WAR IN UKRAINE: September 6, 2022
Workers bury an uncollected body in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast on Sept. 2, 2022. (Serhiy Morgunov - via Kyiv Independent )
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 195
Russian abandoned its plans to hold a supposed referendum on a part of Ukraine joining Russia on Monday, saying it was being "paused" because of security concerns. In the end, heavy shelling made a key bridge impassable - leading local Russian-appointed officials to postpone the vote. But they did not cancel it completely - and similar votes are planned in other Russia-held cities - BBC
Ukrainian military forces seem to have made some progress on a counter-offensive in southern Ukraine. Separately, Enerhoatom, the operator of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, says the final reactor in operation has been shut down after shelling in the area as fears of an accident around the Russian-occupied plant remain high despite the installation of two UN watchdog inspectors at the site - RFE/RL
Russia has launched 14 missile and 15 air strikes on Ukraine in one day, triggering multiple air raid sirens in several oblasts. Ukrainian aircraft and anti-aircraft defense systems are downing between 50-70% of Russian missiles, reports ArmyInform news agency, citing Kyiv Military Administration head Major General Mykola Zhyrnov. Zhyrnov said the main limitation is an insufficient number of air defense and radar systems - Kyiv Independent
Russia may face a longer and deeper recession as the impact of US and European sanctions spreads, handicapping sectors that the country has relied on for years to power its economy, according to an internal report prepared for the government. The document, the result of months of work by officials and experts trying to assess the true impact of Russia’s economic isolation due to President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, paints a far more dire picture than officials usually do in their upbeat public pronouncements. Two of the three scenarios in the report show the contraction accelerating next year, with the economy returning to the prewar level only at the end of the decade or later - Bloomberg
Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia's few remaining independent news outlets, was stripped of its media licence on Monday, and in effect banned from operating. The country's media watchdog, Rozkomnadzor, had accused it of failing to provide documents related to a change of ownership in 2006. Speaking outside court, editor in chief Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel Peace laureate for his efforts to uphold critical news reporting in Russia, said the ruling was "a political hit job, without the slightest legal basis." He said the paper would appeal - Reuters
Separately, on Monday, one journalist was sentenced to 22 years in prison for treason. Ivan Safronov, 32, worked for the Russian Kommersant and Vedomosti newspapers, but left the media business to join Russia's space agency - BBC
Required reading….
On the edge of the frontline in eastern Ukraine, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, has been caught in a crossfire.
Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling dangerously close to the plant. The damage to critical infrastructure around the facility has been significant, and there are fears more damage could lead to a radiation disaster in the country that still manages the cleanup of the Chornobyl nuclear disaster.
Read more of the Reuters feature here