Ukraine War: Mass grave reveals atrocities committed by Russian army

Created: 09/16/2022, 01:40 am

By: Tobias Utz, Johanna Soll, Nadja Austel, Nail Akkoyun, Lucas Maier

Chancellor Olaf Scholz announces further support for Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Wladimir Klitschko is demanding more tanks.

The news ticker on Friday, September 16th.

• "Red Line":

  New warning to USA and Ukraine from Russia

• "Self-mobilization" in Russia:

  Kadyrov apparently with a call

• 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.

Update from Friday, September 16, 1:30 a.m .:

According to media reports, mass graves were found in the city of Izyum (Kharkiv region), which was recaptured by the Ukrainian troops.

This is reported by both the British TV broadcaster

and the Ukrainian news portal

, citing official information.

The information is reminiscent of the mass grave in Bucha near Kyiv that became known months ago.

It caused international reactions.

The Ukraine War in Pictures - Destruction, Resistance and Hope

View photo gallery

A total of 440 bodies were apparently found in the mass graves in Izyum.

They are to be examined forensically in the coming days.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj condemned the crimes in a TV speech: "We want the world to know what caused the Russian occupation." Officials said that the first forensic results were expected on Friday.

Photographs of the mass grave in Izyum, Kharkiv region.

(Screenshot) © Twitter / Nexta

+++ 8.40 p.m.:

SPD leader Lars Klingbeil praised the announced delivery of additional heavy weapons from the Bundeswehr to Ukraine as an "important contribution".

At a party event on Thursday in Oldenburg, however, he expressed reservations about the delivery of modern battle tanks to Ukraine: "There has been a decision together with the Allies that no country will deliver western-style battle tanks." However, the course of the war will continue to be closely monitored to see what next steps could be taken.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz, on the other hand, announced further support for Ukraine: "We are helping with heavy military equipment, with ammunition, with the training of Ukrainian soldiers, because their fight is also our fight," said Scholz on Thursday evening in Potsdam.

There the M100 Media Award was presented to ex-heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko on behalf of the Ukrainian people.

Germany will maintain this support together with its international partners - "reliably and for as long as necessary," said Scholz.

The chancellor recalled the weapons deliveries to date.

According to Scholz, these were decisive for the recent successes of the Ukrainian army.

The weapons are very relevant to the current offensive and have helped turn the tide of the war.

also read

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There is rumbling in Putin's empire: after Kadyrov's threat, the Kremlin spokesman's response gives a deep insight

News on the Ukraine war – Wladimir Klitschko demands tanks from Germany: “The West is moving far too slowly”

+++ 8:02 p.m .:

Ex-heavyweight boxing world champion Wladimir Klitschko has urged the federal government under Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) to do more quickly with arms deliveries to Ukraine.

"We can only stop this war and stop Russia with modern weapons, with modern technology," said the 46-year-old on Thursday in an interview with the German Press Agency in Berlin.

It is therefore necessary that Leopard 2 main battle tanks are supplied and also Marder-type armored personnel carriers.

"The West, this free world, is moving far too slowly," complained Klitschko.

In view of the success of the Ukrainian counter-offensive, Klitschko stressed that his country would continue to fight as long as it could.

"Our will is made of steel," he said.

"Just please don't look the other way and don't ignore us when we ask for help and support" - as the West did eight years ago, for example after Russia annexed the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula of Crimea.

At that time, people "heard and looked the other way, without consequences for Russia".

If Russia is not stopped, Moscow will carry on.

"Poland, East Germany, who knows," he warned.

Russia apparently cannot stop the Ukraine offensive - Poor supply of soldiers

+++ 5.15 p.m .:

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, has stated that Russian soldiers have destroyed an energy plant while fleeing the area.

news portal

.

According to Syniehubov, around 5,000 people now have no gas supply.

His statements are not independently verifiable.

+++ 4.30 p.m .:

The Russian troops in the south and east of Ukraine apparently continue to have difficulties in stopping the Ukrainian army’s counter-offensive.

This is reported by the US broadcaster

- and refers to problems that the Russian armed forces have had since the beginning of the invasion: The poor supply situation of the troops should be mentioned above all, so several supply routes are not working.

According to the report, there is also a lack of an “effective command and control structure”.

The information in the report cannot be independently verified.

However, a military expert had previously provided similar information and reported three factors that could hinder the Ukrainian army's offensive.

+++ 3.15 p.m .:

Federal Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht has announced new deliveries of rocket launchers to Ukraine.

Two Mars models and 50 Dingo armored vehicles are to be delivered.

The weapons package also includes 200 missiles, as Lambrecht said in Berlin on Thursday.

+++ 3:00 p.m .:

Ukraine can soon expect further EU aid in the billions.

The EU Parliament approved loans of over five billion euros in Strasbourg on Thursday.

The money is to be used for the day-to-day operations of the state.

The loans are supported by guarantees from the member states because, according to the EU Commission, there are no longer sufficient resources available in the EU budget.

The money is part of an aid package announced in May totaling nine billion euros.

Before the five billion euros can be paid out, the EU states still have to give their formal consent.

Since there is already a political agreement between the finance ministers of the states, this is considered a formality.

One billion euros from the nine billion package was paid out at the beginning of August.

Ukraine war news: Russia warns US and Ukraine of “red line”

+++ 2.30 p.m .:

The Russian Foreign Ministry has described the deliveries of new colleagues from the USA to Ukraine as crossing a “red line”.

According to a report by the

news agency, a spokeswoman for the ministry was referring to long-range missiles.

In such a case, the USA would become a “conflict party”.

Ukraine is already using US-made high-mobility artillery missile systems – just not longer-range US-made missiles.

According to the report, spokeswoman Maria Zakharova added that Russia "reserves the right to defend its territory".

+++ 2:00 p.m .:

According to its own statements, the Ukrainian domestic secret service has identified the heads of the Russian occupying forces in the Kharkiv region.

As the news portal

reports, there are said to be 16 people.

Eleven of them have already been arrested, five are at large.

No further details were given.

News about the Ukraine war: Kadyrov apparently calls for "self-mobilization".

+++ 1:15 p.m .:

Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechen ruler, is said to have asked the regional governors in Russia to carry out “self-mobilization” – and to start recruiting volunteer fighters from their regions and sending them to the Ukraine war.

The

reports .

"Don't wait for the Kremlin to declare martial law," he said, according to the report.

After numerous statements loyal to the Kremlin, Kadyrov recently criticized the Russian strategy in the Ukraine war.

+++ 12.00 p.m .:

The Russian military has announced that another rocket attack on the Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih will be carried out.

As the news portal

reports, the head of the local military administration, Oleksandr Vilkul, asked the population to stay in shelters.

No further details were given.

The information is not independently verifiable.

News about the Ukraine war: Four Russian fighter jets shot down

+++ 10.30 a.m .:

Four fighter jets from the Russian army were apparently shot down in Ukrainian airspace on Thursday.

According to a report by the

news portal, the Ukrainian general staff said so .

These were three SU-25 fighter jets and one SU-24 aircraft.

According to the general statistics on Russia's losses in the Ukraine war, which the General Staff also publishes daily, 250 Russian planes have been shot down since the beginning of the invasion at the end of February.

According to the latest report, there are now 254. The information comes from a war party and is therefore not independently verifiable.

+++ 9.45 a.m .:

The Ukrainian troops are apparently consolidating their position in the recaptured areas, especially in the Kharkiv region.

This emerges from a situation report by the British Ministry of Defence.

Citing information from the secret service in London, it said that the Russian troops west of the Oskil River had largely withdrawn.

Some soldiers fled in panic.

The UK information is not independently verifiable.

+++ 9:00 a.m .:

After the attack on the dam in the city of Kryvyi Rih, people tried to contain the consequences at night.

According to Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the military administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, as a result of the attack, the water level of the Inhulets river rose by up to two meters: "So far we have been able to bring it down to 13 cm and it continues to fall." As a result of yesterday's attack ( September 14), 112 houses and yards were flooded,

reports.

Around 5,000 households in the region currently lack running water.

The information could not be independently verified.

News about the Ukraine war: Russia continues to try to conquer the Donetsk region

+++ 8.45 a.m .:

Russia will probably continue to do everything in its power to bring the Donetsk region completely under its control.

This emerges from a report of the General Staff of Ukraine.

However, the danger of attacks exists for the entire territory of Ukraine, as it is said.

On Wednesday (September 14) there were eight rocket attacks, 19 air attacks and 86 multiple rocket launcher attacks, the report said.

The report also says that Russia is increasing its troops on the Donetsk and Zaporizhia fronts.

The information has not yet been independently verified.

+++ 7.45 a.m .:

Power plants are repeatedly attacked in the Ukraine war.

For example, yesterday (September 14) a hydroelectric power station near President Zelenskyy's hometown was attacked.

The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is said to have been hit again by a Russian attack, as

, citing Secretary of the Zaporizhia City Council Anatolii Kurtiev.

The attack is said to have caused a power outage.

As far as we know, no one was injured in the attack.

+++ 7.50 a.m .:

The Ukrainian counter-offensive continues in Cherson.

Ukraine is calling on the population to leave the liberated villages, writes Yaroslav Yanushevich, head of the military administration of the Kherson region.

The reason for the evacuation is the continued shelling by Russian troops.

The destruction in the recaptured places is already devastating.

According to this, all houses in the village of Knyazivka are said to have been destroyed or damaged, as Januschewytsch reports.

The information could not be independently verified.

Update from Thursday, September 15, 6:45 a.m .:

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyj, visited troops in the east of the country yesterday (September 14).

When the 44-year-old was on his way back to Kyiv, a car drove into the head of state's convoy.

The

reports , citing Selenskyj's spokesman Serhij Nykyforow.

After an initial examination, however, the all-clear was quickly given, Selenskyj was not seriously injured.

The driver of the other vehicle involved in the accident was taken to a hospital.

Investigations into the circumstances of the accident are ongoing.

News about the Ukraine war: Zelenskyj visiting the front

+++ 10.40 p.m .:

During his visit to the recaptured city of Izyum, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed his compatriots on Telegram: “We are only moving in one direction – forward and towards victory,” were his words.

“Our blue and yellow flag is already flying in liberated Izyum.

And in the same way it will blow in every Ukrainian city and village,” Zelenskyy continued.

This pledge also seems to apply to the whole of southern Ukraine: the president called Russia's annexation of Crimea a "tragedy" eight years ago and assured that his troops would eventually retake the peninsula.

Izyum is one of the largest cities recaptured from Russian troops during the current Ukraine counter-offensive.

Moscow said the Russian troops had responded to Ukrainian territorial gains with "massive attacks" and inflicted losses on the Ukrainian military.

The Ukrainian representative for the eastern Donetsk region confirmed Russian attacks along the entire front.

News in the Ukraine war: General staff records successes at Kharkiv despite Russian attacks

+++ 10:00 p.m .:

The Ukrainian military reports that the Russian shelling in the Kharkiv region has decreased significantly since the success of the counter-offensive and the recapture of the city of Izyum located there.

However, the General Staff also said that areas in Donetsk, particularly around Bakhmut and Avdiivka, would continue to be bombed by Russia.

However, Russian advances into several districts of Donetsk could have been pushed back.

The General Staff also reports that Russian shelling is widespread in the Zaporizhia region.

There, Russian forces have so far successfully resisted efforts by Ukrainian forces to capture areas in the direction of Mykolaiv and Kherson.

News in the Ukraine war: Selenskyj remains confident despite attack on hometown

+++ 9:00 p.m .:

After the attack on Kryvyi Rih, President Volodymyr Zelenskjyj declared that a hydroelectric power station on the Ingulez River had been damaged.

He spoke of an attempt to flood his hometown.

Unverified videos showed that the Ingulez water level was rising rapidly.

"All the occupiers can do is create panic, create an emergency, leave people without light, heat, water or food," Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram.

"Can this break us?

Not at all.”

Ukraine war news: Zelenskyy's hometown under fire

+++ 8.30 p.m .:

According to the authorities, the infrastructure of the central Ukrainian industrial city of Kryvyi Rih is severely affected by the “massive rocket attack” by the Russian armed forces.

The head of the administration of the Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentin Resnichenko, said hydrotechnical systems were badly damaged.

Sometimes the water supply failed.

Chief of Administration Resnichenko spoke of seven Ch-22 cruise missiles that had been fired from a distance by Russian fighter jets.

In Kyiv there was talk of eight missiles.

Vice Presidential Office Kyrylo Tymoshenko spoke of an act of terrorism because critical infrastructure had been breached.

The transport infrastructure was also hit.

Information on civilian casualties was not initially published.

Kryvyi Rih is the hometown of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

News in the Ukraine war: UN chief Guterres calls Putin

+++ 19.15

: UN Secretary-General António Guterres, after a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, has no hope of peace negotiations between Moscow and Kiev soon.

"It would be naïve to think that we are close to the possibility of a peace deal," Guterres said in New York.

Although the United Nations is ready to work on a diplomatic solution, the chances of this are currently "minimal".

The United Nations, together with Turkey, had successfully negotiated between Russia and Ukraine, at least as far as the export of grain from Ukraine across the Black Sea was concerned.

News about the Ukraine war: the military warns of Russian missile attacks

+++ 18:25:

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

.

News on the Ukraine war: Ukraine wants to consolidate conquests - Russian troops back?

+++ 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.

+++ 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 that 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.

News about the Ukraine war: Ukrainian troops liberate more than 300 settlements

+++ 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 . 

Update from Wednesday, September 14, 1:45 p.m .:

Volodymyr Zelenskyy, 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.

News about the Ukraine war: Russian rocket attacks on Mykolaiv reported

First report from Wednesday, September 14, 1 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.

(lm/tu/na/nak with dpa/AFP)