WAR IN UKRAINE: September 19, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 208
Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of a growing list of war crimes in liberated parts of the Kharkiv region, as they continued to exhume bodies from a mass burial site discovered in Izyum and said they had found what they described as torture chambers in the area. Roman Kasjanenko, from the Kharkiv regional prosecutor’s office, said more than 30 bodies had been removed from the burial site so far, including at least one of a child, out of a total of more than 400.
In addition, Ihor Klymenko, head of Ukraine’s national police, said six chambers were found in Izyum that he said had been used for torture. At a site in nearby Bakaliya, he told Ukrainian media, evidence was found that people were kept inside boxes and that electric current was applied to their skin - WSJ
Britain’s Defense Ministry said Russia has intensified and widened attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure after Moscow suffered battlefield setbacks as part of Kyiv’s counteroffensive in the east and south of the country. Meanwhile, NATO said it would support Ukraine“ for as long as it takes” after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy stepped up calls for Western sanctions against Moscow following the discovery of a mass burial site in a city once occupied by Russian forces - RFE/RL
Russia has inflicted serious damage on Ukrainian forces with recently introduced Iranian drones, in its first wide-scale deployment of a foreign weapons system since the war began, Ukrainian commanders say. Over the past week, Shahed-136 delta-wing drones, repainted in Russian colors and rebranded as Geranium 2, started appearing over Ukrainian armor and artillery positions in the northeastern Kharkiv region, said Col. Rodion Kulagin, commander of artillery of Ukraine’s 92nd Mechanized Brigade. Scott Crino, founder and chief executive of Red Six Solutions LLC, a strategic consulting firm, said the Shahed-136 could provide Russia with a “potent counterweight” to the high-tech weapons systems, such as Himars missile launchers, that the U.S. has provided to Ukraine - WSJ
The Russian army, seeking contract soldiers for what it calls the "special military operation" in Ukraine, is using mobile recruiting trucks to attract volunteers, offering nearly $3,000 a month as an incentive. A special unit stationed one such truck in a central park in the southern Russian city of Rostov on Saturday and removed the sides to reveal a mobile office. Soldiers in camouflage and black masks showed their guns to interested passersby and handed out colour brochures titled "Military service on a contract - the choice of a real man.”
Reuters
Yesterday unconfirmed reports were circulating in Ukraine of Russian soldiers stealing fishing boats to escape across the Dnipro River. Today there was no further indication but, given the appalling behaviour of Russian troops since the full scale invasion began, this is wouldn’t surprise many people.
Required reading…
Philosopher-at-large: Ukraine has a moral right to choose its own fate
If the west expects to have influence in peace talks it should be honest enough to say so
As the war in Ukraine drags on, it seems likely there will be increasing pressure from some of Volodymyr Zelensky’s allies to sue for peace. There is bound to be a lot of debate about whether this is the wisest course of action. But there is another moral question raised by any attempts at leverage: do the suppliers of weapons and aid to Ukraine have a right to lean on it to change policy?
Where does western help for Ukraine fit into this? If it is supposed to be motivated by the moral principle that Ukraine has a right to defend itself, the only reasonable conditions are that money isn’t siphoned off by corrupt officials, and that the country fights the war according to international law. It would not be for the aid givers to tell Ukraine what kind of settlement should be accepted. Friends may offer counsel, but they must not dictate.
Read the full Prospect Magazine analysis by Julian Baggini here