September 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Follow the latest news on Russia’s war in Ukraine?here?and read more about today’s developments in the posts below.

President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against escalating the fighting in Ukraine, saying that there will be consequences if the Kremlin uses chemical or nuclear weapons.

The clip of the interview aired on CBS Evening News on Friday.?

Asked by Scott Pelley what the US response would be if Russia used a chemical or nuclear weapon, Biden said it would be “consequential.”?

“You think I would tell you if I knew exactly what it would be. Of course, I’m not going to tell you. It’ll be consequential. They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response,” Biden said.

President Joe Biden is meeting now with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, according to the White House.

In separate meetings, Biden will sit with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul’s sister, and with Griner’s wife Cherelle and agent Lindsay Colas, the administration said.

The first of the meetings in the Oval Office began at 4:51 p.m. ET.?

Jake Sullivan, the assistant to the president for national security affairs, is accompanying the president.

Some background: The families of Whelan, who has been held by Russia for alleged espionage since 2018, and WNBA star Griner,?jailed in Moscow?for drug possession since February, have urged the White House to secure their release, including via a prisoner exchange if necessary.

The administration said this week that Biden is “not going to let up” on getting Griner and Whelan back to the US. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the matter is “at the very top of my priority list.”

President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, left, walks with Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda Durán, during the annual military parade as part of the independence day celebrations at Zocalo in Mexico City, Mexico on Friday.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said on Friday that Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will propose a plan to create a?‘”Committee for Dialogue and Peace” to immediately seek a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.??

During a speech at the Independence Day military parade in Mexico City, López Obrador said the proposal seeks to achieve a truce of at least five years in favor of peace among all nations.

To be unveiled at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York, the plan would allow the time to be dedicated “to face the significant and severe economic and social problems that affect the peoples of the world,” he said.

López Obrador criticized the sanctions on Russia and the “massive shipment” of weapons to Ukraine, calling them “actions that contributed to the ongoing confrontation, an additional dose of irrationality.”

According to López Obrador, the proposal envisions Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Pope Francis, and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres serving as mediators in the committee.?He said he hopes this will start direct talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.

Ukrainian soldiers sit on infantry vehicles as they drive near Izium, Kharkiv Oblast on September 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said some of the bodies found at a mass burial site in Izium show “signs of torture.” Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged “concerns” from both China and India about the war.

Here are the latest developments:

Horrors in Izium: Ukrainian officials said that at least 440 graves had been discovered at a mass burial site in the city of Izium, in the recently liberated Kharkiv region. Zelensky said some bodies had “signs of torture,” while the governor of the Kharkiv region claimed that “99% show signs of violent death,” adding “there are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person is buried with a rope around his neck.”

A United Nations source said a team will be going to Izium and the surrounding areas soon, and the war crimes investigation team may follow afterward.

India and China voice concerns: On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin that “today’s era is not of war”?— a significant rebuke from a leader who has stayed largely silent on the conflict. And a day earlier, Putin on Thursday acknowledged China’s President Xi Jinping had “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine.?

Putin speaks on counteroffensive for first time: In his first comments following Kyiv’s successful counteroffensive in northeastern Ukraine, the Russian leader said the main goal of Russia’s “special military operation” has not changed and that there’s “no hurry.”

“Let’s see how this ends,” he added.

Russia shelling continues: Much of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has been retaken by Ukrainian forces, but the military said liberated areas are now being heavily shelled by Russian artillery, resulting in some injuries. Attacks are also taking place in Luhansk, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Russian-backed officials dead: The leader of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic said its prosecutor general had been killed in a “terrorist act,” while the head of the Russian-backed administration in occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region said a senior official there was killed.

Biden to meet families of detained Americans: US President Joe Biden will personally meet with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at the White House today. The administration said Biden is “not going to let up” on getting Griner and Whelan back to the US. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said the matter is “at the very top of my priority list.”

US officials express frustration on sanctions: Senior US officials tell CNN they are disappointed?US-led sanctions?haven’t had a bigger impact so far on the Russian economy and are now predicting that the harshest effects probably won’t materialize until early next year at the earliest.

The US assesses that the Ukrainians are “consolidating their gains” from retaking territory in the area of Kharkiv, according to the Defense Department.

“In the north, what we assess is that the Ukrainians are consolidating their gains after taking back significant territory, and that the Russians are attempting to shore up their defensive lines after having been pushed back,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder at a briefing with reporters.

Ryder also said that Ukrainian forces are making “deliberate, calculated forward movement” with their counteroffensive in the Kherson area.

“As always, our focus continues to remain on providing them the support that they need in their fight,” Ryder said.

The White House said US President Joe Biden is “not going to let up” on getting Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan back to the United States from Russia. The comments on Friday come as Biden is?scheduled to meet with their families.

He added that Biden wants “these two individuals home back where they belong with their families.”

Asked why Russia hadn’t already accepted a US offer for Griner and Whelan’s return, Kirby said, “If we had the answer to that question, we might already have a deal. I think that’s a better question put to our Russian colleagues.”

“We made a serious offer, we want them to accept it,” Kirby said. “Frankly, these two individuals ought to be home anyway, period, but we understand that’s probably going to have to be the result of the negotiating process — one that we’re willing to participate in honestly and fully, and we’ve been doing that. We await them to take the offer that’s on the table.”

CNN previously reported that the Biden administration offered to exchange?Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year US prison sentence, as part of a potential deal to secure the release of two Americans held by Russia, according to sources.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, speaks the daily White House briefing in Washington, DC on September 16.

The White House said reports of a mass burial site in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium are “horrifying” and “repugnant.”

John Kirby, the strategic communications adviser at the National Security Council, said the discovery of what Ukrainian officials say is at least 440 graves at the site was “in keeping with the kind of depravity and the brutality with which Russian forces have been prosecuting this war against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.”

Kirby said the United States would continue to?“actively support efforts to document war crimes and atrocities that Russian forces commit in Ukraine and assist national and international efforts to identify and hold Russians accountable.”

Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications said on Thursday that some of the graves discovered at Izium were “fresh” and that the bodies buried there were “mostly civilians.”

Izium was subject to intense Russian artillery attacks in April,?and the city, which sits near the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, became an important hub for the invading military during five months of occupation.

The U.N.?General?Assembly?meets during a special session at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on September 15.

The UN General Assembly has voted to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the 77th?session of the Assembly by video link.

The vote was 101 in favor and seven against, with 19 abstentions.

The countries voting against were Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Syria and Cuba.

China abstained.

General debate in the Assembly will run from Sept. 20 through Sept. 26.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting at the Department of State in Washington, DC on September 15.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration is working relentlessly to secure the release of Americans detained abroad, including Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, who are being held in Russia.

Speaking at a news conference Friday, Blinken said the matter is “at the very top of my priority list.” He reiterated that the United States had presented Russia with a “substantial proposal” to secure the release of the two Americans, who have been classified as wrongfully detained.

Some background: A senior administration official told CNN on Thursday that there has been “movement but not breakthrough” on the efforts to free Griner and Whelan.

The official said that the United States has urged Russia to put forward “a serious counteroffer” to the proposal on the table to secure the release of the two, but “we’ve not gotten a serious response back.”

President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Griner and Whelan families at the White House later on Friday, marking his first time personally meeting with them since their loved ones were detained in Russia.

Griner was detained in February for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist pleaded guilty to drug charges and said she accidentally packed the drugs while in a hurry. She has been sentenced to nine years, along with a fine of about $16,400. Her legal team in Russia has appealed the sentence.

Whelan has been imprisoned in Russia for more than three years after being convicted on espionage charges that he vehemently denies. He was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with senior military commanders to discuss the next steps in Ukraine’s “de-occupation” efforts.

According to the Presidency’s website, officials including the Commander of Ground Forces Oleksandr Syrsky, the Commander of the Western Command Serhiy Litvinov and the Commander of the South Command Andriy Kovalchuk joined the meeting via videoconference.

“The participants of the meeting considered further steps for the de-occupation of the territories of Ukraine and made the necessary decisions,” the statement said.

They had also “updated the list of weapons necessary for the continuation of the operation to liberate Ukrainian lands.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16.

In his first comments following Kyiv’s successful counteroffensive in northeastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the main goal of Russia’s “special military operation” — what he calls the Ukraine invasion — has not changed.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, Putin said the main goal continued to be “the liberation of the entire territory of Donbas” — the Luhansk and Donetsk regions — and that Russia was in “no hurry.”

On ending the fighting, Putin said, “The Kyiv authorities abandoned all agreements, they were thrown into a drawer and announced that they would not seek any agreements with Russia, but would seek victory on the battlefield.?

Putin also took aim at the West in his justification for the invasion, claiming that “for decades, the idea of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of classical Russia has been cultivated in the West.”

Some context: This month brought huge strategic losses for the Kremlin as Ukraine carried out counteroffensives in the northeast and south. Ukraine has recaptured a total of 8,000 square kilometers (about 3,088 square miles) of land, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said concern by Chinese and Indian leaders about the war in Ukraine “is reflective of concerns around the world about the effects of Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, not just on the people of Ukraine… but on countries and people across the entire planet.”

He said the war is a violation of the UN charter, saying that global leaders are noticing the aggression.

“This is something that leaders in countries around the world are feeling because their people are feeling it. And so I think what you’re seeing is just a manifestation of the fact that this aggression has been an aggression against the interests of people across the planet, and I think it increases the pressure on Russia to end the aggression,” he said.?

Some context: On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war” — a significant rebuke from a leader who has stayed largely silent on the conflict throughout its more than six months duration. A day earlier, Putin acknowledged China’s President Xi Jinping had “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine.?

Members of the Ukrainian Emergency Service work on an exhumation of a mass burial site in the town of?Izium, Kharkiv region on September 16.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he has seen the reports about a mass burial site in Izium, saying it was “part, horrifically, of a continuing, ongoing story” of Russian brutality in Ukraine.

Blinken said there is a need to “build the evidence and document the atrocities that have been committed,” even as Ukrainian forces retake territory.

Blinken reiterated that the US does not intend to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terror, saying that as a practical matter, the US is applying the penalties that would come with that designation. He also said the designation could have “unintended consequences.”?

“What we are doing is working with Congress right now to see if there is another way forward that achieves could be achieved through the use of the SST designation without any of the unintended consequences that would make it more counterproductive than productive,” Blinken said.

A Ukrainian official at a mass burial site near Izium said the bodies of an entire family have been identified there.

The Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said in a video statement from the site that “there is a whole family right next to me … This is a young family … The father was born in 1988, the wife was born in 1991; their little daughter was born in 2016.”?

“We have testimonies from local people that they all died as a result of an airstrike” carried out by the Russian air force, Lubinets said.

“There are many, many similar cases,” he added.

At least 440 graves were found at a mass burial site in the city in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that some of the bodies have “signs of torture.”

Ukraine recaptured the city from Russian forces last Saturday during its counteroffensive. The Russian military used it as a key base and resupply route for its forces in eastern Ukraine.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Friday that she thinks the relationship between Moscow and Beijing is one “of convenience, not necessarily one of trust or one that will combine their efforts on all things.”

“This is not a full-flown marriage in all ways, shapes and form, but they are certainly going to work together, but they will also work for advantage with each other,” Sherman said in a conversation with Washington Post Live.

“It was quite interesting that President Putin made a remark that he knew that Xi Jinping had concerns about what he was doing in Ukraine,” she said. “Very interesting for Putin to say that.”

On Thursday, in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin acknowledged China’s “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine.?

“Xi Jinping has constantly talked about sovereignty and territorial integrity so this doesn’t square with the principles he wants for his own views, whether it’s about Hong Kong or Tibet or Taiwan,” she said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16.

Indian Prime Minister?Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war” in what appears to be a direct rebuff of the Ukrainian invasion during a face-to-face meeting today.

“I know that today’s era is not of war and we have talked to you many times over the phone on the subject that democracy and diplomacy and dialogue are all these things that touch the world,” Modi told Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

“Today we will definitely get a chance to discuss about how we can move on the path of peace in the coming days, I will also get an opportunity to understand your point of view,” he added at a meeting between the two leaders, held on the sidelines of the summit.?

Modi and Putin “appreciated the sustained momentum in bilateral ties, including contacts at various levels.”?

They also?discussed “important issues of bilateral cooperation as well as regional and global issues of interest. Discussions also pertained to global food security, energy security and availability of fertilizers in the context of the challenges emanating from the current geo-political situation,” the statement said.

This is the first time Modi and Putin have met this year. “They agreed to remain in touch,” according to the statement.

What the Kremlin says: In an earlier statement, the Kremlin said Putin told Modi that Russia would “do everything” to end the conflict in Ukraine, and the Russian president said he acknowledged the Indian leader’s “concerns.”

On Thursday, in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin also acknowledged China’s “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine.?

Experts work at a place of mass burial during an exhumation in the town of?Izium, Kharkiv region on September 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a photograph of the ongoing exhumation of bodies at a mass burial site near the city of Izium.

In a text accompanying the photograph on his Telegram channel, Zelensky wrote: “The whole world should see this. A world in which there should be no cruelty and terrorism. But all this is there. And its name is Russia.”

As the exhumation continues, it’s unclear how each victim died and when. Scores of civilians and soldiers were killed in the weeks-long bombardment of Izium by Russian forces in March and April. A CNN team at the site said that the graves they saw were predominantly of individuals, some marked only with numbers and others with full names and other details.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said that “the scale of the crimes committed by the invaders in Izium is enormous. This is bloody brutal terror.”

“450 bodies of civilians with traces of violent death and torture were buried in a forest belt. It is difficult to imagine something like this in the 21st century, but now it is a tragic reality in Izium,” he said.

“About 200 law enforcement officers and experts are currently on the scene. The bodies will be sent for a forensic examination to determine the exact cause of death. After identifying the faces of the dead, they will all be buried with due respect,” he said.

“Each death will be investigated and become evidence of Russia’s war crimes in international courts,” Syniehubov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a?meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders' summit in Samarkand on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Russia would “do everything” to end the conflict in Ukraine, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

The two leaders met at the end of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Putin blamed Ukraine for the continuation of the conflict. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The Kremlin statement quoted Putin as telling Modi Friday:

Some context: Earlier in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly called on Putin to hold negotiations with him. Last week, Zelensky said negotiations with the Russian Federation surrounding the end of the war are currently “impossible.”

On Thursday, in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin also acknowledged China’s “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine.?

US State Department spokesman Ned Price holds a press briefing in Washington in August.

At the United Nations General Assembly next week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will find themselves in the same city for the third time in three months, but there are no current plans for the two diplomats to meet, a senior administration official said.

But US State Department spokesperson Ned Price would not rule out the possibility of a meeting if it could fuel efforts to bring home Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, two wrongfully detained Americans in Russia.

Lavrov and Blinken are likely to be in the same room for a UN Security Council meeting next week. But being in the same room doesn’t ensure direct contact — though it could mean awkwardly avoiding one another.

Earlier in the week, Price reiterated that US President Joe Biden’s administration does not believe it can do business as usual with the Russians, but the Biden administration has put an emphasis on getting the Americans home as public pressure has mounted. Price would not say if the administration feels that a meeting with Lavrov and Blinken could move the ball forward.

Blinken spoke to Lavrov by phone in late July for the first time since the Russian war in Ukraine began on Feb. 24, and “pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,” the top US diplomat said at the time.

Blinken and Lavrov were in the same cities for international summits just weeks before that phone call and just weeks after it – in Bali in early July and in Cambodia in early August – but Blinken and Lavrov did not meet. In Cambodia, they were just seats away from one another for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers meeting and attended the same dinner, but they did not speak at the dinner, CNN reported at the time.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said that they will not engage in diplomacy with Russia unless they think that it can be productive, and Russia has signaled no desire to diplomatically engage.

Biden is set to meet with the families of Griner and Whelan today at the White House.

Switzerland is suspending its exchange of tax information with Russia to prevent “inappropriate” use of sensitive information as the war in Ukraine continues, the Swiss Federal Council announced in a statement on Friday.

“Due to the unclear and uncertain situation in the in connection with Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, there is no guarantee that the sensitive information to be exchanged will not be used inappropriately,” a spokesperson for the State Secretariat for International Finance told CNN.

Switzerland is “reacting in the same way, as for example, all European Union member states, the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom,” the spokesperson said.

According to the council’s website, tax authorities exchange information — for example, on financial accounts and advance tax rulings — “in order to increase transparency and prevent cross-border tax evasion.”

Women stand near a residential building destroyed by a military strike in the town of Izium recently liberated by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on September 15.

Much of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has been retaken by Ukrainian forces, but the military said liberated areas are now being heavily shelled by Russian artillery.

The Kharkiv regional civil military administration said Friday that “during the past day, the enemy massively shelled the recently liberated settlements of the Kharkiv region in the Kharkiv, Kupyansk, and Izium districts. Residential buildings were destroyed; there are injured.”

The administration said 10 people were injured in the Kupiansk district, including two children. One more person was wounded in the Izium district, and one was injured in the Kharkiv district, it said.

Areas of Kharkiv near the Russian border also came under attack, it said, adding that there had been rocket attacks on the village of Zolochiv north of the city of Kharkiv.

Elsewhere, in Luhansk: The administration in the eastern Luhansk region said battles continue along the line of contact but there had been no further change in territory held by Ukraine. It said long-range artillery strikes by Ukrainian forces had inflicted heavy casualties on Russian units in the Perevalsk area, some 50 kilometers (31 miles) behind the front lines.

Donetsk: In Donetsk, regional authorities said Russian forces continued to shell settlements around Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Toretsk, killing five civilians. Despite a mandatory evacuation from the region, thousands of civilians have not left their homes.

Dnipropetrovsk: Further south, in the Dnipropetrovsk region, the cities of Kryvyi Rih and Nikopol have come under fire. Local authorities reported widespread damage in Nikopol from Russian rocket attacks. “The Russians aimed their missiles at critical infrastructure. There is severe destruction of hydraulic structures,” Valentyn Reznichenko, head of Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said about Kryvyi Rih.

Earlier this week, missile attacks on water infrastructure caused flooding along the Inhulets river, which runs south from Kryvyi Rih.?

Kherson: The regional military administration in the southern Kherson region implied there had been little further progress for Ukrainian forces there, saying “the situation in the region remains difficult.”

It said Russian forces had tried to conduct an assault toward the town of Ivanivka but retreated with losses. It also said Ukrainian?rocket and artillery units performed 140 fire missions.

Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russia-installed head of the Zaporizhzhia region, holds a media briefing in Melitopol on July 14.

The head of the Russian-backed administration in occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region said a senior official there has been killed.

Yevgeniy Balitsky, head of the Russian-appointed administration, said that Oleg Boyko — a senior official in the city of Berdiansk — and his wife had been killed.

“A tragic event happened last night. The deputy head of the administration of Berdiansk Oleg Boyko and his wife Lyudmila, who worked as the chairman of the Berdiansk election commission, were vilely killed,” Balitsky said.

The circumstances of their deaths are unknown.?

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz addresses a conference of the German Armed Forces Bundeswehr in Berlin on Friday.

German armed forces must become Europe’s “best equipped,” with the country ready to take on a “leading responsibility” in guaranteeing Europe’s security, Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Friday.

“We are making it convincingly clear: Germany is ready to take on leading responsibility for the security of our continent,” Scholz went on to say.

Scholz said Russian President Vladimir Putin currently poses ”the biggest threat” to the NATO alliance.

The German Chancellor said that the German armed forces had for too long taken on other roles like “drilling wells, ensuring humanitarian help, stemming floods, also helping with vaccinations during the pandemic.”

“But that is not your core mission,” he said, adding “the core task of the Bundeswehr [the German armed forces] is the defense of freedom in Europe.”

Scholz also said that Europe must take on a lot more responsibility within NATO, amid Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

“We, Europeans, must however assume significantly more responsibility within NATO,” Scholz said.

“NATO remains responsible for the collective defense of the entire alliance with a focus on Europe. Credible deterrence remains the core element,” Scholz concluded.

Forensic technicians dig near a cross in a forest on the outskirts of Izyum, eastern Ukraine on Friday.

A United Nations source told CNN that a team from the UN’s human rights monitoring agency, the OHCHR, would be going to Izium and areas around it as soon as possible.

The war crimes investigation team may follow after that, the source said. Their specific destination remains unclear at this time.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr?Zelensky?said on Thursday that a mass burial site had been discovered in Izium, in the country’s Kharkiv region, after the area was recaptured last weekend from Russian forces. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that at least 440 graves?had been found.

Chinese President Xi Jinping attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders' summit in Samarkand on Friday.

A day after meeting his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping called for countries of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) to “promote the development of the international order in a more just and rational direction,”?in remarks given?at a summit of the organization in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, on Friday.?

Created in 2001, SCO includes China, Russia, four Central Asian states (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan), India and Pakistan.

Xi said countries should?“support each other’s efforts to safeguard security and development interests, prevent foreign forces from staging color revolutions, and jointly oppose interference in the internal affairs of other countries under any pretext.”

He added China?is?willing to train 2,000 law enforcement officers for member states over the next five years and establish a training base for Chinese SCO counter-terrorism professionals.

The leader of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) says its prosecutor general has been killed in “terrorist act.”

Leonid Pasechnik, head of the so-called LPR, said on his Telegram channel Friday:?“Today, as a result of a terrorist act, the Prosecutor General of the LPR Sergei Gorenko and his deputy Yekaterina Steglenko were killed.”

The Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation says it will start a criminal investigation into the attack.

Such attacks in the city of Luhansk are very rare.

It’s unclear how the victims were killed; video from Luhansk shows only smoke rising from a building in the center of the city.

Senior US officials tell CNN they are disappointed?US-led sanctions?haven’t had a bigger impact so far on the Russian economy and are now predicting that the harshest effects probably won’t materialize until early next year at the earliest.

The hope had been that the sanctions would?quickly choke off Russia’s war machine?in Ukraine, making it difficult for the Kremlin to sustain its efforts on the battlefield — and perhaps even turn?public opinion against the invasion?when day-to-day life in Russian society became uncomfortable.

But the Russian economy has proven far more resilient than many top Biden administration officials had expected when they?set out to punish the country?in February, thanks largely to record-setting revenues it has reaped in the spring and summer?from soaring energy prices. In the first 100 days of the war, Russia earned a record 93 billion euros in revenue by exporting oil, gas and coal, according to the Finnish Center for Research on Energy and Clean Air.

Russia’s economy still shrunk by about 4% between April and June as compared to the same period last year. But that’s nowhere near the 15% decline that some had expected earlier in the year.

Another senior US official echoed that, telling CNN that many in the administration had hoped to see the Russian economy suffering more by now, given the unprecedented severity of the coordinated Western sanctions.

A separate senior administration official cautioned CNN, however, that the officials crafting the sanctions in the months leading up to the war always believed that the steepest impacts would not necessarily be immediate.

Read more:

A woman walks outside the Kremlin, Red Square and St. Basil's Cathedral in central Moscow on February 22, 2022. - Russian President Vladimir Putin said on February 22 that he does not plan to restore Russia's empire, a day after he ordered Russian troops to be sent to eastern Ukraine and questioned Ukraine's sovereignty. (Photo by Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP) (Photo by DIMITAR DILKOFF/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Russian sanctions slow to bite as US officials admit frustrations over pace of pain in Moscow

CNN’s Phil Mattingly contributed reporting to this post.

A car is driving past a building damaged by Russian shelling in the village of Shevchenkove in August.

Shevchenkove may have been?liberated?after more than six months of Russian occupation, but in the run-down streets of this small town in?northeastern Ukraine, there are no scenes of joy.

Its streets were practically deserted Tuesday, five days after Ukrainian forces swept through. Their trucks and a heavy police presence were the only signs of the dramatic events of the past few days, and a strong reminder of who is now in charge.

Kharkiv police declined to tell CNN what would happen to anyone who was accused.

Ukrainian officials have?vowed?that anyone who collaborated with occupation forces will face criminal sanctions.

Other civilians hurried in and out of their homes, heads down and eyes downcast, to a food truck manned by Ukrainian military personnel, where bottles of water and plastic bags full of food were handed out.

Few were willing to speak to the media and CNN’s cameras were turned away from the police station by Kharkiv police each time someone handcuffed and blindfolded was taken away in a police car.

Only a pair of elderly women taking a walk in a nearby park agreed to talk – at first reluctantly and then with all the bottled-up emotion of those who’ve been silent too long.

Related article 'We survived, thank God, we survived!' Relief, but little joy, in one Ukrainian town liberated after Russian occupation | CNN

China's President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and other participants attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders' summit in Samarkand on September 16.

The Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit could have provided a chance for Beijing and Moscow to make a case for a “multipolar world order,” but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine may have sowed divisions within the grouping and alienated some countries.

Having watched Russian tanks roll into Ukraine, a former Soviet republic, Central Asian leaders of former Soviet territories are worried that Russia could encroach on their land too.?

Kazakhstan, in particular, has refused to toe Moscow’s line. It has sent humanitarian aid to Ukraine, and its President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has publicly refused to recognize Russia-backed separatist regions in eastern Ukraine, enraging some Kremlin officials.

China’s refusal to condemn Russia has also caused unease among Central Asian countries, experts say. That risks hampering China’s efforts to build stronger ties with its Central Asian neighbors, an endeavor China has invested heavily in for two decades.

During Xi Jinping’s state visit to Kazakhstan on Wednesday – his first foreign trip in nearly 1,000 days – the Chinese leader sought to allay such concerns.

Also complicating the picture is India, which occupies a unique role in the SCO.

Delhi, which like Beijing has not condemned Russia’s invasion, has strong ties with Moscow dating back to the Cold War. According to some estimates, India gets more than 50% of its military equipment from Russia.

In recent months, India has significantly increased its purchase of Russian oil, coal and fertilizer, despite Western pressure to cut economic ties with the Kremlin following its aggression in Ukraine.

But Delhi has also seen relations with Beijing nosedive due to conflicts along their border, and has moved closer to Washington and its allies in the Indo-Pacific. India is a member of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue alongside the United States, Japan and Australia, a grouping driven closer together by China’s threats.

Modi, who arrived in Samarkand in the early hours of Friday, is expected to have one-on-one meetings with his Russian, Uzbekistan and Iranian counterparts, a source from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs told CNN.

But based on his tentative schedule, Modi doesn’t have a meeting scheduled with Xi. The two leaders haven’t met since the start of the China-India border conflict more than two years ago.?

Last week, Delhi and Beijing began disengaging from the Gogra-Hotsprings border area in the western Himalayas.

In addition to their territorial disputes, Delhi is also wary of Beijing’s growing economic influence over its smaller neighbors.

But Kewalramani said the SCO could provide a “space (for India) to engage with China and Russia.”

“Particularly, being on the table while China and Russia are together, because the closer that relationship gets, the trickier it gets for India,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, gestures while speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping during the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on Friday, Sept. 16.

When Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin sit down with other Asian leaders at a summit in Central Asia Friday, they will seek to?present a united front?to counterbalance the United States and its allies.

Since Thursday, leaders from the grouping, including India, Pakistan, Iran and four Central Asian countries, have convened in the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan, which has seen a flurry of high-level talks, including the first face-to-face meeting between Xi and Putin since the invasion.

Putin’s appearance alongside Xi at the high-profile summit came just days after Russian forces suffered a series of major defeats on the Ukrainian battlefield. Moscow’s invasion has left it diplomatically isolated,?and its economy severely weakened by a raft of punishing Western sanctions.

In recent months, China has offered Russia?tacit support and stepped up economic assistance to its neighbor, boosting bilateral trade to a record high. But as the conflict drags on into winter, analysts question how far Xi will be prepared to go in continuing to back Putin – and at what cost.?

“Ties between Moscow and Beijing have been asymmetric before, when Russia was a needier partner, but now this is an asymmetry on steroids where China has the commanding position, and definitely will be not shy to use it going forward.”

In public, China has pledged to deepen ties with Russia. An official Chinese readout of the Xi-Putin meeting Thursday made no mention of Ukraine. Instead, it quoted Xi as saying that China would “work with Russia to extend strong mutual support on issues concerning each other’s core interests” and “play a leading role in injecting stability and positive energy into a world of change and disorder.”

For his part, Putin highlighted Moscow’s value to Beijing – namely to join hands in counterbalancing the West and creating what he calls “a just, democratic and multipolar world order.”?

Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh pose for a picture during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan September 15, 2022. Sputnik/Alexandr Demyanchuk/Pool via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY.

Related article China and Russia present united front at regional summit despite differences

Valuiki, a border city in Belgorod Oblast, was shelled overnight by Ukrainian forces,??Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post on Friday.?

According to the governor there is “destruction on the ground,” a substation was damaged and the city’s power supply has been disrupted.?

Social media videos show lights in the city go out as rockets appear in the distance.

One civilian was killed and two wounded in the attack.

Crosses mark the location of several bodies at a mass burial site in Izyum, Ukraine.

The Ukrainian?Ministry?of?Defense tweeted images?on Thursday of?a burial site?in Izium, Kharkiv region, and said that “440 unmarked graves”?had been discovered after the region was liberated from Russian forces last weekend.

Ukraine’s?Center?for Strategic Communications?on Thursday said that some of the graves discovered after the Russians fled were “fresh” and that the corpses buried there were “mostly civilians.”?

The cause of deaths and the circumstances around the burials are unclear; President Zelensky said that the “necessary procedural actions have already started.”

A commander of a unit shows the rockets on a HIMARS vehicle in eastern Ukraine on July 1.

The White House announced a $600 million security package for Ukraine on Thursday, providing the Ukrainian military with another round of assistance during its counter-offensive against Russian forces.

The equipment will be drawn from existing US stocks and inventories, and it will include additional arms, ammunition, and equipment, according to a statement from Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

The package includes additional ammunition for the HIMARS system, which Ukraine has used to hit multiple Russian logistics hubs, command posts, and ammo depots. It also includes tens of thousands of conventional 105mm artillery rounds, 1,000 precision 155mm rounds, and counter-drone systems. With winter coming, the United States is also providing cold weather gear and more night vision devices.

One week ago, the Pentagon announced another $675 million package, which included additional ammunition for the HIMARS, as well as tens of thousands of rounds of artillery ammunition.?

Some context: For now, the US has decided against sending long-range ATACMS ammunition to Ukraine for use with the HIMARS platform, despite repeated Ukrainian requests. The ATACMS have a range of nearly 200 miles (320 kilometers), capable of striking deep within Russian territory.?

Pentagon officials have said the HIMARS launchers coupled with GMLRS, a munition with a range of some 40 miles (64 kilometers), is what the US should be focused on providing to Ukraine.

Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24th, the US has provided $15.1 billion in security assistance to Ukraine.?

Brittney Griner, left, and Paul Whelan, right.

President Biden will personally meet with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at the White House today, a source familiar with the matter told CNN.

This is the first time he will meet them in person.

The Associated Press?was first to report on the meeting.

Some background: The families of Whelan, who has been held by Russia for alleged espionage since 2018, and WNBA star Griner,?jailed in Moscow?for alleged drug possession since February, have urged the White House to secure their release, including via a prisoner exchange if necessary.

Where do things stand? Progress bringing either American home has been hard to come by. A senior Biden administration official told CNN Thursday that there has been “movement but not breakthrough” in the talks. The official said Russia is making demands the state department can’t deliver on.

A Ukrainian serviceman uses a metal detector to inspect a mass grave in the recently retaken area of Izium, Ukraine,on Thursday, September 15.

President Volodymyr?Zelensky?said on Thursday a mass burial site has been discovered in the Ukrainian city of Izium after the area was recaptured last weekend from Russian forces.

“In Izium, Kharkiv region, a mass burial of people was found. The necessary procedural actions have already started there, more information — clear and verified — should be available tomorrow,” Zelensky said in his nightly address.

He added that Ukrainian and international journalists will visit Izium Friday to see what they have uncovered.

“Bucha, Mariupol and now, unfortunately, Izium… Russia leaves death everywhere. And must be responsible for it. The world must hold Russia to real responsibility for this war. We will do everything for this,” he added.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks with Chinese President Xi Jinping during a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 15.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday praised China’s “balanced position” on?the Ukraine war, though he conceded Beijing had “questions and concerns” over the invasion, in what appeared to be a veiled admission of their diverging views over the protracted military assault.

Putin made the comments when meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping in person for the first time since the invasion at a regional summit in Uzbekistan, days after?Russia suffered a series of major military setbacks?in Ukraine. Russian troops are retreating en mass, having lost more territory in a week than they captured in five months.

China has so far refused to outright condemn Russia’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine while?stepping up economic assistance to its neighbor, boosting bilateral trade to record levels in a boon to Russian business amid Western sanctions.

Xi said China would “work with Russia to extend strong mutual support on issues concerning each other’s core interests” and “play a leading role in injecting stability and positive energy into a world of change and disorder,” according to a readout from the meeting provided by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs.?

Xi also said he appreciated “Russia’s adherence to the one-China principle and stressed that Taiwan is a part of China.”

The two authoritarian leaders have emerged as close partners in recent years, propelled by growing conflict with the West and a strong personal bond.?

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