Closing summary
It is 11pm in Kyiv. This blog will close now and return early tomorrow/Friday, from our London hub. Here’s where things stand:
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she wants 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.
Pope Francis on Thursday 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. Someone who does not defend oneself, who does not defend something, does not love it. Those who defend (something) loves it,” he said.
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, the German defence minister Christine Lambrecht said on Thursday. She added that Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles would also “very quickly” head to Ukraine from Greece, as a deal with Germany to resupply Athens’ stocks with the more modern Marder armoured vehicles was close.
Vladimir Putin thanked the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday 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. “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,” Putin told his Chinese counterpart.
Updated
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen said she wants 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.
“We support the collection of evidence” with a view to possible proceedings at the International Criminal Court, she said, referring to allegations of war crimes committed in Ukraine.
“That is the basis of our international legal system, that we punish these crimes. And ultimately, Putin is responsible,” she said.
Asked whether Putin would one day be brought before the court, she responded: “I believe it is possible.”
Pope Francis on Thursday said it was morally legitimate for countries to provide weapons to Ukraine to help it defend itself from Russian aggression.
Speaking to reporters after returning from a three-day trip to Kazakhstan, Francis also urged Kyiv to be open to eventual dialogue, even though it may “smell” because it would be difficult for the Ukrainian side.
In response to a reporter’s question on whether it is morally right for countries to send weapons to Ukraine, the pope said:
“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. Someone who does not defend oneself, who does not defend something, does not love it. Those who defend (something) loves it.”
Explaining the difference between when it is moral or immoral to supply weapons to another country, Francis said:
“It can be immoral if the intention is provoking more war, or to sell arms or dump arms that (a country) no longer needs. The motivation is what in large part qualifies the morality of this action.”
The pope was also asked whether Ukraine should negotiate with Russia and if there was a “red line” Ukraine should draw, depending on Russian activities, after which it could refuse to negotiate.
“It is always difficult to understand dialogue with countries that have started a war ... it is difficult but it should not be discarded,” he said, adding, “I would not exclude dialogue with any power that is at war, even if it is with the aggressor. ... Sometimes you have to carry out dialogue like this. It smells but it must be done.”
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, the German defence minister said on Thursday.
Germany will supply two Mars II multiple-rocket launch systems, 200 missiles and 50 armoured “Dingo” troop carriers, Christine Lambrecht said, Agence France-Presse reports.
She added that Soviet-made BMP-1 infantry fighting vehicles would also “very quickly” head to Ukraine from Greece, as a deal with Germany to resupply Athens’ stocks with the more modern Marder armoured vehicles was close.
Since the war began, Ukraine has asked multiple times for the German-made Marders as well as Leopard tanks, neither of which have been included by the latest armaments promised by Germany.
Berlin has argued that it will not “go it alone” on weapons deliveries, with Lambrecht pointing out that no other ally has transferred western-made battle tanks to Ukraine.
On Thursday, Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, again defended Germany’s support for Ukraine.
“We are helping … because their fight is a fight that we are supporting,” he said in a speech, listing ways that Berlin had aided Ukraine, from supplying armaments to training troops … We have delivered more and more weapons.
“Weapons deliveries from us – but also from our allies – have contributed to things turning out differently to how the Russian president planned.”
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has criticised Germany’s refusal to provide tanks, saying that there was “not a single rational argument on why these weapons cannot be supplied.”
Updated
Vladimir Putin thanked the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, on Thursday 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.
The Associated Press reports:
Speaking at the start of talks with Xi in Uzbekistan, Putin said he was ready to discuss unspecified “concerns” by China about Ukraine.
“We highly appreciate the well-balanced position of our Chinese friends in connection with the Ukrainian crisis,” Putin said, facing Xi across a long table.
“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,” he added.
A Chinese government statement issued after the meeting didn’t specifically mention Ukraine, but said Xi promised “strong support” to Russia’s “core interests.”
While the statement gave no details, Beijing uses “core interests” to describe issues such as national sovereignty and the ruling Communist Party’s claim to Taiwan, over which it is willing to go to war.
Speaking after the meeting, Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said the assessments of the international situation by Moscow and Beijing “fully coincide. We don’t have any differences.”
He added that both countries “will continue coordinating our actions, including at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly.”
Lavrov described the talks as “excellent,” saying they were “very businesslike and concrete, involving a discussion of tasks for various ministries and agencies.”
Updated
Today so far
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, met the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, today in Kyiv. Ukraine has been vying to join the EU since the start of the Russian invasion, and was granted candidate status in June. Von der Leyen said Ukraine’s “ascension process is well on track”. “We support you wherever we can.”
Von der Leyen also offered a quiet rebuke of EU member state Germany for its delay in supplying Ukraine with military equipment, noting that “it’s absolutely vital and necessary to support Ukraine with the military equipment they need to defend themselves.”
On her visit to Kyiv, Von der Leyen also announced that the European Union has earmarked €150m to aid internally displaced people in Ukraine get shelter through the winter, as well as €100m for reconstruction and repair work for schools that have been damaged in the invasion.
Russian forces launched 33 rocket attacks on military and civilian targets in Ukraine today, damaging the infrastructure of more than 20 settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Mykolayiv oblasts, the general staff of the Ukraine armed forces said in its daily briefing. The general staff said it believed that Russian forces were turning their focus to fully occupying the Donetsk oblast, holding captured territories and disrupting the activities of Ukrainian troops in other areas.
The US has imposed new sanctions on 22 Russian individuals and two Russian entities. The individuals 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.
The UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation board of governors passed on Thursday a resolution demanding that Russia end its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Reuters is reporting. The resolution is the second on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors.
A Ukrainian volunteer medic captured by Russian forces during their deadly siege of the port city of Mariupol delivered devastating testimony before US lawmakers on Thursday, recounting her experiences of torture, death and terror. Yuliia Paievska, who was detained in Mariupol 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.
Updated
UN nuclear watchdog board calls on Russia to leave Zaporizhzhia
The UN nuclear watchdog’s 35-nation board of governors passed on Thursday a resolution demanding that Russia end its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Reuters is reporting.
The resolution is the second on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine passed by the International Atomic Energy Agency’s board of governors. Both resolutions were proposed by Canada and Poland on behalf of Ukraine, which is not on the board, the agency’s policy-making body.
The text calls on Russia to “immediately cease all actions against, and at, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and any other nuclear facility in Ukraine” and was passed with 26 votes in favour, two against and seven abstentions, diplomats at the closed-door meeting told Reuters.
Russia and China were the countries that voted against while Egypt, South Africa, Senegal, Burundi, Vietnam, India and Pakistan abstained, the diplomats said.
Both Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the plant, the largest in Europe, which could cause catastrophic damage to the region should anything happen.
US imposes new sanctions on Russian individuals, entities
The US has imposed new sanctions 22 Russian individuals and two Russian entities.
The individuals 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, even though the Kremlin’s main argument for the invasion of Ukraine was to “denazify” the country.
Russian forces launched 33 rocket attacks on military and civilian targets in Ukraine today, damaging the infrastructure of more than 20 settlements in the Dnipropetrovsk, Kherson, Zaporizhia, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Mykolayiv oblasts, the general staff of the Ukraine armed forces said in its daily briefing.
The general staff said it believed that Russian forces were turning their focus to fully occupying the Donetsk oblast, holding captured territories and disrupting the activities of Ukrainian troops in other areas.
“There remains the threat of air and missile strikes throughout the territory of Ukraine,” the general staff warned.
Updated
A Ukrainian volunteer medic captured by Russian forces during their deadly siege of the port city of Mariupol delivered devastating testimony before US lawmakers on Thursday, recounting her experiences of torture, death and terror.
Yuliia Paievska, who was detained in Mariupol 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.
Known by the nickname Taira, Paievska gained global attention after she slipped her bodycam footage to the Associated Press just before they left Mariupol.
Her voice choked with emotion, she listed for the commission some of the atrocities she witnessed in Mariupol and in captivity:
Pregnant prisoners, their fate unknown to their relatives or to the state.
A fighter who was beaten for three hours and then thrown into a basement like a sack. And only a day later, someone came to him.
A dead child in a mother’s arm.
A seven-year-old boy with bullet wounds dying in my lap because I could not ward off death in this case.
Prisoners in their cells screaming for weeks and dying from the torture without any medical help during this internment of hell. The only thing they felt before death was abuse and additional beating.
My friend, whose eyes I closed before his body closed down. And another friend. And another, and another.
A city of a half a million people dying before my eyes, under air strikes, methodical, planned.
Airstrikes on hospitals and residential areas.
A hospital full of wounded soldiers and civilians where anaesthetic drugs have run out and antibiotics are about to run out too.
Soldiers and entire medical staff sleeping two, three hours daily because surgeries are one right after another.
Medivac cars arriving every five, 10 minutes where the wounded and the dead are lying on top of each other, and whose fates are too impossible to understand even if you tried.
Burning cars with burning people in them.
Police officers taking out of the rubble women and children mutilated beyond recognition.
People collecting water from puddles.
Looted homes.
Dogs who once were pets dragging human limbs around the city.
Prisoners who were forced to take off clothes by their killers before they were murdered slowly and slaughtered.
Specially prepared torture chambers
“Do you know why we do this to you?” Paievska said a Russian soldier asked her as he tortured her. “Because you can,” she responded.
The accusations against the prisoners that are absolutely the same, where only the names change in the papers, and even the gender of the accused does not change. No one is trying to prove or investigate, evidence is obtained simply by using inhumane torture. #Taira #Ukraine
— Helsinki Commission (@HelsinkiComm) September 15, 2022
Updated
Russian troops launched missiles targeting infrastructure facilities in the Kirovohrad oblast in eastern Ukraine today, said Andrii Raikovych, governor of the region.
The attack was reported around the Petrove village, Raikovych said. Air defence was able to shoot down one rocket.
Von der Leyen: 'absolutely vital' for EU member states to support Ukraine with military equipment
In a quiet rebuke to Germany, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, addressed European Union member states who were not fulfilling their commitments to equip Ukraine.
“To all member states: it’s absolutely vital and necessary to support Ukraine with the military equipment they need to defend themselves. They have proven that they are able to do that if they are well equipped,” she said. “This is the general recommendation to all member states.”
When Russian forces first invaded Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, shocked the world in announcing a historic 180-degree policy turn on defence spending and exporting lethal weapons. He committed to sending missiles and anti-tank weapons to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression – but six months later, many of those much-needed weapons have yet to arrive.
In recent days, Ukraine upped its calls for more air defence and overall weapons deliveries, after a dramatically successful counter-offensive that has resulted in the recapturing of the Kharkiv region – but also retaliatory targeted attacks on the country’s infrastructure and repeated Russian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Updated
Von der Leyen: Ukraine has Europe by its side
Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, ended her remarks in Kyiv by declaring that Ukraine has the European Union as a friend “forever”.
“We will never be able to match the sacrifice that the Ukrainians are giving when they lose their homes or they cry for their beloved ones that have gone. We will never be able to compensate what you do with your fight for democracy, for humanity, for the respect of the international rule of law,” Von der Leyen said. “But what we can tell you is that you have your European friends by your side as long as it takes, and we are friends forever.”
The European Union has earmarked €150m to aid internally displaced people in Ukraine get shelter through the winter, Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, said at Thursday’s press conference in Kyiv.
The EU has also set aside an additional €100m for reconstruction and repair work for schools that have been damaged in the invasion, with Von der Leyen noting that there are already 70 schools that immediately require work and 70,000 children who need schools to go back to. “It’s the children and the education where the future begins,” she said.
Updated
Von der Leyen: Ukraine's ascension process to EU 'is well on track'
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is in Kyiv for the third time since Russian forces invaded the country on 24 February – and since Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has begun more actively vying to join the European Union.
In June, Ukraine was granted candidacy status and today, Von der Leyen said the country’s “ascension process is well on track”.
“It’s impressive to see the speed, the determination, the preciseness to which you are progressing. We support you wherever we can,” she said in a joint press conference with Zelenskiy. “I cannot say to speed up the process because you are speeding it up. That is very good.”
Von der Leyen added that at the same time, “we have agreed that we need to work as much as possible to make sure that Ukraine has more business, more income and that it’s as seamless access to the European single market as possible for Ukraine.”
Von der Leyen congratulated Zelenskiy on Ukraine’s recent military success in recapturing large swathes of territory in the Kharkiv region, and noted how impressive it was to see how “life has come back to Kyiv” since her last visit.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is holding a joint press conference with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Ukraine has been vying to join the EU since the start of the Russian invasion, and was granted candidate status in June.
Ukraine’s accession process is on track.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 15, 2022
In the meantime, we are deepening 🇪🇺 🇺🇦 cooperation.
Supporting fast recovery, winter preparedness and planning reconstruction. https://t.co/wrlZ3uPtQo
Updated
Authorities continued to work to restore the liberated territories of the Kharkiv region back to their normal state, as the threat of landmines persisted and many areas still lacked access to electricity.
A 54-year-old man was injured in a mine explosion in the Kupiansk district, and there have been other cases of detonations of civilians, Oleh Syniehubov, the governor of the Kharkiv region, said on Telegram. “I once again call on residents not to hurry back to the liberated territories until the demining is completed,” Syniehubov said.
Demining is a priority at the moment, and in particular, demining “power lines, roads and life support facilities” so that the state emergency service can quickly work to then restore electricity to the places without it, Syniehubov said.
In the meantime, Russian troops continue to launch missiles into the city of Kharkiv and into populated areas of Kharkiv, Syniehubov said. There have been no casualties, but the shelling damaged five buildings in the city of Vovchansk.
Two loud explosions have just been reported in the southern part of the Russian-occupied Melitopol, a city in the Zaporizhzhia oblast, Melitopol mayor Ivan Fedorov said on Telegram.
Fedorov did not elaborate on the explosions, but hinted at “losses of the enemy”.
Reuters is reporting that Germany has given more details of its intention to supply further equipment to Ukraine. Defence minister Christine Lambrecht said in Berlin that her country will supply two more multiple rocket launchers to Kyiv.
“We have decided to deliver two more MARS II multiple rocket launchers including 200 rockets to Ukraine,” she told a Bundeswehr conference, adding the training of the Ukrainian operators was expected to start in September.
“On top of this, we will send 50 Dingo armoured personnel carriers to Ukraine,” Lambrecht announced, referring to a type of armoured vehicle.
She also said a deal on a circle swap of infantry fighting vehicles with Greece and Ukraine was almost completed, meaning Germany would soon hand over 40 Marder IFVs to Greece while Greece, in turn, would pass on 40 of its Soviet-built BMP-1 IFVs to Ukraine.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, where he is attending the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit, and has met China’s president, Xi Jinping.
The Russian news agency Tass is carrying some quotes from the Russian president. In a pointed rebuke to the US, he told attenders: “Attempts to create a unipolar world have recently taken on an absolutely ugly shape and are absolutely unacceptable for the vast majority of states on the planet.”
Tass quotes Xi saying that the world is facing “colossal changes unprecedented in history” and that Russia and the People’s Republic of China would work together to “set an example of a responsible world power and play a leading role in bringing such a rapidly changing world onto a path of sustainable and positive development.”
Putin said that trade turnover between China and Russia had increased by 35% last year.
Updated
Today so far
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is in Kyiv this morning to meet with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal. Zelenskiy, in his first in-person appearance after getting in a minor car crash yesterday, presented Von der Leyen with the award of the First Class of the Order of Yaroslav the Wise.
Another Russian missile has hit Kryvyi Rih, just barely half a day after eight Russian missiles took out hydraulic structures along the Inhulets River, causing extensive flooding. Today’s missile strike hit an industrial site and “the destruction is serious,” said Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Kryvyi Rih military administration.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, called the attack on the Kryvyi Rih hydraulic structures “a war crime” and “an act of terror”. “Beaten by Ukrainian army on the battlefield, Russian cowards are now at war with our critical infrastructure and civilians,” Kuleba said. “Russia is a terrorist state and must be recognised as such.”
Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that Russian gas exports to the European Union would decline by 50bn cubic metres this year – a third of last year’s total Russian gas exports to the EU, Interfax news agency is reporting. Last year, Russia exported about 150bn cubic metres in gas to the EU.
Should the US decide to supply Kyiv with longer-range missiles, that would cross a “red line” and the US would then become “a party to the conflict”, Russia’s foreign ministry said Thursday. Ukraine is already using US-made high mobility artillery rocket systems – just not US-made longer-range missiles.
Ukraine’s state border guard service rescued five teenagers who had been locked in a basement for seven days by Russian troops in the recently liberated city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region. The teenagers, four girls and a boy aged 15 to 17, are all students of the same educational institute. They said Russian soldiers had locked them in the basement without an explanation. “They are safe now,” the state border guard service said on Telegram.
Governor: Russians are 'digging in' in Luhansk oblast
The Russian-occupied Luhansk oblast unfortunately should not expect a swift liberation as seen in the Kharkiv oblast, Serhiy Haidai, governor of the Luhansk oblast, said on Thursday.
“They are preparing to defend themselves: the Russians are digging in at Svatovo and Troitske,” Haidai wrote on Telegram, referencing two settlements in his oblast. “Heavy fighting continues in many directions, including in Luhansk region. The Kharkiv ‘instant’ scenario will not be repeated.”
Haidai said Russian troops were now gathering men in prisons.
“We will have to fight hard for our region,” Haidai said. “The Russians are preparing for defence.”
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s home city, Kryvyi Rih, is experiencing excessive flooding after eight Russian missiles struck hydraulic structures along the Inhulets river in a targeted attack that aligns with Ukraine’s concerns that Russia will continue to target Ukraine’s infrastructure in retribution for its success in regaining occupied territory.
Footage shared on Telegram and social media shows streets and downstream settlements flooded after the Inhulets river broke its banks. In his nightly video address, the Ukrainian president said, “Everything is being done to eliminate the consequences of yet another vile Russian act.”
Russia: US supplying Kyiv with longer-range missiles would cross a 'red line'
Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for Russia’s foreign ministry, said on Thursday that if the US decided to supply Kyiv with longer-range missiles, that would cross a “red line” and the US would then become “a party to the conflict”, Reuters is reporting.
Ukraine is already using US-made high mobility artillery rocket systems – just not US-made longer-range missiles.
Maria Zakharova added that Russia “reserves the right to defend its territory”.
Updated
Izium was one of at least 388 settlements liberated by the Ukrainian military in the Kharkiv region since 6 September. Many of the about 150,000 people living here had been under Russian occupation since almost the very start of the invasion – half a year.
Guardian correspondents Isabel Koshiw and Lorenzo Tondo were there yesterday to speak to the residents and understand what those six months were like for them:
1/Yesterday, people were allowed to visit Izium, in Kharkiv region, for the first time since it was occupied by Russia in early March. It has often been described as a second Mariupol.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
2/ Much of left bank of Izium was in ruins. The town’s residents have been living in abject poverty for the last six months. Apart for one period, they said they lived without electricity, some districts weren’t reconnected at all, which meant..
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
3/ no electricity for their water pumps so no running water to wash and to wash their clothes.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
4/ There was also no gas, according to those we spoke to. So they cooked on stoves outside their houses.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
5/ Multiple residents said the damage was carried out when Russia was trying to capture the city. Charred or halved buildings, ripped apart, few houses left untouched. People were buried in their basements.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
6/ Residents said only a few evacuation buses were sent before Russia blew up the bridges in early March and they didn’t know about them - around about when that happened, mobile and electricity connection had been cut.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
7/ Those who were left, were trapped in the town. Later they were given the option to evacuate to Russia. Those we spoke to didn’t want to, inc one elderly man who was operated on in Russia, after being shot, and returned to Izium
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
8/ Most residents we saw used bicycles, a few had motor bikes. We saw them fighting over an aid delivery from ICRC. Everyone looked visibly worn out and people welled up describing their experience.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
9/ Law enforcement were there on a fact finding trip re war crimes. Those we asked to said that they did not have direct knowledge of soldiers beating or torturing people and the soldiers kept to themselves but that they had abducted ex military, their families and police.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
10/ Izium’s suffering, psychological and physical, was immense. We don’t have a picture of what happened yet.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
11/ Initial interviews inidicate Izium experienced a horror with some similarities (abductions, bombings) to the northern regions but also different (length of occupation, months of poverty, isolation)
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
12/ The residents were completely isolated, to call someone they had to climb a hill on the outskirts and find someone with a solar charger, or some other way. One woman wiped tears as she talked about not seeing her family all this time.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
13/ More aid is on its way but it is unclear how the town will return to normal.
— Isobel Koshiw (@IKoshiw) September 15, 2022
Read more here:
Report: Russian gas exports to EU will decline by a third
Russian deputy prime minister Alexander Novak said on Thursday that Russian gas exports to the European Union would decline by 50bn cubic metres this year – a third of last year’s total Russian gas exports to the EU, Interfax news agency is reporting.
Russia exported about 150bn cubic metres in gas to the EU last year, according to Reuters.
Russian energy supplies to Europe have significantly declined this year amid a stand-off and sweeping western sanctions against Russia following Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
Before the invasion, Russia supplied about 40% of the EU’s gas. That share has now plummeted to 9%, with Moscow cutting supplies to Europe and blaming western sanctions for the dip.
Updated
Ukraine’s state border guard service rescued five teenagers who had been locked in a basement for seven days by Russian troops in the recently liberated city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region.
The teenagers, four girls and a boy aged 15 to 17, are all students of the same educational institute. They said Russian soldiers had locked them in the basement without an explanation. “They are safe now,” the state border guard service said on Telegram.
👍🏼 Прикордонники звільнили п’ятьох підлітків, яких окупанти утримували у підвалі на Харківщині
— Держприкордонслужба (@DPSU_ua) September 15, 2022
👉🏼 https://t.co/qJMx7QlfjM pic.twitter.com/T4Am1lmYmP
Updated
Another Russian missile strikes Kryvyi Rih, hits industrial site
Another Russian missile has hit Kryvyi Rih, just barely half a day after eight Russian missiles took out hydraulic structures along the Inhulets River, causing extensive flooding.
The missile struck an industrial site in the city, said Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Kryvyi Rih military administration. “The destruction is serious,” Vilkul said, but he added that authorities are still working to clarify any losses and further consequences.
Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The strike on the hydraulic structures, which resulted in forced evacuations and damaged homes, aligns with Ukraine’s concerns that Russia will continue to target Ukraine’s infrastructure in retribution for its success in regaining occupied territory.
Updated
The Russian missile strike targeting the Kryvyi Rih hydraulic structures is “a war crime” and an “act of terror”, said Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister.
Russian missile strike on Kryvyi Rih hydraulic structures is a war crime and an act of terror. Beaten by Ukrainian army on the battlefield, Russian cowards are now at war with our critical infrastructure and civilians. Russia is a terrorist state and must be recognized as such.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) September 14, 2022
The strikes caused extensive flooding in areas of the city after the Inhulets River rose an estimated 2.5 metres, damaging at least 112 homes. Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who grew up in Kryvyi Rih, also condemned the strike. “Everything is being done to eliminate the consequences of yet another vile Russian act,” he said in a video address released early Thursday.
Updated
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, is in Kyiv this morning to meet with Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal.
Dear Volodymyr @ZelenskyyUA, thank you so much for the award of the First Class of the Order of Yaroslav the Wise.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 15, 2022
This is a great honour.
I accept it in the name of all EU citizens.
And as a symbol of our strong bond. pic.twitter.com/6W8JPLTao3
Ukraine has been vying to join the European Union since the start of the Russian invasion, and was granted candidate status in June.
This is Zelenskiy’s first major in-person appearance after getting in a minor car crash yesterday – a car collided with the president’s cars and escort cars in Kyiv. He was not seriously hurt and appears in good health.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
The major city of Kryvyi Rih struggled to contain damage to its water system from Russian missile attacks. The largest city in central Ukraine, with an estimated pre-war population of 650,000, was targeted by eight cruise missiles on Wednesday, officials said. The missile strikes hit the Karachunov reservoir dam. “The water pumping station was destroyed. The river broke through the dam and overflowed its banks. Residential buildings are just a few meters away from the river,” Ukrainian legislator Inna Sovsun said.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Krivyi Rih military administration, said in a post on Telegram that 112 homes were flooded but that works to repair the dam on the Inhulets river were under way, and that “flooding was receding”. He added that water levels had “dropped considerably” and that there were no casualties.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was involved in a traffic accident in Kyiv last night, but he is not seriously hurt, his spokesperson said in a Facebook post early on Thursday. Serhii Nykyforov, who did not say when the accident occurred, said Zelenskiy’s car had collided with a private vehicle. “The president was examined by a doctor, no serious injuries were found,” he said, adding the accident would be investigated. Medics accompanying Zelenskiy gave the driver of the private car emergency aid and put him in an ambulance, he said.
In his nightly televised address, video of which was posted shortly after the accident, Zelenskiy said he had just returned from the area around Kharkiv, adding that “almost the entire region is de-occupied” after a lightning counteroffensive to dislodge Russian troops. “It was an unprecedented movement of our soldiers – the Ukrainians once again managed to do what many thought was impossible,” he said. After visiting the liberated city of Izium, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s troops had recaptured around 8,000 sq km (3,100 square miles) of territory.
Kirill Stremousov, one of the Russian-imposed leaders of the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine, has claimed that about 120 Ukrainian soldiers were killed while trying to enter Kherson region in the south of Ukraine via the Kinburn Spit.
Rail services will resume between Kharkiv and Balakliia in Kharkiv oblast on Thursday. Workers have already repaired bridges and dozens of damaged tracks after Balakliia was liberated on 8 September.
Ukraine has continued to consolidate control of the newly liberated Kharkiv region, the UK Ministry of Defence says in its latest briefing. The update said some Russian forces appeared to have fled the Ukrainian troops’ advance “in apparent panic”, leaving behind key equipment.
Ukraine’s defence ministry found what its officials believe to be a “torture chamber” used by Russian troops to hold Ukrainian prisoners in the city of Balakliia. While some Balakliia residents told the Guardian that they had little interaction with the Russian forces, who mostly stayed on edges of the town, and did not experience the scenes of torture and execution seen elsewhere in the country, Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the Kharkiv region national police investigation department, said that 40 people had been detained during the occupation. One resident told the BBC that he was held by Russians in the city’s police station for more than 40 days and was tortured with electrocution.
Russian president Vladimir Putin, has arrived in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, where he is later expected to meet China’s Xi Jinping.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, arrived in Kyiv Thursday morning. She has tweeted that she will be meeting Zelenskiy and Ukraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal. On Wednesday, addressing the European parliament in Strasbourg, Von der Leyen insisted “Putin will fail and Europe will prevail” and said that the EU would stay the course with its sanctions on Russia. “The sanctions are here to stay,” she said. “This is the time for us to show resolve not appeasement.”
Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, said on Thursday that according to Kyiv’s own estimates, Ukraine needs €350bn (£300bn / $350bn) for reconstruction.
The prospects for peace in Ukraine are currently “minimal”, the UN secretary general said on Wednesday after a phone conversation with Putin. “I have the feeling we are still far away from peace. I would be lying if I would say it could happen soon,” Guterres said, adding: “I have no illusion; at the present moment the chances of a peace deal are minimal.” Even a ceasefire was “not in sight”, he said.
Kremlin sources “are now working to clear Putin of any responsibly of the defeat, instead blaming the loss of almost all of occupied Kharkiv oblast on under-informed military advisers”, according to the US-based thinktank Institute of the Study of War. In a statement reported by CNBC, the institute said that “Kremlin officials and state media propagandists are extensively discussing the reasons for the Russian defeat in Kharkiv oblast, a marked change from their previous pattern of reporting on exaggerated or fabricated Russian successes with limited detail”.
Putin still believes he was right to launch an invasion of Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Wednesday after a 90-minute telephone call with the Russian president. “Sadly, I cannot tell you that the impression has grown that it was a mistake to begin this war,” Scholz said in a press briefing.
Germany has delivered four more Gepard anti-aircraft guns and 65 refrigerators to Ukraine, the German government announced on Wednesday. The four additional units bring the total number of Gepard units provided by Germany to Ukraine to 24.
Updated
Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency is carrying quotes from Kirill Stremousov, one of the Russian-imposed leaders of the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine. He told RIA that an attempt to enter the region via the Kinburn Spit has been repulsed.
RIA quotes him saying “The landing attempt was exclusively on the Kinburn Spit, but everything was repulsed, the Nazis have no chance of entering the Kherson region.”
The report goes on to say:
According to him, the Ukrainian landing, most likely, set off from Ochakiv.
“There are points there, military bases that have remained since the days of the Soviet Union. But everything is controlled, the entire perimeter is visible. The Nazis have absolutely no chance of entering from the sea,” Stremousov stressed.
Earlier, he told RIA Novosti that about 120 Ukrainian soldiers were destroyed by the allied forces while trying to land troops.
Stremousov also denied reports that Ukrainian troops entered the Kherson region. According to Stremousov, he travels daily to the village of Kiselevka on the border with the Mykolaiv region, which “is seen on the Internet every day.”
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted a series of images to Telegram of Ukrainian flags flying over settlements that their armed forces have recaptured in Kharkiv in recent days. The Ukrainian president said:
The path to the return of all our territories is getting clearer. We see the contours of restoration of our state’s territorial integrity. We know this is a hard path, but it is possible to pass it. And we are doing that.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has arrived in Samarkand in Uzbekistan, where he is later expected to meet China’s Xi Jinping. Putin has posed for some pictures with Kyrgyzstan’s president, Sadyr Japarov.
Updated
Pavlo Kyrylenko, Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk, has posted a status update to Telegram of the overnight situation. He said:
Around midnight, the Russians destroyed a high-rise building in Bakhmut. According to preliminary information, four people may be under the rubble. Emergency services are on site. In Toretsk, the Russians targeted a hospital – injured one person, damaged three departments. In Myrnohrad, they hit a mine – one person was injured. Every crime of the Russians is carefully documented. They will be held responsible for everything.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Here are some images released by the State Emergency Service of Ukraine of repair work being carried out on the water infrastructure at Kryvyi Rih and evacuations taking place.
Germany’s economy minister, Robert Habeck, said on Thursday that according to Kyiv’s own estimates, Ukraine needs €350bn (£300bn / $350bn) for reconstruction.
Reuters reports that Habeck was welcoming G7 trade ministers during a meeting at Neuhardenberg Castle in the state of Brandenburg.
Asked about the prospects for the war, Habeck said “You now can see that it could come to an end with victory for freedom and democracy.”
Ukraine’s trade minister Yulia Svyrydenko is also attending the event.
Updated
President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen arrives in Kyiv
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has arrived in Kyiv. She has tweeted that she will be meeting President Volodomyr Zelenskiy andUkraine’s prime minister, Denys Shmyhal.
🇺🇦 In Kyiv, for my 3rd visit since the start of Russia’s war.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) September 15, 2022
So much has changed.
Ukraine is now a 🇪🇺 candidate.
I’ll discuss with @ZelenskyyUa and @Denys_Shmyhal how to continue getting our economies and people closer while Ukraine progresses towards accession. pic.twitter.com/zs9tMm0Mx1
Yesterday, addressing the European parliament in Strasbourg, Von der Leyen insisted “Putin will fail and Europe will prevail” and said that the EU would stay the course with its sanctions on Russia. “The sanctions are here to stay,” she said. “This is the time for us to show resolve not appeasement.”
Here is a video clip of her speech yesterday.
Updated
Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the Kharkiv oblast has degraded Russia’s artillery and air defence systems in the region, according to the latest report from the Institute for the Study of War, a US-based think-tank.
The Ukrainian General Staff reported on 14 September that the intensity of Russian artillery attacks on Kharkiv City has decreased significantly, suggesting that Ukraine’s counteroffensive has degraded Russian forces’ ability to conduct routine artillery strikes on the centre of Kharkiv City as Russian forces have been pushed eastward towards the Oskil River and north back into Russia.
Flooding 'receding' in Krivyi Rih after 112 homes affected – reports
Following a Russian strike with eight cruise missiles on Wednesday on civilian water infrastructure on the town of Kryvyi Rih there has been flooding.
Reuters reports that Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Krivyi Rih military administration, said in a post on Telegram that 112 homes were flooded but that works to repair the dam on the Inhulets river were under way, and that “flooding was receding”.
The BBC quotes Vilkul saying that water levels had “dropped considerably” and that there were no casualties.
Updated
Rail services will resume between Kharkiv and Balakliia in Kharkiv oblast on Thursday, the Kyiv Independent reports, based on a Telegram post from Ukrainian Railways. Workers have already repaired bridges and dozens of damaged tracks after Balakliia was liberated on 8 September.
Ukrainian forces shot down four Russian planes in the past 24 hours, the Kyiv Independent reports, based on an update from the General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces. The update said three Russian Su-25 and one Su-24m were shot down while operating over Ukrainian territory, while the Russian forces’ primary tactic continued to be the targeting of civilian settlements, 30 of which were fired at with artillery, missiles, or a combination of both.
A Russian official who called for Vladimir Putin to resign on Monday is standing by his statements, despite being fined and threatened with jail time, CNN reports.
Nikita Yuferev, a deputy in Smolninskoye Municipal District in St Petersburg, reportedly said: “We will continue to insist on his resignation.”
Yuferev said he was doing it for his children, saying that he wants them to be able to speak their minds at demonstrations and protests. “I don’t want them to fear retaliation from the police.”
Updated
Some Russian units fled 'in apparent panic', says MoD
Ukraine has continued to consolidate control of the newly liberated Kharkiv region, the UK Ministry of Defence says in its latest briefing. The update, posted on Twitter, said some Russian forces appeared to have fled the Ukrainian troops’ advance “in apparent panic”, leaving behind key equipment.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 15 September 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 15, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/bC8r1YOi3S
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/VVEpMiOvLD
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says Ursula von der Leyen will visit Kyiv on Thursday. In his nightly address on Wednesday, Zelenskiy said the European Commission president would visit as Ukraine continues its bid for full EU membership, and comes a day after a representative from Kyiv attended a full meeting of the European parliament.
The rout of the Russian army in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region seems likely to be a turning point in Kyiv’s battle to kick Russian troops out of the country, but it may also cause much broader fallout for Moscow, as other former Soviet countries witness what appears to be the limits of Moscow’s capabilities.
The Guardian’s eastern Europe correspondent, Shaun Walker, has analysed what Moscow’s setbacks could mean for the wider region. You can read that report here:
Updated
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin has arrived in the Uzbek city of Samarkand in preparation for his meeting with Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, Reuters reports.
Putin and Xi will meet early on Thursday afternoon, a schedule distributed by the Russian delegation to media showed. The two leaders are in Uzbekistan to attend a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, a regional security group. They will also hold a three-way meeting with Mongolia’s president, Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, on Thursday.
As the leaders prepared to meet, China and Russia have held joint naval exercises in the Pacific. The navies of the two countries conducted tactical manoeuvres and exercises involving artillery and helicopters, Reuters reported.
Updated
As Moscow’s forces pull back from the Kharkiv region, our Russia correspondent, Andrew Roth, reports that some of its supporters are in shock as the Kremlin reneges on a vow that helped project power into captured towns and villages.
Just weeks ago, Irina was working in the Russian occupation administration in Kupiansk, a large town in northern Ukraine that had been captured days after Vladimir Putin launched his war against the country.
But then, as Russian troops fled the city and the Ukrainian army retook occupied territories in the country’s north, she and her family fled what they expected would be swift punishment for collaborating with the Russian invasion force.
You can read the full story here:
Kryvyi Rih flood threat after missiles hit water system
The major city of Kryvyi Rih is struggling to contain damage to its water system from Russian missile attacks. The largest city in central Ukraine, with an estimated pre-war population of 650,000, was targeted by eight cruise missiles on Wednesday, officials said.
A report from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said footage of the aftermath of the attack showed a 2.5 metre rise in the level of the Inhulets River in Kryvyi Rih.
“The water pumping station was destroyed. The river broke through the dam and overflowed its banks. Residential buildings are just a few meters away from the river,” Ukrainian legislator Inna Sovsun said on Twitter.
The missile strikes hit the Karachunov reservoir dam, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in a video address released early on Thursday. The water system had no military value and hundreds of thousands of civilians depend on it daily, he said.
The ISW report said the attacks may have been intended to damage Ukrainian pontoon bridges further downstream as part of efforts to disrupt the Kherson counteroffensive, it said.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Good morning and welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. At 7.30am in Kyiv, these are the latest developments.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, was involved in a traffic accident in Kyiv, but he is not seriously hurt, his spokesperson said in a Facebook post early on Thursday. Serhii Nykyforov, who did not say when the accident occurred, said Zelenskiy’s car had collided with a private vehicle. “The president was examined by a doctor, no serious injuries were found,” he said, adding the accident would be investigated. Medics accompanying Zelenskiy gave the driver of the private car emergency aid and put him in an ambulance, he said.
Eight Russian missiles that struck Kryvyi Rih on Wednesday were directed at hydraulic structures, causing enough damage that the water level of the Inhulets RInhulets riveriver was rising and posing a serious threat to the city. This aligns with Ukraine’s concerns that Russia will continue to target Ukraine’s infrastructure in retribution for its success in regaining occupied territory. Kryvyi Rih is Zelenskiy’s home town.
In his nightly televised address, video of which was posted shortly after the accident, Zelenskiy said he had just returned from the area around Kharkiv, adding that “almost the entire region is de-occupied” after a lightning counteroffensive to dislodge Russian troops. “It was an unprecedented movement of our soldiers – the Ukrainians once again managed to do what many thought was impossible,” he said. After visiting the liberated city of Izium, Zelenskiy said Ukraine’s troops had recaptured around 8,000 sq km (3,100 square miles) of territory.
Ukraine’s defence ministry found what its officials believe to be a “torture chamber” used by Russian troops to hold Ukrainian prisoners in the city of Balakliia. While some Balakliia residents told the Guardian that they had little interaction with the Russian forces, who mostly stayed on edges of the town, and did not experience the scenes of torture and execution seen elsewhere in the country, Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the Kharkiv region national police investigation department, said that 40 people had been detained during the occupation. One resident told the BBC that he was held by Russians in the city’s police station for more than 40 days and was tortured with electrocution.
Germany has delivered four more Gepard anti-aircraft guns and 65 refrigerators to Ukraine, the German government announced on Wednesday. The four additional units bring the total number of Gepard units provided by Germany to Ukraine to 24.
Kremlin sources “are now working to clear [Russia’s President Vladimir] Putin of any responsibly of the defeat, instead blaming the loss of almost all of occupied Kharkiv oblast on under-informed military advisers”, according to the Institute of the Study of War. In a statement reported by CNBC, the institute said that “Kremlin officials and state media propagandists are extensively discussing the reasons for the Russian defeat in Kharkiv oblast, a marked change from their previous pattern of reporting on exaggerated or fabricated Russian successes with limited detail”.
The prospects for peace in Ukraine are currently “minimal”, the UN secretary general said on Wednesday after a phone conversation with Vladimir Putin. “I have the feeling we are still far away from peace. I would be lying if I would say it could happen soon,” Guterres said, adding: “I have no illusion; at the present moment the chances of a peace deal are minimal.” Even a ceasefire was “not in sight”, he said.
Putin still believes he was right to launch an invasion of Ukraine, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said on Wednesday after a 90-minute telephone call with the Russian president. “Sadly, I cannot tell you that the impression has grown that it was a mistake to begin this war,” Scholz said in a press briefing.
Russian troops have returned to Kreminna, a city in the Russian-occupied Luhansk region that was “completely empty” yesterday, said Serhiy Hadai, the region’s governor, and tore down the Ukrainian flags that local partisans had raised in celebration. Yesterday, a similar situation happened in Svatove – Russian troops left but returned after some time, Hadai said. Russian troops also left Starobilsk, another city in the Luhansk region.
