Ukraine war - live: Zelensky praises troops on visit to newly liberated city

Russia ‘almost certainly’ buying weapons from Iran and North Korea, says MoD

Ukrainian troops enter Sviatohirsk in Donetsk Oblast after recapturing town

Volodymyr Zelensky has thanked his troops on a visit to a newly captured city in the northeast province of Kharkiv.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian president travelled to Izium to attend a flag-raising ceremony.

The now devastated city was used by the Russians as a key supply hub, before it was liberated late last week by the Ukrainian army as part of the significant advance it has made in northeast Ukraine.

In total, Kyiv is believed to have retaken about 8,000 square kilometres in the region in under a week.

The president said the presence of Ukraine’s forces had breathed life back into places like Izium.

“I see how people meet them, in what a sensitive moment. It means that with our army, the life comes back,” he said.

In other developments, the Kremlin is “almost certainly” sourcing weapons from Iran and North Korea as it struggles with supply shortages, the British Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Defence experts believe the Russian army has been forced to buy from the pariah states in part because of the impact of Western sanctions.

Key points

• Zelensky visits newly recaptured town of Izium
• Russia ‘almost certainly’ importing weapons from Iran and North Korea, says MoD
• Accounts of Russian torture emerge from area liberated by Ukraine
• ‘About 150,000 people liberated in Balakliia’
• In recaptured Ukraine town, locals sob with relief, relate harrowing accounts
• ‘Ukraine has made progress but still a long haul,’ says Biden

[14 September 2022 15:00 · Rory Sullivan]

Ukraine ships 3.1m tonnes of produce across Black Sea in August

Ukraine managed to export 3.1 million tonnes of agricultural products from its Black Sea ports in August.

This comes after Kyiv signed a grain deal with Russia, allowing it to ship goods across the Black Sea for the first time in months.

In total, 134 ships left Ukrainian ports last month bound for Africa, Asia and Europe, according to the infrastructure ministry.

[14 September 2022 15:20 · Rory Sullivan]

Photos: Ukrainian troops in newly liberated territory

Ukrainian soldiers drive near Izium, Kharkiv region. (REUTERS)

Ukrainian police patrol an area in Kharkiv oblast on 14 September, 2022. (REUTERS)

A Ukrainian police officer in Izium. (REUTERS)

[14 September 2022 15:40 · Rory Sullivan]

Hasty Russian retreat leaves a devastated Ukrainian village

AP reports from a recently recaptured Ukrainian village:

There’s not much left of Hrakove. Its houses and shops lie in ruins, its school is a bombed-out hull. The church is scarred by rockets and shells, but the golden dome above its blasted belfry still gleams in the fading autumn light.

Only about 30 people remain, living in basements and gutted buildings in this small village southeast of Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, according to resident Anatolii Klyzhen. About 1,000 lived here when Russian troops rolled over the border in February, occupying the village shortly after.

[14 September 2022 16:00 · Rory Sullivan]

Kremlin hits out at Ukraine’s wish to join Nato

Moscow has criticised Ukraine’s wish to join Nato, saying it considers this a threat to its own security.

The Kremlin was responding to draft set of “international security guarantees for Ukraine” published by former Nato secretary general Anders Fogh Rasmussen and Andriy Yermak, the head of Zelenskiy’s presidential administration.

The document outlines Ukraine‘s “aspiration to join Nato and benefit from its mutual defence arrangements”.

In response, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Moscow viewed Ukraine’s wish as “the main threat to Russia”.

“It once again emphasises the relevance and urgent need for us to ensure our own security and our own national interests,” he claimed.

[14 September 2022 16:10 · Rory Sullivan]

‘They punched me in the face’: Liberated Ukrainians tell of torture and killings by Russian forces

Kim Sengupta and Andryi Makarenko report on alleged Russian torture in Balakliya:

[14 September 2022 16:11 · Rory Sullivan]

Goodbye

That’s the end of our coverage for today.

We’ll be back soon with more live updates from the war in Ukraine.