Reports of mass burial site outside Izium
Associated Press journalists yesterday saw a mass burial site in a forest outside recently-liberated Izium. Amid the trees were hundreds of graves with simple wooden crosses, most of them marked only with numbers. A larger grave bore a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers.
Investigators with metal detectors were scanning the site for any hidden explosives.
Oleg Kotenko, an official with the Ukrainian ministry tasked with reintegrating occupied territories, said videos that Russian soldiers posted on social media indicated there were likely more than 17 bodies in the grave.
“We haven’t counted them yet, but I think there are more than 25 or even 30,” he said.
Izium resident Sergei Gorodko said that among the hundreds buried in individual graves were dozens of adults and children killed in a Russian airstrike on an apartment building.
He said he pulled some of them out of the rubble “with my own hands”.
Thousands of Russian troops fled Izium at the weekend. There was no immediate public comment from Russia.
Key events
One of the Telegram channels of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has issued overnight civilian casualty figures, claiming that three people have been killed and 12 people suffered injuries “of varying severity” by shelling from Ukrainian forces on territory that the DPR occupies. The claims have not been independently verified. The DPR is only recognised as a legitimate authority by three UN member states: Russia, Syria and North Korea.
Overnight Andriy Yermak, presidential chief of staff in Ukraine, accused Russia of being “a murderer country, a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Alongside a picture of simple wooden cross markers at the site in Izium, he posted: “A mass burial was found in Izium, Kharkiv region. Necessary procedures have already begun. All bodies will be exhumed and sent for forensic examination. Expect more information tomorrow.”
В Ізюмі на Харківщині знайдене масове поховання людей. Необхідні процесуальні дії уже розпочалися. Усі тіла будуть ексгумовані та направлені на судово-медичну експертизу. Більше інформації – завтра.
Росія – країна-вбивця. Держава-спонсор тероризму. pic.twitter.com/MP1IKhZJwM
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) September 15, 2022
Reports of mass burial site outside Izium
Associated Press journalists yesterday saw a mass burial site in a forest outside recently-liberated Izium. Amid the trees were hundreds of graves with simple wooden crosses, most of them marked only with numbers. A larger grave bore a marker saying it contained the bodies of 17 Ukrainian soldiers.
Investigators with metal detectors were scanning the site for any hidden explosives.
Oleg Kotenko, an official with the Ukrainian ministry tasked with reintegrating occupied territories, said videos that Russian soldiers posted on social media indicated there were likely more than 17 bodies in the grave.
“We haven’t counted them yet, but I think there are more than 25 or even 30,” he said.
Izium resident Sergei Gorodko said that among the hundreds buried in individual graves were dozens of adults and children killed in a Russian airstrike on an apartment building.
He said he pulled some of them out of the rubble “with my own hands”.
Thousands of Russian troops fled Izium at the weekend. There was no immediate public comment from Russia.
Ukraine has begun restoring electricity in recently liberated villages in Kharkiv oblast, the Kyiv Independent reports. The governor of Kharkiv oblast, Oleh Synyehubov, said that recently liberated settlements are beginning to regain electricity as power stations returned to Ukrainian control. Synyehubov said that some of the communities had been without power since the day after the Russian invasion in February.
Taiwan has described ties between Russia and China as a threat to global peace, saying that the international community must resist the “expansion of authoritarianism”.
When Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, met Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Uzbekistan on Thursday, he reiterated Russia’s support for China’s claim over self-ruled Taiwan.
In a statement, Taiwan’s foreign ministry said it “severely condemns Russia for following the Chinese Communist party’s authoritarian expansionist government to continue to make false statements at international venues that demean our country’s sovereignty.
“(Russia) calls those who maintain peace and the status quo provocative, which highly demonstrates the harm caused by the alliance of Chinese and Russian authoritarian regimes on international peace, stability, democracy and freedom.”
The US president, Joe Biden, will meet South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa at the White House on Friday for talks that will include Russia’s war in Ukraine, climate issues, trade and more, Associated Press reports.
Ramaphosa is among African leaders who have maintained a neutral stance in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with South Africa abstaining from a UN vote condemning Russia’s actions and calling for a mediated settlement.
South Africa’s international relations minister, Naledi Pandor, said Ramaphosa would emphasise the need for dialogue to find an end to the conflict during his meeting with Biden and in separate talks with vice-president Kamala Harris.
The White House meeting comes after the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, visited South Africa last month, where he said the Biden administration sees Africa’s 54 nations as “equal partners” in tackling global problems.
But the administration has been disappointed that South Africa and much of the continent have declined to follow the US in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
A release from the German ministry for the economy has more details about move to place Rosneft Deutschland GmbH under trusteeship.
Rosneft Germany accounts for around 12% of Germany’s oil processing capacity, making it one of the largest oil processing companies in Germany.
The continuation of the business operations of the affected refineries was in danger due to the ownership of the companies. Central critical service providers such as suppliers, insurance companies, IT companies and banks, but also customers, were no longer willing to work with Rosneft.
Further to that report on the German government assuming control of Rosneft’s German operation, state secretary Jörg Kukies has tweeted that move was “a further step to assuring our energy security”.
The German 🇩🇪 gvmt @BMWK just announced that Rosneft Germany will be put under trusteeship of the 🇩🇪 grid regulator @bnetza. This is a further step to assuring our energy security. We will support the transformation of the affected refinery locations.👇https://t.co/EqathWjue1
— Jörg Kukies (@joergkukies) September 16, 2022
Berlin takes control of Rosneft’s German oil operation
Germany is taking control of Russian oil company Rosneft PJSC’s German unit, Bloomberg has reported.
The federal network regulator will take over RN Refining & Marketing GmbH and Rosneft Deutschland GmbH, which accounts for around 12% of Germany’s oil processing capacity, the economy ministry said Friday.
Kremlin-linked military contractors the Wagner Group have been conducting an active recruiting campaign amongst Russian prisoners since at least July, according to the latest intelligence briefing from the UK Ministry of Defence.
Russian military academies have also been shortening training periods for cadets, indicating “increasingly severe” shortages of junior officers and combat infantry.
Russia has launched a national recruitment drive for fresh troops in the wake of its setbacks in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, according to the latest report from the Institute for the Study of War.
The institute said Russia had “almost certainly” drained a large portion of the forces originally stationed in former Soviet states, likely weakening its presence in those areas.
The redeployments were notable in the context of renewed tensions between Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, the institute said, as hundreds of Russian troops have reportedly been withdrawn from bases in each country since the invasion began.
Ukraine war has driven 70 million closer to starvation: UN
The UN food chief says the world is facing “a global emergency of unprecedented magnitude,” with up to 345 million people at risk of starvation and 70 million pushed closer to starvation by the war in Ukraine.
The Associated Press reports:
David Beasley, executive director of the UN world food program, told the UN security council that the number of acutely food insecure people had doubled since the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020.
“What was a wave of hunger is now a tsunami of hunger,” he said, pointing to rising conflict, the pandemic’s economic ripple effects, climate change, rising fuel prices and the war in Ukraine.
Since Russia invaded its neighbour on 24 February Beasley said, soaring food, fuel and fertiliser costs have driven 70 million people closer to starvation.
Despite the agreement in July allowing Ukrainian grain to be shipped from three Black Sea ports that had been blockaded by Russia and continuing efforts to get Russian fertilizer back to global markets, “there is a real and dangerous risk of multiple famines this year,” he said.
The US defence department has announced details of the $600m in new military aid the White House approved for Ukraine on Thursday, Agence France-Presse reports.
The package will include 37,000 artillery rounds, of which 1,000 will be precision-guided, and four counter-artillery radars, among other weapons and equipment.
More ammunition will also be provided for the Himars rocket system, the Pentagon said, without specifying if that would include the long range missiles known as ATACMS that Kyiv has requested for months.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the US has provided more than $15bn in military assistance to Kyiv.
Kyrgyzstan’s border guard service has said that Tajik forces once again opened fire on several of its outposts, an escalation of tension between the Russian allies after a brief confrontation earlier this week, Reuters reports.
Kyrgyz border guards were returning fire as clashes took place along the whole length of the border, the service said, adding that Tajik forces were using tanks, armoured personnel carriers, and mortars.
In turn, Tajikistan accused Kyrgyz forces of shelling one of its outposts and seven villages with “heavy weaponry”. A civilian was killed and three injured, authorities in the Tajik city of Isfara said.
The governors of Kyrgyz and Tajik provinces adjacent to the border were set to meet at a border crossing point and try to defuse the situation, Kyrgyz border guards set.
Clashes over the poorly demarcated border between the two former Soviet republics are frequent, but usually de-escalate quickly, although last year they almost led to an all-out war.
Both host Russian military bases and have close ties with Moscow, which urged a cession of hostilities this week.
When Vladimir Putin met Xi Jinping for the first time since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, the Russian president said he understood China’s “questions and concerns” about the war.
It was a rare nod to tensions between the two states caused by the invasion, and the Russian leader seemed especially keen to curry favour with Xi, striking a conciliatory tone on a topic where he is often volatile and uncompromising.
You can read our full report on the meeting here:
Ukraine discovers mass burial site in Izium
Ukrainian authorities have found a mass burial site of more than 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izium that was recaptured from Russian forces, a regional police chief has said.
Serhiy Bolvinov, the chief police investigator for Kharkiv region, told Sky News some of the people had been killed by shelling and airstrikes.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy likened the discovery to what happened in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, saying in a Thursday night video address: “Russia is leaving death behind it everywhere and must be held responsible.”
“The necessary procedures have already begun there. More information – clear, verifiable information – should be available tomorrow,” he said.
Summary and welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. These are the latest developments as of 7.30am, Kyiv time.
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Ukrainian authorities have found a mass burial site of more than 440 bodies in the eastern city of Izium that was recaptured from Russian forces, a regional police chief has said. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy likened the discovery to what happened in Bucha outside Kyiv early in the war, Reuters reported. “Russia is leaving death behind it everywhere and must be held responsible,” he said.
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The European Union chief, Ursula von der Leyen, said she wanted the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to face the international criminal court over war crimes in Ukraine. “That Putin must lose this war and must face up to his actions, that is important to me,” she told the TV channel of German news outlet Bild on Thursday.
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Ukraine has lost nearly 15% of its grain storage capacity in the war, threatening its role as a key food supplier to the world, a report said. The US government-backed Conflict Observatory said Russians had seized 6.24m tonnes of food storage capacity, and another 2.25m tonnes of capacity in Ukrainian hands had been destroyed, Agence France-Presse reported. As a result, farmers were running out of room to store their output for shipment, which could discourage plantings for the next crop, especially winter wheat, the report said.
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Pope Francis said it was morally legitimate for countries to provide weapons to Ukraine to help it defend itself from Russian aggression. “This is a political decision which it can be moral, morally acceptable, if it is done under conditions of morality … Self-defence is not only licit but also an expression of love for the homeland,” he said. “Someone who does not defend oneself, who does not defend something, does not love it. Those who defend [something] love it.”
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Vladimir Putin thanked the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, for his “balanced” approach to the Ukraine crisis and blasted Washington’s “ugly” policies, at a meeting that followed a major setback for Moscow on the battlefield. Putin told his Chinese counterpart on Thursday: “We understand your questions and your concerns in this regard, and we certainly will offer a detailed explanation of our stand on this issue during today’s meeting, even though we already talked about it earlier.”
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Germany will supply Ukraine with additional armoured vehicles and rocket launch systems but will not provide the battle tanks that Kyiv has long asked for, says the German defence minister, Christine Lambrecht. She said on Thursday that Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles would also “very quickly” head to Ukraine from Greece.
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The UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation board of governors passed a resolution demanding Russia end its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Reuters reports. Thursday’s resolution is the second on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board.
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The US president, Joe Biden, announced a new $600m arms package for Ukraine, according to a White House memo sent to the state department on Thursday.
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The US has imposed new sanctions on 22 Russian individuals and two Russian entities. The people include Maria Alexeyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, who has led Russia’s efforts to deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia and forced the adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families. The entities include Task Force Rusich, a neo-Nazi paramilitary group that has participated in combat alongside Russia’s military in Ukraine.
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A Ukrainian volunteer medic captured by Russian forces during their deadly siege of Mariupol delivered devastating testimony before US lawmakers on Thursday, recounting her experiences of torture, death and terror. Yuliia Paievska, who was detained in the port city in March and held by Russian and pro-Russia forces for three months, spoke before the Helsinki commission, a government agency created in part to promote compliance with human rights internationally.