Summary
It’s just past 11pm in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
UN member states voted Friday to make an exception to allow Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address next week’s General Assembly by video, despite Russian opposition. Of the 193 member states, 101 voted in favor of allowing Zelenskiy to “present a pre-recorded statement” instead of in-person as usually required. Seven members voted against the proposal, including Russia. Nineteen states abstained.
Ninety-nine percent of exhumed bodies had signs of violent death, Ukraine’s regional administration head said Friday of the mass burial site discovered after Kyiv’s forces recaptured the east Ukrainian town of Izium. “Among the bodies that were exhumed today, 99 percent showed signs of violent death,” Oleg Synegubov, head of Kharkiv regional administration, said on social media.
The European Union is “deeply shocked” at the discovery by Ukrainian officials of mass graves in the recaptured city of Izium, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Friday. “The European Union is deeply shocked by mass graves discovered by Ukrainian authorities,...” said Borrell. “We condemn these atrocities in the strongest possible terms.
Ukrainian armed forces have hit four areas with Russian troops, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The armed forces also targeted an unloading station, in turn preventing Russian forces from deploying additional reserves.
UN member states voted Friday to make an exception to allow Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskiy to address next week’s General Assembly by video, despite Russian opposition.
Of the 193 member states, 101 voted in favor of allowing Zelenskiy to “present a pre-recorded statement” instead of in-person as usually required. Seven members voted against the proposal, including Russia. Nineteen states abstained.
From Tuesday, approximately 150 world leaders will address the General Assembly in New York. World leaders were allowed to speak by video in 2020 and in 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but this year the event has gone back to in-person and only those present can speak.
More than 50 states, including the United States, France, South Korea and Turkey, submitted a proposal to make an exception for Zelenskiy.
The text highlighted situations in which leaders “cannot participate in person in the meetings of the General Assembly for reasons beyond their control owing to ongoing foreign invasion, aggression, military hostilities.”
Those in favor decided “that Ukraine may submit a pre-recorded statement of its Head of State” that will be played during the general debate. The decision noted, however, that the exception was not setting a precedent for future debates.
An amendment introduced by Russia-ally Belarus that would have allowed all leaders prevented from coming to New York in person to send a pre-recorded message was rejected by 67 votes against, 23 for, and 27 abstentions.
Ukraine’s address is scheduled for the afternoon of September 21, but changes are likely due to many leaders traveling to London for the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II on Monday.
99% of exhumed bodies had signs of violent death, says Ukrainian officials
Ninety-nine percent of exhumed bodies had signs of violent death, Ukraine’s regional administration head said Friday of the mass burial site discovered after Kyiv’s forces recaptured the east Ukrainian town of Izium.
“Among the bodies that were exhumed today, 99 percent showed signs of violent death,” Oleg Synegubov, head of Kharkiv regional administration, said on social media, Agence France-Presse reports.
“There are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person is buried with a rope around his neck,” he added.
“Obviously, these people were tortured and executed.”
Earlier Friday, AFP journalists saw that at least one of the bodies uncovered at the burial site in a forest outside Izium had bound hands. It was unclear, given the condition of the body, whether the victim was wearing civilian clothes or a military uniform.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy lashed out at Russia after officials began exhuming bodies from the site.
“Russia leaves only death and suffering. Murderers. Torturers,” Zelensky said in a statement on social media, adding that children were among the more than 400 bodies discovered.
Russia is a terrorist country. I don't know why the world is slow to recognize it. We liberated Izium. Over 400 graves were found in the forest next to it. How many tortured Ukrainians are there is unknown. How many more of our people must die so that all finally figured it out? pic.twitter.com/0nqqaPPsLK
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 16, 2022
The European Union is “deeply shocked” at the discovery by Ukrainian officials of mass graves in the recaptured city of Izium, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Friday, Agence France-Presse reports.
“The European Union is deeply shocked by mass graves discovered by Ukrainian authorities,...” said Borrell. “We condemn these atrocities in the strongest possible terms.
“Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine has been leaving a trail of blood and destruction across Ukraine,” he added.
Borrell’s statement came after Ukrainian investigators uncovered hundreds of hastily buried bodies from a forest outside the city in the eastern Kharkiv region.
Kyiv officials say they have counted 450 graves at the mass burial site and found 10 alleged “torture centres” after the Kharkiv region was recaptured from Russian invaders.
“Thousands of civilians have been already murdered, many more tortured, harassed, sexually assaulted, kidnapped, or forcibly displaced,” said Borrell, adding, “Russia, its political leadership, and all those involved in the ongoing violations of international law and international humanitarian law in Ukraine will be held accountable.”
Ukrainian armed forces have hit four areas with Russian troops, according to the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The armed forces also targeted an unloading station, in turn preventing Russian forces from deploying additional reserves.
On Sept. 16, Russia launched 4 missiles and 5 air strikes on Ukraine and carried out 12 attacks with multiple rocket launchers, according to the General Staff.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 16, 2022
Today so far
Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out targeted strikes in the cities of Kherson and Luhansk against top local officials who have been collaborating with Moscow. At least five Himars missiles crashed into the central administration building in Kherson, which Russian troops have occupied since March after arriving from Crimea. Video from the scene showed smoke pouring out of the complex and debris. On the other side of the country, in the eastern city of Luhansk, a pro-Russian prosecutor died together with his deputy when their office was blown up. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s senior adviser, Mikhailo Podolyak, said Ukraine was not behind Friday’s mysterious explosion in Luhansk.
Elimination of so-called "LNR prosecutor general" and his deputy should be considered as showdowns of local organized criminal groups that could not share looted property before a large-scale escape. Or as RF's purge of witnesses to war crimes. Investigation will show...
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) September 16, 2022
Further south, the Russian-backed separatist authority in Berdiansk was also blaming Kyiv for the “double murder” of the deputy head of the military civil administration, and his wife, who headed the city’s territorial election commission for the referendum.
Also in the the southern Zaporizhzhia oblast, there were reports on Friday of a “powerful explosion” in the Russian-occupied Melitopol, said Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Melitopol. “I hope the Russian fascists have suffered losses, among their personnel and equipment. Awaiting good news from the armed forces of Ukraine,” he said.
Up north, investigators continue the daunting task of exhuming the mass grave site discovered at the recently liberated city of Izium in the Kharkiv region. Zelenskiy has responded emotionally today, condemning Russia as “murderers” and “torturers”. Meanwhile, the exact circumstances surrounding the deaths of those buried at the grave site are still unclear. While Oleg Synegubov, the regional governor, said that about 99% of the bodies exhumed showed signs of a violent deaths, authorities said that violence could have also been from shelling or airstrikes – not the torture and beatings that many feared after what authorities discovered in Bucha and other previously liberated territories. However, Synegubov said exhumers have also already uncovered several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person “with a rope around his neck.” Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights, described finding an entire family, killed in an airstrike, buried together – young parents in their 30s, a 6-year-old daughter, and grandparents.
Russian president Vladimir Putin made his first public comment since his troops were forced to withdraw from the territories they held in the north-east, a move that has prompted unusually strong public criticism from Russian military commentators. He claimed that he invaded Ukraine because the West wanted to break up Russia. He grinned when he was asked about Ukraine’s recent military success. “Let’s see how it develops, how it ends up,” he said. Putin said nothing has changed with the ultimate goal of Moscow’s “special military operation” in Ukraine, which was to capture the Donbas.
The US department of defence announced today that it was providing an additional $600m security assistance to Ukraine to meet the country’s “critical security and defence needs”. In total, the Biden administration has committed about $15.8n in security assistance to Ukraine – $15.1bn since the beginning of Russian invasion on 24 February. Since 2014, the US has committed about $17.9bn in security assistance to Ukraine.
Switzerland on Friday aligned itself with the European Union in suspending a 2009 agreement easing rules for Russian citizens to enter the Alpine country. “The suspension of the agreement does not mean a general visa freeze for Russians but rather they will need to use the ordinary visa procedure to enter Switzerland,” the country’s federal council said in a statement. The EU took a similar step earlier, suspending a visa facilitation deal with Russia but stopping short of a wider via ban in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
Putin: Main task with Ukraine 'remains unchanged'
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday brushed off Ukraine’s recent military success in recapturing the Kharkiv region, saying Russia was gradually taking control of new areas of the country, Reuters is reporting.
Speaking after a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, he said that the plan of the “special military operation” that is the Russian invasion of Ukraine “is not subject to adjustment”.
“The General Staff considers one thing important, another thing secondary - but the main task remains unchanged, and it is being implemented,” Putin said. “The main goal is the liberation of the entire territory of Donbas.”
The Donbas is an area comprised of two largely Russian-speaking provinces of eastern Ukraine - Luhansk, which is now fully under the control of Russian and Russian-backed separatist forces, and Donetsk, which they partially control.
Right now, Russia currently occupies about a fifth of Ukraine in all, including much of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces in the south, in addition to Crimea, which it seized in 2014 and considers part of Russia.
On Friday, the Russian-backed separatist governments in cities in these regions blamed Kyiv for at least three attacks that resulted in the deaths of at least five individuals working for the Russian-backed entities. At the same time, however, Moscow has struck back at Ukraine’s recent military success in liberating occupied territory by shelling civilian infrastructure, including several hydraulic structures in Kryvyi Rih, the hometown of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which led to flooding and evacuations.
“Recently, the Russian armed forces have inflicted a couple of sensitive blows. Let’s assume they’re a warning,” Putin said.
When questioned about Ukraine’s dramatic counter-offensive, Putin responded with a grin. “The Kyiv authorities announced that they have launched and are conducting an active counter-offensive operation. Well, let’s see how it develops, how it ends up,” Putin said.
This was Putin’s first public comment since his troops were forced to withdraw from the territories they held in the north-east, a move that has prompted unusually strong public criticism from Russian military commentators. Putin added, “If the situation continues to develop like this, then the response will be more serious.”
Updated
The people of Ukraine and the world “deserve to know how exactly those buried in the forest near Izium have died”, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia said in a statement today.
“For every unlawful killing or other war crime, there must be justice and reparation for victims and their families and a fair trial and accountability for suspected perpetrators,” Struthers said.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, Amnesty International has documented a number of violations of humanitarian law by Russian forces, including unlawful attacks on civilians, residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, unlawful killings and other war crimes.
“Those who commit or order crimes under international law should remember: there is no statute of limitation, and justice will catch up with them,” Struthers said. “To ensure justice and reparation for victims, trials of those suspected of war crimes must adhere to international standards for fair trial.”
Kharkiv governor: Izium mass grave site is 'bloody, brutal terror'
At the mass grave site in Izium, about 99% of the bodies exhumed today showed signs of a violent death, said Oleg Synegubov, the regional governor, on Telegram.
“This is bloody, brutal terror,” he said. Synegubov described how many of the graves weren’t even marked with names – just with numbers.
While authorities said some of those buried at the grave site had likely been killed by shelling and airstrikes, investigators have prepared themselves for the worst, after the discoveries of dead civilians bearing signs of torture in Bucha and other previously occupied territories.
Synegubov said that today, exhumers uncovered several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person “with a rope around his neck.” “Obviously, these people were tortured and executed,” he said “There are also children among the buried.”
Investigators will conduct forensic examinations on the exhumed bodies. “After the identities of the dead have been identified, all of them will be buried with due respect,” Synegubov said. “Each death will be investigated and will become evidence of Russia’s war crimes in international courts.”
"A tear that glistens on the nose of a tired gravedigger - that's the summary of this day," wrote our journalist Hanna Sokolova who is covering now the exhumation of the bodies from the mass burial of civilians and soldiers killed #Izyum during the occupation
— zaborona_media (@zaborona_media) September 16, 2022
📷: Zaborona pic.twitter.com/eLH32sMNSL
Updated
Investigators and exhumers are still hard at work at the mass grave site discovered at Izium, one of the many recently liberated villages in the Kharkiv region. Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian parliament commissioner for human rights, described finding an entire family, killed in an airstrike, buried together.
“This is a young family,” he wrote on Telegram. “The father was born in 1988, the wife was born in 1991, their little daughter was born in 2016, and their parents. We have testimonies from local people that they all died as a result of an airstrike carried out by planes of the military army of the Russian Federation. There are many, many similar cases.”
Lubinets said investigators have also exhumed the bodies of Ukrainian army servicemen, who were killed at close range, with their hands tied.
“This is the genocide of the Ukrainian nation,” Lubinets said. “These are the murders of our children, our women, our men, and this is the civilian population.”
Putin: Russian invasion of Ukraine was response to West
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday said he sent Russian forces into Ukraine in February in response to the West wanting to break up Russia, Reuters is reporting.
Putin was speaking at a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Discussing the war publicly for the first time since Ukraine’s dramatic counter-offensive ousted Russian troops from the Kharkiv region last week, Putin threatened continued strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure, and said: “We will see how (Ukraine’s counteroffensive) ends.”
US to provide an addition $600m in security assistance to Ukraine
The US department of defence announced today that it was providing an additional $600m security assistance to Ukraine to meet the country’s “critical security and defence needs”.
According to the defence department, this package will include:
Additional ammunition for high mobility artillery rocket systems (HIMARS)
36,000 105mm artillery rounds
1,000 precision-guided 155mm artillery rounds
Four counter-artillery radars
Four trucks and eight trailers to transport heavy equipment
Counter-unmanned aerial Systems
Mine-clearing equipment
Claymore anti-personnel munitions
Demolition munitions and equipment
Small arms and ammunition
Night-vision devices, cold weather gear, and other field equipment
In total, the Biden administration has committed about $15.8n in security assistance to Ukraine – $15.1bn since the beginning of Russian invasion on 24 February. Since 2014, the US has committed about $17.9bn in security assistance to Ukraine.
Zelenskiy on Izium: 'The whole world should see this'
Warning: graphic images
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy posted images today of bodies exhumed from the mass grave site discovered at Izium, condemning Russia as “murderers” and “torturers”.
Investigators have prepared themselves for the worst here in Izium, one of the recently liberated territories in the Kharkiv region, after the discoveries of dead civilians bearing signs of torture in Bucha and other previously occupied territories.
Oleg Synegubov, the regional governor, said some of the more than 440 bodies buried in a forest near the north-eastern city also had their hands tied behind their backs, an indicator that some of those buried at this site may not have just died in shelling and airstrikes as previously thought.
“The whole world should see this,” Zelenskiy wrote on Telegram. “A world in which there should be no cruelty and terrorism. But all this is there. And its name is Russia.”
He continued:
More than 400 bodies were found at the mass burial site in Izium. With signs of torture, children, those killed as a result of missile attacks, warriors of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Russia leaves only death and suffering. Murderers. Torturers. Deprived of everything human. You won’t run away. You won’t hide. Retribution will be justly dreadful. For every Ukrainian, for every tortured soul.
Exhumation of hundreds of unmarked graves near Izyum. Witnesses confirmed to me that they saw people people being shot on the streets by Russians. Others died from shelling and a lack of access to healthcare. So horrible, I can hardly breath. pic.twitter.com/BeCf21FBuO
— Maria Avdeeva (@maria_avdv) September 16, 2022
Updated
The water of the Inhulets river turned red two days after Russian missiles struck hydraulic structures in Kryvyi Rih in a targeted attack on the infrastructure of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s hometown.
📸 Water in the #Inhulets River in Kryvyi Rih has turned red. pic.twitter.com/J0fdaqGFIj
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) September 16, 2022
Water in the Inhulets river turned red after Russian missiles damaged the dam near Kryvyi Rih
— Euromaidan Press (@EuromaidanPress) September 16, 2022
📷https://t.co/breeHLjGFH pic.twitter.com/1l7jMM1QTq
It’s unclear why the river changed colours following the attack, which caused the river level to rise by five metres, flooding parts of the city and prompting evacuation. But beyond the flooding, the residents of this region relied on those water facilities for their clean water, and temporarily lost access to their tap water.
Oleksandr Vilkul, the head of the Kryvyi Rih military administration, said on Telegram Friday that “the city’s water supply has been stabilised”.
Updated
Switzerland suspends easing of entry rules for Russians
Switzerland on Friday aligned itself with the European Union in suspending a 2009 agreement easing rules for Russian citizens to enter the Alpine country.
“The suspension of the agreement does not mean a general visa freeze for Russians but rather they will need to use the ordinary visa procedure to enter Switzerland,” the country’s federal council said in a statement.
The EU took a similar step earlier, suspending a visa facilitation deal with Russia but stopping short of a wider via ban in response to Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.
“Switzerland has every interest in contributing to a common and uniform visa policy at the European level,” said the government in a media release. “Otherwise, it would risk being faced with an increase in the number of visa applications submitted to its representations abroad by Russian nationals seeking to circumvent EU decisions.”
Updated
There were reports on Friday of a “powerful explosion” in the Russian-occupied Melitopol, a city in the southern Zaporizhzhia oblast, said Ivan Fedorov, mayor of Melitopol.
This comes on the heels of attacks in Kherson and Luhansk that killed at least three individuals who were working for the Russian-backed separatist authorities – in additional to the Berdiansk killings of a deputy administrator and his wife, who headed the city’s territorial election commission for the referendum to join Russia.
The Russian-backed separatist authorities in all these regions have laid the blame squarely on Kyiv for all these attacks, but Ukraine has yet to claim responsibility.
While details remain scant in the Melitopol explosion, Federov was optimistic on Telegram. “We are waiting for good news,” he wrote.
Updated
Reuters has just sent an advisory to say that it is withdrawing the story it reported earlier, and which we carried in this live blog, that bodies had been found with rope around their necks in Izium.
The advisory note reads “This story is being withdrawn because Reuters reporters did not see the bodies with rope around their necks.”
We are awaiting further clarification.
Russia accuses Ukraine of targeting pro-Moscow officials
Luke Harding is in Kharkiv for the Guardian, and this is his latest report:
Russia has accused Ukraine of carrying out targeted strikes in the cities of Kherson and Luhansk against top local officials who have been collaborating with Moscow.
At least five Himars missiles crashed into the central administration building in Kherson, which Russian troops have occupied since March after arriving from Crimea. Video from the scene showed smoke pouring out of the complex and debris.
On the other side of the country, in the eastern city of Luhansk, a pro-Russian prosecutor died together with his deputy when their office was blown up. The cause of the explosion was not immediately clear.
The Kremlin news agency Itar-Tass said Sergey Gorenko died at the scene. He was prosecutor general for the so-called Luhansk People’s Republic, a puppet regime established by Russia in 2014.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s senior adviser, Mikhailo Podolyak, said Ukraine was not behind Friday’s mysterious explosion in Luhansk. It was caused by an internal mafia dispute, or was an attempt to get rid of witnesses, he suggested.
“Elimination of so-called ‘LNR prosecutor general’ and his deputy should be considered as showdowns of local organised criminal groups that could not share looted property before a large-scale escape,” Podolyak posted on Twitter. He added: “Or as Russian Federation’s purge of witnesses to war crimes. Investigation will show …”
The twin attacks are likely to unnerve Russia’s local proxies in Ukraine.
The Kremlin had been planning to stage referendums in Kherson and the neighbouring Zaporizhzhia region, as well as in Donetsk and Luhansk, which Moscow has effectively part-controlled for eight years.
But these state-building measures, in which occupied areas would be folded into Russia, have been dropped as a result of military defeats. Ukraine’s armed forces have recaptured almost all of the Kharkiv region in a stunning counter-offensive.
Read more of Luke Harding’s report from Kharkiv: Russia accuses Ukraine of targeting pro-Moscow officials
Reuters has a quick snap to report that Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently told India’s Narendra Modi that he wanted the conflict in Ukraine to end as soon as possible, but that Ukraine was set on achieving its objectives on the battlefield, according to an Indian TV translation of Putin’s comments at a bilateral meeting.
Earlier today, Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, urged people “don’t look away” from the images emerging from liberated Ukrainian cities like Izium.
She said “This is the face of Russian occupation: towns and cities turned into mass graves. Ukraine has used our military aid with skill and determination. Ukraine can win if we keep supporting them.”
This is Martin Belam here with you for the next hour or so. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
• This post was amended on 16 September 2022 after initially erroneously describing Kaja Kallas as Finland’s prime minister. Finland’s prime minister is Sanna Marin.
Updated
Today so far …
Multiple bodies have been found in the Izium mass grave site. While authorities said some had been killed by shelling and airstrikes, investigators have prepared themselves for the worst, after the discoveries of dead civilians bearing signs of torture in Bucha and other previously occupied territories.
The prosecutor general of the Russian-backed separatist authority in the Luhansk oblast and his deputy were both killed by a bomb blast at their offices on Friday. Local officials of the Russian-backed separatist authority were already blaming Kyiv for the deaths of Sergey Gorenko and Ekaterina Steglenko.
More than 360km (224 miles) south, the Russian-backed separatist authority in Berdiansk was also blaming Kyiv for the “double murder” of the deputy head of the military civil administration, and his wife, who headed the city’s territorial election commission for the referendum.
Ukraine has not taken responsibility for these four killings, nor the earlier attack in Kherson that left at least one dead and several injured – and that the Russian-backed authority there is also blaming Kyiv for.
The prosecutor general’s office of Ukraine has released new figures for children killed and injured since Russia invaded the country on 24 February. The largest number of casualties involving children have come out of the Donetsk oblast in the south-east, which Ukrainian intelligence believes Russia is still focused on occupying fully.
This post was edited at 3pm BST on 16 September after a clarification from Reuters news agency. See this post for further details
Updated
Ukrainian police and forensic experts were helping to exhume the bodies at the site in Izium marked by wooden crosses where authorities said they had found a mass grave containing more than 440 bodies. While authorities said some had been killed by shelling and airstrikes, investigators have prepared themselves for the worst, after the discoveries of slain civilians bearing signs of torture in Bucha and other previously occupied territories.
This post was edited at 3pm BST on 16 September after a clarification from Reuters news agency. See this post for further details
Updated
In the past few hours, at least five Russian-installed officials have been killed in Russian-occupied territory through the south of Ukraine, hundreds of kilometres from each other in Luhansk, in Kherson and in Berdiansk. The Russian-backed separatist authorities blame Kyiv for these deaths.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for any of these attacks.
In a single day at least 5 Russian-installed officials have been killed on occupied Ukrainian territory. Two in Luhansk, one in Kherson, & two more in Berdyansk. Ukraine has not claimed responsibility but this is sure to undermine Russian morale just as Kyiv presses its offensive
— Matthew Luxmoore (@mjluxmoore) September 16, 2022
A bad day for Russian-installed officials in Ukraine today:
— Felix Light (@felix_light) September 16, 2022
- Luhansk People's Republic Prosecutor General and his deputy killed in bomb attack in their office
- "Several" killed and injured in apparent rocket strike on Kherson administration building
Deputy head of Russian-installed authority in Berdiansk killed along with his wife
The Russian-backed separatist authority in Berdiansk has on Friday accused Kyiv of killing the deputy head of military civil administration, and his wife, who headed the city’s territorial election commission for the referendum to join Russia, the city administration said on Telegram.
The city administration did not provide details for how Oleg Boyko and his wife, Lyudmila Boyko, were killed in their garage in Berdiansk, which is located in the Zaporizhzhia oblast in the south of Ukraine. But the city administration described the killings as a “double murder”.
“This terrible crime will not go unpunished and unanswered,” the post reads.
Updated
One day ago, with Ukrainian forces quickly closing in, Leonid Pasechnik, the leader of the Russian-backed separatist authority in the Luhansk oblast, addressed concerns, insisting repeatedly that “there is no reason to panic”. Today, a bomb set off at administrative offices killed the Moscow-installed prosecutor general, Sergey Gorenko, and his deputy.
One day after this, Pasechnik blames "Kyiv" and "terrorism" for a bomb blast that killed the LPR's prosecutor general and his deputy in the very centre of Luhansk city. https://t.co/SaPy0X4zEu
— Felix Light (@felix_light) September 16, 2022
“‘There is no reason to panic’, well well …” Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk oblast, posted on Telegram yesterday. “Luhansk oblast is coming home and it is inevitable!”
Updated
The prosecutor general’s office of Ukraine has released new figures for children killed and injured since Russia invaded the country on 24 February. The largest number of casualties involving children have come out of the Donetsk oblast in the south-east, which Ukrainian intelligence believes Russia is still focused on occupying fully.
⚡️ Prosecutor General’s Office: Russia’s war has killed 384 children, injured 753 since Feb. 24.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 16, 2022
The largest number of casualties was reported in Donetsk Oblast, where 393 children have been killed or injured.
Just on Sept. 14-15, in Kharkiv Oblast, as a result of Russia’s shelling, three children were wounded, the Prosecutor General’s Office reported.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 16, 2022
The number of children killed and injured by Russia is expected to be higher and does not include casualties in Russian-occupied areas and near the front line.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 16, 2022
Updated
Death toll in Luhansk bombing rises
The prosecutor general of the Russian-backed separatist authority in the Luhansk oblast and his deputy were both killed by a bomb blast at their offices on Friday, Reuters is reporting.
Sergei Gorenko “died from his injuries as a result of an explosion at his office,” a spokesperson for the emergency services said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. A colonel in the separatist Luhansk interior ministry told the state-run TASS news agency that Gorenko’s deputy had also been killed.
Russian agencies quoted emergency services and local officials as saying the blast had been caused by a bomb.
Updated
Russian state media is reporting that the Sergey Gorenko, the prosecutor general of the pro-Russian separatist authority in the Luhansk oblast, was killed today in a bombing at his office.
⚡️⚡️⚡️ As a result of an explosion in the prosecutor's office building in #Luhansk, the "Prosecutor General of the #LPR" Sergey Gorenko was killed, #Russian state media reported. pic.twitter.com/xmkm5gHa2c
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 16, 2022
Report: Separatist prosecutor general killed by bomb in Luhansk oblast
The prosecutor general of the pro-Russian separatist authorities in the Luhansk oblast in eastern Ukraine was killed by a bomb at his office on Friday, the Russian Interfax news agency is reporting.
Unverified video footage appears to show damage to the building that houses the prosecutor’s office there.
More to come.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
Prosecutors, police officers and journalists are heading to Izium after authorities there said they had found a mass grave containing more than 440 bodies. Some of the people had been killed by shelling and airstrikes, authorities said. Serhiy Bolvinov, the chief police investigator for Kharkiv province, said that forensic investigations would be carried out on every body in the grave, which was reportedly located in woods near the city.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy likened the discovery to what happened in Bucha, on the outskirts of Kyiv, saying in his 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.”
Andriy Yermak, presidential chief of staff in Ukraine, accused Russia of being “a murderer country, a state sponsor of terrorism.”
Russian news agencies are reporting that Ukraine struck at administrative buildings in the centre of occupied Kherson in the south of the country. The RIA Novosti agency says that at least one person was killed and another was injured as a result of the strike. Unverified video footage has emerged on social media which appears to show damage to the buildings and at least one body.
In a statement Kherson’s Russian-appointed local administration said a meeting was taking place of city and district officials when the explosion happened. Ukraine regards all those collaborating with the Russians as traitors. Natalia Humeniuk, press spokesperson for Ukraine’s operational command in the south, declined to comment on the Russian reports.
There are also unconfirmed reports and unverified video footage that appear to show that an explosion has struck the prosecutor’s office in occupied Luhansk.
Iryna Vereshchuk, minister of reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, has said that Ukraine’s government has approved a draft law that will punish people for forcing Russian passports on to Ukrainian citizens.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said that Ukraine’s counter-attack against Russian troops had been very effective, but warned nations should prepare for the long haul as this did not signal the beginning of the end of the war. He said “We need to understand that this is not the beginning of the end of the war, we need to be prepared for the long haul.”
Germany has taken the German subsidiary of the Russian oil giant Rosneft under state control, putting three refineries into a trusteeship ahead of a partial European embargo on Russian oil at the end of the year. The federal network regulator will become the temporary trust manager of Rosneft Germany and its share of refineries in Schwedt, near Berlin, in Karlsruhe and in Vohburg, Bavaria, Germany’s ministry for economic affairs announced on Friday.
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.
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.”
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 the recent setbacks for Moscow on the battlefield.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Vivian Ho will be taking you through the next few hours of our coverage.
As well as the reports of Ukrainian strikes on occupied Kherson, there are also as-yet-unconfirmed reports of an explosion in Luhansk that has targeted the pro-Russian separatist authorities there. Unverified video footage appears to show damage to the building that houses the prosecutor’s office there.
More details soon …
Updated
Nexta has republished footage from the RIA Novosti agency, whom they term “Russian propagandists”, which purports to show the aftermath of a strike in the centre of occupied Kherson on the buildings being used by the Russian-imposed authorities there.
#Russian propagandists publish footage of explosions in the center of occupied #Kherson. pic.twitter.com/UgXw6xH5gm
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) September 16, 2022
UN says it intends to send human rights monitors to Izium
A spokesperson for the UN human rights office said it plans to send monitors to Izium, where authorities say they have found a mass grave containing 440 bodies.
“They are aiming to go there to try to establish a bit more about what may have happened,” Reuters reports Liz Throssell told a Geneva press briefing, without giving a timeframe.
She said she could not confirm if the bodies were contained in one mass grave or in a series of individual graves.
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has posted to Telegram to praise Ukraine’s armed forces for pushing back Russia in Kharkiv, and accusing Russia again of war crimes. He writes:
As of today, almost the entire region [of Kharkiv] is de-occupied. It was an unprecedented movement of our warriors – Ukrainians once again managed to do what many considered impossible.
The Russian army has been in the Kharkiv region for more than five months. And during this time, the occupiers did not even try to do anything for the people. They only destroyed, only deprived, only took away. They left behind devastated villages, and in some of them there is not a single undamaged house. Russia cannot bring anything else except for genocide.
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure since it invaded Ukraine in February in what it describes as a “special military operation”.
Natalia Humeniuk, press spokesperson for Ukraine’s operational command in the south, declined to comment on Russian reports of a strike this morning on the main administration building in Kherson. The Moscow agency Ria Novosti said Ukraine had targeted it with Himars missiles.
Local Telegram channels posted footage taken by Russian forces. It showed smoke billowing out of the city’s main government area, which includes the administration building and the appeals court. At least one body was visible on the street, as well as debris.
In a statement, Kherson’s Russian-appointed local administration said a meeting was taking place of city and district officials when the explosion happened. Ukraine regards all those collaborating with the Russians as traitors.
Russian troops have occupied Kherson since early March. Their position has become increasingly precarious after Ukraine destroyed four bridges connecting the city with the bulk of Russia’s forces on the opposite bank of the Dnipro River.
Updated
Ukraine strikes at administration buildings in occupied Kherson – reports
Russia’s Tass news agency is reporting that there have been explosions in the centre of the occupied city of Kherson.
The RIA Novosti agency has a similar report. It says:
At least one person was killed and another was injured as a result of the strike of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the centre of Kherson by Himars missiles. At least five shells fell near the regional administration.
Ekaterina Gubareva, deputy head of the military-civilian administration of the region told RIA Novosti one of the missiles hit the building of the Military Administration.
There are video clips being posted to social media and by RIA Novosti which appear to show damage to the buildings, at least one body, and a person with injuries. The location and time that the video was taken has not been verified.
Lorenzo Tondo is in Ukraine for the Guardian:
Prosecutors, police officers and journalists are heading to Izium after authorities there said they had found a mass grave containing more than 440 bodies. Some of the people had been killed by shelling and airstrikes, authorities said.
Serhiy Bolvinov, the chief police investigator for Kharkiv province, told Sky News that forensic investigations would be carried out on every body in the grave, which was reportedly located in woods near the city.
Izium was described as a second Mariupol when it was bombarded in March. Law enforcement agencies are trying to establish what happened during the seven months of Russian occupation and whether there were instances of torture and executions as well as deaths due to shelling.
Updated
Iryna Vereshchuk, who is minister of reintegration of temporarily occupied territories, has posted to Telegram to say that Ukraine’s government has approved a draft law that will punish people for forcing Russian passports on to Ukrainian citizens.
It sets prison terms of between 10 and 15 years for civil servants who have accepted Russian passports.
The law also sets out punishment of eight to 12 years in prison for “forcing Ukrainian citizens to obtain a Russian passport” and for “creating conditions under which failure to obtain a Russian passport will reduce the rights of a citizen of Ukraine”.
Updated
Here are some of the latest images we have ben sent over the newswires from Ukraine.
These are the quotes that Sky News is carrying from Serhii Bolvinov, Ukraine’s chief police investigator for the Kharkiv region. He told reporters:
I can say that there is one of the biggest burials in one liberated city, which contains more than 440 graves. Some 440 bodies were buried in one place.
We know that some were shot dead, some died because of artillery fire, so-called mine explosion traumas. Some died because of airstrikes. Also we have information that a lot of bodies have not been not identified yet. So the reasons of death will be established during the investigations.
Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg has said that Ukraine’s counter-attack against Russian troops had been very effective, but warned nations should prepare for the long haul as this did not signal the beginning of the end of the war.
“It is of course extremely encouraging to see that Ukrainian armed forces have been able to take back territory and also strike behind Russian lines,” Reuters reports Stoltenberg told BBC radio.
“At the same time, we need to understand that this is not the beginning of the end of the war, we need to be prepared for the long haul.”
Updated
Here is our video report on the discovery of a mass burial site in Izium after it was recaptured from Russian forces.
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.
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) September 15, 2022
Росія – країна-вбивця. Держава-спонсор тероризму. pic.twitter.com/MP1IKhZJwM
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 16 September 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 16, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/fKjElmBzVF
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/VVHTR6O1Z0
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
Updated
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
