September 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited the National Children’s Specialized Hospital Ohmatdyt in Kyiv on Thursday.

He met with children who were being treated there – including some injured in the war – as well as Patron, the mine-sniffing dog who has gained international renown.

The top US diplomat, accompanied by US Ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink, made the visit to the hospital during an unannounced trip to Ukraine.

He was welcomed in the lobby by a large group of staff and Patron. Blinken gifted the Jack Russell terrier dog treats, quipping that “since he’s already received a number of medals and awards, I thought he’d actually prefer something a more usable,” and posed for photos in the lobby with the vest-clad pup.

“We have a long history of working on de-mining,” Blinken said. “We’re honored to be working with you on that.”

More on his visit: Blinken toured the hospital and visited with some of its patients, including a six-year-old Maryna, who lost part of her leg and has been in the hospital since May after being injured in Kherson. Blinken gave her a stuffed dog, and she also received a visit from Patron.

“I can tell that Patron likes Maryna very much,” Blinken said to the girl and her mother as he knelt by her bedside. Her mother told the top US diplomat that Maryna met actress Jessica Chastain, noting that they “loved her.”

Blinken then went to another room to meet more children who are at the hospital. He carried a basket full of toys.

Blinken took a photo and gifted a stuffed rabbit to 13-year-old Kateryna who was injured in the Kramatorsk rail station attack in early April; her mother was killed, the top US diplomat was told.

He was again accompanied by Patron and remarked, “I think he’s the most famous dog in the world.”

“We so admire the courage, the spirit of your children. It sends a very strong message all around the world,” Blinken told the room.

“And it’s an honor for me to meet you, to meet them, and to see the wonderful work that the doctors, the Minister, the Ronald McDonald House, everyone is doing. We’re just happy to be able to help and to be a friend and a partner.”

Ukraine's apparent surprise counteroffensive in the northeast of the country has led to calls to evacuate Russian-held Kupiansk, while the United States has promised billions more in aid as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Kyiv.

Here are the latest headlines in the war:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed "good news" from the northeastern Kharkiv region, after an apparent surprise counter-offensive forced Russian troops onto the back foot and prompted a pro-Kremlin official to call for evacuations.

The Russian-installed head of the Kupiansk city administration, Vitaly Ganchev, urged women and children to evacuate the city as Ukrainian forces approached.

Ganchev said the city, which lies west of the Donbas region and about 70 miles east of the city of Kharkiv, "is constantly under terror" and experiencing "constant rocket attacks from the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

Ukrainian officials have declined to comment on the offensive in the northeast of Ukraine, but footage geolocated by CNN showed Ukrainian forces in the town of Volokhiv-Yar on Wednesday, around 50 km 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.

The operation appeared designed to catch Russian forces off guard, following intensifying conflict in the south of Ukraine near the city of Kherson.

Read the full story here.

The United States intends to provide $2 billion to bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 other regional countries, Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected announce Thursday.

Blinken made an unannounced trip to Ukraine today – his third visit to the country since Russia invaded more than six months ago.

According to a senior State Department official, the top US diplomat “will announce that we are notifying Congress today of our intent to make a further $2 billion available in long-term investments under Foreign Military Financing to bolster the security of Ukraine and 18 of its neighbors; including both many of our NATO allies as well as other regional security partners who are most potentially at risk for future Russian aggression.”

This new funding is in addition to the latest $675 million tranche of security assistance to Ukraine, which was announced by US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in remarks in Germany.

“These announcements will bring the total U.S. military assistance for Ukraine to approximately $15.2 billion since the beginning of this Administration,” the senior State Department official said.

Torture and the forcible deportation of 2.5 million people were among the shocking details of human rights violations against Ukrainian civilians recounted at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.

Deputy Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Khrystyna Hayovyshyn told the council that 2.5 million people, including 38,000 children, have been forcibly deported from the country under a Russian “filtration” program.

The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has also documented “filtration” cases, it said. During these cases, “Russian armed forces and affiliated armed groups have subjected persons to body searches, sometimes involving forced nudity, and detailed interrogations about the personal background, family ties, political views and allegiances of the individual concerned,” according to Ilze Brands Kehris, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights.

Brands Kehris said there have been credible allegations of forced transfers of Ukrainian children to “Russian occupied territory, or to the Russian Federation itself.”

"We are concerned that the Russian authorities have adopted a simplified procedure to grant Russian citizenship to children without parental care, and that these children would be eligible for adoption by Russian families,” she added.

In addition, Brands Kehris said that men and women “perceived as having ties with Ukrainian armed forces or state institutions, or as having pro-Ukrainian or anti-Russian views” being subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, and “enforced disappearance.”

Russian officials said the allegations of forced "filtration" are unfounded, adding that newcomers to the country go through "registration," not filtration.

Refugees and displaced persons in Russia are given health and financial assistance, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said in his remarks to the UN Security Council Wednesday.

It’s very unfortunate that human rights groups are making unfounded allegations against Russia, Nebenzia said. "We have wasted time" discussing this issue rather than real issues, the ambassador added.

Meanwhile, Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs said that over 6.9 million people remain internally displaced in Ukraine, with most of the newly-displaced coming from eastern and southern Ukraine.

There have been 5,718 civilians killed, including 372 children, and 8,199 injured, including 635 children, during the war so far, she said.

DiCarlo added that “these are only verified figures and the actual numbers are likely significantly higher.”

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.”