Kryvyi Rih, central Ukraine’s largest city with an estimated pre-war population of 650,000, was hit by eight cruise missiles on Wednesday, officials said. “The water pumping station was destroyed. The river broke the dam and overflowed its banks. Residential buildings are only a few meters away from the river,” Ukrainian lawmaker Ina Sovsun said on Twitter. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up The shelling hit the Karachunov reservoir dam, Zelenskiy said in a video released early Thursday. The water system had no military value and hundreds of thousands of civilians depended on it every day, he said. The video was released after Zelensky returned to Kyiv from the Kharkiv region and his office announced that his car had collided with a private vehicle in the capital. “The president was examined by a doctor, no serious injuries were found,” presidential spokesman Serhii Nykyforov said in a Facebook post early Thursday. read more Russian forces suffered a stunning setback this month after Ukrainian troops launched a rapid armored push into the Kharkiv region, forcing a hasty Russian withdrawal. Zelensky on Wednesday made a surprise visit to Izium – until four days ago Russia’s main bastion and logistics hub in the region – where he watched the raising of the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag in front of the charred city council building. “Our law enforcement forces are already receiving evidence of murders, tortures and abductions of people by the occupiers,” Zelensky said in his speech. Russia denies it deliberately targeted civilians, and Reuters could not immediately verify the claims. read more On the main street, no building was left unscathed: An abandoned bathhouse had a hole in its side. butchers, pharmacies, a shoe shop and a beauty salon were sprayed with shrapnel. Zelensky handed out medals to soldiers who liberated the Balakliia district, another town recaptured in recent days. Civilians and police told reporters that civilians had been killed during months of Russian occupation. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also tweeted about the attacks in Kryvyi Rih: “Beated by the Ukrainian military on the battlefield, Russian cowards are now at war with our critical infrastructure and civilians. Russia is a terrorist state and must to be recognized as such”. In that vein, US senators from both the Democratic and Republican parties have introduced legislation that would designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. The measure is opposed by the administration of President Joe Biden. read more
UN ADDRESS
Zelensky was scheduled to address the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 21, and the assembly was scheduled to consider Friday a proposal to address the annual gathering of world leaders in a taped video. Russia is opposed to Zelensky speaking. read more UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said after talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin that he hoped a UN-brokered deal on Ukrainian grain exports to the Black Sea would be extended to include Russian ammonia, a main ingredient in nitrates fertilizers. Fertilizer shortages are contributing to a global food crisis. Also on the diplomatic front, Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping will discuss Ukraine and Taiwan at a meeting in Uzbekistan on Thursday, which the Kremlin says will be of “special importance” given the geopolitical situation. Western political and military officials said it was too early to tell whether Ukraine’s success in September marked a turning point in the war because Russia had yet to fully respond. “We must avoid euphoria. There is still a lot of work to be done to liberate our territories and Russia has a large number of weapons,” Oleksiy Danilov, secretary of the National Security and Defense Council, said in an online post.
HE REMAINS DEFINED
On the road to Isium, bus stops were marked with “Zs”, the symbol used by Russian forces to identify themselves, and the charred remains of tanks and armored vehicles lined the road. read more With a pink hood wrapped around her face for warmth, Liubov Sinna, 74, said residents were still afraid. “Because we’ve lived these whole six months. We’ve sat it in cellars. We’ve gone through everything it’s possible to go through. We absolutely can’t say we feel safe,” he said. A day after speaking on the phone for 90 minutes with Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said the Russian president “unfortunately” still does not believe his invasion was a mistake. Putin says he wants to ensure Russian security and protect Russian speakers in Ukraine. Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of an unprovoked war of aggression. In a move that suggests Putin had broader war aims when he ordered troops into Ukraine on February 24, three people close to the Russian leadership told Reuters that Putin had rejected an interim deal with Kyiv at the time the war began. read more They said the deal would have satisfied Russia’s demand that Ukraine be kept out of the US-led Western military alliance NATO. The Kremlin said the Reuters report had “absolutely nothing to do with reality”. He also said that Ukraine’s aspirations to join NATO still pose a threat to Russia. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Report from Reuters offices. written by Grant McCool. Edited by Cynthia Osterman Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
