September 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken made an unannounced trip to Ukraine Thursday – his third visit to the country since Russia invaded more than six months ago.

The top US diplomat met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. 

His trip comes as Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive aimed at reclaiming Russian occupied areas in the south of the country. It is also coincides with a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, hosted by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Both Austin and Blinken visited Ukraine in late April. They still remain the highest level US officials to have traveled to the country since the war began in late February. Multiple heads of state have gone to Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelensky. US President Joe Biden has yet to travel there, though the two leaders spoke by phone in recent weeks. 

Also on Thursday, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov met his US counterpart Austin and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley at the Ramstein base. 

“Started the day with a meeting with great friends of Ukraine Lloyd Austin III @SecDef and Gen. Mark Milley @thejointstaff,” Reznikov tweeted. “We appreciate the US staunch support of Ukraine.”

“Look forward to launching #Ramstein 5 Meeting with 50+ participants,” he added.

Ukraine’s top general has predicted that the war against Russia will last beyond this year, and acknowledged the effect of Moscow's nuclear arsenal in discouraging greater involvement from Ukraine's allies.

In a wide-ranging and revealing analysis published by Ukrinform, Ukrainian state media, on Wednesday, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said there is “no certain final outcome in view.”

“There is every reason to believe,” writes Zaluzhnyi,in a piece co-authored with Lieutenant General Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, First Deputy Chairman of the National Security, Defense, and Intelligence Committee of the Verkhovna Rada (parliament), that the conflict “is not going to end anywhere within 2022.”

The pair also raised a series of interesting tactical points:

US President Joe Biden has approved an aid package to Ukraine worth up to $675 million, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin announced Thursday.

“Yesterday, President Biden approved the latest tranche of US assistance to Ukraine, valued at up to $675 million,” Austin said in remarks delivered Thursday morning at a meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

Austin said this assistance includes more “GMLRS, 105 millimeter howitzers, artillery ammunition and HARMs, Humvees, armored ambulances, anti-tank systems and small arms.”

This is the Biden administration’s 20th drawdown of equipment from US stocks for Ukraine since last August, according to Austin.

Austin is hosting the fifth meeting of the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, with representatives from 50 countries in attendance. The first meeting was held in April.

“Now, we’re seeing the demonstrable success of our common efforts on the battlefield," said Austin. "And every day, we see the resolve of the allies and partners worldwide who are helping Ukraine resist Russia’s illegal, imperial, and indefensible war of conquest. And we must evolve as the fight evolves.”

The Russian-installed head of the Kupiansk city administration, Vitaly Ganchev, has called on women and children to evacuate the city as Ukrainian forces approach. 

“It’s not only about Kupiansk, it’s about almost the entire Kupiansk district, the Izium district. They caused very serious material and moral damage to our population,” he added. 

Ukrainian officials have declined to comment on the offensive in the northeast of Ukraine, but footage geo-located by CNN showed Ukrainian forces in the town of Volokhiv-Yar on Wednesday, around 50 kilometers (36 miles) away from Kupiansk, and also on the outskirts of Balakliya to the south. Russian officials have also remained silent on developments in the Kharkiv region.

Russian military bloggers and analysts believe the Ukrainian push towards Kupiansk aims to cut off supply lines to the strategic city of Izium to the south. 

The Institute for the Study of War said Ukraine’s push in the east is the result of Kyiv taking advantage of Russian redeployments to the south, to stop a Ukrainian counter offensive in the Kherson region. 

“Ukrainian forces likely used tactical surprise to advance at least 20 kilometers (12 miles) into Russian-held territory in eastern Kharkiv Oblast on September 7, recapturing approximately 400 square kilometers of ground,” the institute said in its daily report on the war on Wednesday.

“Ukrainian forces likely took prudent advantage of a reallocation of Russian troops, equipment, and overall operational focus to launch localized counteroffensives toward critical points in Kharkiv Oblast.”

The Ukrainian military says it has repelled several Russian offensives across the battlefield, but has remained silent about its own counter-offensives in the northeast around Kharkiv and in the south near Kherson.

The General Staff also reported intense Russian shelling across the battlefield. 

The update goes on to claim Ukrainian forces struck a Russian base in the village of Solodkovodne, in the Zaporizhzhya region, using artillery, but did not include information on ongoing Ukrainian counter-offensives in the north-eastern and southern frontlines.

The General Staff says only that “missile troops and artillery of our land groupings of troops continue to perform tasks of counter-battery combat, disruption of the command and control system and logistical support, damage to the enemy's manpower and combat equipment,” without any specifics.

The recovered body of British aid worker Paul Urey, who was captured in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and died in the custody of Russian-backed separatists, has signs of “possible unspeakable torture,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Thursday. 

CNN cannot independently confirm Kuleba's claims and has not reviewed autopsy reports relating to his death. 

Urey – who was from Warrington, Cheshire – was captured in April and accused of being a mercenary.

Russian-backed officials reported him dead due to “chronic diseases” and “stress” in July; he was 45 years old.  

Urey suffered from a number of health conditions, including diabetes, his friend Lex Roberts told CNN. 

The DPR’s ombudsperson Daria Morozova claimed Urey was “provided with appropriate medical assistance” while held in the separatist-held region. 

The foreign office summoned Russia’s Ambassador to the UK Andrei Kelin after learning of Urey’s death. 

In a statement, UK Prime Minister Liz Truss – who was foreign minister at the time of Urey's capture – said Urey had been carrying out “humanitarian work” to “try and help the Ukrainian people.��

“The Russian government and its proxies are continuing to commit atrocities. Those responsible will be held to account. My thoughts are with Mr Urey’s family and friends at this horrendous time,” Truss said. 

Ukraine told a United Nations Security Council meeting on Wednesday that 2.5 million people have been forcefully deported from the country as part of a Russian "filtration" scheme in which many are being tortured and killed.

Deputy Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Khrystyna Hayovyshyn told the Security Council that thousands of Ukrainian citizens are being forcefully deported to “isolated and depressed regions of Siberia and the far east." 

Among the 2.5 million people deported so far, said the ambassador, were 38,000 children -- many of whom had been ripped from the arms of their parents.

The Russian authorities are terrorizing those it deports under the pretense of searching for "dangerous" people, the ambassador said, disappearing people affiliated with the Ukrainian government or media and those with political views deemed objectionable.

The comments came as the US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield described Russian “filtration operations” as “horrifying.”  

But Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council that newcomers go through “registration,” not filtration, procedures.

Nebenzia said it was unfortunate that human rights groups were making what he described as unfounded allegations against Russia.

"We have wasted time" discussing this issue, he said.

"People are fleeing Ukraine, more for fear of Ukraine,” Nebenzia added.

Shelling on Tuesday damaged a backup power line that would supply Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in case of emergency, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been held by Russian forces since early March, but is still operated by Ukrainian staff. The IAEA director general visited the power plant last week, and two IAEA experts stayed to maintain a permanent presence at the plant. 

The IAEA said the shelling damage did not “have an immediate impact” on the plant, because the electricity line was not connected to the grid at the time.

Ukraine is considering shutting down the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant due to the deteriorating security situation, said Oleh Korikov, the chief state inspector for nuclear and radiation safety of Ukraine.

Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear power station in Europe.

"The continued deterioration of the situation, the prolonged lack of power supply from an external source of electricity will force us to deploy standby diesel generators, and it is extremely difficult to top up the diesel fuel supply during the war,” Korikov added. 

Korikov said maintaining the diesel generators running would not be sustainable. 

For context: In an interview last month, Energoatom CEO Petro Kotin explained why diesel generators are not a sustainable alternative.

Diesel generators are backups to cool fuel and keep things operational, but there are caveats to using them for an indefinite time and it's a "dangerous" situation to be in, he explained.

Korikov's concerns are along the same lines as tensions continue at the plant.

“Four huge diesel fuel tanks are needed per day,” Korikov explained. “Potentially, we can find ourselves in a situation with no diesel fuel; it can give rise to an accident, damaging the active zone of reactors and releasing radioactive products into the environment. It will not only affect the territory of Ukraine but also produce cross-border effects.”

Currently, the plant “generates electricity and supplies it for its own needs” through an exceptional process called islanding where the plant — although disconnected from a power grid — uses its own energy to power cooling systems, according to Korikov.