Zelensky claims Russian occupiers 'trying to escape' liberated Ukraine regions
The Kremlin hinted that it could have plans to annexe more regions of Ukraine.
It comes after Vladimir Putin signed a law to incorporate four partially-occupied regions of southern Ukraine – the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia – into Russia.
It’s the biggest expansion of Russian territory in at least 50 years.
Kyiv said the act was of a “collective madhouse” at a time when Russian forces have been fleeing front lines.
But the Kremlin suggested it’s eyeing up more regions to “reclaim”. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a conference call with reporters that Russia will “keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia”.
He did not specify which Ukrainian territories Moscow is considering taking next and he would not say if the Kremlin planned to organise more “referendums”, that Western allies of Ukraine have condemned as “illegal”.
Also on Wednesday, Putin ordered Russia to take control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Russia’s nuclear power operator Rosatom said it would transfer all the existing Ukrainian employees to a new Russian-owned organisation.
Kyiv has urged Ukrainian workers there not to sign any documents handed to them by Russian occupiers.
‘You’ve lost,’ Zelensky after ‘Russia deploys Iran-made drones’
Volodymyr Zelensky said that no weapon, even the Iranian-made Shahed drones, will help Russia win the war.
In his nightly address, the Ukrainian spoke in Russian to make his statement to the Russian occupiers.
It comes after drones – known as HESA Shahed 136, or “kamikaze drones” – hit a building overnight in Bila Tserkva, about 45 miles (75km) from Kyiv – according to the Kyiv region’s governor Oleksiy Kuleba.
Mr Zelensky said: “These Iranian Shahed drones with which you are trying to bomb our cities, such as Bila Tserkva ... won’t help you anyway. You have already lost.
“You’ve lost because even now, on the 224th day of the full-scale war, you have to explain to your society why all this is needed: this war, the false mobilisation and self-destruction of all the prospects of your people.”
Volodymyr Zelensky said using Iranian-made drones won’t help Russia
(Office of the President of Ukraine)
He went on: “When people feel they are right and when they are on their own land, they themselves know everything. They do not need fanatic lectures on ‘alternative history’ and political information sessions every day.
“ ... Ukrainians know what they are fighting for. And more and more citizens of Russia are realising that they must die simply because one person does not want to end the war. It’s obvious who will win”
Ukraine has reported a number of Russian attacks with Iranian-made drones in the last three weeks, but the recent strike on Bila Tserkva has been the closest one to Kyiv.
Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented – Reuters reported.
Russia anti-war TV reporter confirms she has fled house arrest
A Russian TV journalist who shot to fame after staging an anti-war protest during a live broadcast has confirmed she has escaped house arrest over charges of spreading fake news.
In March, just weeks after Russia launched its invasion of Ukraine, Marina Ovsyannikova staged a walk-out in front of studio cameras during an evening news broadcast on the flagship Channel One.
She held up a homemade placard that read, “Stop the war” and “They’re lying to you”.
Despite receiving a hefty 30,000 rouble (£460) fine for her demonstration, the 44-year-old has continued her opposition to the war.
Marina Ovsyannikova was detained over charges of spreading fake news
US agents ‘suspect Ukraine involved in killing of Daria Dugina’
American intelligence agencies reportedly suspect that parts of the Ukrainian government authorised a car bomb attack near Moscow that killed Daria Dugina, the daughter of a prominent Russian nationalist, in August.
The US had no involvement in the attack, did not know about it ahead of time and would have opposed the killing if it had been consulted – officials said, according to the report by The New York Times.
The officials reprimanded their Ukrainian counterparts over the assassination, the report adds, that killed the 29-year-old TV commentator.
Nationalist philosopher Aleksandr Dugin at a ceremony for his daughter Daria
(Copyright 2022 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
It’s believed that Ms Dugina’s father Aleksandr Dugin – who has called on Russia to intensify its invasion of Ukraine – was the actual target of the attack and that the operatives who detonated the car bomb had believed he would be in the vehicle with his daughter.
When asked about the US intelligence assessment, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky, reiterated Kyiv’s claims that Ukraine’s government was not involved in the killing.
Ukraine liberates three more settlements in Kherson region
Ukrainian forces liberated three settlements in the southern Kherson region today, Volodymyr Zelensky said in a late-night video address.
The Ukrainian president listed the areas as Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka – which all lie to the northeast of the city of Kherson.
It comes after Mr Zelensky said, on Tuesday night that the military, in the past week, made major, rapid advances against Russian forces in taking back dozens of towns in southern and eastern regions that Russia has declared annexed.
He said: “This week alone, since the Russian pseudo-referendum, dozens of population centres have been liberated. These are in Kherson, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions.”
Gold teeth pulled from Ukrainians’ mouths found near Izyum
A box of gold teeth pulled from the mouths of living and dead Ukrainians has been discovered in territory recaptured from Russia, according to officials.
A plastic container filled with more than 200 caps and dentures was discovered by Ukrainian fighters in the town of Pisky-Rad’kivs’ki in northern Ukraine, east of the city of Izyum.
After finding the box, officials believe that they had discovered a site where torture at the hands of Russian invaders had taken place.
You can read the full story here by Emily Atkinson
The discovery has been reported to the War Crimes Commission for investigation
EU approves eighth set of sanctions on Russia over annexation
The European Union has given its final approval to a new round of sanctions against Russia over its war in Ukraine.
The bloc’s eighth set of sanctions was finalised on the same day that Vladimir Putin signed papers on the annexation of the four regions in southern Ukraine, while Kyiv said the Ukrainian military is in the process of reclaiming the regions.
The sanctions ban imports of Russian steel and steel products, wood pulp and paper, machinery and appliances not yet covered by existing sanctions, and intermediate chemicals, plastics, and cigarettes.
They also ban exports to Russia of EU goods used in aviation, such as tires and brakes, and extends a ban on the export of electric components, including certain semiconductors and other components that have not been already banned.
In addition, the sanctions ban the export of certain chemical substances, nerve agents, and goods that have “no practical use other than for capital punishment, torture or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”
The sanctions also target more individuals at the Russian defence ministry, people involved in Moscow’s referendum votes in occupied parts of four regions of Ukraine, and those participating in evading sanctions.
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said: “We will never accept Putin’s sham referenda nor any kind of annexation in Ukraine. We are determined to continue making the Kremlin pay.”
The agreement is to be formalised on 6 October if no EU country raises an objection. Sanctions require the unanimous backing of all 27 EU member states.
Iranian-made drones 'hit Ukraine’s Kyiv region for first time’
Officials in a town near Kyiv have claimed that multiple strikes launched by Russia using Iranian-made drones resulted in a fire.
Six drones – known as HESA Shahed 136, or “kamikaze drones” – hit a building overnight in Bila Tserkva, about 45 miles (75km) from the Ukrainian capital.
This is according to Oleksiy Kuleba, governor of the Kyiv region.
File photo released by the Ukrainian military of what Kyiv calls an Iranian Shahed drone
(Ukrainian Army Strategic Communications Directorate via AP)
Ukraine has reported a number of Russian attacks with Iranian-made drones in the last three weeks, but the recent strike on Bila Tserkva has been the closest one to Kyiv.
Iran denies supplying the drones to Russia, while the Kremlin has not commented – Reuters reported.
Residents told the news agency that they heard four explosions in quick succession, followed by another two over an hour later.
“There was a roaring noise, a piercing sound. I heard the first strike, the second I saw and heard. There was a roar and then ‘boom’ followed by an explosion,” said 80-year-old Volodymyr, who lives across the street from the building.
Bodies of Ukrainian men found in pit showing ‘signs of torture’
Police said they found the bodies of two Ukrainian civilians that show signs of having been tortured.
The bodies were found in a four-metre-deep pit in the village of Novoplatonivka, in the northeastern region of Kharkiv.
The left hand of one of the men was cuffed to the other man’s right hand, the police force wrote on Facebook.
The pit where the bodies of two Ukrainian men were found
(Kharkiv Police)
One of their skulls has a fracture in the temporal area, and the other skull has a hole caused by a gunshot, the police said.
The two men are believed to be in their early 30s, and investigations are ongoing to establish their identities.
The pit is located at a recreation centre in the village used by hundreds of Russian soldiers who had occupied the village.
A criminal investigation has been opened, police said.
Putin orders Russia to take control of Zaporizhzhia NPP
Vladimir Putin has ordered Russia to take control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – but Kyiv has urged Ukrainian workers there not to sign any documents handed to them by Russian occupiers.
The Russian president ordered the Kremlin to take control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, located in one of the four regions in southern Ukraine that he recently annexed.
Russian military convoy on the road leading to the Zaporizhzhia power station
(AP)
Russia’s nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom said it would transfer all the existing Ukrainian employees to a new Russian-owned organisation.
But Petro Kotin, the boss of Ukraine’s state energy agency, announced he was taking over the plant – which is feared to possibly cause a nuclear disaster as a result of shelling in the area that Moscow and Kyiv have blamed each other for.
Ukrainian staff have continued to operate the plant after Russian forces captured it in March, following the launch of the invasion on 24 February.
