WAR IN UKRAINE: September 18, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 207
Governor: Almost all bodies exhumed from mass burial site in Izium ‘show signs of violent death.’ Kharkiv Oblast Governor Oleh Syniehubov said that among the bodies exhumed from the mass burial site on Sept. 15, 99% showed signs of violent death. “There are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person is buried with a rope around the neck,” he said. “Obviously, these people were tortured and executed,” he added. The mass burial site reportedly contains around 440 bodies. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Ombudsman has said the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers with tied hands were found at mass burial site in liberated Izium. Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said on Sept. 16 that the bodies of the members of Ukraine's Armed Forces with tied hands were found at a mass burial site in the recently liberated city of Izium, Kharkiv Oblast. According to Lubinets, soldiers may have been tortured before being killed. Ukrainian police earlier said they had found a mass burial site containing around 440 graves in Izium - Kyiv Independent
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the international community to condemn the Russian "terrorist state” following the discovery of a mass burial site and evidence of torture in Izyum. Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has urged people not to rush back to newly liberated settlements in the Kharkiv region and to allow authorities to restore security measures as shelling continues in the area - RFE/RL
Sources tell me that U.S. President Joe Biden is nearing a decision on whether to declare the Russian Federation a state sponsor of terrorism - especially after the new found evidence of widespread war crimes in eastern Ukraine. The declaration would place Moscow in a club that includes Iran, North Korea and Cuba. Two U.S. senators have introduced legislation to label Russia a state sponsor of terrorism. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on the West to label Russia a terrorist state, but the Biden administration is reportedly concerned that the move would delay food exports and jeopardize a grain deal that’s lifted a blockade of ships from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea. The White House has come under criticism previously for ambiguity on its Russia policy - specifically whether President Vladimir Putin should remain in power.
Designation by the United States of a state as a sponsor of terrorism triggers the following measures: drastically curtails defense and technology exports; significantly reduces assistance and impose additional financial restrictions; and eliminates that state’s sovereign immunity in the eyes of U.S. courts, opening the government to lawsuits and other civil claims from the families of victims of its state-sponsored terrorism.
The UN's nuclear watchdog (IAEA) says Ukraine's huge Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has begun receiving power from the national grid once again. Shelling in the area damaged power lines connected to the plant. All six of its reactors are in a state of cold shutdown, but the plant needs external power to cool its reactors and defend against the risk of a meltdown. The IAEA says the situation of the plant, which is held by Russian forces, has improved but remains precarious - BBC
In the wake of Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive earlier this month, many Russian teachers who had packed their bags to come to work in occupied areas of Ukraine are having second thoughts, according to RFE/RL. During the summer, the Kremlin hatched a plan to fill hundreds of vacancies in schools in the occupied territories of Ukraine by luring Russian teachers there with sky-high salaries and other incentives. According to the independent Russian trade union Alliance of Teachers, educators were offered between 7,000 and 9,000 rubles ($117 to $151) per day to go to Ukraine. In many Russian regions, teacher salaries hover as low as 20,000 or 30,000 rubles ($336-$500) a month, with educators making ends meet by taking on extra work or tutoring.
The award-winning Ukrainian TV investigative show, Schemes, reveals that Ukraine Supreme Court judge Bogdan Lviv is the holder of a Russian Federation passport. He reportedly received it 20 years ago and has held onto it even after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In his official declaration Lviv said he had no other citizenship. The Ukrainian constitution prohibits judges from holding a second citizenship; the show suggests this is grounds from Lviv’s dismissal.
A good news story: a Good Samaritan near Toronto has launched a program to teach displaced children from Ukraine the sport of sailing. Reporting by Forum TV’s Roxolana Buyak