Ukraine claims Russians are creating retreat routes from southern Kherson region
From CNN’s Mariya Knight
Russian forces are preparing retreat routes from the Kherson region, Ukraine’s military claimed in an update Saturday.
In today's update, a Ukrainian military spokesperson claimed Russians sunk nine railway cars to construct a crossing in the city of Kakhovka.
"Due to the successful actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to disable all crossings across the Dnipro River on the Kherson front, the occupiers are preparing their retreat routes,” Oleksandr Shtupun, spokesperson for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said in a social media post.
Kherson is considered crucial to controlling Ukraine’s southern coast and access to the Black Sea. It was one of the first areas to be occupied by Russian forces when they invaded nearly seven months ago.
Senior US and Ukrainian officials told CNN earlier this month that Kyiv set an ambitious goal of taking back most of Russian-occupied Kherson by the end of the year.
2:07 p.m. ET, September 17, 2022
Here's the latest map of control in Russia's invasion of Ukraine
These are the latest areas of Russian and Ukrainian control in Russia's war in Ukraine.
This month brought huge strategic losses for the Kremlin as Ukraine carried out counteroffensives in the northeast and south. Ukraine's military has recaptured a total of 8,000 square kilometers (about 3,088 square miles) of land, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.
1:31 p.m. ET, September 17, 2022
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reconnected to national grid, UN nuclear watchdog says
From CNN’s Mariya Knight in Atlanta
A Russian all-terrain armored vehicle is parked outside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission on September 1. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)
One of the four main power lines in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been repaired and is once again supplying the plant with electricity from the Ukrainian grid, according to a statement from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog.
“Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is once again receiving electricity directly from the national grid after engineers repaired one of the four main external power lines that have all been damaged during the conflict,” International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi confirmed Saturday.
Grossi said that the restored line is now “providing Europe’s largest nuclear power plant with the electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential safety functions.”
“With the main line’s re-connection yesterday afternoon, the three back-up power lines are again being held in reserve,” according to the IAEA. "The three other main external 750 kV (kilovolt) power lines that were lost earlier during the conflict remain down.”
“All the ZNPP’s six reactors are in a cold shutdown state, but they still require power to maintain necessary safety functions,” Grossi added, according to the statement.
He also warned that the situation around the plant is still dangerous.
“While the ZNPP’s power status has improved over the past week – in sharp contrast to earlier this month when all power lines at one stage were down and it depended on its last operating reactor for vital electricity supplies – the general situation for the plant located in the middle of a war zone remains precarious,” Grossi said.
On Friday, Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom said it delivered urgently needed parts to “repair the damaged power lines as well as additional fuel supplies for the plant’s emergency diesel generators that can be used as a back-up power source.”
Some background: Grossi called for a safety zone around the nuclear plant after he and his team visited the Russian-held site earlier this month.
The plant and the area around it, including the nearby city of Enerhodar, endured persistent shelling that has raised fears of a nuclear accident. Each side accuses the other of acts of nuclear terrorism, and CNN has been unable to verify either government’s claims.
Exhumation of bodies at Izium mass burial site continues, according to Zelensky
From CNN's Josh Pennington and Sahar Akbarzai
In his Friday night address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the exhumation of bodies at a mass burial site in Izium was continuing.
"As of now, more than 440 graves have been identified. It is too early to speak about the total number of people buried there, [but] the investigation continues," the president said.
He also said a number of civilians, including foreigners, who were held against their will by Russian forces in occupied cities and towns, have been found alive.
Zelensky said seven students from the Republic of Sri Lanka were among foreigners who were rescued. They were studying in Kupiansk Medical College but were captured by Russian soldiers back in March and held in a basement, he claimed.
“Only now, after the liberation of Kharkiv region, these people were rescued and are being provided proper medical care,” Zelensky said.
Zelesnky said investigations are also underway in other recaptured areas of Ukraine.
Speaking about the Russian forces, Zelensky said "evidence of their guilt is being collected."
12:04 p.m. ET, September 17, 2022
China and India both expressed reservations to Putin over the war in Ukraine
From CNN's Rishabh Pratap, Larry Register, Heather Chen and Nectar Gan
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrive for the 2017 BRICS Summit in Xiamen, China on September 5, 2017. (Mark Schiefelbein/AFP/Getty Images)
India and China — the biggest customers of Russian oil — both said they have "concerns" this week over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
In a striking rebuke on Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had remained quiet about the war, told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war.”
“We have talked to you many times over the phone on the subject that democracy and diplomacy and dialogue are all these things that touch the world,” Modi told Putin at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan.
Putin was quoted by the Kremlin as telling the Indian leader, “I know your position regarding the conflict in Ukraine, your concerns which you continuously express. We will do everything for all of this to end as soon as possible.”
Modi’s apparent criticism of Russia’s invasion is only the latest setback for Putin, whose forces have suffered a series of major defeats on the battlefield in recent weeks. Ukraine claims to have recaptured some 8,000 square kilometers (about 3,000 square miles) of territory.
Some background: China has so far refused to outright condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine while stepping up economic assistance to its neighbor, boosting bilateral trade to record levels in a boon to Russian business amid Western sanctions.
New Delhi, like Beijing, has strong ties with Moscow dating back to the Cold War and so far has largely steered clear of condemning outright the invasion by Russia, which remains India’s biggest arms supplier.
US reaction: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said that the concerns of China and India are reflective of global apprehension about the months-long conflict, and said he believes “it increases the pressure on Russia to end the aggression.”
“I think what you’re seeing is just a manifestation of the fact that this aggression has been an aggression against the interests of people across the planet,” Blinken said at a press conference at the State Department.
CNN's Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.
10:57 a.m. ET, September 17, 2022
Paul Whelan's sister says she has "complete faith" in US effort on his release
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler
Paul Whelan, a former US marine accused of espionage and arrested in Russia in December 2018, stands inside a defendants' cage as he waits to hear his verdict in Moscow on June 15, 2020. (Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP/Getty Images)
Paul Whelan's sister said she has “complete faith” that the White House “is fully engaged" in the effort to free her brother after meeting with US President Joe Biden Friday.
In a statement released this morning, Elizabeth Whelan also called on the Russian government to “engage in full faith, and free Paul Whelan.”
"We will continue to fight for my brother Paul and all other Americans wrongfully detained," Elizabeth Whelan wrote. "Hostage-diplomacy is a national security as well as a humanitarian issue; when hostile foreign nations take Americans and hold them as pawns, we must work together with vigor to reunite those wrongfully detained with their families, and deter these countries from continuing this malign practice."
Paul Whelan has been imprisoned in Russia for more than three years after being convicted on espionage charges that he vehemently denies. He was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.
Where the negotiations stand: A senior administration official told CNN Thursday that there has been “movement but not breakthrough” on the efforts to free Whelan and WNBA star Brittney Griner.
The official said that the United States has urged Russia to put forward “a serious counteroffer” to the proposal on the table to secure the release of the two, but “we've not gotten a serious response back.”
9:59 a.m. ET, September 17, 2022
"She's not well": Brittney Griner's wife shares update after Biden meeting
From CNN's Abby Phillip and Jennifer Hansler
Cherelle Griner, wife of WNBA player Brittney Griner, speaks during a news conference in Chicago on July 8. (Nam Y. Huh/AP)
After meeting with US President Joe Biden Friday, the wife of WNBA star Brittney Griner said the White House visit was reassuring at a time of increasing concern for her partner's well-being.
Cherelle Griner said the conversation with Biden, which lasted over an hour, gave her more confidence in the administration's efforts behind the scenes.
"It wasn’t a meeting where the President told me the news that I want to hear," she told CNN. "It wasn’t that, but it was one of those still pivotal meetings where ... it allowed me to have confidence in what he’s doing right now."
Cherelle said she continues to hear from her wife in letters, but that Brittney has been affected mentally and physically.
"She’s not well," Griner said. "We’ve had some very disturbing communications about her venting about how she is at that moment, to the point where I was very concerned." "She’s losing it. We’ve reached that amount of days where even a strong person is like, 'Babe, I don’t know how long I'm going to be able to take it,'" she added.
10:54 a.m. ET, September 17, 2022
What CNN saw on the ground at a mass burial site in Izium
From CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, Natalie Gallón, Kostyantin Gak, Brice Laine, Jonny Hallam, Brad Lendon, Tim Lister, Yulia Kesaieva, Maria Avdeeva, Victoria Butenko and Ivana Kottasová
Individual graves are seen throughout the site, some with names and numbers handwritten on the wooden crosses. One grave CNN saw had the number as high as 398. (Natalie Gallon/CNN)
Even the heavy rainfall couldn’t erase the smell of death in the pine forest in Izium on Friday afternoon, as Ukrainian investigators worked their way through a mass burial site found in the eastern Ukrainian city after its recapture from Russian forces.
Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said at least 440 graves were found in the city in recent days. The country’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said Friday that some of the bodies found in Izium showed “signs of torture,” blaming Russia for what he called “cruelty and terrorism.”
When CNN arrived to the mass burial site on Friday afternoon, officials were transporting body bags, including one that appeared to be holding something very small, into a refrigerated truck.
Most graves at the burial site are individual graves, with wooden crosses placed at the head of the dirt mounds. Some with names and numbers handwritten on them. One had a number as high as 398. Another with the name of an 82-year-old man. One official at the site told CNN that investigations would have to determine when these people died.
Further down in the forest lies what appeared to be a former military position, with tank positions dug deep into the ground.
A policeman at the scene told CNN that the spot is a mass grave where 17 bodies were found.
“Here are civilian bodies and military ones further along,” Igor Garmash, an investigator at the scene said of the specific part of the site he was examining, pointing to a location nearby. “Over 20 bodies have been examined and sent for further investigation,” he told CNN.
Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications said on Thursday that some of the graves discovered at Izium were “fresh,” and that the corpses buried there were “mostly civilians.”
An Izium resident living across the street from the mass burial site told CNN the Russians first hit a nearby city graveyard with an airstrike and then moved in.
“They brought their special machines. They dug some trenches for their vehicles. We only heard how they were destroying the forest,” Nadezhda Kalinichenko told CNN.
She said she tried not to go out during the time the city was under the Russian occupation because she was too scared.
“When they left, I don’t know if there was fighting or not. We just heard a lot of heavy trucks one night a week ago,” she said.
Some background: Izium was subject to intense Russian artillery attacks in April. The city, which sits near the border between the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, became an important hub for the invading military during five months of occupation. Ukrainian forces took back control of the city on Saturday, delivering a strategic blow to Russia’s military assault in the east.
Biden met with families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan
From CNN's Maegan Vazquez, Kaitlan Collins, Kylie Atwood, Jennifer Hansler, Abby Phillip and Sam Fossum
Brittney Griner (left) and Paul Whelan (Reuters)
US President Joe Biden met separately with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at the White House on Friday, marking his first time personally meeting with them since their loved ones were detained in Russia.
Biden reiterated “his continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday.
“The President appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Brittney and Paul from those who love them most, and acknowledged that every minute they are being held is a minute too long,” Jean-Pierre said in the statement.
Some background: Griner was detained in February for carrying vape cartridges containing cannabis oil in her luggage. The two-time US Olympic basketball gold medalist pleaded guilty to drug charges and said she accidentally packed the drugs while in a hurry. She has been sentenced to nine years, along with a fine of about $16,400. Her legal team in Russia has appealed the sentence.
Whelan has been imprisoned in Russia for more than three years after being convicted on espionage charges that he vehemently denies. He was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.
