Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Sept 12 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces pushed deeper into territory seized from fleeing Russian troops on Monday, as jubilant residents returned to former frontline villages and Moscow grappled with the fallout from the collapse of its occupation force in northeastern Ukraine. read more

MILITANT

*Ukrainian forces have advanced north of Kharkiv to within 50 kilometers (30 miles) of the border with Russia and are also pushing south and east in the same area, Ukrainian top commander General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said.

  • Zaluzhnyi said Ukraine had recaptured more than 3,000 square kilometers (1,160 square miles) this month. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up
  • Ukraine’s general staff said its forces had recaptured more than 20 towns and villages in just the last day. *At least 1,000 people have been killed in the past six months in fighting in the city of Izium, but the true number is probably much higher, an official said, two days after Kiev forces recaptured the important supply hub.
  • Britain’s Ministry of Defense said Russia had likely ordered the withdrawal of its troops from the entire occupied Kharkiv region west of the Oskil River. read more (https://bit.ly/3xfp2lf)
  • The Kremlin has said it sees no prospect of peace talks and that what it calls a special military operation in Ukraine will achieve its goals.
  • Russian nationalists have angrily called for immediate changes from President Vladimir Putin to ensure a final victory in the Ukraine war after Moscow was forced to abandon Izium. read more
  • Commentators on Russian state television were forced off script by the rapid advance of Ukrainian forces into the country’s Kharkiv region and Moscow’s rapid retreat. read more
  • Facing one of its worst defeats in nearly seven months of war, the Kremlin insisted it will achieve its military goals and President Vladimir Putin maintained an air of business as usual as he presided over a meeting on the economy. read more
  • Reuters could not independently verify reports on the battlefield.

NUCLEAR PLANT

  • Work at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has come to a complete halt as a safety measure, its state operator said. The move followed the restoration of the backup power line that allowed the plant to connect to Ukraine’s power grid. read more
  • The IAEA’s nuclear watchdog confirmed the restoration, allowing the plant to draw power from the grid to cool its reactors.
  • The presidents of Russia and France held talks over the security of the facility, with Putin blaming Ukrainian forces and Emmanuel Macron pointing the finger at Russian troops. read more
  • Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said the Russian attacks hit Kharkiv’s CHPP-5 power station, one of the country’s largest.
  • Ukraine and Russia are interested in the UN atomic watchdog’s proposal to create a buffer zone around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the group’s chief Raphael Grossi said, describing it as a ceasefire. read more

DIPLOMACY, TRADE

  • Indonesian President Joko Widodo is considering joining India and China in buying Russian oil to offset mounting pressure from rising energy costs, the Financial Times reported. read more
  • The International Monetary Fund is looking at ways to provide emergency financing to countries facing food price shocks from the war, sources told Reuters. read more Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Compiled by Lincoln Feast and Shri Navaratnam. Edited by Clarence Fernandez and Frank Jack Daniel Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.