War in Ukraine: Ukrainian army builds facilities in conquered areas - Russian soldiers return

Created: 09/15/2022, 04:56

By: Tobias Utz, Helena Gries, Teresa Toth, Karolin Schäfer, Moritz Serif, Diana Rissmann, Nadja Austel, Vincent Büssow, Nail Akkoyun, Lucas Maier

EU Commission President von der Leyen travels to Kyiv.

The Ukrainian military reports numerous Russian attacks: the news ticker on Wednesday, September 14th.

• Ursula von der Leyen:

  EU Commission President travels to Kiev

• Luhansk in focus:

  Ukrainian troops are advancing

• Editor

  's note: You can read all the news about the Ukraine conflict in this news ticker.

  Some of the information comes from warring factions in the Ukraine war and cannot be checked directly and independently.

This news ticker has ended: You can read all the latest developments on the Ukraine war in the new ticker.

+++ 6.40 p.m .:

Oleksandr Vilkul, head of the military administration of Kryvyi Rih, has warned the Ukrainian population of a rocket attack by Russian forces on the city.

"Stay in the shelters," Vilkul wrote on Telegram.

Photos of a column of smoke at the site of one of the impacts in the city were published on Telegram channels.

Vilkul had previously urged the attacks not to be filmed and shared on social media.

Air raid sirens went off across Ukraine, reports

.

A residential complex in Kharkiv destroyed by Russian missiles.

© Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy/Imago

News about the Ukraine war: Ukrainian army builds fortifications

+++ 5 p.m .:

Ukraine is building fortifications in the liberated areas, as reported by the

news portal .

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal explained that this was done to prevent Russian troops from recapturing them.

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

+++ 3.30 p.m .:

In the Luhansk region, the Russian troops are apparently returning to the city of Kreminna.

According to Governor Serhij Hajdaj, the armed forces with their "massive presence in the city" give this impression.

One measure taken by the Russian army in the region was to shut down internet connections to prevent the exchange of information.

The governor's statements are not independently verifiable.

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+++ 3:00 p.m .:

Since the beginning of the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian troops have apparently liberated more than 300 settlements.

This emerges from an analysis by the news portal

.

This began on September 6th and affected the Kharkiv region in particular.

The information is not independently verifiable.

+++ 2.15 p.m .:

Oleksiy Danilov, Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, has declared the International Atomic Energy Agency’s mission around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant to have failed.

"The situation would only have improved if the terrorists took their weapons and explosives and left the power plant," he said, according to a report by the

news portal . 

+++ 1.45 p.m .:

Volodymyr Selenskyj, President of Ukraine, visited the recaptured city of Izyum on Wednesday afternoon.

"The President of Ukraine thanked the soldiers for the liberation of Ukrainian land and solemnly raised the Ukrainian flag over the city parliament," the 25th Separate Airborne Brigade Sicheslav said in a statement on Facebook.

+++ 1:00 p.m .:

The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Sienkevych, has reported numerous attacks by Russian troops.

During the night, the armed forces bombed the city several times.

According to Sienkevych, security forces were still busy cleaning up at noon.

So far, little is known about the injured and dead.

The information cannot be independently verified.

News about the Ukraine war: Russian soldiers are said to have operated a torture chamber

+++ 12.00 p.m .:

In the areas recaptured by Ukrainian troops, there are increasing indications of war crimes.

In the city of Balaklija (Kharkiv region), Russian soldiers are said to have operated a torture chamber in the local police station.

According to media reports, at least 40 people were locked up there for several months.

"The occupiers took away those who served in the military or had relatives there, and also looked for those who helped the army," he added in a statement shared on Facebook.

reports

confirm the statements of the police officer.

Accordingly, numerous bodies were found in Balaklija.

Apparently, there are also indications of such war crimes from other places in the Kharkiv region.

+++ 11.00 a.m .:

A draft law to tighten the penalties for high treason is to be presented to the Duma in Russia.

A report by the

news portal suggests that "crimes against the motherland," which is defined in Russia as anything that goes against Vladimir Putin's policies, should be punished with up to life imprisonment.

The information cannot be independently verified.

+++ 10.30 a.m .:

According to the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, five civilians were killed in Russian attacks on the city of Bakhmut.

This is reported, among other things, by the news portal

It said 16 other people were injured.

+++ 10:00 a.m .:

The Ukrainian military has reported that a total of eight Russian attacks have been repelled in the past 24 hours.

As the news portal

further reports, this mainly affects the Donetsk region.

Three of the eight attacks were rocket attacks, it said.

The information is not independently verifiable.

News about the Ukraine war: von der Leyen travels to Kyiv

+++ 9.30 a.m .:

Ursula von der Leyen wants to travel to Kiev on Wednesday.

This was announced by the President of the EU Commission in the morning.

"I want to leave no doubt that the sanctions will last." "This is the price of Putin's trail of death and destruction," she said.

+++ 9:00 a.m .:

According to an assessment by the British secret service, Russia used drones delivered from Iran for the first time in the Ukraine war.

"Russia is almost certainly procuring more arms from other heavily sanctioned countries like Iran and North Korea while its own supplies are running low," a status report said.

The Ukrainian army had already reported on Tuesday that such a drone had been shot down.

The information cannot be independently verified.

Update from Wednesday, September 14, 7.45 a.m .:

Ukraine is trying to normalize life in the recaptured areas in the east as quickly as possible.

"It is very important that with our troops, with our flag, normal life returns to the areas that are no longer occupied," said President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Tuesday evening.

At the same time, however, the experience after the withdrawal of Russian troops from the Kyiv area seems to be repeating itself in the spring: Ukrainian authorities are reporting indications of suspected war crimes by the occupiers from the liberated areas.

There are already 40 suspected cases in the Kharkiv region, said Deputy Interior Minister Jewhenij Jenin.

Ukraine-News: Ukrainian troops target Luhansk

+++ 10:45 p.m .:

President Zelenskyj announced in a video message that Kiev was able to regain full control over more than 4000 square kilometers of Ukrainian territory previously occupied by Russia.

Yesterday he spoke of 6000 square kilometers that were recaptured.

The new specification recognizes a distinction between retaking an area and ensuring its complete security, according to a

report .

The Ukrainian President's military adviser, Oleksiy Arestovych, told

that the counter-offensive had "slowed down a bit".

This is because "most of the Ukrainian armed forces are fighting to capture the city of Lyman to open our way to the Luhansk region." They will also "liberate new areas in a different way," he said in the interview.

The city of Lyman is

a major railroad hub, according to

News on the Ukraine war: Pentagon reports withdrawal of Russian forces from Kharkiv

+++ 8.30 p.m .:

According to US information, Russian forces are leaving the Kharkiv region.

"We have seen that some Russian forces, particularly in the northeast, in the Kharkiv region, have crossed the border back into Russia as they retreated from the Ukrainian counteroffensive," Pentagon press secretary Brigadier General Pat Ryder said, according to

.

However, Russian forces are still "present in large numbers in Ukraine," Ryder continued.

The U.S. is not surprised that Ukrainian forces "advanced so quickly" in the counteroffensive, the spokesman said.

According to reports "of the Russian military response" known to the Pentagon, it was "probably the Russians" who were caught off guard by the push, Ryder said.

News about the Ukraine war: the military wants at least 300 towns to be liberated

+++ 6:00 p.m .:

According to its own statements, Ukraine freed at least 300 towns with almost 150,000 inhabitants on 3800 square kilometers in the eastern region of Kharkiv within a week.

That's what Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said in Balaklija, one of the recaptured cities.

In addition, these are only the confirmed numbers, she said on Telegram.

The liberated territory in the Kharkiv region is probably almost twice as large.

More data will be available on Wednesday.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia shells Losowa in the Kharkiv region

+++ 17.12 p.m .:

In the Kharkiv Oblast there was again shelling of the electricity and water infrastructure in the city of Losowa.

Several civilians were also injured.

According to Oleh Synehubov, governor of the Kharkiv region, the authorities are still in the process of determining the number of victims of the attack.

Ukraine war news: Russian nationals leave Crimea

+++ 4.44 p.m .:

On the Crimean Peninsula annexed by Russia and in parts of southern Ukraine, Russian representatives, secret service agents and military commanders are said to have started to evacuate their families and “urgently relocate to Russian territory”.

This was stated by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense in a statement.

It went on to say that Russian nationals are currently "secretly trying to sell their homes."

It is unclear whether Russian commanders expect further attacks from the Ukrainian military.

News on the Ukraine war: Russia reports "massive attacks"

+++ 3.15 p.m .:

According to the Russian military, they are currently responding with “massive attacks” on Ukraine’s counter-offensive.

"Air, missile and artillery forces are conducting massive attacks on units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in all directions," the Russian Defense Ministry said

in its daily briefing, according to

A Defense Ministry statement said it had carried out "high-precision" attacks on Ukrainian positions around Sloviansk and Kostyantynivka in the Donetsk region.

The information has not yet been independently verified.

News on the Ukraine war: Town on the Russian border liberated

+++ 11.18 a.m .:

Ukraine has confirmed the liberation of the city of Vowchansk in Kharkiv Oblast on the Russian border.

The State Border Guard Service released a video this morning titled "Vovchansk is home again," showing Ukrainian troops removing Russian flags and signs from buildings in the city.

Vovchansk was occupied on the first day of the invasion and is said to have been evacuated by Russian troops on September 11th.

Ukraine-News: Ukraine wants to have recaptured 6000 square kilometers from Russia

First report from Tuesday, September 13,

6:20 a.m.: According to President Volodymyr Selenskyj, the Ukrainian army has recaptured more than 6,000 square kilometers of land from the Russian occupiers since the beginning of September.

"Our troops are on the move," he said in Kyiv on Monday evening.

In the face of Russian rocket attacks on his country's power grid, he called for faster deliveries of anti-aircraft weapons from abroad.

The Ukrainian General Staff reported Russian attacks on many parts of the front.

In the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which was occupied by Russian troops, the situation eased somewhat because two power lines to the cooling system of the shut down reactors could be repaired.

Tuesday marks the 202nd day of Ukraine's defense against the Russian invasion.

In Germany, the discussion about the delivery of battle tanks and armored personnel carriers to the attacked country continues.

(nak/na/hg/vbu/kas/tt/lm/dir/mse/tu with dpa/AFP)