September 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Follow the latest news on Russia’s war in Ukraine here and read more about today’s developments in the posts below.

President Joe Biden warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against escalating the fighting in Ukraine, saying that there will be consequences if the Kremlin uses chemical or nuclear weapons.

The clip of the interview aired on CBS Evening News on Friday. 

Asked by Scott Pelley what the US response would be if Russia used a chemical or nuclear weapon, Biden said it would be “consequential.” 

“You think I would tell you if I knew exactly what it would be. Of course, I’m not going to tell you. It’ll be consequential. They’ll become more of a pariah in the world than they ever have been. And depending on the extent of what they do will determine what response,” Biden said.

President Joe Biden is meeting now with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, according to the White House.

In separate meetings, Biden will sit with Elizabeth Whelan, Paul’s sister, and with Griner’s wife Cherelle and agent Lindsay Colas, the administration said.

The first of the meetings in the Oval Office began at 4:51 p.m. ET. 

Jake Sullivan, the assistant to the president for national security affairs, is accompanying the president.

Some background: The families of Whelan, who has been held by Russia for alleged espionage since 2018, and WNBA star Griner, jailed in Moscow for drug possession since February, have urged the White House to secure their release, including via a prisoner exchange if necessary.

The administration said this week that Biden is “not going to let up” on getting Griner and Whelan back to the US. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the matter is “at the very top of my priority list.”

President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, left, walks with Secretary of the Navy, José Rafael Ojeda Durán, during the annual military parade as part of the independence day celebrations at Zocalo in Mexico City, Mexico on Friday.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, said on Friday that Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard will propose a plan to create a ‘”Committee for Dialogue and Peace” to immediately seek a cessation of hostilities in Ukraine.  

During a speech at the Independence Day military parade in Mexico City, López Obrador said the proposal seeks to achieve a truce of at least five years in favor of peace among all nations.

To be unveiled at the upcoming United Nations General Assembly in New York, the plan would allow the time to be dedicated “to face the significant and severe economic and social problems that affect the peoples of the world,” he said.

López Obrador criticized the sanctions on Russia and the “massive shipment” of weapons to Ukraine, calling them “actions that contributed to the ongoing confrontation, an additional dose of irrationality.”

According to López Obrador, the proposal envisions Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi, Pope Francis, and the UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres serving as mediators in the committee. He said he hopes this will start direct talks between the leaders of Ukraine and Russia.

Ukrainian soldiers sit on infantry vehicles as they drive near Izium, Kharkiv Oblast on September 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said some of the bodies found at a mass burial site in Izium show “signs of torture.” Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has acknowledged “concerns” from both China and India about the war.

Here are the latest developments:

Horrors in Izium: Ukrainian officials said that at least 440 graves had been discovered at a mass burial site in the city of Izium, in the recently liberated Kharkiv region. Zelensky said some bodies had “signs of torture,” while the governor of the Kharkiv region claimed that “99% show signs of violent death,” adding “there are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs, and one person is buried with a rope around his neck.”

A United Nations source said a team will be going to Izium and the surrounding areas soon, and the war crimes investigation team may follow afterward.

India and China voice concerns: On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Putin that “today’s era is not of war” — a significant rebuke from a leader who has stayed largely silent on the conflict. And a day earlier, Putin on Thursday acknowledged China’s President Xi Jinping had “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine. 

Putin speaks on counteroffensive for first time: In his first comments following Kyiv’s successful counteroffensive in northeastern Ukraine, the Russian leader said the main goal of Russia’s “special military operation” has not changed and that there’s “no hurry.”

“Let’s see how this ends,” he added.

Russia shelling continues: Much of Ukraine’s Kharkiv region has been retaken by Ukrainian forces, but the military said liberated areas are now being heavily shelled by Russian artillery, resulting in some injuries. Attacks are also taking place in Luhansk, Donetsk and Dnipropetrovsk regions.

Russian-backed officials dead: The leader of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic said its prosecutor general had been killed in a “terrorist act,” while the head of the Russian-backed administration in occupied areas of the Zaporizhzhia region said a senior official there was killed.

Biden to meet families of detained Americans: US President Joe Biden will personally meet with the families of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan at the White House today. The administration said Biden is “not going to let up” on getting Griner and Whelan back to the US. Secretary of State Antony Blinken also said the matter is “at the very top of my priority list.”

US officials express frustration on sanctions: Senior US officials tell CNN they are disappointed US-led sanctions haven’t had a bigger impact so far on the Russian economy and are now predicting that the harshest effects probably won’t materialize until early next year at the earliest.

The US assesses that the Ukrainians are “consolidating their gains” from retaking territory in the area of Kharkiv, according to the Defense Department.

“In the north, what we assess is that the Ukrainians are consolidating their gains after taking back significant territory, and that the Russians are attempting to shore up their defensive lines after having been pushed back,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder at a briefing with reporters.

Ryder also said that Ukrainian forces are making “deliberate, calculated forward movement” with their counteroffensive in the Kherson area.

“As always, our focus continues to remain on providing them the support that they need in their fight,” Ryder said.

The White House said US President Joe Biden is “not going to let up” on getting Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan back to the United States from Russia. The comments on Friday come as Biden is scheduled to meet with their families.

He added that Biden wants “these two individuals home back where they belong with their families.”

Asked why Russia hadn’t already accepted a US offer for Griner and Whelan’s return, Kirby said, “If we had the answer to that question, we might already have a deal. I think that’s a better question put to our Russian colleagues.”

“We made a serious offer, we want them to accept it,” Kirby said. “Frankly, these two individuals ought to be home anyway, period, but we understand that’s probably going to have to be the result of the negotiating process — one that we’re willing to participate in honestly and fully, and we’ve been doing that. We await them to take the offer that’s on the table.”

CNN previously reported that the Biden administration offered to exchange Viktor Bout, a convicted Russian arms trafficker serving a 25-year US prison sentence, as part of a potential deal to secure the release of two Americans held by Russia, according to sources.

National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications, John Kirby, speaks the daily White House briefing in Washington, DC on September 16.

The White House said reports of a mass burial site in the eastern Ukrainian city of Izium are “horrifying” and “repugnant.”

John Kirby, the strategic communications adviser at the National Security Council, said the discovery of what Ukrainian officials say is at least 440 graves at the site was “in keeping with the kind of depravity and the brutality with which Russian forces have been prosecuting this war against Ukraine and the Ukrainian people.”

Kirby said the United States would continue to “actively support efforts to document war crimes and atrocities that Russian forces commit in Ukraine and assist national and international efforts to identify and hold Russians accountable.”

Ukraine’s Center for Strategic Communications said on Thursday that some of the graves discovered at Izium were “fresh” and that the bodies buried there were “mostly civilians.”

Izium was subject to intense Russian artillery attacks in April, and 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.

The U.N. General Assembly meets during a special session at the U.N. headquarters in New York City on September 15.

The UN General Assembly has voted to allow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to address the 77th session of the Assembly by video link.

The vote was 101 in favor and seven against, with 19 abstentions.

The countries voting against were Russia, Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Syria and Cuba.

China abstained.

General debate in the Assembly will run from Sept. 20 through Sept. 26.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a meeting at the Department of State in Washington, DC on September 15.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration is working relentlessly to secure the release of Americans detained abroad, including Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, who are being held in Russia.

Speaking at a news conference Friday, Blinken said the matter is “at the very top of my priority list.” He reiterated that the United States had presented Russia with a “substantial proposal” to secure the release of the two Americans, who have been classified as wrongfully detained.

Some background: A senior administration official told CNN on Thursday that there has been “movement but not breakthrough” on the efforts to free Griner and Whelan.

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.”

President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with Griner and Whelan families at the White House later on Friday, marking his first time personally meeting with them since their loved ones were detained in Russia.

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.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with senior military commanders to discuss the next steps in Ukraine’s “de-occupation” efforts.

According to the Presidency’s website, officials including the Commander of Ground Forces Oleksandr Syrsky, the Commander of the Western Command Serhiy Litvinov and the Commander of the South Command Andriy Kovalchuk joined the meeting via videoconference.

“The participants of the meeting considered further steps for the de-occupation of the territories of Ukraine and made the necessary decisions,” the statement said.

They had also “updated the list of weapons necessary for the continuation of the operation to liberate Ukrainian lands.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16.

In his first comments following Kyiv’s successful counteroffensive in northeastern Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the main goal of Russia’s “special military operation” — what he calls the Ukraine invasion — has not changed.

Speaking at a press conference at the end of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan, Putin said the main goal continued to be “the liberation of the entire territory of Donbas” — the Luhansk and Donetsk regions — and that Russia was in “no hurry.”

On ending the fighting, Putin said, “The Kyiv authorities abandoned all agreements, they were thrown into a drawer and announced that they would not seek any agreements with Russia, but would seek victory on the battlefield. 

Putin also took aim at the West in his justification for the invasion, claiming that “for decades, the idea of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the collapse of classical Russia has been cultivated in the West.”

Some context: This month brought huge strategic losses for the Kremlin as Ukraine carried out counteroffensives in the northeast and south. Ukraine has recaptured a total of 8,000 square kilometers (about 3,088 square miles) of land, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said concern by Chinese and Indian leaders about the war in Ukraine “is reflective of concerns around the world about the effects of Russia’s aggression on Ukraine, not just on the people of Ukraine… but on countries and people across the entire planet.”

He said the war is a violation of the UN charter, saying that global leaders are noticing the aggression.

“This is something that leaders in countries around the world are feeling because their people are feeling it. And so 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, and I think it increases the pressure on Russia to end the aggression,” he said. 

Some context: On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war” — a significant rebuke from a leader who has stayed largely silent on the conflict throughout its more than six months duration. A day earlier, Putin acknowledged China’s President Xi Jinping had “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine. 

Members of the Ukrainian Emergency Service work on an exhumation of a mass burial site in the town of Izium, Kharkiv region on September 16.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he has seen the reports about a mass burial site in Izium, saying it was “part, horrifically, of a continuing, ongoing story” of Russian brutality in Ukraine.

Blinken said there is a need to “build the evidence and document the atrocities that have been committed,” even as Ukrainian forces retake territory.

Blinken reiterated that the US does not intend to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terror, saying that as a practical matter, the US is applying the penalties that would come with that designation. He also said the designation could have “unintended consequences.” 

“What we are doing is working with Congress right now to see if there is another way forward that achieves could be achieved through the use of the SST designation without any of the unintended consequences that would make it more counterproductive than productive,” Blinken said.

A Ukrainian official at a mass burial site near Izium said the bodies of an entire family have been identified there.

The Ukrainian Parliament’s Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said in a video statement from the site that “there is a whole family right next to me … This is a young family … The father was born in 1988, the wife was born in 1991; their little daughter was born in 2016.” 

“We have testimonies from local people that they all died as a result of an airstrike” carried out by the Russian air force, Lubinets said.

“There are many, many similar cases,” he added.

At least 440 graves were found at a mass burial site in the city in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky saying that some of the bodies have “signs of torture.”

Ukraine recaptured the city from Russian forces last Saturday during its counteroffensive. The Russian military used it as a key base and resupply route for its forces in eastern Ukraine.

US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Friday that she thinks the relationship between Moscow and Beijing is one “of convenience, not necessarily one of trust or one that will combine their efforts on all things.”

“This is not a full-flown marriage in all ways, shapes and form, but they are certainly going to work together, but they will also work for advantage with each other,” Sherman said in a conversation with Washington Post Live.

“It was quite interesting that President Putin made a remark that he knew that Xi Jinping had concerns about what he was doing in Ukraine,” she said. “Very interesting for Putin to say that.”

On Thursday, in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin acknowledged China’s “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine. 

“Xi Jinping has constantly talked about sovereignty and territorial integrity so this doesn’t square with the principles he wants for his own views, whether it’s about Hong Kong or Tibet or Taiwan,” she said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan on September 16.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war” in what appears to be a direct rebuff of the Ukrainian invasion during a face-to-face meeting today.

“I know that today’s era is not of war and 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 Samarkand, Uzbekistan, according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

“Today we will definitely get a chance to discuss about how we can move on the path of peace in the coming days, I will also get an opportunity to understand your point of view,” he added at a meeting between the two leaders, held on the sidelines of the summit. 

Modi and Putin “appreciated the sustained momentum in bilateral ties, including contacts at various levels.” 

They also discussed “important issues of bilateral cooperation as well as regional and global issues of interest. Discussions also pertained to global food security, energy security and availability of fertilizers in the context of the challenges emanating from the current geo-political situation,” the statement said.

This is the first time Modi and Putin have met this year. “They agreed to remain in touch,” according to the statement.

What the Kremlin says: In an earlier statement, the Kremlin said Putin told Modi that Russia would “do everything” to end the conflict in Ukraine, and the Russian president said he acknowledged the Indian leader’s “concerns.”

On Thursday, in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin also acknowledged China’s “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine. 

Experts work at a place of mass burial during an exhumation in the town of Izium, Kharkiv region on September 16.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has posted a photograph of the ongoing exhumation of bodies at a mass burial site near the city of Izium.

In a text accompanying the photograph on his Telegram channel, Zelensky wrote: “The whole world should see this. A world in which there should be no cruelty and terrorism. But all this is there. And its name is Russia.”

As the exhumation continues, it’s unclear how each victim died and when. Scores of civilians and soldiers were killed in the weeks-long bombardment of Izium by Russian forces in March and April. A CNN team at the site said that the graves they saw were predominantly of individuals, some marked only with numbers and others with full names and other details.

The governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said that “the scale of the crimes committed by the invaders in Izium is enormous. This is bloody brutal terror.”

“450 bodies of civilians with traces of violent death and torture were buried in a forest belt. It is difficult to imagine something like this in the 21st century, but now it is a tragic reality in Izium,” he said.

“About 200 law enforcement officers and experts are currently on the scene. The bodies will be sent for a forensic examination to determine the exact cause of death. After identifying the faces of the dead, they will all be buried with due respect,” he said.

“Each death will be investigated and become evidence of Russia’s war crimes in international courts,” Syniehubov said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi attend a meeting on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders' summit in Samarkand on Friday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin told Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi that Russia would “do everything” to end the conflict in Ukraine, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

The two leaders met at the end of a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

Putin blamed Ukraine for the continuation of the conflict. Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24.

The Kremlin statement quoted Putin as telling Modi Friday:

Some context: Earlier in the war, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky repeatedly called on Putin to hold negotiations with him. Last week, Zelensky said negotiations with the Russian Federation surrounding the end of the war are currently “impossible.”

On Thursday, in a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Putin also acknowledged China’s “questions and concerns” regarding the conflict in Ukraine. 

US State Department spokesman Ned Price holds a press briefing in Washington in August.

At the United Nations General Assembly next week, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will find themselves in the same city for the third time in three months, but there are no current plans for the two diplomats to meet, a senior administration official said.

But US State Department spokesperson Ned Price would not rule out the possibility of a meeting if it could fuel efforts to bring home Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan, two wrongfully detained Americans in Russia.

Lavrov and Blinken are likely to be in the same room for a UN Security Council meeting next week. But being in the same room doesn’t ensure direct contact — though it could mean awkwardly avoiding one another.

Earlier in the week, Price reiterated that US President Joe Biden’s administration does not believe it can do business as usual with the Russians, but the Biden administration has put an emphasis on getting the Americans home as public pressure has mounted. Price would not say if the administration feels that a meeting with Lavrov and Blinken could move the ball forward.

Blinken spoke to Lavrov by phone in late July for the first time since the Russian war in Ukraine began on Feb. 24, and “pressed the Kremlin to accept the substantial proposal that we put forth on the release of Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner,” the top US diplomat said at the time.

Blinken and Lavrov were in the same cities for international summits just weeks before that phone call and just weeks after it – in Bali in early July and in Cambodia in early August – but Blinken and Lavrov did not meet. In Cambodia, they were just seats away from one another for an Association of Southeast Asian Nations foreign ministers meeting and attended the same dinner, but they did not speak at the dinner, CNN reported at the time.

The Biden administration has repeatedly said that they will not engage in diplomacy with Russia unless they think that it can be productive, and Russia has signaled no desire to diplomatically engage.

Biden is set to meet with the families of Griner and Whelan today at the White House.