Two humanitarian workers, a Canadian and a Spanish woman, were killed in eastern Ukraine in an attack attributed by kyiv to Russian troops on Sunday.
Kiev accused Russian forces on Sunday September 10 of killing two humanitarian workers, a Canadian and a Spanish woman, in eastern Ukraine, calling their deaths a “painful and irreparable loss”. The day was also marked by various military operations, as well as controversial elections in Ukrainian regions occupied by Russian forces. Here’s what you need to remember.
Two humanitarian workers killed near Bakhmut
Two aid workers, a Canadian and a Spanish woman, were killed near Bakhmut, in eastern Ukraine, in an attack attributed by kyiv to Russian troops on Sunday. The two victims, Anthony Ihnat and Emma Igual, worked for the NGO Road to Relief. The attack took place Saturday morning in Tchassiv Yar, near Bakhmout, according to the NGO. “Following a direct hit, the vehicle overturned and caught fire”, she clarified. Emma Igual, 32, was the director and co-founder of the structure, dedicated to evacuating civilians away from the front line.
The group of aid workers had left Sloviansk and headed to Bakhmut to assess the needs of civilians “caught in the exchange of fire” in the town of Ivanivske. Road to Relief announced that two of its volunteers, Ruben Mawick, a German national, and Johan Mathias Thyr, a Swedish national, had also been “injured by shrapnel and burns”.
Moscow claims attacks, kyiv says “advance”
Russia claimed to have destroyed three military speedboats in the Black Sea overnight from Saturday to Sunday, with Ukrainian soldiers on board who were heading towards annexed Crimea, according to the Russian army. The Russian military also announced that eight Ukrainian drones had been shot down by air defense over Crimea and another in the Bryansk region, which borders Ukraine.
The Ukrainian army accused Russian forces of having launched 32 explosive drones on its territory, mainly in the kyiv region, during the night from Saturday to Sunday. Of this total, “25 were destroyed by Ukrainian air defense forces”, affirmed the Ukrainian general staff. According to the kyiv military administration, an apartment was damaged by falling debris, as were cars and trolleybus cables. One person was injured.
On the front,Ukraine has mentioned an advance of its troops against the Russians in the south of the country. “We are moving forward! The defense forces in the Tavria sector have advanced by more than a kilometer”welcomed the general in charge of the counter-offensive in this region.
Putin’s party leads in the occupied regions
President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party came out on top on Sunday evening in regional elections held in the four territories annexed by Moscow in Ukraine, according to Russia’s Central Election Commission. Despite strong condemnations from the West, Russia proclaimed in September 2022 the annexation of four Ukrainian territories that it only partially controls (Zaporizhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk), following “referendums” not recognized by the International community.
With these elections spread over three days, from Friday to Sunday, Moscow is trying to legitimize its annexations in Ukraine by having the occupied territories in the East and the South vote. The future municipal and regional elected officials will in theory have the possibility of appointing the governors and mayors of the municipalities. kyiv and its allies have already denounced the elections “illegal”.
Turkey wants to relaunch the Black Sea grain deal
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for “marginalize” Russia in the talks to revive the agreement on the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea. He announced the organization of an upcoming meeting on the subject with Russian, Ukrainian and UN representatives, without specifying the date or location. Any initiative that would isolate Moscow in this case “will not be viable”he warned, after the close of the G20 summit in New Delhi, and a few days after having traveled to Sochi (Russia) to meet with Vladimir Putin.
Negotiated under the aegis of Ankara and the UN in the summer of 2022, this agreement aimed to secure grain exports from kyiv via Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea. Russia pulled out of the deal, crucial for global food supplies, in July, saying international market access for its own agricultural products and fertilizers was hampered by Western sanctions.