Moscow accuses Kyiv of abuses
KYIV: Russia said it was carrying out “massive strikes” across the Ukrainian frontline and accused Kyiv’s soldiers of abusing civilians in territories recaptured in a dramatic counter-offensive.
Moscow’s retaliation came after it was forced to pull back troops from swathes of the northeast, particularly in the Kharkiv region, following Kyiv’s lightning assault to wrest back terrain.
The territorial shifts mark one of Russia’s biggest setbacks since its troops were repelled from Kyiv in the earliest days of the nearly sevenmonth-long war, yet Moscow signalled it was no closer to agreeing to a negotiated peace.
“Air, rocket and artillery forces are carrying out massive strikes on units of the Ukrainian armed forces in all operational directions,” the Russian defence ministry said in its daily briefing on the conflict.
“High-precision” strikes have also been launched on Ukrainian positions around Sloviansk and Konstantinovka in the eastern Donetsk region.
President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman said that in the Kharkiv region, reports were emerging of “outrageous” treatment of civilians.
“There are a lot of punitive measures … people are being tortured, people are being mistreated and so on,” Dmitry Peskov told journalists.
Russia’s allegations came after Ukrainian authorities claimed to have found four bodies of civilians with “signs of torture” in the recaptured eastern village of Zaliznychne.
Moscow also pushed back on Tuesday against what it called growing “bias” at UN human rights bodies, a day after one senior UN official condemned Moscow’s “intimidation” of people in Russia opposed to its war in Ukraine.
Ukrainian forces launched their counter-offensive in early September, seemingly catching Russia’s military off guard.
Images posted by the Ukrainian military showed crates of munitions and military hardware scattered across territory abandoned by the fleeing Russian forces.
Around the northeastern town of Balakliya, journalists saw evidence of fierce battles, with buildings destroyed or damaged and streets deserted.
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukraine had completed “stabilisation measures” in more than 4000sq km of recaptured territory, and was working to do the same in a similarly sized area.
“The remnants of occupiers and sabotage groups are being discovered, collaborators are being detained, the entire security is being restored,” he said in his evening address.
In the northeast, dozens of areas including the cities of Izyum, Kupiansk and Balakliya have been retaken.
Ukrainian forces in the Kharkiv region have since September 6 reclaimed more than 300 settlements and areas home to around 150,000 people, according to deputy foreign minister Ganna Maliar.
Kyiv has ramped up its calls for Western allies to rush more sophisticated weapons to help in its fight against the invaders.