Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Friday that Ukraine risks provoking “more serious” action from Moscow with its sweeping counterattack, arguing that “so far we have responded with restraint.” Mr Putin vowed to continue his “special military operation” in Ukraine during a speech to reporters after attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting of Asian world leaders in Uzbekistan. He said that the “liberation” of the entire eastern Donbas region of Ukraine remains Russia’s main military objective and that it has no intention of giving up the fight. It came as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered a public rebuke to Mr Putin for the first time and the Russian leader admitted there were also concerns about the situation in Beijing. “We are in no rush,” Mr. Putin said, as some pro-Kremlin political and military bloggers urged Moscow to order a broad mobilization to bolster the ranks while bemoaning Russia’s manpower shortage. He accused Ukraine of hitting civilian infrastructure in Russia and said it attacked “close to our nuclear facilities, nuclear power plants.” “If the situation develops in this way, our response will be more serious,” Putin said.
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All the latest developments in Ukraine
As the war in Ukraine continues after nearly seven months, the situation on the ground is heating up again with a Ukrainian counter-offensive uncovering mass graves left behind by retreating Russian soldiers in Izyum.
Volodymyr Zelensky told Reuters in an interview that it was too early to tell which way the tide of war was turning and that the outcome depended on the rapid delivery of foreign weapons to his country. In his first comments on Ukraine’s counteroffensive, Russian President Vladimir Putin brushed off the advances with a smile, but warned that Russia would respond more forcefully if its troops came under further pressure. On the ground, Ukraine continues its offensive in the northeast, while Russia has set up a defensive line between the Oskil River and the town of Svatove, protecting one of its few main supply routes from Russia’s Belgorod region, British officials said on Saturday. military intelligence. The head of a pro-Russian government pushed back by the counteroffensive, Vitaly Gadchev, blamed Ukrainians for atrocities in the town of Izyum. United Nations human rights monitors will go to Izyum “to try to find out more about what may have happened,” a spokesman said. Western sanctions are starting to hurt Russia’s ability to build advanced weapons for the war in Ukraine, NATO’s top military adviser told Reuters, although he said Russia could still build “a lot of munitions.”
Shweta Sharma17 September 2022 07:47 1663395482
Ground Report: Bodies ‘Bagged and Dumped on Trucks’ in Izyum
The crosses are in neat rows, placed with almost military precision in a silent forest of falling autumn leaves. The peaceful scene hides what lies beneath: corpses, by the hundreds, of Izyum’s dead. The mass grave was found by Ukrainian forces who recaptured the city. about 440 bodies, out of the thousand estimated to have been killed during the Russian occupation. Some of those buried in the forest appear to have been killed by bombs and artillery fire in the fierce fighting for the city, which became the main Russian stronghold in the region. Andryi Makarenkoin at Izyum and Kim Sengupta bring you details from the mass grave site.
The discovery of the Izyum mass grave will be the first of many, residents fear
Some locals were “transported to Russia” during the occupation, others are dead or missing Shweta Sharma17 September 2022 07:18 1663394905
UN votes in favor of Zelensky’s pre-recorded speech to General Assembly
Volodymyr Zelensky will be allowed to address the gathering of world leaders for the UN General Assembly next week, effectively making an exception to the rule of speaking in person. The 193-member world body approved Mr Zelensky’s virtual speech by a vote of 101-7 with 19 abstentions, including China. The seven countries that voted “no” were Belarus, Cuba, Eritrea, Nicaragua, North Korea, Russia and Syria. An amendment proposed by Belarus, a close ally of Russia, to allow future pre-recorded addresses for any leader facing extraordinary hardship was defeated by a vote of 23-67. The document, which was proposed by Ukraine and had more than 50 co-sponsors, allows Zelensky to submit a pre-recorded statement that will be played in the General Assembly hall. He stresses that this will not set a precedent for future high-level assemblies. Shweta Sharma17 September 2022 07:08 1663394247
‘Tortured, shot, killed’: Zelensky accuses Russia of genocide after Izyum mass grave discovery
Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of genocide after a mass grave allegedly containing 440 bodies was discovered near Izyum, a town recently recaptured by Russian forces. The Ukrainian president said there was evidence that the victims had been tortured. He said some were found with broken limbs and ropes around their necks, and that the burial site contained the bodies of civilians and military personnel. “Children and adults. Politicians and military. He was tortured, shot, killed by shelling,” Mr. Zelensky said. “Even whole families are buried there: mother, father and daughter.” Read the latest report by Tom Batchelor and Joe Middleton.
‘Tortured, shot, killed’: Zelensky accuses Russia of genocide after mass grave discovery
“Whole families are buried there: mother, father and daughter,” says the Ukrainian president Shweta Sharma17 September 2022 06:57 1663390260
After China, India offers a rare direct rebuke to Putin
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin that “this time is not war”, making his first direct rebuke of the Russian leader after months of New Delhi maintaining a position of neutrality in the conflict in Ukraine. “Today’s era is not war and I told you about that in the phone call,” Mr Modi said in his first public criticism of Putin. “Today we will have the opportunity to talk about how we can move forward on the path of peace. India-Russia have stayed together for several decades.” In response, Mr Putin sought to assuage India’s concern over the conflict in Ukraine, telling Modi that Moscow wants to see a quick end to the fighting and asserting that Ukrainian officials will not negotiate. “I know your stance on the conflict in Ukraine and the concerns you have repeatedly expressed,” the Russian leader told Modi. “We will do everything we can to get this over with as soon as possible. “Unfortunately, the other side, the leadership of Ukraine, rejected the negotiation process and declared that they want to achieve their goals by military means, on the battlefield.” Earlier on Thursday, Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping that he understood his “questions and concerns” about the conflict in Ukraine. Shweta Sharma17 September 2022 05:51 1663389225
Putin warns of Ukraine escalation amid widening diplomatic isolation
Vladimir Putin has warned of “more serious” action against Ukraine amid heightened questions at home and widening isolation on the world stage. “Our aggressive operation in Donbass does not stop. They are advancing – not at a very fast pace – but gradually taking more and more ground,” he said after a summit of authoritarian leaders in Uzbekistan. The Russian military was forced to withdraw its forces from large areas of northeastern Ukraine last week after a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive. In what was Moscow’s biggest military blow since it was pushed out of the capital Kyiv early in the invasion, Ukraine moved to regain control of several Russian-held towns and villages. “Let’s see how it develops and how it ends,” he said, referring to the Ukrainian counteroffensive. He said Ukraine has also attacked Russian civilian infrastructure and “we have so far responded with restraint, but still.” “If the situation develops in this way, our response will be more serious,” Putin said. “Just recently, the Russian armed forces carried out some spectacular strikes,” he said in an apparent reference to Russian attacks earlier this week on power plants in northern Ukraine and a dam in the south. “Let’s think of them as warning shots.” Shweta Sharma17 September 2022 05:33 1663386893
Good morning, welcome to our coverage of the Ukraine war on Saturday, September 17. Shweta Sharma17 September 2022 04:54
