Military and diplomatic pressures on Putin mount as Ukraine’s counteroffensive advances

Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) – Pressure mounts on Russian President Vladimir Putin on the battlefield and in the corridors of world power, as Ukrainian forces launched their counter-attack on Saturday to advance further into Ukraine’s partially recaptured northeast.

Western officials and analysts said Russian forces appeared to be establishing a new defensive line in northeastern Ukraine after a counterattack that hit the previous offensive, allowing Kyiv’s soldiers to retake swathes of territory in the northeastern Kharkiv region bordering Russia.

Putin, at a high-level summit in Uzbekistan this week, vowed to press his attack on Ukraine despite recent military setbacks, but he has also faced concerns from India and China over the protracted conflict.

“I know this afternoon is not a war,” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told the Russian leader in televised remarks as they met on Friday in Uzbekistan. “We discussed this with you on the phone several times, that democracy and dialogue touch the whole world.”

At the same summit the day before, Putin acknowledged China’s unspecified “questions and concerns” about the war in Ukraine while thanking President Xi Jinping for Beijing’s “balanced position” on the conflict.

The rapid withdrawal of Russian forces this month from parts of the northeastern region they captured early in the war, along with rare public reservations expressed by key allies, have highlighted the challenges Putin faces on all fronts. Both China and India have maintained strong relations with Russia and have sought to remain neutral on Ukraine.

In a statement, Xi expressed support for Russia’s “core interests”, but also wanted to work together to “inject stability” into global affairs. Modi said he wanted to discuss “how we can move forward on the path of peace”, adding that the biggest concerns facing the world are problems of food security, fuel and fertilizer security.

“We must find a way out and you must also contribute to that,” Modi stressed in a rare public reprimand.

The comments cast a shadow over the summit, which Putin had hoped would polish his diplomatic profile and show he was not isolated internationally.

On the battlefield, the British Ministry of Defense said the new front line would likely be between the Oskil River and Svatov, 150 kilometers (90 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.

After the withdrawal of Russian forces from the city of Izyum, the Ukrainian authorities discovered a mass grave, one of the largest sites found so far.

President Volodymyr Zelensky said that there were more than 440 cemeteries at the site containing the bodies of hundreds of adult civilians, children, and soldiers, and that some had been tortured, shot, or killed by artillery. He cited evidence of atrocities, such as a body around his neck and the breaking of his arms with a rope.

Ukrainian soldiers stand atop a destroyed Russian tank in a retaken area near the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Saturday, September 17, 2022 (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Torture was a widespread practice in the occupied territories. This is what the Nazis did. That’s what (the Russians) do,” Zelensky said Saturday in his video night address. “We will identify all those who were tortured, mocked, and who brought these atrocities from Russia here to Ukrainian lands.”

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said on Saturday that Ukrainian forces were crossing the Oskil River in the Kharkiv region and placed artillery shells there. The river, which flows south from Russia into Ukraine, has been a natural interruption in the newly emerged front lines since Ukraine launched its counterattack about a week ago.

“It is possible that the Russian forces are too weak to prevent further Ukrainian advances along the entire Oskil River,” the institute said.

Videos circulating online indicated that Ukrainian forces continue to reclaim territory in the besieged east of the country, although their authenticity cannot be independently verified.

One showed a Ukrainian soldier walking near a destroyed building and then pointing to a colleague hanging the blue and yellow Ukrainian flag over a mobile phone tower. The soldier identified the captured village as Dibrova, northeast of the city of Sloviansk in the Donetsk region, Ukraine.

Another video showed two Ukrainian soldiers in what appeared to be a bell tower, and one of them said they had recaptured the village of Shkurov, also northeast of Sloviansk.

Soldiers and artists salute volunteer soldier Oleksandr Shapoval, a ballet dancer and soloist of the National Opera, who was killed in battle in the Donetsk region, during a funeral ceremony at the National Opera in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, September 17. , 2022 (AP Photo/Efrem Lukatsky)

The Ukrainian army and Russia have not commented on the two villages.

On the other hand, Russian forces continued to bombard cities and villages with missiles and shelling.

A Russian missile attack in the early hours of Saturday morning sparked a fire in the industrial zone of Kharkiv, said the region’s governor, Oleh Sinihopov. The firefighters put out the fire.

Sinihopov said the remains indicated that the Russians fired S-300 surface-to-air missiles at the city. The S-300 is designed to hit missiles or planes in the sky, not targets on the ground. Analysts say Russia’s use of the missiles suggests it is running out of some precision munitions.

Sinihopov reported that a bombing of the nearby city of Chohaev later in the day killed an 11-year-old girl.

In the southern Zaporizhia region, a large part of which is occupied by Russian troops, a person was wounded in the bombing of the city of Orekhiv, the governor of the Ukrainian region, Oleksandr Starukh, reported on Telegram. He said that Russian forces also bombed two villages in the area and destroyed several civilian facilities.

Ukrainian soldiers carry a bag containing the body of a Ukrainian soldier, center, as one of them, right, holds the remains of a Russian soldier’s body in a recovered area near the border with Russia in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Saturday, September 17, 2022 (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Explosions have also been reported in Russian-occupied parts of Zaporizhia. Russian official Vladimir Rogov said on Telegram that at least five explosions were heard in the city of Melitopol. Ukrainian Mayor Ivan Fedorov said they were in a village south of the city where Russian forces had transported some military equipment.

The central Ukraine region of Dnipropetrovsk also came under Russian fire overnight, according to its governor, Valentin Reznichenko. He explained that “the enemy attacked six times and fired more than 90 deadly shells on peaceful cities and villages.”

Meanwhile, Ukrainian atomic energy company Energoatom said a convoy of 25 trucks transported diesel and other vital supplies to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – which was shut down a week ago amid fears that close fighting could lead to radiological disaster. .

Energoatom said trucks were allowed to cross Russian checkpoints on Friday to deliver parts to repair damaged power lines, chemicals to run the plant and additional fuel for backup diesel generators.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky attends a national flag-raising ceremony in the newly retaken city of Izyum, Ukraine, September 14, 2022 (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Russian forces took control of the six-reactor plant in March, but it is run by Ukrainian engineers. Its last reactor was shut down on Sunday after repeated power outages due to the bombing put vital safety systems at risk.

The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Saturday that one of the nuclear plant’s four main external power lines has been repaired.

The Russian military accused Ukraine of renewing its artillery bombardment of the power station. The Ukrainian authorities did not immediately address this claim.

In Russia, one person was killed and two others were wounded, Saturday, in shelling, according to Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Russian border region of Belgorod. Gladkov blamed Ukraine. The claim could not be verified.