The Ukrainian counter-offensive continues on Monday, September 12. kyiv now claims to have taken back 6,000 km² from Russian forces in the east and south of the country. For its part, Russia has declared that it has bombed the areas reconquered by Ukraine. Here’s what to remember from the day.
kyiv claims to have taken back 6,000 km² from Russian forces
Ukraine continues to claim new military successes in the eastern and southern parts of its territory. “Since the beginning of September, our soldiers have already liberated 6,000 km2 of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and we are still moving forward”, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Monday. A little earlier, the Ukrainian army had announced that it had “succeeded in driving the enemy out of more than 20 localities” in twenty-four hours.
The Ukrainian army first announced a counter-offensive in the south, before making a lightning advance in the Kharkiv region over the past week, forcing troops from Moscow to withdraw to other positions. It also claims to be successful in the Kherson region, occupied by Russia and bordering annexed Crimea.
Russian army says bombing areas recaptured by Ukraine
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Monday that strikes were underway in the territories taken over by the Ukrainian army in the past 24 hours. According to a statement, the Kupiansk and Izium regions were targeted.
Russian military intervention in Ukraine will continue “until the objectives initially set are achieved”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the press. He also felt that there was currently no “no prospect of negotiations”.
Positive “signs” for the establishment of a safety zone around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Monday spoke of “signs” positive for the establishment of a protection zone around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhya. The agency is in discussions with kyiv and Moscow on the “different technical characteristics”such as the perimeter of this area or the work of the two IAEA experts present on site, said the director general, Rafael Grossi, during a press conference in Vienna, Austria. In a report published last weekshortly after an on-site mission, the IAEA recommended the establishment of a site protection zone.
Bodies of civilians found with ‘traces of torture’ in liberated village
Four bodies of civilians killed were found with “traces of torture” in the village of Zaliznychné, in the Kharkiv region, recently retaken by kyiv from Russian forces, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office announced on Monday. According to him, the four corpses were found on Sunday and “carried signs of torture”. “Three of them were buried on the territory of family properties, another was buried on the territory of the asphalt factory opposite the railway station”he said on Facebook.
“According to the preliminary version of the investigation, the victims were killed by the Russian military during the occupation of the village”, continued the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office. Russian forces have been accused of multiple abuses during their occupation of the outskirts of kyiv, notably in Boutcha, from where they withdrew at the end of March. Moscow has for its part denied any crime and assured that it is about falsifications.