September 12, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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CNN goes to verify Ukraine's claim on counteroffensive. See what they found
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Follow the latest news on Russia’s war in Ukraine?here?and read more about today’s developments in the posts below.

White House official: Recent Ukrainian advances are "impressive"

The White House cannot say for certain that recent Ukrainian advances represent a major turning point in the war, but a top adviser called the reports “impressive.”

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN on Monday he didn’t know if “we can say that definitively today” the rapid advance was a major turning point.

Earlier on Monday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces?have recaptured 6,000 square kilometers?(around 2,300 square miles)?in the east and south of the country since the start of September.

While Kirby wouldn’t estimate just how much territory the Ukrainians have retaken, he said the operations “had an effect on the Russians, have forced them to push back, certainly have forced them to give up territory and to move away in retreat from where the Ukrainians have been advancing.”

He noted, in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, that even since the early days of the war, Russian soldiers “did not have the unit cohesion, they didn’t have the good leadership, they didn’t have the morale, they were running away from the fight, even in the first couple of weeks in and around Kyiv.”

Asked how significant the blowback could be on Vladimir Putin, Kirby said the Russian president is “having more and more difficulty hiding the size and scale and scope of his failures inside Ukraine from the Russian people.”

It's nighttime in Kyiv. Here's what to know about Ukraine's counteroffensive and other top headlines

Ukrainian forces continue their counteroffensive and President Volodymyr Zelensky says they have re-captured 6,000 square kilometers (around 2,300 square miles) since the beginning of the month.

Meantime, the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remains tense. The head of the UN atomic energy watchdog says he is still “gravely concerned” as long as there is shelling around the plant. He said both countries are interested in establishing some kind of protection zone around the plant, which is currently being held by Russian troops.

Here’s what else to know today:

  • In the eastern Donetsk region: Geolocated images and video show that Ukrainian units have crossed the Siverskiy Donets river to take control of the town of Svyatohirsk.?The capture will further complicate any attempt by the remaining Russian-backed forces to withdraw.
  • In the Kharkiv region: Russian forces have “largely ceded their gains to the Ukrainians” in the vicinity of Kharkiv in the northeast, according to a senior US military official, adding some Russian forces moved back over the border. The official also said the US believes Ukrainian forces “have very likely taken control of Kupiansk and Izium in addition to smaller villages.”
  • Kremlin says Putin is aware of the situation on the frontline:?The Kremlin on Monday insisted that Russia would achieve all of its goals in Ukraine, despite the setback in Kharkiv. “The special military operation continues and will continue until the initial goals are achieved,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with journalists. Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the situation on the frontline, he added.
  • Russia and China’s relationship:?As Russian forces?suffer a string of defeats, Moscow is playing up Beijing’s support for its invasion ahead of a key meeting between Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.
  • Continued tension at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant:?The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency Rafael Grossi said “he remains gravely concerned about the situation” at the Zaporizhzhia power plant as long as there is any shelling. The president of Ukraine’s state nuclear company — Energoatom — told CNN that the?power units at the plant remain in a cooling state while work continues to restore?power lines. The company said only one of the six power units is working and it was supplying the electricity necessary for the pumps that cool the nuclear material.?
  • Investigation into Russian forces: The Ukrainian Prosecutor’s office in Kharkiv says it has begun an investigation into reports that civilians were murdered by Russian forces in a village in the Kharkiv region. It said officers “discovered four corpses” on Sunday and “all of them have traces of torture.”

Ukrainians have presented Russians with “multiple dilemmas” across the battlefield, a senior US military official says

Ukrainians have presented Russian forces with “multiple dilemmas along the forward line of troops,” a senior US military official said Monday, including where to apply their limited resources after Ukrainians moved swiftly over the weekend to re-capture territory.

The change in battlefield dynamics is “indicative of the reports” of Russian forces having “low morale, logistics issues, inability to sustain operations,” the US military official said. Ukraine’s military advanced on two fronts: a slower, more deliberate push in Kherson in southern Ukraine and a rapid advance through depleted Russian forces near Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s advances have forced Russia to decide where it wants to move its forces and how to use them, the official said, a decision which is always challenging in the middle of a war. “It’s a very hard problem to solve,” the official said, and it’s made even more difficult by the sustainment, logistics, and command and control issues that the Russians have experienced since the start of the invasion.

President Zelensky says 6,000 square kilometers of Ukraine liberated since the beginning of September

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces have recaptured 6,000 square kilometers of land in the east and south of the country since the beginning of the month as he appealed for greater international pressure to isolate Russia.

According to analysts, that would amount to nearly 10% of the territory lost to the Russian offensive since it began in February.

In his daily video message, Zelensky also asked: “Why can [Russia] wage war so cruelly and cynically? There is only one reason — insufficient pressure on Russia. The response to the terror of this state is insufficient.”

One answer, he said, was to “increase aid to Ukraine, and above all speed up the provision of air defense systems.”

Some European countries have enacted bans on tourist visas for Russians; most have not.

Zelensky said Russia was to blame for “energy terror. Residents of many countries around the world are suffering due to the painful increase in prices for energy resources — for electricity, for heat. Russia does it deliberately. It deliberately destabilizes the gas market in Europe.”

He added:

The president described the attacks on Ukrainian electricity supplies as “a sign of the desperation of those who invented this war. This is how they react to the defeat of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region.”

Russian forces "largely ceded their gains to the Ukrainians" near Kharkiv, US military official says

A couple wheels suitcases as they walk in front of a destroyed building in Izyum, Kharkiv Oblast on September 11.

Russian forces have “largely ceded their gains to the Ukrainians” in the vicinity of Kharkiv in the northeast, according to a senior US military official, with “many” of the Russian forces moving back over the border.?

The official also said the US believes Ukrainian forces “have very likely taken control of Kupiansk and Izium in addition to smaller villages.”

The official also said that reports of abandoned Russian equipment in the wake of their retreat “could be indicative of Russia’s disorganized command and control.”

In the Kherson region in the south, the official said the US sees “deliberate and calibrated operations by the Ukrainians to include some moderate forward movement.”

The official also said the US continues to see shelling around the Zaporizhzhia?plant, which had its last reactor shut down, according to the country’s nuclear agency Energoatom.

Ukraine's nuclear operator says power units at Zaporizhzhia plant remain in cooling mode

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on September 11.

The president of Ukraine’s state nuclear company — Energoatom — told CNN that the?power units at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remain in a cooling state while work continues to restore?power lines from the plant.

Speaking to CNN via Skype, Petro Kotin, said all seven lines connecting to the plant were damaged, and it had switched to what he called the “island mode” — where the plant supplied electricity solely for itself.

“We tried to prolong the operation of one of our power units for as long as possible, even in the conditions when it was operating in island mode. It worked for us for three days,” he told CNN.

Kotin said just one of the six power units remained working, and was supplying the needs of the plant — the electricity necessary for the pumps that cool the nuclear material. The reactors “are full of nuclear material, fuel and also there are six pools that are located near the reactors at each power unit. They need to be constantly cooled,” he said.

“The hazard is that if there is no power supply, the pumps will stop and there will be no cooling, and in about one and a half to two hours you will have a meltdown of this fuel that is in the reactor,” he added.

Kotin reiterated that when there is no external power supply, the diesel generators could kick in. “As of today the diesel generators can work there for ten days.”

Kotin said representatives of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), remained at the plant. “They have meetings with the plant management twice a day, so they have all the current information on the plant’s operation,” he said.

As for the IAEA proposal for a safety zone around the plant, Kotin said: “We don’t fully understand what this safety zone means exactly.”

He repeated the Ukrainian government’s line that the plant should be returned to Ukrainian control and the power plant itself and zone around it should be demilitarized.

CNN on the ground: Here's how Ukrainians in Kharkiv villages describe Russia’s retreat

CNN was given exclusive access to the town of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, just a day after pictures emerged showing soldiers hoisting the Ukrainian flag on the roof of the town’s municipal building.

Far from being a town under full Ukrainian control, CNN found one still being bitterly fought for.

At the edge of the town, Vasyl – who declined to give his last name for security reasons – tells us that for days “they (the Russians) were shelling and shelling” in the ongoing fight in Kharkiv.

On Sunday afternoon, the dull thud of outcoming artillery fire was punctuated by the more infrequent boom of incoming fire. Russian forces were still fighting for Kupiansk, a town that is crucial to their supply lines, connecting their military base across the northern border in Russia’s Belgorod to Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region and the frontlines of the Donbas.

Ukraine’s top military commander General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi claimed Sunday that the country’s military had retaken more than 3,000 square kilometers (around 1,158 square miles) of territory since the beginning of the month, much of that believed to be in the Kharkiv region.

But on the ground, the fate of Kupiansk appears far from certain, indicating that maintaining Ukrainian control over newly liberated territory in the area could prove difficult.

Further west, some villages have seen calm entirely restored such as in the Kharkiv region’s Zaliznychne, liberated last week, as the eastern counteroffensive picked up speed. There, the fight appears to have been far less painful.

Read more about what CNN saw in eastern Ukraine over the last few days here.

Ukrainian prosecutor begins investigation into killings of civilians by Russian forces in Kharkiv

The Ukrainian Prosecutor’s office in Kharkiv says it has begun an investigation into reports that civilians were murdered by Russian occupying forces in a village in Kharkiv region.

In a statement on Facebook, the prosecutor said local residents in Zaliznychne had reported that Russian forces had killed several of their fellow villagers.

“On September 11, law enforcement officers discovered four corpses. All of them have traces of torture,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.

“According to the preliminary version of the investigation, the victims were killed by the Russian military,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.

2 Russian aircraft detected in Alaskan defense identification zone but remained in international airspace

Two Russian maritime patrol aircraft were “detected, tracked and positively identified,” by North American Aerospace Defense Command “operating within the Alaskan and Canadian Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ),” on Sept. 11, NORAD said in a statement Monday.

NORAD is part of the US military that oversees the US military presence in North America.

The two airplanes “remained in international airspace and did not enter American nor Canadian sovereign airspace,” the release said.

The ADIZ is international airspace adjacent to Alaska that extends in places more than 100 miles (more than 160 kilometers) from US territory. The US military initiates identification procedures for aircraft in the ADIZ in the interest of national security.?

NORAD said the recent Russian activity was “not seen as a threat” or seen as a “provocative,” move the release added.

NORAD detected Russian military aircraft flying into the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone three times in the same week last month, CNN previously reported.?The three incidents occurred sometime between Aug. 8 and Aug. 10, NORAD said at the time.

Ukraine retakes town in eastern Donetsk region after forces cross Siverskiy Donets river

In a further sign of the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive in the east, geolocated images and video show that Ukrainian units have crossed the Siverskiy Donets river to take control of the town of Svyatohirsk in Donetsk region.?

One geolocated image shows the damaged administrative building in the town with the Ukrainian flag hung above the entrance. Other images show Ukrainian soldiers on the streets of the town. The Ukrainians had held on to the south bank of the river in this area during the Russian offensive.?

Why this matters: The capture of Svyatohirsk will further complicate any attempt by the remaining Russian-backed forces in the area to withdraw.

Some militia units of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic continue to hold out in the town of Lyman, but any retreat to the east would be difficult if Ukrainian advances continue.

German weapons are making a difference in eastern Ukraine, chancellor says

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid speak at the House of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin,  on Monday.

Germany supplied “very efficient weapons that are making the difference right now in the current battle” in eastern Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said during a joint news conference with Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid on Monday in Berlin.?

Germany has committed to deliver the Iris-T air defense system to Ukraine?and?the country had decided to order more of these systems, he said.

More context: Despite Kyiv’s increasingly urgent demands for modern battle tanks, the German defense minister Christine Lambrecht continues to refuse the delivery of Marder or Leopard tanks to Ukraine.?

“No country has delivered Western-built infantry fighting vehicles or battle tanks so far,” Lambrecht explained during a panel discussion on Germany’s national security strategy at the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP).

Germany had delivered weapon systems like the Howitzer-2000 that required training, the minister said but added it was a matter of urgency to deliver “Soviet-designed tanks which can be used for immediate combat in Ukraine.”?

Germany will not act unilaterally,?but?the German Chancellor?underlined?ongoing support for Ukraine “for as long as that is necessary.”

Municipal deputies from Moscow and St. Petersburg call for Putin’s resignation

A man leaves a voting booth during the Moscow municipal deputies elections at a polling station in Moscow on September 9.

Deputies from 18 municipal districts in Moscow, St. Petersburg and Kolpino have called for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s resignation, according to a petition with a list of signatures posted on Twitter on Monday.

The petition follows Russia’s first regional and municipal elections since the start of the war, which brought a sweeping victory for pro-Kremlin candidates.

“The petition’s text is concise and does not “discredit” anyone. If you are mundep [municipal deputy] and want to join, you are welcome,” Thorstrom said in a Twitter post.

The council of one Moscow district (Lomonosovsky) also demanded Putin’s resignation, saying: “Your views and your model of government are hopelessly outdated and hinder the development of Russia and its human potential.”

Last week, the deputies of the Smolninskoye municipality of St. Petersburg called on the State Duma of the Russian Federation to bring charges of treason against Vladimir Putin. Several of them now face charges for discrediting the Russian army, according to a Twitter post from one of the local officials, Nikita Yuferev.

80% of Izium infrastructure is destroyed and heating systems are damaged, Ukrainian officials say

People carrying their belongings walk in front of a destroyed building in Izyum, Kharkiv Region, on September 11.

Ukrainian officials have begun addressing the daunting demands of reconstruction in recently liberated areas, with winter just a couple of months away.

After recapturing the city of Izium over the weekend, Ukrainian forces are taking steps to stabilize the situation there, according to?Maksym Strelnikov, a member of the city council.

He also talked about the privations suffered by civilians during the occupation.

“As of now, we know at least 1,000 civilians [in Izium] have died due to hostilities. But we think even more people were affected due to lack of medical care, as the Russian occupiers have destroyed all the health care institutions in March. The occupiers have looted all the pharmacies, so there was no access to medication. This is the most urgent issue for now, along with hospitalization of Izium residents, who require urgent medical care,” he added.

Strelnikov said there were about 10,000 civilians left in the city, after a recent evacuation of women and children.

“Most Izium residents are waiting to come back home, but as of now the situation with critical infrastructure is a serious challenge … We hope that we will be able to do everything possible to be prepared for winter,” he noted.

Some background: Although Izium is under Ukrainian control, the war is not far away. There is fighting about 40 kilometers (about 25 miles) to the east around Lyman. The official Telegram channel of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic reported Monday that the town “is under full control of the troops of the People’s Militia of the DNR, LNR and the RF. It is relatively calm.”

It said that Ukrainian forces “do not give up attempts to attack nearby territories,” but such attempts?“have been repelled. The enemy retreated with loses.?”

It's Monday afternoon in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know

As Kyiv’s offensive continues in the northeastern region of Kharkiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a stark warning to Moscow on Sunday, declaring that “history will put everything in its place.”

Catch up on the latest on Ukraine’s counteroffensive and other big headlines:

  • Kharkiv region loses power and water supply amid shelling: Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has lost power and water supply once again due to shelling after it was previously lost on Sunday evening,?Kharkiv’s mayor?Ihor Terekhov said on Monday afternoon.? “Yesterday evening situation repeats again. Due to the shelling, critical infrastructure was put out of operation, resulting in the loss of power and water supply in Kharkiv,” he said on Telegram. Earlier on Monday, he said?80% of the electricity and water supply had been restored in the region after Sunday’s outage. Since then, Russia has launched fresh air strikes on Kharkiv.
  • Ukraine claims its retaken more territory in southern Kherson region: Ukrainian authorities claimed that around 500 square kilometers (almost 200 square miles) of territory has been recaptured in the southern Kherson region in the past two weeks. Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military in the south, said the settlements of?Vysokopillia, Novovoznesenske, Bilohirka, Myroliubivka and Sukhyi Stavok were “completely liberated from the occupiers and are under the Ukrainian flag.”
  • Liberation of settlements continues: The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in a statement Monday “the liberation of settlements from the Russian invaders in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions continues,” stating Russian forces were dislodged from more than 20 settlements in the past day alone.
  • Kremlin says Putin aware of situation on frontline: The Kremlin on Monday insisted that Russia would achieve all the goals of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, despite its damaging setback in Kharkiv over the weekend. “The special military operation continues and will continue until the initial goals are achieved,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with journalists. Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the situation on the frontline, he added.
  • Top Russian official claims Ukrainian troops outnumbered Russia eight-fold in Kharkiv: A top Russian-backed official has claimed the Ukrainian army outnumbered Russian and pro-Russian forces by eight times in the last week, following Kyiv’s sweeping offensive in the east. “Talking about the forces that have been transferred for the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army, it outnumbered our troops by about eight times, no less,” Vitaly Ganchev, the most senior Russian backed official in the northeastern Kharkiv region, told Russia 24 on Monday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti. Ganchev echoed other Russian officials in attempting to present Moscow’s retreat as a decision to regroup further from the front line.
  • Russia plays up China’s support as it retreats in Ukraine: As Russian forces?suffer a string of stunning?defeats in Ukraine, Moscow is playing up Beijing’s support for its invasion ahead of a key meeting between Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week. Russian troops were?forced to flee the strategic city of Izium?— their main bastion in northeastern Ukraine — on Saturday after a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive. It was Moscow’s worst defeat since its retreat from Kyiv in March — and a sign that the war might be entering a new phase.
  • UN nuclear watchdog chief “remains gravely concerned” about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said “he remains gravely concerned about the situation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as long as any shelling continues, the UN nuclear watchdog said Sunday. “Despite this damage, plant operators and engineers have been able to restore one of the reserve power lines, in very challenging circumstances, to provide the ZNPP with badly-needed external electricity,” IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement. But the IAEA chief also said “he remains “gravely concerned about the situation at the plant, which remains in danger as long as any shelling continues. The official said Ukraine and Russia are both interested in a proposal by the UN’s atomic watchdog to establish a protection zone around the Russian-occupied nuclear power plant.

IAEA chief confirms last operational reactor at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is in cold-shutdown mode

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General?Rafael?Grossi?addresses a news conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Monday.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi on Monday confirmed the cold shutdown of reactor number 6, the final reactor at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) that had been operational.?

“At the moment, the plant is in cold shut down and we have been able to stabilize it,” Grossi said at a news conference in Vienna.?

Grossi explained that Unit 6 went into “island mode,” providing low level power input to the plant but that that was not sustainable.?

Concerns about the plant: Grossi opened the news conference by saying that his two primary concerns are that the shelling continues, and that there is obviously ongoing concern of any direct impact on the reactors and associated facilities, in particular the spent fuel areas which could have serious consequences.

The other primary concern is the lack of external power into the plant, that is essential to continue operations.?

When pressed by reporters about whether Ukraine would keep all the reactors in cold shutdown for safety reasons, Grossi said that independent of the reactors being in cold-shutdown, with the external power interrupted, the plant could still face a nuclear accident.??

He said repeatedly that it was up to Ukraine whether or not to keep the reactors in that mode, saying that Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky considered the plant’s operations “very important” as part of their national electrical grid.

Ukraine says 500 square kilometers of territory retaken in southern Kherson region

Ukrainian authorities claimed that around 500 square kilometers (almost 200 square miles) of territory has been recaptured in the southern Kherson region in the past two weeks.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military in the south, said the settlements of?Vysokopillia, Novovoznesenske, Bilohirka, Myroliubivka and Sukhyi Stavok were “completely liberated from the occupiers and are under the Ukrainian flag.”

Speaking at a briefing on Monday, Humeniuk said “the area has been cleared” of Russian mines, adding that “additional measures still are being taken there.”

“Shelling of these territories continues, but the population is under Ukrainian jurisdiction,” she added.

Ukrainian forces have the?ambitious goal of taking back most of the Russian-occupied region?of Kherson by the end of the year, senior US officials and Ukrainian officials told CNN last Wednesday.

CNN cannot independently verify Humeniuk’s claims.

UN nuclear watchdog chief: Ukraine and Russia are interested in Zaporizhzhia power plant protection zone

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director-General?Rafael?Grossi?addresses a news conference during an IAEA Board of Governors meeting in Vienna on Monday.

Ukraine and Russia are both interested in a proposal by the UN’s atomic watchdog to establish a protection zone around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference in Vienna, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said he had held talks with both countries since he first made the call for the zone in an interview with CNN’s?Christiane Amanpour last week.

Grossi said Ukraine was a “natural partner” in the talks since?Zaporizhzhia is a Ukrainian plant, but added Russia is also “an indispensable part of the discussions since they are in control of the facility.”?

He added that both Ukraine and Russia were engaging and asking questions about the proposed zone, which is designed to prevent activities like shelling that have caused damage to the plant, and to protect the security of the facility and the people there.

Western "economic blitzkrieg" tactics against Russia did not work, Putin says

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting on economic issues via a video link at the Kremlin in Moscow on Monday.

Western “economic blitzkrieg” tactics failed, Russian President Vladimir Putin said speaking at a meeting on economic issues Monday.

“Russia is confidently coping with external pressure, and in fact, one might say, with financial and technological aggression from some countries,” Putin said during the televised meeting in an apparent reference to the sanctions introduced by the West after Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

“The economic blitzkrieg tactics, the sudden attack they were counting on, did not work - this is already obvious to everyone, and to them too,” he added.

A sharp recession in the Russian economy was avoided, thanks to the “effective protective measures” that were promptly implemented by the Russian government, he noted.

“There is every reason to expect that by the end of the year inflation will be about 12%,” he added saying that the economy is starting to grow and companies are returning to business as usual.

Kremlin says Putin aware of situation on frontline, insists Russia will achieve its goals in Ukraine

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends the 2022 Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russia on September 6.

The Kremlin on Monday insisted that Russia would achieve all the goals of the “special military operation” in Ukraine, despite its damaging setback in Kharkiv over the weekend.

“The special military operation continues and will continue until the initial goals are achieved,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with journalists.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is aware of the situation on the frontline, he added.

After the success of Ukraine’s counteroffensive on Saturday, the Russian?Defense Ministry sought to present its retreat as a strategic regrouping.

“The decision was made to?regroup?Russian troops in the areas of Balakleya and Izium and redirect their efforts in the Donetsk direction,” it said.

Peskov said Putin is aware of the said “regrouping” of Russian troops.

“Of course, all the actions of the army during the special military operation are reported to the supreme commander-in-chief [President Vladimir Putin],” Peskov told journalists. “The President is in constant round-the-clock communication with the minister of defense and with all military leaders.”

Kharkiv region loses power and water supply amid shelling

Smoke rises after a Russian rocket attack hit an electric power station in Kharkiv on September 12.

Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has lost power and water supply once again due to shelling after it was previously lost on Sunday evening,?Kharkiv’s mayor?Ihor Terekhov said on Monday afternoon.?

Earlier on Monday, he said?80% of the electricity and water supply had been restored in the region after Sunday’s outage. Since then, Russia has launched fresh air strikes on Kharkiv.

Russia launches fresh airstrikes on Kharkiv region

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it bombarded Kharkiv with air strikes on Monday after losing huge swathes after its forces were routed in the area over the weekend.

Kharkiv’s Mayor?Ihor Terekhov confirmed “mass shelling” in a Telegram post. He said the city center along with the Osnovianskyi and Kyivskyi residential districts were hit.?

?A CNN team in the city center reported a power outage and sounds of explosions. They are currently hearing outgoing shelling.?

Oleh Syniehubov, the head of Kharkiv’s regional military administration said a road in the Kyivskyi residential district was hit, killing one person and injuring a bypasser.?

?The local officials said further information on casualties is being clarified.

"Without gas or without you? Without you": Zelensky delivers pointed message to Russia

Smoke rises after a Russian rocket attack hit an electric power station in Kharkiv on Monday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky issued a stark warning to Moscow on Sunday, declaring that “history will put everything in its place” amid Kyiv’s offensive in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.?

In a Telegram post addressed to Russia, Zelensky asked: “Do you still think that we are ‘one nation?’ Do you still think that you can scare us, break us, make us make concessions?”

“You really did not understand anything? Don’t understand who we are? What are we for? What are we talking about?,” the post read.?

“Read my lips: Without gas or without you? Without you. Without light or without you? Without you. Without water or without you? Without you. Without food or without you? Without you.” ?

“Cold, hunger, darkness and thirst are not as scary and deadly for us as your ‘friendship and brotherhood,’’ Zelensky added. “But history will put everything in its place. And we will be with gas, light, water and food … and WITHOUT you!”

CNN’s Tim Lister, Darya Tarasova, Pierre Meilhan and Mariya Knight contributed reporting.

Top Russian official claims Ukrainian troops outnumbered Russia eight-fold in Kharkiv

A top Russian-backed official has claimed the Ukrainian army outnumbered Russian and pro-Russian forces by eight times in the last week, following Kyiv’s sweeping offensive in the east.

“Talking about the forces that have been transferred for the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian army, it outnumbered our troops by about eight times, no less,” Vitaly Ganchev, the most senior Russian backed official in the northeastern Kharkiv region, told Russia 24 on Monday, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Ganchev echoed other Russian officials in attempting to present Moscow’s retreat as a decision to regroup further from the front line.

“Therefore, in order to preserve our personnel, I think it was decided to withdraw, regroup,” he added.

CNN cannot independently verify Ganchev’s claims.

Some background: Russia’s recent collapse in the northeastern region of Kharkiv has been met with stinging criticism from Kremlin loyalists – and prompted the question of how Moscow will respond to its failure.

Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, who has supplied thousands of fighters to the offensive, said “mistakes were made,” in a Telegram post on Sunday. Kadyrov added that he would be contacting senior officials at the Defense Ministry to spell out his message.

Kholmogorov, a blogger and staunch advocate of Russian President Vladimir Putin, also joined the chorus of criticism leveled at Moscow.

They reposted an equally scathing account by the Partizan Telegram channel from the front lines.

“The soldiers were on foot with one machine gun and a sack. Abandoned by the command, not knowing the way, they walked at random,” the post said.

“Lord, save the Russian soldiers from blows from the front and even more from blows in the back.”

CNN’s Tim Lister and Darya Tarasova contributed reporting.

Liberation of settlements continues, Ukrainian military says after huge success

A Ukrainian service member stands on a Russian 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled howitzer captured during a counteroffensive operation in?Kharkiv?on Monday.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff said in a statement Monday “the liberation of settlements from the Russian invaders in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions continues,” stating Russian forces were dislodged from more than 20 settlements in the past day alone.

The last week has seen Ukrainian forces roll through lines of Russian defenses and recapture more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory. Over the weekend, the Russian retreat continued from border areas that had been occupied since March. Villages within five kilometers of the border were raising the Ukrainian flag.

“In the Luhansk region, the Russian military and their families left the town of Svatove, only the soldiers of the so-called ‘people’s militia’ from among the local residents remained,” the statement said. Svatove has been an important hub on Russian resupply routes to the front lines further south - along the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

In a separate statement Monday, Serhiy Hayday, Head of Luhansk’s regional military administration said: “The enemy has not organized any measures for evacuation - everyone escapes on their own”.

Meanwhile, Russian forces “suffered significant losses” in manpower, including the 810th Separate Brigade of Marines losing almost 85% of its personnel, as part of Ukraine’s actions in the Kherson direction, the General Staff statement said.?

Russia’s 810th Separate Brigade of Marines is permanently based in Sevastopol, part of the Black Sea Fleet. “The rest of the servicemen have an extremely low morale and psychological state, they massively refuse to return to the combat zone,” it added.?

CNN cannot independently verify the Ukrainian accounts.

Some context: Power has been restored in the Dnipropetrovsk region and 80% of the electricity and water supply is restored in Kharkiv region, local officials said Monday.?

It comes after Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said large parts of eastern Ukraine, including the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, were without electricity following Russian missile strikes on Sunday.

Russia plays up China's support as it retreats in Ukraine

Li Zhanshu meets with Vyacheslav Volodin in Moscow, Russia, on September 8.

As Russian forces?suffer a string of stunning?defeats in Ukraine, Moscow is playing up Beijing’s support for its invasion ahead of a key meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week.

Russian troops were?forced to flee the strategic city of Izium?– their main bastion in northeastern Ukraine – on Saturday after a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive.

It was Moscow’s worst defeat since its retreat from Kyiv in March – and a sign that the war might be entering a new phase. Over the past week, Ukrainian forces have?recaptured more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory?– more than Russian forces have captured in all their operations since April.

Back in Russia, senior Russian and Chinese officials have put on a united front to pave the way for an expected meeting between Putin and Xi on the sidelines of a regional summit in Uzbekistan – their first face-to-face meeting since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

And according to the Russian Parliament, a senior Chinese leader has voiced explicit support for Russia’s war on Ukraine – claims that are not included in the statement from the Chinese side, and run contrary to Beijing’s previous efforts to maintain a veneer of neutrality.

On Thursday and Friday, China’s top legislator Li Zhanshu – a close ally of Xi and third-ranking leader of the Chinese Communist Party – met with Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s State Duma, and other Russian lawmakers in Moscow after attending an economic forum in the eastern city of Vladivostok.

According to a statement from the State Duma, Li assured its members that “China understands and supports Russia on issues that represent its vital interests, in particular on the situation in Ukraine”.

“On the Ukrainian issue, we see how they have put Russia in an impossible situation. And in this case, Russia made an important choice and responded firmly,” he added.

Beijing has firmly refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – or even refer to it as a “war.” Instead, it has repeatedly laid the blame for the conflict on NATO and the United States.

That unequivocal supportive language is missing from the Chinese readout of the meetings. In fact, in the Chinese version, Li is not quoted as making any reference to Ukraine at all.?

Read more here

One killed following Russian strike on Kharkiv power plant, Ukrainian regional official says

Firefighters work at the site of a thermal power plant damaged by a Russian missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 11.

One employee of a Kharkiv power and heating plant has been killed following a Russian missile strike, the Head of Kharkiv Region Civil military Administration, Oleh Synehubov, said late Sunday.

Russian missile strikes left many parts of eastern Ukraine, including Kharkiv, without electricity, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Nine out of 11 Russian cruise missiles launched toward eastern Ukraine on Sunday evening were shot down by air defense systems, the press service for Ukraine’s East Air Force Command said via Facebook.

UN nuclear watchdog chief "remains gravely concerned about the situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant" as long as shelling continues

IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi attends a news conference in Schwechat, Austria, on September 2.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said “he remains gravely concerned about the situation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as long as any shelling continues, the UN nuclear watchdog said Sunday.

But the IAEA chief also said “he remains “gravely concerned about the situation at the plant, which remains in danger as long as any shelling continues. To address this serious situation, consultations have begun on the urgent need to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP).”?

Europe’s largest

Zaporizhzhia is the site of?the largest nuclear plant in Europe. The facility sits in the?Russian?occupied?part of southern Ukraine and has been?on the fire line between Russian and Ukrainian forces.

The IAEA also said a back-up power line to the plant has been restored and it is providing the external electricity needed for reactor cooling and other essential safety functions.

The 330 kilovolt back-up power line enabled the plant to shut down its last operating reactor early on Sunday, according to the UN nuclear watchdog.?

“This reactor had over the past week provided the ZNPP with power after the facility was disconnected from the grid. With the line restoration, electricity needed for nuclear safety at the ZNPP once again comes from the external grid,” the IAEA said.

Kharkiv and Donetsk regions are without electricity following Russian strikes: Ukraine’s President Zelensky

A street is dark in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Sunday, September 11.

Large parts of eastern Ukraine, including the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, are without electricity following Russian missile strikes, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday.

“Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy have problems with the power supply,” as well, the Ukrainian leader said via Twitter.

“Even through the impenetrable darkness, Ukraine and the civilized world clearly see these terrorist acts. Deliberate and cynical missile strikes on critical civilian infrastructure. No military facilities,” Zelensky said via Telegram.

The power blackouts were also confirmed by local officials, including the Kharkiv mayor, earlier in the day.

Analysis: On the eastern front, a stunning week of Ukrainian success and Russian failures

Humanitarian aid is distributed to citizens after Ukrainian military liberated the town of Balakliya in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 11.

The last week has seen a stunning transformation of the battlefield in eastern Ukraine, as a swift armored offensive by Ukrainian forces rolled through lines of Russian defenses and recaptured more than 3,000 square kilometers of territory.?

That is more territory than Russian forces have captured in all their operations in Ukraine since April.

As much as the offensive was brilliantly conceived and executed, it also succeeded because of Russian inadequacies. Throughout swathes of the Kharkiv region, Russian units were poorly organized and equipped – and many offered little resistance.

Their failures, and their disorderly retreat to the east, has made the goal of President Vladimir Putin’s special military operation to take all of Luhansk and Donetsk regions considerably harder to attain.

Over the weekend, the Russian retreat continued from border areas that had been occupied since March. Villages within five kilometers of the border were raising the Ukrainian flag.

The collapse of Russian defenses has ignited recriminations among influential Russian military bloggers and personalities in Russian state media.

As the Ukrainian flag was raised in one community after another over the last several days, one question came into focus: how does the Kremlin respond?

A lightning operation

Ukrainian officials had telegraphed that an offensive was imminent – but not where it actually happened. There was plenty of noise about a counter-attack in the south, and even US officials talked about Ukrainian operations to “shape the battlefield” in Kherson. Russian reinforcements – perhaps as many as 10,000 – streamed into the region over a period of weeks.

There was indeed a Ukrainian assault in Kherson, but one whose intention appears to have been to fix Russian forces, while the real effort came hundreds of miles to the north. It was a disinformation operation the Russians might have been proud of.?

Kateryna Stepanenko at the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington-based analytical group, says the deception worked.

“Ukrainian military officials reported that (Russian) Eastern Military District elements that had previously supported offensive operations towards Sloviansk had redeployed to the Southern Axis,” she told CNN.

Their replacements were clearly not up to the job – a mixed bag, Stepanenko said, of “Cossack volunteers, volunteer units, DNR/LNR militia units, and the Russian Rosgvardia (National Guard). Such forces were not sufficient to defend a vast and complex front line.”

The Ukrainians picked the weakest spot in Russian defenses for their initial thrust – an area controlled by the Luhansk militia with Russian National Guard units further back. They were no match for a highly mobile armored assault that quickly rendered artillery irrelevant.

Igor Strelkov, formerly the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic militia and now a caustic critic of Russian military shortcomings, noted the poor training of these units and “the exceptional caution of the actions of Russian aviation.” In short, Russian front-line units were hung out to dry without sufficient air support.

Multiple videos geolocated and analyzed by CNN, as well as local accounts, depict a chaotic withdrawal of Russian units, with large amounts of ammunition and hardware left behind.

The poor quality of Russian defenses along a critical north-south axis sustaining the Donetsk offensive is hard to fathom. Once underway, the intent of the Ukrainian offensive was crystal clear – to destroy that artery of resupply. Within three days, they had done so – not least because Russian reinforcements were slow to be mobilized.

Read more:

KHARKIV, UKRAINE - SEPTEMBER 11: Ukrainian flag waves after Ukrainian army liberated the town of Balakliya in the southeastern Kharkiv oblast, Ukraine, on September 11, 2022. (Photo by Metin Aktas/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Related article On the eastern front, a stunning week of Ukrainian success and Russian failures

French president calls for Russia to withdraw from Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant during phone call with Putin

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at a conference in Paris, on September 5.

French President Emmanuel Macron reiterated his demand for a ceasefire in Ukraine and Russian withdrawal from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the Elysee Palace said Sunday.

Macron “condemned the continuation of Russian military operations in Ukraine and reiterated his demand that they cease as soon as possible, that negotiations begin and that the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine be restored,” his office said in a statement.

The French President “also stressed the need to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He recalled that the Russian occupation was the cause of the current risks to the integrity of Zaporizhzhia. He called for Russian forces to withdraw their heavy and light weapons from the plant and that the IAEA’s recommendations be closely followed to ensure the safety of the site be restored,” the Elysee said.

Some more context: Zaporizhzhia is the site of?the largest nuclear plant in Europe, and the facility sits on the fire line between the Russian occupiers and Ukrainian forces.

The Elysee added that Macron “will speak again to President Putin in the next few days in order to reach an agreement that guarantees the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.”?

On the issue of global food security, Macron told Putin that European sanctions against Russia do not apply to agricultural products. He also asked the Russian leader to ensure that the Ukraine grain export agreement between Russia, Ukraine and Turkey, under the supervision of the United Nations “to ensure that the exported grain goes to those who need it most.”

Ukrainian military: Russians flee strategic town in Luhansk

In a statement Sunday, the Ukrainian military’s general staff said that Russian forces had abandoned the town of Svatove in Luhansk region, a town that until Saturday was still 40 kilometers (25 miles) beyond the known front line of the Ukrainian advance.

Svatove has been an important hub on Russian resupply routes to the front lines further south – along the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“The occupiers have abandoned Svatove in Luhansk region,” the general staff’s office said in a Facebook post. “They rushed away in four Kamaz trucks, twenty Tigr AVs [armored vehicles] and stole over 20 cars of local residents.”

CNN cannot independently verify the Ukrainian account.

The general staff’s office also claimed that “as a result of the successful counteroffensive of our troops in the Kharkiv direction, the Russian troops frantically leave their positions and flee with the loot deep into the temporarily occupied territories or into the territory of the Russian Federation.”

It referred to one alleged episode in which, it said “150 service members of the armed forces of the Russian Federation left in a convoy from Borshchova and Artemivka of the Kharkiv region on two buses, one truck and 19 stolen cars.”

Borshchova is to the north of Kharkiv city, just a few kilometers from Ukraine’s border with Russia.

Ukrainian official: More than 40 settlements in the Kharkiv region liberated

A Ukrainian flag waves after the Ukrainian army liberated the town of Balakliya in Kharkiv, Ukraine, on September 11.

As the Russian retreat in the Kharkiv region continues, a senior Ukrainian official has said that more than 40 settlements have now been liberated.

Roman Semenukha, Deputy Head of the Kharkiv region military administration, told Ukrainian television: “We can officially announce the liberation of more than 40 settlements. The situation is changing incredibly quickly and there are many, many more such [de-occupied] settlements.”

Semenukha said the 40 referred only to those places where the situation was completely under control, and there were more where the Ukrainian flag had been raised.

“The situation is dynamically positive. And indeed the situation is changing,” he said.

Semenukha said it was wrong to suggest the Russians were simply leaving. “There are fierce, fierce battles in many areas of the front and everything is very, very difficult. If we are talking about the military component, then you just have to be patient,” he said.

IAEA: Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant's back-up power line is restored

A view of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on September 11.?

A back-up power line to the?Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has been restored, according to a tweet put out by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Sunday morning.?

The back-up line will provide the plant with the “external electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other safety functions.”?

The last operating reactor at ZNPP, which is Europe’s largest nuclear complex of its kind, was shut down earlier on Saturday after the transmission line was restored.?