Ukraine makes more gains, as Russia strikes Kharkiv

President Zelenskyy says Ukrainian forces have recaptured 6,000sq km (2,320sq miles) of territory from Russia in a counteroffensive this month.

“Since the start of September, our soldiers have already liberated 6,000 square kilometres of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and we are moving further,” Zelenskyy said in his daily address.

Ukrainian chief commander General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said on Sunday his troops had retaken more than 3,000sq km (1,160sq miles) this month.

The US assesses that Russia has largely ceded its gains near Kharkiv and many retreating Russian soldiers have exited Ukraine, moving over the border back into Russia, a senior US military official has said.

“Overall, we assess the Ukrainians are making progress as they fight to liberate and reclaim territory in the south and east,” the US military official told reporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, without offering a number.

“On the ground in the vicinity of Kharkiv, we assess that Russian forces have largely ceded their gains to the Ukrainians and have withdrawn to the north and east. Many of these forces have moved over the border into Russia.”

Ukraine claims to have captured many Russian soldiers as part of its lightning advance that forced Moscow to make a hasty retreat.

A spokesman for Ukrainian military intelligence said Russian troops were surrendering en masse as “they understand the hopelessness of their situation”.

A Ukrainian presidential adviser said there were so many POWs that the country was running out of space to accommodate them.

Millions of Russians will no longer be protected by the European Convention on Human Rights, the Council of Europe has said, as Moscow will cease to be a party to the convention on September 16.

Marija Pejcinovic Buric, secretary-general of the Strasbourg-based council, said with its departure from the convention, Moscow “will further isolate itself from the democratic world and deprive more than 140 million Russian citizens of the protection offered by the convention”.

She said the council would continue to support “human rights defenders, democratic forces, free media and independent civil society” members in Russia and “ensure justice and accountability for the people involved”.

In the Ukrainian city of Izyum, the country’s blue and yellow flag has just been raised again over the charred city hall, months after Russian tanks barrelled in.

Gleeful residents rushed to a hill near a mobile phone tower, the only place in town with a signal, to call relatives to share their good news: the Russians are out.

Ukrainian soldiers liberated the eastern city over the weekend as the army reclaimed swaths of territory, part of its lighting counteroffensive to beat back Russian soldiers who invaded on February 24.

For some Izyum residents, the sight of Ukrainian soldiers sparked waves of emotion.

“We welcomed them with tears in our eyes. We had been waiting for them for months … we are very happy,” 61-year-old Nadiya Nesolena told AFP.

Life in the city was “very difficult” under the Russians, Nesolena says, recalling constant shelling, cold and hunger. But she says she was one of the fortunate few, “lucky enough to have a house with a basement and some food”.

Sergey Markov, former adviser to President Vladimir Putin and director of the Institute of Political Studies, says the Russian army should change its strategy.

“On one hand Russia did not give information over this failure because in Russia we had three days of regional elections and the power is not interested in giving negative information to citizens,” Markov said.

“But on the other hand it’s a clear failure and Russia should change strategy. Many analysts here believe that Russia has to escalate its military operation in Ukraine … Russia’s military activities were too polite, too modest,” he added.

“We heard the Ukrainians are advancing towards the border and that in some parts they have reached it, but more than that we can tell you that the mood is very upbeat,” Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel-Hamid says from Kharkiv, adding, “It was a huge success for them.”

“The Ukrainian forces are continuing their counteroffensive but we have very little access if any at all. I believe the thinking among the military is that they will control the message and that the media reporting can only be disruptive,” she said.

“So what we know is what we get from statements and the last one said the Ukrainian army is in control of Izyum,” she said, noting though there were conflicting reports on whether it had taken the whole city or just a part of it.

The bodies of four tortured civilians have been found in the small town of Zaliznychne, in Kharkiv district, after it was liberated by Ukrainian forces, the Kyiv Independent has reported citing the prosecutor general’s office.

“According to local law enforcement, the victims were allegedly killed by Russian troops during the community’s temporary occupation by Russian forces,” it added.

⚡️ Prosecutor General’s Office: Bodies of 4 tortured civilians found in liberated Zaliznychne, Kharkiv Oblast.

According to local law enforcement, the victims were allegedly killed by Russian troops during the community’s temporary occupation by Russian forces.

— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 12, 2022

At least one man died due to Russian shelling in Kharkiv, regional Governor Oleh Synyehubov says on social media, adding that six people were injured.

Earlier, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said on his Telegram channel that densely populated residential areas were under attack as Russian forces’ goal was “to annoy the people of Kharkiv as much as possible for the successes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the front”.

The United Nations has called on European Union countries not to resort to more fossil fuels as they face soaring energy prices amid fears of winter shortages.

Countries in the bloc are in the middle of an escalating standoff with Russia following the latter’s invasion of Ukraine more than six months ago. Moscow has since reduced supplies of gas to EU members, sending prices for the fuel soaring and throwing national economies into deep uncertainty.

Read more here.

The White House has promised to keep up support for Ukraine as Kyiv’s troops press ahead with a multipronged counteroffensive aimed at recapturing territory seized by Russia.

“We’ll leave it to Ukraine to describe their operations but it is clear they are fighting hard to take back territory,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters.

“We will continue to support Ukraine as they continue to defend their democracy against Russian aggression,” she added.

The speed of the Ukrainian military’s counteroffensive in the eastern Kharkiv region has been nothing short of breakneck.

Dozens of towns and villages have reportedly been liberated from Russian forces, who fled eastwards and offered little or no resistance, analysts say.

But the speed and ease with which Ukrainian troops advanced have also raised questions, particularly over the Kremlin’s tactics and Russia’s military capabilities.

Read more here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow is “confidently handling external pressure” from the West over his country’s self-described “special military operation” in Ukraine.

“I would like to emphasise once again that Russia is confidently coping with external pressure, and in fact, we might say, with financial and technological aggression from some countries,” the Russian leader told government officials during a virtual meeting.

“The tactics of economic blitzkrieg did not work, this is already obvious to everyone and to them,” he added.

Western powers, including the United States, the United Kingdom and EU member states, have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia over its offensive.

The World Health Organization (WHO) expects a rise in COVID-19 in Ukraine to peak in October, possibly bringing hospitals close to their capacity threshold, the UN health agency’s director general has said.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told WHO’S Regional Committee for Europe conference in Tel Aviv that oxygen shortages were predicted to occur in line with the envisaged spike in cases, with major supply sources located in parts of the country currently occupied by Russian troops.

Tedros also warned that Moscow’s offensive in Ukraine could increase the spread of polio. Ukraine has low vaccination coverage for COVID-19 and polio, an infectious disease mainly affecting children that can cause paralysis and kill in rare cases.

“We are also deeply concerned about the potential for the international spread of polio due to the gaps in immunisation coverage and mass population movement linked to the war,” he said.

European leaders have approved an unprecedented combination of energy subsidies and financial measures aimed at making the continent less reliant on Russian coal, oil and gas and, increasingly, it looks as though the political will is stiffening to make that independence permanent.

The decoupling may cripple the EU states this winter, with many economists predicting the bloc will suffer a recession, mainly due to high energy costs.

But its leaders also appear to expect handsome political dividends next year, with the war in Ukraine clearly propelling European integration.

Read more here.

Ukraine and Russia are interested in a proposal put forward by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to create a protection zone around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the agency’s chief has said.

“What I see is two sides that are engaging with us, that are asking questions, lots of questions,” Rafael Mariano Grossi told a news conference in Vienna, where the UN nuclear watchdog has its headquarters.

Issues being discussed include the radius of the zone and the role of IAEA staff, Grossi said. Two IAEA officials are currently stationed at the plant and form what the agency calls a continuous presence there.

Asked if his proposal was for a ceasefire rather than the removal of all military equipment or personnel, Grossi said what he was suggesting encompassed a ceasefire.

A Russian-installed official in southern Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region has said there is no reason for concern despite a counteroffensive in the area by Kyiv’s troops.

“In Kherson, there is no panic,” Kirill Stremousov said in a video posted on Telegram.

However, he acknowledged that news from the northeastern Kharkiv region, where Ukrainian troops have recently recaptured swaths of territory, had disturbed some pro-Russian locals.

“It’s calm. Possibly it’s the calm before the storm, but we are ready to stand until the end and will not surrender our Russian city of Kherson to anyone,” Stremousov said.

At least 1,000 people have been killed in Ukraine’s northeastern city of Izyum since Russia launched its offensive in late February, a Ukrainian official has said, two days after Kyiv’s forces recaptured the key supply hub from Moscow’s troops.

“Izyum suffered heavily due to Russian aggression,” Maksym Strelnikov, a member of the city council, told a televised news conference, adding that 80 percent of its infrastructure including the central heating system had been destroyed.

“According to the information we have, at least 1,000 residents, unfortunately, died as a result of fighting, but we believe that an even larger number of people suffered due to not being able to receive necessary medical help as the Russians destroyed all medical institutions in Izyum in March,” he added.

Strelnikov added that only around 10,000 people remained in Izium, about a fifth of the city’s prewar population.  Al Jazeera could not independently verify his report.

Russian shelling has again cut off power and water supplies to Kharkiv, the mayor of Ukraine’s second-largest city has said.

“Last night’s situation is being repeated. Due to the [Russian] strikes … power and water supplies have halted,” Ihor Terekhov said in a Telegram post, adding that emergency services were working to restore the services.

Earlier, Kharkiv’s regional governor had said 80 percent of power in the city had been restored following Russian shelling on Sunday, which followed a large Ukrainian counteroffensive to recapture territory in the area.