The Ukrainian president said on Wednesday, September 7 that kyiv forces had retaken several localities in the Kharkiv region, in northeastern Ukraine, from Russian troops. In parallel, the party of Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed Wednesday the holding of referendums in the occupied Ukrainian territories to attach them to Russia. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of Wednesday September 7 on the front of the war in Ukraine.
Accusations of Ukrainian children forcibly transferred to Russia “credible” according to the UN
There are “credible accusations” single children forcibly transferred from Ukraine to Russia, said the United Nations Under-Secretary General for Human Rights on Wednesday, September 7, expressing concern about their possible adoption by Russian families. These transfers would take place “to the territory occupied by Russia or to the Russian Federation itself”clarified Ilze Brands Kehris at a UN Security Council meeting on forced displacement in Ukraine.
“We are concerned that the Russian authorities have adopted a simplified procedure for granting Russian citizenship to children who are not in the custody of their parents, and that these children are eligible for adoption by Russian families”, she added. She also specified that the High Commissioner for Human Rights, of which she is a member, had been able to “to confirm” that the Russian armed forces had set up centers of “triage”a form of security screening and collection of personal and biometric data.
Volodymyr Zelensky claims that several localities were recaptured from the Russians near Kharkiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday that kyiv forces had recaptured several localities in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine from Russian troops, without giving any details. “This week we have good news from the Kharkiv region”, said the Ukrainian president in his evening video speech broadcast on social networks. Refusing to name them, he referred to “localities where the Ukrainian flag returned”.
Observers have reported in recent days of a supposed breakthrough of Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region, without this information being verifiable from an independent source.
Ukraine denies Russia’s accusations over grain export
Ukraine on Wednesday refuted the accusations of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who assured, on the same day, that grain exports from kyiv were mainly going to EU countries, retorting that two thirds of deliveries went to African and Asian countries. “In total, two thirds of the ships sent are directed to Asia, Africa and the Middle East”assured the Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kouleba, quoted in a press release, insisting on the fact that these exports from kyiv had “had a positive effect on reducing prices” food.
“Russian lies about sending Ukrainian grain only to Europe simply do not correspond to reality”, he said. He notably cited China, Egypt, Iran, India and even Somalia and Libya among the countries which, according to him, received cargoes of Ukrainian cereals.
Vladimir Putin proposes a referendum on the annexation of Ukrainian territories
Lhe party of Vladimir Putin, United Russia, proposed on Wednesday to organize referendums on November 4 in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russian forces to attach them to Russia.
“Donetsk, Lugansk and many other Russian cities will finally find their home port. And the Russian world, today divided by formal borders, will regain its integrity”according to the party, Secretary of the General Council of United Russia, Andrei Turchak, as Russia celebrates November 4 as National Unity Day. For weeks, the administration has been saying that it is preparing these referendums, in a scenario already implemented in 2014 during the annexation of Crimea.
Ukraine admits hitting Russian bases in Crimea for the first time
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valery Zaluzhny, for the first time admitted on Wednesday that he had carried out missile strikes that targeted Russian bases in annexed Crimea in August, threatening to continue this type of operation. Ukraine has “successfully carried out missile strikes on enemy military bases, in particular on Saki airfield”he wrote in an article published by the state-run news agency Ukrinform.
Explosions had sounded at the beginning of August on this Russian aerodrome located in Crimea and had caused one death and several injuries and destroyed in particular ammunition intended for military aviation. kyiv had so far not officially acknowledged responsibility for this attack, nor for another which hit an ammunition depot in northern Crimea a few days later. “The task of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 2023” is to continue to “move hostilities” towards this peninsula, where Moscow has “significant groups of troops” for his invasion, added Valery Zaloujny.
Kyiv offers international mission to Zaporizhia
The day after the publication of the IAEA report, kyiv on Wednesday proposed an international mission to the site of the Zaporijjia nuclear power plant, where the population was called to evacuate against a backdrop of the risk of escalation between Russians and Ukrainians. “We propose to create an international mission with the participation of the EU, the UN and other organizations. This would facilitate the withdrawal of the Russian army from the power plant and the territory around it within a radius of 30 km “Prime Minister Denys Shmygal told a meeting of the Ukrainian government.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk, for her part, called for the establishment of“a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of the civilian population from the territory temporarily occupied (by the Russians) and adjacent to the nuclear power plant”. “Evacuate! Find a way to gain access to the territories controlled (by Kyiv)”she launched to the inhabitants of the area on Telegram.
The EU is preparing a new financial aid of 5 billion euros
“The situation in Ukraine requires our full support”warned thea President of the European Commission. Ursula von der Leyen proposed on Wednesday that the European Union provide financial aid of five billion euros for to help Ukraine deal with the consequences of the war.
This aid, in the form of loans, must still be approved by the Twenty-Seven, who have planned to discuss it on Friday at a meeting of finance ministers in Prague. It is the second installment of a maximum nine billion package for 2022 proposed on May 18.
Olivier Véran defends the sanctions against Russia
Questioned after the Council of Ministers on Wednesday noon, the government spokesman listed the consequences of Western sanctions against Russia: “Russia’s GDP is falling, access to essential resources is difficult” did he declare.
“The mere fact that he (Vladimir Poutine) calls for the sanctions to be stopped on the grounds that they would not be effective and that they would weigh more on Europe than Russia encourages us to consider that they are effective”he decided.