Ukrainians forced to head to Russia or Russian–controlled territory are being killed and tortured, as reported by news network CNN.
Deputy Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations (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». The Ambassador said 2.5 million people have been deported, including 38,000 children.
United States Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas–Greenfield said on Wednesday, 7 September, that Russia’s «filtration operations,» which Russia has allegedly used to interrogate and forcibly transport Ukrainian citizens to Russia, are «horrifying.»
According to The Guardian, Ukraine has recaptured several settlements in the north–eastern Kharkiv region as part of a surprise counterattack, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has claimed. «This week we have good news from Kharkiv region,» he said in his evening address on Wednesday, 7 September, adding that «now is not the right time to name those settlements where the Ukrainian flag has returned».
US intelligence says Ukrainian forces are making «slow but meaningful progress» on the battlefield.
«We’ll see how things pan out,» defence undersecretary Colin Kahl said. «But I certainly think things are going better on the Ukrainian side right now in the south than is true on the Russian side.»
Meanwhile, shelling resumed near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Wednesday afternoon, 7 September. Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of firing on the city of Nikopol, as well as in Enerhodar, where the power plant is located.
«Employees of communal and other services simply do not have time to complete emergency and restoration work, as another shelling reduces their work to zero,» the Ukrainian mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, said on Telegram.