At a high-level summit in Uzbekistan, Putin vowed to press his offensive in Ukraine despite recent military setbacks, but also addressed concerns raised by India and China about the protracted conflict. “I know this time is not war,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Russian leader in televised remarks as the two met Friday in Uzbekistan. “We discussed it with you several times on the phone, that democracy and dialogue touch the whole world.” At the same summit a day earlier, Putin acknowledged China’s unspecified “questions and concerns” about the war in Ukraine, while also thanking Chinese President Xi Jinping for his government’s “balanced position” on the conflict. The hasty withdrawal of his troops this month from parts of a northeastern region they seized early in the war, along with rare public reservations expressed by key allies, underscored the challenges Putin faces on all fronts. Both China and India maintain strong ties to Russia and have tried to remain neutral in Ukraine. Xi, in a statement released by his government, expressed his support for Russia’s “core interests” but also an interest in cooperation to “bring stability” to global affairs. Modi said he wanted to discuss “how we can move forward on the path of peace”. A damaged Russian vehicle was seen parked Saturday on a street in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces. (Alexei Alexandrov/The Associated Press) “We have to find some way out and you too have to contribute to that,” Modi stressed in a rare public rebuke. The comments cast a shadow over a summit that Putin hoped would shine a light on his diplomatic status and show he was not so internationally isolated.
A new line of defense is emerging: analysts
On the battlefield, Western defense officials and analysts said Saturday that Russian forces were apparently setting up a new defense line in northeastern Ukraine after Kiev troops broke through the previous one. A woman uses a mobile phone on a street in the Ukrainian capital of Kiev on Saturday. (Jon Gambrell/The Associated Press) Britain’s Ministry of Defense said the new front line is likely to be between the Oskil River and Svatove, about 150 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city. The new line emerged after a Ukrainian counteroffensive punctured the previous line of war, allowing Kiev’s troops to retake large swathes of land in the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia. After Russian troops retreated from the town of Izium, Ukrainian authorities discovered a mass grave site, one of the largest ever found. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Friday that more than 440 graves had been found at the site, but that the number of victims was not yet known. A woman eats an apple as she sits near damaged houses in Izium, Ukraine on Saturday. (Gleb Garanich/Reuters) Zelensky said the graves contained the bodies of hundreds of civilian adults and children, as well as soldiers, and some had been tortured, shot or killed by artillery shelling. He reported evidence of atrocities, including a body with a rope around its neck and broken arms. Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces are crossing the Oskil River in the Kharkiv region and have placed artillery there, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said on Saturday. The river, which flows south from Russia into Ukraine, has been a natural break in the emerging front lines since Ukraine began its push about a week ago. “Russian forces are likely too weak to prevent a further Ukrainian advance along the entire Oskil River,” the institute said.
Signs of progress in the east
Videos released online on Saturday showed Ukrainian forces also continuing to retake territory from Russian forces in the war-torn east of the country, although their veracity could not be independently verified. A Ukrainian soldier sits in a tank on Friday, near a section of the front line in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. (Reuters) One video showed a Ukrainian soldier walking past a damaged building, then pointing over his shoulder at a colleague who was hoisting the blue-and-yellow flag of Ukraine atop a cell phone tower. The soldier in the video identified the seized village as Dibrova, northeast of the city of Sloviansk in Ukraine’s Donetsk region. Another video showed two Ukrainian soldiers in what appeared to be a bell tower, with one saying they had recaptured the village of Shchurove, just northeast of Sloviansk. The Ukrainian military and the Russians did not immediately comment on the two villages. Elsewhere in Ukraine, Russian forces continued to pound towns and villages with rockets and shelling. A Russian missile attack early Saturday caused a fire in Kharkiv’s industrial district, regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said. Firefighters extinguished the fire. Pro-Russian troops are seen firing a gun in the direction of Avdiivka, Ukraine, on Saturday. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters) Syniehubov said the missile debris suggested the Russians fired S-300 surface-to-air missiles at the city. The S-300 is designed to hit missiles or aircraft in the sky, not targets on the ground. Analysts say Russia’s use of the missiles suggests it may be running out of some precision munitions. Bombing of the nearby town of Chuhuiv later on Saturday killed an 11-year-old girl, Syniehubov said. In the southern Zaporizhzhia region, much of which is occupied by Russians, one person was injured when Russian forces shelled the town of Orikhiv, Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia governor Oleksandr Starukh told Telegram. Starukh said Russian troops also shelled two villages in the area, destroying several civilian facilities. A Ukrainian tank was seen passing through a former Russian checkpoint in Izium, Ukraine, on Friday. (Evgeniy Maloletka/The Associated Press) Explosions were also reported on Saturday in Russian-held areas of Zaporizhzhia. Russian official Vladimir Rogov told Telegram that at least five explosions were heard in the city of Melitopol, which was captured early in the war. The city’s Ukrainian mayor, Ivan Fedorov, said the blasts occurred in a village south of the city where Russian troops had been transporting military equipment. Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region also came under fire from Russians overnight, according to its governor, Valentin Reznichenko. “The enemy attacked six times and fired more than 90 deadly missiles at peaceful towns and villages,” Reznichenko said. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s atomic energy company Energoatom said a convoy of 25 trucks was bringing diesel fuel and other critical supplies to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant — Europe’s largest, which was shut down a week ago amid fears that fighting in area could lead to a radioactive disaster. The trucks were allowed through Russian checkpoints on Friday to deliver spare parts for repairs to damaged power lines, chemicals to run the plant and additional fuel for backup diesel generators, Energoatom said.
