officers say as many as eight men were held in cells intended for two people. They say locals were scared to even pass the station when the Russians were in charge, in case they were grabbed by Russian soldiers.
Updated
Balakliia residents take stock after Ukraine recaptures frontline town
Isobel Koshiw and Lorenzo Tondo in Balakliia report:
The roads leading to Balakliia, a former frontline town in Kharkiv province recently recaptured by Ukraine, were littered with the detritus of war; carcasses of Russian tanks, crates of abandoned ammunition and destroyed vehicles were scattered along the sides.
Three of the bridges into the town had been blown up. One had been replaced with a pontoon bridge, but that too was out of action after a truck turned on its side while crossing. Several houses on the outskirts were destroyed, as well as factories and farms Russian and Ukrainian forceshad used as bases.
Locals said they heard explosions every day from late February onwards and spent most of the last seven months at home and in their basements. Around the beginning of last week, they said, they heard an increase in shelling and shortly after, the Russian forces just fled, some even on foot.
Those on Balakliia’s streets on Tuesday, just a small part of the 6,000 square km Volodomyr Zelenskiy says Ukraine has recaptured during its counteroffensive, were mostly older middle-aged or elderly, wheeling bicycles. They said younger people who had children had mainly left for Europe.
What the people of Balakliia experienced appears to have differed to the residents of towns in Kyiv region and other northern parts of Ukraine that came under Russian occupation at the beginning of the invasion, suffering well-documented atrocities in commuter towns such as Bucha.
The first lady of Ukraine will be a guest of honor at the EU State of the Union on Wednesday, Reuters reports:
Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska will be the guest of honor at Wednesday’s EU State of the Union, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced on Tuesday on Twitter.
“The courage of Ukrainian people has touched and inspired the world. Europe will stand with you every step of the way,” she said.
Von der Leyen is expected to unveil a package of measures to pull down soaring energy prices in the EU during her speech on Wednesday.
Ukraine president Volodomyr Zelenskiy announced today that the country is in full control of more than 4,000 square km (1,500 square miles) of territory that was once held by Russia.
Zelenskiy also said during an address on Tuesday that an additional 4,000 sq km was being stabilized, reported Reuters.
Yesterday, he said Ukraine had retaken 6,000 sq km during its recent counter-offensive against Russia, but other Ukrainian officials have said that it is impossible to distinguish between recapturing a territory and ensuring it is totally safe.
Updated
Two main power lines that power the city of Kharkiv were also restored, reports Reuters:
Ukrainian repair crews have restored the two main power lines supplying the eastern city of Kharkiv and the surrounding region, power firm Ukrenergo said on Tuesday after Russian shelling caused blackouts.
In a statement, Ukrenergo said repair work on other lines would continue, but gave no details.
The director general of the UN nuclear watchdog announced that all three of the backup power lines are back up at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia power plant, reports Reuters.
The power lines had gone down on Saturday, but have all since been restored.
“One of them, a 750/330 kilovolt (kV) line, is now providing the ZNPP with the external electricity it needs for cooling and other essential safety functions. The 330 kV and the 150 kV lines are being held in reserve,” said the IAEA in a statement today.
The International Atomic Energy Agency also announced that power had been restored to residents in Enerhodar, which suffered a complete blackout last week.
The White House said today that it will likely announce an additional military aid package in the “coming days”, reported Reuters.
“I do think you’ll see another one here in coming days,” said White House national security spokesperson John Kirby to reporters.
So far, the US has given $15.2bn to Ukraine, announced the state department last week.
There has been no additional information on how much more will be given in the most recent aid package.
Today so far
Since 6 September, Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 300 settlements in the Kharkiv region, taking back more than 3,800 sq km (1,467 miles) of Russian occupied territory, said Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian deputy minister of defence. At least 150,000 Ukrainians had been living under Russian occupation in these areas for almost the entirety of the invasion. Maliar said that these were only the confirmed figures and that the real number of reoccupied territories in the Kharkiv region “is almost twice as much”.
While Ukraine celebrates the tremendous gains its military has made in its dramatic counter-offensive, officials remain stoic about the challenges ahead in the newly reoccupied territory. Lesia Vasylenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, spoke of discovering the beheaded bodies of Ukrainian military, human faeces everywhere, widespread looting and terrorised teenagers who were still too scared to leave their basements. “Liberation uncovers many crimes. It’s as if we are on the verge of hundreds, if not thousands Buchas, just of a smaller scale,” Vasylenko said, referencing the civilian mass graves and evidence of torture uncovered in Bucha when Ukrainian forces recaptured the Kyiv region. “But whatever the scale there will be tribunals, retribution and justice.”
Speaking of looting, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces warned that Russian forces were continuing to loot as they withdrew from occupied territories. On a stretch of highway heading into Russian territory, Ukrainian officials spotted civilian vehicles with license plates from the Kharkiv region, driven by Russian military and weighed down with looted belongings. In the south, there were reports of Russian occupants breaking the gates of private garages and taking cars, as well as removing furniture.
Russian forces continued to hit a number of civilian and civilian infrastructure facilities today throughout the eastern and southern portions of Ukraine, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said. Via air attacks and missile strikes and high mobility artillery rocket systems, Russian force attacked settlements in the Luhansk oblast and the Donetsk oblast in the east, and the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy oblasts in the south.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said he is concerned Russia could try to “stir the pot” in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to distract from Ukraine. He added that Russia could also use its influence in the region to help “calm the waters”.
Updated
A western official said it was “too early to say” if Ukraine’s success in regaining 6,000 sq km of territory in the Kharkiv region represented “a turning point” in the more than six-month-long war, playing down the significance of Kyiv’s recapture of Izium and Kupiansk.
Nevertheless it was, the official acknowledged, “a moment that has power” and they confirmed that the amount of territory gained by Ukraine in the past week amounted to “half the size of Wales”. The official was speaking on condition of anonymity.
Ukraine had succeeded in surprising Russia with its attack on the lightly defended Kharkiv region, partly by first attacking in the Kherson territory in the south of the country, diverting Moscow’s forces and attention.
“In marked contrast to Russia, Ukraine has demonstrated impressive operational art and an adherence to the core principles of war. From late July, it (Ukraine) has presented multiple threats which led to Russia repositioning forces thereby creating areas of weakness. Ukraine then concentrated forces against that weakness,” the official said.
The military development was “in strict military terms a withdrawal ordered and sanctioned by (Russia’s) general staff, the official added, but the professionalism displayed by retreating units varied considerably from orderly withdrawal to “apparent panic” abandoning “a significant quantity of operational vehicles, weapons and ammunition”.
Russia was attempting to create a new frontline in the Oskil river, and the result of last week’s battle was painted partly as an attempt by Moscow to rationalise its long frontlines to protect its territory in the Donbas and the land bridge to Crimea.
But there was praise for Ukraine’s “innovative and experimental” military strategy as compared to Russia, whose commanders were at times referring decisions to the Kremlin. “Moscow is operating with a long screwdriver,” the official added.
Updated
Beheaded bodies of Ukrainian military, human faeces, terrorised teenagers too scared to leave their basement: this is just some of what Russian forces left behind when Ukrainian troops recaptured large swathes of the Kharkiv region, according to Lesia Vasylenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament.
At least 150,000 Ukrainians were living under Russian occupation for almost the entirety of the invasion. Since 6 September, Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 300 settlements in the Kharkiv region, taking back more than 3,800 sq km (1,467 miles) of Russian occupied territory.
“Liberation uncovers many crimes. It’s as if we are on the verge of hundreds, if not thousands Buchas, just of a smaller scale,” Vasylenko said, referencing the civilian mass graves and evidence of torture uncovered in Bucha when Ukrainian forces recaptured the Kyiv region. “But whatever the scale there will be tribunals, retribution and justice.”
At least 150K Ukrainians liberated in over 300 towns and villages. Almost 4000 sq km of regained land. Brief smiles, strong embraces and so much uncovered pain. What #Russia leaves behind THREAD 🧵/1
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) September 13, 2022
Beheaded bodies of #Ukraine military. Shot and tortured civilians. The numbers will be coming in and investigations will follow /2
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) September 13, 2022
Looted homes. #Russia military take everything, even underwear. And at the same time they leave their weapons behind 🤦♀️ /3
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) September 13, 2022
Complete antisanitary mess, in houses, churches, on the streets. It’s as if toilets are unknown to Russians. Human feces everywhere /4
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) September 13, 2022
Terrorized people. Teenagers afraid to come out from basements. Family looking for loved ones who were taken away never to be seen again. /5
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) September 13, 2022
Liberation uncovers many crimes. It’s as if we are on the verge of hundreds, if not thousands Buchas, just of a smaller scale. But whatever the scale there will be tribunals, retribution and Justice. / END
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) September 13, 2022
Updated
Information is trickling out now from the towns and villages that Ukrainian forces have recaptured – many of these areas have been under Russian occupation for almost the entirety of the invasion. Residents in these areas are now describing the horror of what life was like during those long months.
One woman told a reporter: “It was just cruel when the Russians came. Neighbours betrayed each other. Many probably thought that the Russian soldiers would stay forever.”
“Now it’s like seven months ago, only the other way around: neighbours tell each other who was particularly friendly to the Russians,” she said. “I just want peace again.”
After the embraces and the tears of gratitude,people in liberated villages start talking. Truth comes out about the lies #Russia told about #Ukraine: Zelenski fled, Kyiv capitulated, 🇺🇦 army will execute all who lived under occupation. It took strength not to believe,not to doubt
— Lesia Vasylenko (@lesiavasylenko) September 13, 2022
What is immediately noticeable in the streets of the liberated areas around Kharkiv region: very many old people, many women, hardly any young men.
— Paul Ronzheimer (@ronzheimer) September 13, 2022
What happened to them if they did not flee the Russian invasion or go to the front?
Many are considered "missing". pic.twitter.com/CNFSOkgVna
Victor (72) from Balalkiya told us that his car was shot at by Russian soldiers. "It must have been snipers." Weeks before, he had been locked up for more than 2 weeks. "I don't know why, but I asked the Russians: why are you afraid of an old man?" @BILD pic.twitter.com/IgHwjVsUHH
— Paul Ronzheimer (@ronzheimer) September 13, 2022
On the outskirts of Balakliya, the bodies of two civilians shot and killed in the last hours of the Russian occupation here have been exhumed as part of a Ukrainian investigation into apparent war crimes pic.twitter.com/PexgIyirmN
— Mark MacKinnon (@markmackinnon) September 13, 2022
Updated
Russian forces have continued looting as Ukrainian troops push them further east, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in today’s daily briefing.
Officials said that on a section of the highway running north and south between Starobilsk and Luhansk, they spotted about 300 civilian vehicles, mostly with the state license plates of the Kharkiv region, heading in the direction of Luhansk. Most of these vehicles had “trailers loaded with looted property” and were being driven by Russian military.
In Polohy, a city in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south of the country, “Russian occupants break the gates of private garages, take private cars from locals,” the general staff said. Meanwhile in the Kherson region, the general staff said similar behaviour was noted in the removal of “furniture and household appliances from temporarily abandoned homes”.
Russian forces hit a number of civilian infrastructure facilities today throughout the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said.
Using air attacks and missile strikes and high mobility artillery rocket systems, Russian force attacked settlements in the Luhansk oblast and the Donetsk oblast in the east, and the Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Cherkasy oblasts in the south.
“More than 25 settlements suffered artillery shelling,” the general staff said in its daily briefing. “In addition, the enemy intensified air reconnaissance.”
Updated
Ukraine: troops have recaptured more than 300 settlements in Kharkiv region
Since 6 September, Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 300 settlements in the Kharkiv region, taking back more than 3,800 square kilometres (1,467 miles) of Russian occupied territory, said Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian deputy minister of defence.
"More than 150,000 of our people have been liberated from (Russian) occupation, during which they were, in fact, hostages," Maliar said.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2022
Maliar said that these were only the confirmed figures and that the real number of reoccupied territories in the Kharkiv region “is almost twice as much”.
Updated
Balakliya was one of the more than 20 towns and villages recaptured by the Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv oblast over the past few days. Here is a look at some of the devastation left behind after the Russian troops withdrew:
Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs is estimating that at least 53,000 Russian soldiers have been killed since the Russian forces invaded Ukraine on 24 February.
2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣ days of full-scale #Russia’s war on #Ukraine.
— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) September 13, 2022
Information on #Russian invasion.
Losses of the Russian armed forces in Ukraine, September 13. pic.twitter.com/3HZUkaWSRO
US concerned Russia could 'stir the pot' in Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, has said he is concerned Russia could try to “stir the pot” in the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia in order to distract from Ukraine.
Blinken has called for “an end to any military hostilities immediately” after fighting broke out near the two countries’ border in the worst escalation of hostilities since the 2020 war.
“Whether Russia tries in some fashion to stir the pot, to create a distraction from Ukraine, is something we’re always concerned about,” Blinken told Reuters at an event in Indiana. He added that Russia could also use its influence in the region to help “calm the waters”.
Updated
Izium was one of the cities in the Kharkiv oblast that had been under Russian occupation for almost the entirety of the invasion. After Ukrainian troops recaptured much of the region in a dramatic counteroffensive, the outside world is getting a clear look at what happened to these cities while they were under Russian control.
Haunting video from Izyum, a city that spent 6 months under Russian occupation and was almost razed to the ground before Ukraine retook it on Sunday pic.twitter.com/Kz3dlhGYLU
— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) September 13, 2022
Updated
As Ukraine calls for more weapons, pressure mounts on Germany to fulfil its commitment:
Pressure on Olaf Scholz increases by the hour: German opposition announces motion next week demanding more weapon supplies to 🇺🇦 (which risks to attract support from coalition partners).
— Hans von der Burchard (@vonderburchard) September 13, 2022
Meanwhile, U.S. picks apart Scholz’s argument that he has to wait for allies to do more. https://t.co/YX7gr6TLcd
To recap: When Russian forces first invaded Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, shocked the world by announcing a historic 180-degree policy turn on defence spending and exporting lethal weapons. He committed Germany to sending missiles and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
Six months later, many of those weapons have yet to arrive.
“Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now – to liberate people and save them from genocide,” Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, tweeted. “Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?”
Updated
Russian forces shelled Lozova, a city in the Kharkiv oblast, early this morning after letting up on their barrage of the region following two days of targeted attacks on its infrastructure that knocked out the power and water supply.
Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv oblast, said on Telegram that authorities were still confirming the number of casualties from this morning’s strike.
In yesterday’s shelling, one person was killed and six injured in Kharkiv city, according to the Centre for Emergency Medical Assistance. One person was injured in the Izium district. Two people were wounded in the Kharkiv district – one by a landmine in the village of Ruski Tyshky. Two civilians were killed in the Kupiansk district.
Synehubov warned that even in recaptured territories landmine danger remains high and that civilians should remain vigilant.
Updated
An ammonia gas deal that the United Nations is pushing Russia and Ukraine to agree could ultimately stabilise a landmark grain deal, a western diplomat briefed on the matter told Reuters.
Under the proposed ammonia deal, ammonia gas owned by Russian fertiliser producer Uralchem would be brought via pipeline to the Russia-Ukraine border. There it would be purchased by US-headquartered commodities trader Trammo, the diplomat said.
Trammo would then own the ammonia as it travels across Ukraine, paying Ukraine pumping fees and transit fees, and sell it onto world markets from Ukraine’s Black Sea, according to the proposal.
“The actual financial flows are not insignificant,” the diplomat told Reuters. “By having a key Russian company export through the same Black Sea corridors that the Ukrainian grain is going through stabilises the arrangement and could lead to a longer term extension of the agreement,” the diplomat said.
Earlier today, Turkey’s ministry of defence said seven more ships had left Ukraine under the Turkey-UN-Russia-Ukraine deal to facilitate grain exports.
Tahıl sevkiyatı kapsamında, bugün sabah itibarıyla Ukrayna limanlarından tahıl yüklü olarak 7 gemi daha hareket etti.#MSB
— T.C. Millî Savunma Bakanlığı (@tcsavunma) September 13, 2022
Updated
Here are some of the latest images that have been sent to us from Ukraine on the newswires.
Volodomyr Zelenskiy has just posted a response on his Telegram channel to the publication of that report co-authored by former Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak. Ukraine’s president posted:
The first yet crucially important step towards future security guarantees for Ukraine has been taken. During our meeting, Andrey Yermak and former Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen presented the elaborated recommendations, which should become the basis of the Kyiv Security Compact.
I am thankful to the Yermak-Rasmussen International Working Group for drafting this package of proposals. It is necessary that the Group continues its work and completes the project.
Ukraine’s allies should commit to legally binding large-scale weapons transfers and multi-decade investment in the country’s defences, according to a report that looked at alternatives to Kyiv’s long-term aspirations to join the Nato alliance.
The report was commissioned by the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and co-authored by the former Nato secretary general, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, and Zelenskiy’s chief of staff, Andrey Yermak.
The purpose of the report was to provide a security structure for Ukraine that guarantees Russia does not seek to invade again, and is separate from calls by Zelenskiy for the west to step up arms supplies to drive home the sudden advance by Ukrainian troops.
Ukraine’s possible future membership in Nato was one of the issues that Russia claimed as justification for its February invasion.
The report, the subject of wide diplomatic consultations, does not propose that Nato countries collectively should be required to offer their troops in defence of Ukraine’s sovereignty, but says there should be no restriction on the military diplomatic and economic help provided by Nato member countries through bilateral agreements. The level of support could be scalable according to the level of threat and should apply to all of Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.
The report argues the “strongest security guarantee for Ukraine lies in its capacity to defend itself against an aggressor … To do so, Ukraine needs the resources to maintain a significant defensive force capable of withstanding the Russian Federation’s armed forces and paramilitaries.”
Read more of the report from diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour: Long-term military investment proposed as alternative to Ukraine joining Nato
Updated
Today so far
In the Russian-occupied regions of the Crimea and southern Ukraine, Russian proxies, intelligence officers and military commanders have begun to evacuate and “urgently resettle their families” back into Russian territory, the defence intelligence of Ukraine’s military of defence said.
Ukraine is calling for more air defence and an overall increase in weapons deliveries, following two days of targeted attacks on Kharkiv’s electrical grid and repeated Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The call for more air defence comes as Ukrainian intelligence believes that Russia is preparing to renew its attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to target Ukraine’s infrastructure, specifically the country’s energy system.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, criticised Germany and its reluctance to move faster in sending over battle tanks and heavy weaponry. When Russian forces first invaded Ukraine, German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, surprised the world with his historic 180-degree policy turn on defence spending and exporting lethal weapons in committing to send missiles and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression. But six months later, many of those weapons have yet to arrive. Tomorrow, Annalena Berbock, Germany’s foreign minister, will visit Ukraine, and “the issue of increasing military and military-technical assistance to Ukraine” will definitely be discussed.
One day after municipal deputies from 18 districts of Moscow and St Petersburg signed a public statement demanding that Vladimir Putin resign, the Kremlin is coming out with a vaguely veiled threat. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that the line between legally criticising Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine and falling foul of wartime censorship laws that carry penalties of up to 15 years in prison “is very, very thin”.
Updated
Annalena Berbock, Germany’s foreign minister, will visit Ukraine tomorrow, hot on the heels of Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, rebuking Germany and its reluctance to move faster in sending over battle tanks and heavy weaponry.
“The success of the Ukrainian defence forces in conducting a counteroffensive operation unites European political forces. Especially in Germany,” the main directorate intelligence of Ukraine’s ministry of defence said in a statement.
The statement said “the issue of increasing military and military-technical assistance to Ukraine will be raised” during Berbock’s visit. “After all, this will help to continue the successful counteroffensive of the Ukrainian defence forces and liberate the territories captured by the Russian Federation.”
Earlier, Kuleba had harsh words for Germany and chancellor Olaf Scholz, who surprised the world and Germany’s allies when he announced a historic 180-degree policy turn on defence spending and exporting lethal weapons in committing to send missiles and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
That was early in the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Now, six months later, many of those weapons have yet to arrive.
“Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now – to liberate people and save them from genocide,” Kuleba tweeted. “Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?”
Updated
Ukraine: Russian intelligence officers and military commanders flee Crimea, southern Ukraine
In the Russian-occupied regions of the Crimea and southern Ukraine, Russian proxies, intelligence officers and military commanders have begun to evacuate and “urgently resettle their families” back into Russian territory, the defence intelligence of Ukraine’s military of defence said.
Defence intelligence officials noted that Russian nationals were “secretly trying to sell their homes and to urgently evacuate their relatives from the peninsula”.
In recently recaptured areas of the Kharkiv region, Ukrainian authorities are finding bodies of civilians displaying signs of torture, an echo of the war crimes uncovered after Ukrainian troops retook Bucha and other areas around Kyiv.
Although the Ukrainian prosecutor general is still investigating, the implication is that Russian soldiers have once again committed war crimes – torturing and killing civilians – while the region was under Russian occupation.
The Kremlin countered today by accusing the Ukrainian army of abusing civilians in the territories it had recaptured,
The Kremlin, meanwhile, accused Kyiv’s army of abusing civilians in territory it had recaptured, Agence France-Presse is reporting.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, said that report have emerged out of Kharkiv of “outrageous” treatment of civilians.
“There are a lot of punitive measures … people are being tortured, people are being mistreated and so on,” Peskov told journalists.
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The Russian military said on Tuesday that it responded to Kyiv’s dramatic counter-offensive with “massive strikes” on all frontlines in Ukraine, but it appears that at least some of whatever recent shelling took place was directed at civilian targets.
“Air, rocket and artillery forces are carrying out massive strikes on units of the Ukrainian armed forces in all operational directions,” the Russian defence ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict, according to Agence France-Presse.
The defence ministry said in a statement it had launched “high-precision” strikes on Ukrainian positions around Slovyansk and Kostiantynivka in the eastern Donetsk region.
The Russian army shelled a residential building in Slovyansk
— Денис Казанський (@den_kazansky) September 13, 2022
86 year old man died
Another "help to the people of Donbass" from Russia
Just killing civilians for no reason pic.twitter.com/Me3JItSdHz
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In an attempt to convince even more Russian soldiers to give up, Ukrainian forces are launching shells filled with flyers ahead of their advance, said Hanna Maliar, Ukrainian deputy minister of defence.
“Russians use you as cannon fodder. Your life doesn’t mean anything for them. You don’t need this war. Surrender to Armed Forces of Ukraine,” the flyers read.
Ukraine calls for greater air defence and more weapons
Ukraine is calling for more air defence and an overall increase in weapons deliveries, following two days of targeted attacks on Kharkiv’s electrical grid and repeated Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
⚡️ Podolyak: Ukraine needs more air defense to protect critical infrastructure from Russia.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2022
Mykhailo Podolyak, an advisor to the President's Office, called for an overall increase in weapons deliveries.
His statement comes after repeated Russian shelling of the nuclear power plant territory in Zaporizhzhia and the targeting of Kharkiv's electricity infrastructure on Sept. 11.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2022
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Ukraine foreign minister criticises Germany over arms supplies
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, had strong words for Germany and its reluctance to move faster in sending over battle tanks and heavy weaponry.
When Russian forces first invaded Ukraine, German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, announced a historic 180-degree policy turn on defence spending and exporting lethal weapons in committing to send missiles and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
But six months later, many of those weapons have yet to arrive.
“Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now — to liberate people and save them from genocide,” Kuleba tweeted. “Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?”
Disappointing signals from Germany while Ukraine needs Leopards and Marders now — to liberate people and save them from genocide. Not a single rational argument on why these weapons can not be supplied, only abstract fears and excuses. What is Berlin afraid of that Kyiv is not?
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) September 13, 2022
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One day after municipal deputies from 18 districts of Moscow and St Petersburg signed a public statement demanding that Vladimir Putin resign, the Kremlin is coming out with a vaguely veiled threat:
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov: The line between legally criticising Russia's military campaign in Ukraine and falling foul of wartime censorship laws that carry penalties of up to 15 years in prison "is very, very thin"
— Jake Cordell (@JakeCordell) September 13, 2022
Yesterday, deputies from 18 Moscow and St Petersburg regions put forth issued a statement saying that Putin should resign because they believed his actions “harm the future of Russia and its citizens”.
“Deputies are not yet forbidden to have an opinion. And it is also not forbidden to speak for the resignation of the president. He is not a monarch, but a hired worker, receives a salary from our taxes,” Ksenia Torstrem, the municipal deputy of the Semenovsky district of St Petersburg, told the Insider. “Our function is to represent the interests of the people, and we see that the people are not satisfied.”
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Ukrainian intelligence believes that Russia is preparing to renew its attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as part of the Kremlin’s efforts to target Ukraine’s infrastructure, specifically the country’s energy system.
This comes after two days of Russian shelling knocked out power to much of Kharkiv.
Any kind of attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest nuclear reactor, could have catastrophic results for the region.
⚡️ Ukrainian intelligence: Russia preparing new shelling of Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, danger to other nuclear facilities remains high.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2022
Russia plans to manufacture a humanitarian crisis by targeting Ukraine's entire energy system, said Yuriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine's defense intelligence agency.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2022
"Putin wants to plunge Ukraine and all of Europe into a dark, cold winter," Yusov said.
The warning comes after repeated Russian shelling of the nuclear power plant territory and the targeting of Kharkiv's electricity infrastructure on Sept. 11.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2022
Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his country’s forces had taken back 6,000 sq km (2,400 sq miles) of Russian-held territory in the country’s south and east. Ukraine’s forces have continued to press their counterattack in Kharkiv, seeking to take control of almost all of the province. Ukraine’s troops headed north, reportedly recapturing towns all the way to the Russian border.
Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said fighting is still raging in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region. Hanna Malyar said: “The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond – all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation. Fighting is continuing. It is still early to say full control has been established over Kharkiv region. Our strength stems from the fact that we are very motivated and that we plan operations thoroughly.”
The Ukrainian military says it had freed more than 20 settlements in 24 hours. In recent days, Kyiv’s forces have captured territory at least twice the size of greater London, according to the British Ministry of Defence.
Ukraine’s military says the Antonivsky Bridge across the Dnieper River near occupied Kherson in the south is now unusable by Russian military.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said Ukrainian forces had made important progress in their counteroffensive against Russian troops, although it was too early to predict the outcome. “Clearly we’ve seen significant progress by the Ukrainians, particularly in the north-east, and that is a product of the support we’ve provided, but first and foremost it’s a product of the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian people,” Blinken told reporters in Mexico City.
Ukraine’s state border service has issued a video that purports to show soldiers tearing down Russian banners and burning the Russian flag in Vovchansk, in the north of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region and very close to the border with Russia.
Russia’s military commanders have stopped sending new units into Ukraine after the counteroffensive, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said on its Facebook page on Monday. “The current situation in the theatre of operations and distrust of the higher command forced a large number of volunteers to categorically refuse the prospect of service in combat conditions.”
Russian troops have left behind stockpiles of ammunition and other supplies following Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Kharkiv oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports. One analyst estimated that more than 300 vehicles, including tanks, self-propelled mortars and supply trucks, had been lost between 7 and 11 September.
Russia responded to the counteroffensive by launching missile strikes that cut electricity and water supplies in Kharkiv city for a second time in less than 24 hours, knocking out both on Monday morning just hours after the city authorities had restored 80% of the utilities that had been cut overnight.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, appeared on state TV on Monday evening, chairing a meeting on the economy at which he made no reference to the military situation and said Russia was holding up in the face of western sanctions. “The economic blitzkrieg tactics, the onslaught they were counting on, did not work”.
Germany is well-positioned to get through the winter despite reduced gas flows from Russia thanks to measures including extending two nuclear power plants’ lifespans, German chancellor Olaf Scholz will say on Tuesday.
Russia detained a top manager of an aviation factory on suspicion of passing secret military information to Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday, citing the FSB federal security agency.
Clashes have erupted between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, according to Russian news agencies, in a resumption of decades-old hostilities linked to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. The Armenian government said it would invoke a cooperation agreement with Russia and appeal to a Russia-led security bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, as well as the UN security council.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later today. Vivian Ho will be here shortly to guide you through the next few hours.
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Ukraine’s state border service has issued a video that shows soldiers ripping down Russian signs and burning the Russian flag in Vovchansk, which is in the north of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region close to the border with Russia.
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Volodomyr Zelenskiy has posted on social media to say that he has spoken to Italian prime minister Mario Draghi. Ukraine’s president said:
Had a conversation with Prime Minister Mario Draghi. Informed him about the developments at the front. Noted the importance of defence cooperation with Italy. We should enhance it. Discussed the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The guarantee of its security is demilitarisation and return under Ukrainian control.
Провів чергову розмову з Прем'єр-міністром 🇮🇹 #MarioDraghi. Поінформував про розвиток ситуації на фронті. Відзначив важливість оборонної взаємодії з 🇮🇹. Маємо її посилювати. Обговорили ситуацію на ЗАЕС. Гарантія її безпеки – демілітаризація та повернення під контроль 🇺🇦.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 13, 2022
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Here is a video clip from Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s address last night when he declared that Ukraine has recaptured 2,300 sq miles (6,000 sq km) of territory. He urged allies to provide equipment to enhance his country’s ability to defend itself.
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Reuters is now carrying some additional quotes from its interview with Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar. It quotes her saying:
Our strength stems from the fact that we are very motivated and that we plan operations thoroughly.
Speaking on the road to Balakliia, a crucial military supply hub recaptured by Ukrainian forces late last week, she said Ukraine had taken the decision to press on with its operation in the Kharkiv region due to the successes notched up so far.
Fighting is still raging in Ukraine’s north-eastern Kharkiv region but Ukraine’s forces are making good progress because its forces are highly motivated and its operation is well planned, deputy defence minister Hanna Malyar told Reuters on Tuesday.
“The aim is to liberate the Kharkiv region and beyond – all the territories occupied by the Russian Federation. Fighting is continuing. It is still early to say full control has been established over Kharkiv region,” Malyar said in an interview.
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Serhai Haidai, Ukraine’s governor of Luhansk, has posted an update to Telegram on the situation on the ground in Donetsk. He claims that:
The Russians have completely left Kreminna, but the armed forces have not yet entered the city. We are monitoring the situation in Lyman – the liberation of which is key for our region, fighting is still going on around the city.
The large-scale de-occupation of Luhansk Oblast will begin from Kreminna and Svatove, the Russians have already begun to pull equipment closer to these cities. The main impact will be there.
Today, Kreminna is completely empty – the Russian army has left the city. The Ukrainian flag raised by the partisans flies there. The situation in Starobilsk is somewhat similar. But in Svatove, the Rashists fled at first, but returned after some time.
There is a shortage of fuel in the occupied territories due to the large-scale escape of the occupiers and collaborators.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Germany is well-positioned to get through the winter despite reduced gas flows from Russia thanks to measures including extending two nuclear power plants’ lifespans, German chancellor Olaf Scholz will say on Tuesday, according to reports from Reuters.
Germany’s gas storage levels are higher than this time last year and will continue to be filled before winter, Scholz will say according to a copy of his speech for delivery at the German Employers’ Day.
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If you need a reminder, here is a map showing how rapidly the Ukrainian counteroffensive has been able to push back the Russian line of control in Kharkiv in the north-east of Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent is reporting that Kharkiv is again without electricity following Russian strikes on 11 September.
⚡️Kharkiv Oblast without electricity again after Russian shelling.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 13, 2022
Power was cut off to the city and surrounding region when a back-up power line failed. Kharkiv's electricity infrastructure remains under great strain after it was targeted by Russian strikes on Sept. 11.
Russia detained a top manager of an aviation factory on suspicion of passing secret military information to Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday, citing the FSB federal security agency.
The FSB said a man was suspected of taking photographs of equipment from Russia’s fighter planes and sending them to a Ukrainian citizen who worked at a Ukrainian aviation plant, according to the reports.
Reuters reports the FSB said it had opened a treason case against the suspect.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, who is Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has given a morning update on Telegram. He states that:
In Slovyansk, at least one person was killed and one person was injured by shelling. The town of Hostre in the Kurakhivska community came under fire — fortunately, no one was injured. Avdiivka has been subjected to massive shelling at dawn for several days in a row. Today there were no casualties, we are clarifying the extent of the damage. Three people were injured as a result of the night shelling of Toretsk, and at least four houses were damaged.
He also reported that several buildings were damaged during the attacks. The claims have not been independently verified.
We reported earlier that there have been clashes between Azerbaijan and Armenia. The conflict over the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region has been going on for decades. [See 5.36am]
It appears the latest flare-up ended swiftly. Armenian prime minister Nikol Pashinyan had called on Russian president Vladimir Putin, French president Emmanuel Macron and US secretary of state Antony Blinken to discuss the situation, but Reuters has a snap saying that there are local media reports that a ceasefire has been agreed.
Azerbaijan borders Russia to the south.
This is Martin Belam on the live blog now for the next few hours. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
With Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, set to meet Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan this week, a senior Chinese diplomat has said Beijing was willing to shape the international order together with Russia in a “more just and rational direction”.
Agence France-Presse reports:
China and Russia have drawn closer in recent years as part of what they call a “no limits” relationship acting as a counterweight to the global dominance of the United States.
On Monday, the Communist party’s foreign affairs chief, Yang Jiechi, told Russia’s ambassador to China, Andrey Denisov, that China was “willing to work with Russia to continuously implement the spirit of high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries, safeguard the common interests of both sides, and promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction”.
Russia has sought to bolster ties with Asian countries, particularly China, since being hit with unprecedented western sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine. Heightening tensions between China and the west, Beijing has not condemned Moscow’s interventions in Ukraine.
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Ukraine’s military says the Antonivsky Bridge across the Dnieper River near occupied Kherson is now unusable by Russian military, the Kyiv Independent reports. Ukraine’s Southern Operational Command also reported that Ukraine’s forces destroyed one tank, five 152 mm gun-howitzers, including one Msta-B and one Msta-S howitzer, and 12 units of armoured vehicles, among other Russian military equipment. As a result, 59 Russian troops were killed, the command said.
Updated
A group of Ukrainian civil society leaders says sweeping electricity cuts are part of Russia’s strategy, urging the US to ramp up support to maximise recent gains before winter, Agence France-Presse reports.
Much of eastern Ukraine was plunged into a blackout on Sunday, with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, blaming deliberate attacks by Moscow as Kyiv made startling gains on the battlefield.
“Their approach is to have more cold before the winter season starts by destroying all critical infrastructure,” said Hanna Hopko, who heads the International Center for Ukrainian Victory, an umbrella group of civil society organizations.
Hopko, addressing reporters at the German Marshall Fund of the United States, said: “Putin really thinks that neither Ukraine nor Europe will survive this winter. That’s what he really hopes and that is actually the central pillar around which he now is developing his threats.”
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US leaders are being careful not to declare a premature victory after a Ukrainian offensive forced Russian troops into a messy retreat in the north, the Associated Press reports.
Although there was widespread celebration of Ukraine’s gains over the weekend, US officials know Russian President Vladimir Putin still has troops and resources to tap, and his forces still control large swaths of the east and south.
“I agree there should be no spiking of the ball because Russia still has cards it can play,” said Philip Breedlove, a retired US air force general who was Nato’s top commander from 2013 to 2016. “Ukraine is now clearly making durable changes in its east and north and I believe that if the west properly equips Ukraine, they’ll be able to hold on to their gains.”
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Key Russian army 'severely weakened', says MoD
The UK’s Ministry of Defence says Russia could take years to rebuild one of its most prestigious tank units after the retreat from Kharkiv oblast. In its latest intelligence briefing on Twitter, the MoD said the 1st Guards Tank Army had been severely degraded, leaving Russia’s conventional forces “severely weakened”.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 13 September 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 13, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/BYZhjLmtmf
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/r0Cf3z3wab
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As Russia’s forces retreat from the Kharkiv region, they are leaving behind hundreds of military vehicles, including tanks and trucks. Our picture editors assembled this series of striking images of abandoned equipment.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, will speak with International Monetary Fund managing director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday, two sources familiar with the plan told Reuters, as Ukraine continues to press the global lender for a full-fledged financing program.
Ukrainian officials have said they are seeking an IMF program worth as much as $15bn to $20bn, although such a large amount is seen as unlikey to win IMF approval. The IMF Executive Board, at an informal session on Monday, discussed a plan that could offer Ukraine $1.4bn in emergency aid.
Clashes have erupted between Azerbaijani and Armenian troops, according to Russian news agencies, in a resumption of decades-old hostilities linked to the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh.
Azerbaijan, which re-established full control over the territory in a six-week conflict in 2020, acknowledged casualties among its forces. Armenia made no mention of losses, but said clashes persisted overnight.
The Armenian government said it would invoke a cooperation agreement with Russia and appeal to a Russia-led security bloc, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, as well as the UN security council, Interfax reported.
You can read the full story here:
Updated
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, says Ukrainian forces have made important progress in their counteroffensive against Russian troops, although it was too early to predict the outcome.
“Clearly we’ve seen significant progress by the Ukrainians, particularly in the northeast, and that is a product of the support we’ve provided, but first and foremost it’s a product of the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian people,” Blinken told reporters in Mexico City.
“It’s too early to tell exactly where this is going. The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and arms and munitions. They continue to use it indiscriminately against not just the Ukrainian armed forces but civilians and civilian infrastructure as we’ve seen.”
Summary and welcome
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. It’s now 7.30am in Kyiv. Here are the latest developments.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has said Ukrainian forces had made important progress in their counteroffensive against Russian troops, although it was too early to predict the outcome. “Clearly we’ve seen significant progress by the Ukrainians, particularly in the north-east, and that is a product of the support we’ve provided, but first and foremost it’s a product of the extraordinary courage and resilience of the Ukrainian armed forces and the Ukrainian people,” Blinken told reporters in Mexico City.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his country’s forces had taken back 6,000 sq km (2,400 square miles) of Russian-held territory in the country’s south and east. Ukraine’s forces have continued to press their counterattack in Kharkiv, seeking to take control of almost all of the province. Ukraine’s troops headed north, reportedly recapturing towns all the way to the Russian border.
The Ukrainian military says it had freed more than 20 settlements in 24 hours. In recent days, Kyiv’s forces have captured territory at least twice the size of greater London, according to the British Defense Ministry.
Russia’s military commanders have stopped sending new units into Ukraine after the counteroffensive, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said on its Facebook page on Monday. “The current situation in the theatre of operations and distrust of the higher command forced a large number of volunteers to categorically refuse the prospect of service in combat conditions.”
Russian troops have left behind stockpiles of ammunition and other supplies following Ukraine’s counteroffensive in Kharkiv oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports. One analyst estimated that more than 300 vehicles, including tanks, self-propelled mortars and supply trucks, had been lost between 7 and 11 September.
Russia responded to the counteroffensive by launching missile strikes that cut electricity and water supplies in Kharkiv city for a second time in less than 24 hours, knocking out both on Monday morning just hours after the city authorities had restored 80% of the utilities that had been cut overnight.
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, appeared on state TV on Monday evening, chairing a meeting on the economy at which he made no reference to the military situation and said Russia was holding up in the face of western sanctions. “The economic blitzkrieg tactics, the onslaught they were counting on, did not work”.
The US-based Institute for the Study of War thinktank said that “Ukraine has turned the tide in its favour, but the current counteroffensive will not end the war”.
Ukrainian authorities have said they are capturing so many Russian prisoners of war the country is running out of space to put them, the Associated Press reports.
Municipal deputies from 18 districts of Moscow and St Petersburg have signed a public statement demanding that Vladimir Putin resign. “We, the municipal deputies of Russia, believe that the actions of President Vladimir Putin harm the future of Russia and its citizens,” read the statement published by Ksenia Torstrem, the municipal deputy of the Semenovsky district of St Petersburg.
