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Ukraine says its forces are advancing on the east bank of the Oskil The governor says that forces are entering towns near Lysychansk The separatist leader is calling for an emergency referendum on joining Russia
IZIUM, Ukraine, Sept 20 (Reuters) – Ukraine said its troops had advanced further east into territory recently ceded by Russia, paving the way for a possible offensive against Moscow’s occupation forces in the Donbass region as Kyiv seeks more western weapons. In a sign of nervousness by a Moscow-backed government in the Donbass over the success of Ukraine’s recent offensive, its leader has called for emergency referendums to make the region part of Russia. “The occupiers are clearly in a panic,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a televised address late Monday, adding that he was now focusing on “speed” in the liberated areas. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up “The speed with which our troops are moving. The speed in restoring normal life,” Zelensky said. The Ukrainian leader also hinted he would use a video address to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday to call on countries to speed up arms and aid deliveries. “We are doing everything to ensure that Ukraine’s needs are met at all levels – defense, economic, financial, diplomatic,” Zelensky said. Serhiy Gaidai, the Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, a province in the Donbas now under the control of Russian troops, said Ukraine’s armed forces have regained full control of Luhansk’s Bilohorivka village and are preparing to fight to retake the entire province . “There will be battles for every centimeter,” Gaidai wrote on Telegram. “The enemy is preparing their defenses. Therefore, we will not simply enter.” In another major milestone in the counteroffensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s armed forces said troops crossed the Oskil River over the weekend. The river flows south into the Siversky Donets, which crosses the Donbas, the main focus of Russia’s invasion. Beyond is Luhansk, a base for Russia’s separatist proxies since 2014 and fully in Russian hands since July after some of the bloodiest fighting of the war. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports of the two sides. Denis Pushilin, head of the Moscow-based separatist administration in Donetsk, called on his fellow separatist leader in Luhansk to combine efforts to prepare a referendum on joining Russia. read more “Our actions should be synchronized,” Poussin said in a video posted on social media on Monday.
GRIM GRAVES
Ukraine is still assessing what happened in areas that were under Russian control for months before a rout of Russian troops dramatically changed the dynamics of the war earlier this month. In a huge makeshift cemetery in forests near the recaptured city of Izium, Ukrainian medical examiners have so far dug up 146 bodies buried without coffins, Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Synehubov said on Monday. About 450 graves have been found at the site, Zelensky said read more Fanning out in groups under the trees, workers used shovels to dig up the partially decomposed bodies, some of which locals said had been lying in the city streets long after they died before being buried. The government has not yet said how most of the people died, although officials say dozens were killed by the shelling of an apartment building and there are indications that others were killed by shrapnel. According to preliminary examinations, four showed signs of torture, with their hands tied behind their backs, or in one case a rope tied around their necks, Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the police investigation in the Kharkiv region, told Reuters at the burial site. Bolvinov said the vast majority of the bodies appeared to be civilians. Locals identify their dead by matching the names to the numbers on flimsy wooden crosses that mark the graves. read more “Soldiers had their hands tied, there were signs of torture on civilians,” Bolvinov said. Ukraine says 17 soldiers were in a mass grave at the site. read more Reuters was unable to confirm Ukraine’s allegations of torture. The Kremlin denied on Monday that Russia was responsible for the atrocities Ukraine says it has unleashed on territory it has recaptured. “It is a lie and of course we will defend the truth in this story,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, comparing the claims to incidents earlier in the war where Russia claimed without evidence that the atrocities were organized by Ukrainians.
ALARM FOR A NUCLEAR FACILITY
Ukraine blamed Russian forces on Monday for shelling near the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear power plant in the country’s southern Mykolaiv region. An explosion occurred 300 meters away from the reactors and destroyed the power plant buildings shortly after midnight on Monday, Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom said in a statement. The reactors were not damaged and no personnel were injured, it said, posting photos showing a huge crater it said was caused by the explosion. “Russia endangers the whole world. We must stop it before it’s too late,” Zelensky said in a social media post. The strikes will heighten global concern over the possibility of a nuclear disaster, already heightened by fighting around another Ukrainian nuclear plant in the south, Zaporizhzhia, seized by Russian forces in March. Moscow has ignored international calls for its withdrawal and demilitarization. In a new setback for Zaporizhzhia, the IAEA said a power line used to power the plant was disconnected on Sunday, leaving it without grid backup power. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Report from Reuters offices. Written by Frank Jack Daniel and Rami Ayyub. Edited by Cynthia Osterman Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
