A Ukrainian soldier with an elderly woman after the liberation of Robotyne in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine, August 2023
Sunday’s Coverage: Russia and Belarus — Deportation of Ukrainian Children Is Good
Map: Institute for the Study of War
UPDATE 1030 GMT:
Russia’s State security service FSB has launched a high treason investigation of lawyer Ilya Novikov, claiming he “joined Ukrainian territorial defense groups”.
In June, the Moscow Chamber of Attorneys annulled Novikov’s license to practice law.
The attorney, currently based in Ukraine, has criticized Vladimir Putin over the 19 1/2-month invasion. Last November, Russia’s Interior Ministry added Novikov to its wanted list.
UPDATE 1002 GMT:
The UN’s Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Nada al-Nashif, has expressed concerned over Russia’s obstacles to the return of deported Ukrainian children, and over Russian mistreatment of the few who have come back.
Ukrainian officials say they have documented almost 20,000 juveniles transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territory. Thye emphasize that the number is likely far higher, given the lack of information from occupied areas.
Just over 400 minors have been repatriated.
Al-Nashif told the UN Human Rights Council, “OHCHR [Office of High Commissioner for Human Rights] remains gravely concerned that there is no established system to return Ukrainian children who were transferred to other regions in Russian-occupied territory or to the Russian Federation.”
She explained, “Among the children who reunited with their family after relatives travelled to the Russian Federation to retrieve them, some described experiencing or witnessing psychological or physical violence by educational staff there.”
Al-Nashif also spoke of Moscow’s abuses of Ukrainian residents who do not take up Russian citizenship.
Individuals who opt not to accept Russian passports find themselves ensnared in a web of exclusion, denied access to essential public services such as social security and healthcare. This also heightens the risk of arbitrary detention for those who resist.
UPDATE 0806 GMT:
Addressing the NATO Parliamentary Assembly in Copenhagen by video, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy called for unity to ensure that international rule of law deals with terrorism, citing both Russia’s invasion and the attack by Gaza’s Hamas on Israel.
Do not rape women. Do not kill. Do not consider children as trophies. Do not fill villages and towns with blood. Do not shoot civilians in cars….
The same evil, and the only difference is that there is a terrorist organization that attacked Israel, and here is a terrorist state that attacked Ukraine.
Our unity must and can stop the evil. Let everyone who sponsors terror feel the power of our wrath. And let everyone who needs help defending themselves against terror feel the power of our solidarity.
Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen appealed against “war fatigue” over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Brave Ukrainian men and women are fighting on the battlefield. They are the face of right against wrong, of good against evil. This [invasion] is a threat to the ideas our alliance is built on – freedom, democracy, the rule of law….
We must be with Ukraine to the bitter end. None of us can claim war fatigue while Ukraine continues its tireless fight. Let us decide that war fatigue will not take place in our transatlantic community.
Frederiksen pointed to further military assistance to Kyiv: “Ukrainian soldiers are fighting with our weapons, our tanks, our missiles, and soon Ukraine will also fly our F-16s.”
UPDATE 0744 GMT:
Russian shelling on the Kherson region of southern Ukraine killed a civilian and injured 12 others on Sunday.
Officials said Russia attacked 53 times, firing 288 shells.
In the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine, one man was slain near the Russian border.
ORIGINAL ENTRY: Ukraine’s four-month counter-offensive is making limited gains in the south and east of the country against Russian fortifications.
Geolocated footage on Sunday confirmed a Ukrainian advance north of Novoprokopivka, 14 km (8.7 miles) south of the Ukraine-held hub of Orikhiv, in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south.
Russian military bloggers also pointed to a Ukrainian advance near Kopani, 10 km southwest of Orikhiv.
Last month the counter-offensive broke through the first of three Russian defensive lines in the direction of the strategic hub of Tokmak and then the port city of Melitopol.
Russian military bloggers and a Ukrainian military spokesperson say Moscow’s forces are stepping up mining operations between Robotyne — regained by Ukraine in early September — and Verbove to halt and fix Ukrainian units in place.
In the Donetsk region in the east, the Ukrainian General Staff reported “partial success” northeast of Andriivka, the village liberated last month, 7 km (4.3 miles) southwest of the city of Bakhmut. Russian sources say Ukraine’s attacks continue near Andriivka and Kurdyumivka, 11 km (6.8 miles) southwest of Bakhmut).
Both Russian and Ukrainian sources said deteriorating weather conditions are affecting operations on both sides across the southerna and eastern fronts. However, Ukraine’s spokespeerson for eastern forces, Capt. Ilya Yevlash, said that while poor weather may impact drone and air operations, it will not halt the counter-offensive.
“We must be with Ukraine to the bitter end. None of us can claim war fatigue while Ukraine continues its tireless fight.”
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The bitter end? What does that mean?