War in Ukraine: what to remember from Friday, September 9 – franceinfo

The Russian army sent armored vehicles and cannons as reinforcements to the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv on Friday, September 9, where kyiv is leading a counter-offensive. On the side of Zaporijjia, kyiv denounced the abuses perpetrated by the Russian forces on the personnel of the plant. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of Friday, September 9 on the front of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian army recaptured 30 localities from Russians in the northeast Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Friday that kyiv forces had recaptured 30 localities from Russian troops in the northeast of the country, where Moscow sent reinforcements to face this offensive. “At present, the Ukrainian armed forces have liberated and taken control of more than 30 localities in the Kharkiv region”, bordering Russia, said the Ukrainian president in a video broadcast on social networks. The boss of the Ukrainian operator of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Petro Kotin, denounced on Friday the abuses perpetrated by the Russian forces on the personnel, citing torture , murders and kidnappings. “With the occupation, a regime of police harassment of personnel was gradually put in place. The situation today is very difficult with torture, beatings, kidnappings,” Petro Kotin said in an interview with the AFP. According to him, two people were “beaten to death” by Russian forces, which have controlled this nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, since March. “A diver was captured, then he found himself in hospital unconscious. He died three hours later”, while a bombardment killed another employee and a driver, he added, denouncing a persecution of pro-Ukrainians by the Russians. “People are psychologically broken,” explained the boss of the public company Energoatom, which manages the Ukrainian power stations. Russian army sends reinforcements to Kharkiv after Ukrainian counteroffensive The Russian army has sent armored vehicles and guns as reinforcements to the Ukrainian region of Kharkiv where kyiv is waging a counteroffensive, news agencies reported on Friday Russians, publishing images transmitted by the Ministry of Defence. In these images, also broadcast by the official media of the Russian army, Zvezda, we can see several military trucks towing heavy guns and armored vehicles, on a dirt road, then an asphalt road. The sending of Russian reinforcements to Ukraine shows that Moscow is paying “a huge price”, reacted by following the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken. “The number of Russian soldiers in Ukraine is enormous and, unfortunately, President Putin has indicated that he would send even more people”, added Antony Blinken during a press conference. The Russian Ministry of Defense did not immediately make an official statement. The announcement of this deployment of reinforcements comes as Ukrainian forces claimed to have made a breakthrough in the Kharkiv region, bordering Russia in northeastern Ukraine. EU approves €5 billion in new financial aid consequences of the war. This assistance in the form of a loan, proposed on Wednesday by the Commission, represents the second tranche of a maximum package of nine billion for 2022 announced in May by the President of the European executive, Ursula von der Leyen. “The new €5 billion loan will be used for the day-to-day running of the (Ukrainian) state and the country’s critical infrastructure, such as schools and hospitals,” Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said after a meeting in Prague with his EU counterparts. The Twenty-Seven had approved on July 12 a first aid of one billion euros, within the framework of this “macro-financial assistance”. This sum was disbursed at the beginning of August. Suspicions of a war crime in a village recaptured from the Russians The Ukrainian authorities on Friday exhumed two bodies in Grakové, in the north-east of the country, for which they suspect a war crime, in this village retaken from the Russians. Russian forces, noted AFP journalists. Police from the Kharkiv region, where the village is located, and the prosecutor’s office from the neighboring town of Chuguyv conducted the exhumation in the presence of about 20 journalists. On the spot, Serguiï Loutsaï, a resident of Grakové, told the press that he buried the bodies under the threat of armed Russian soldiers in March, shortly after the start of the invasion launched on February 24. “They came to my house, I was with my 70-year-old father. I was afraid that they would threaten him,” said Serguiï Loutsaï. “They told me to come and dig a hole,” he added. The investigation, led by the prosecutor’s office, will have to establish the causes and circumstances of the death of the two men, in particular through the autopsies and the testimony of the main witness, Serguiï Loutsaï, explained to AFP a member of the prosecution team, who did not wish to give their name. Eight civilians killed in Russian strikes in eastern Ukraine Eight civilians were killed on Thursday and 17 others injured in Russian strikes on the eastern Ukrainian town of Bakhmout, regional governor Pavlo said on Friday. Kyrylenko, the day after the army announced territorial gains against the Russians. “Bakhmout was the most affected city: eight people were killed during the day, 17 others were injured,” Kyrylenko reported on Telegram. “Twenty houses, six buildings, four shops, the House of Culture and the administrative center of the city were damaged” in these Russian strikes, he said, adding that the market had been “under fire” from Russian artillery. Bakhmout, which had 70,000 inhabitants before the start of the conflict at the end of February, no longer has access to water or electricity for the fourth consecutive day, detailed the same source.