Ukrainian president condemns ‘terrorist state’ rocket attack
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted a response on Telegram to the earlier attack on the convoy in Zaporizhzhia. He wrote:
The terrorist state fires rockets at the civilian population in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk. It strikes Ukrainian regions from rocket launchers and drones. The occupiers fired 16 rockets in one morning in Zaporizhzhia district alone. Only complete terrorists can do this, who should have no place in the civilised world. The enemy rages and seeks revenge for our steadfastness and his failures. It cynically destroys peaceful Ukrainians, because it lost everything human a long time ago. Bloodthirsty scum. You will definitely answer for every lost Ukrainian life.
Key events
Russian-held Lyman ‘semi-encircled’ by Ukrainian forces, says Donetsk self-proclaimed leader
The head of the Moscow-installed administration in east Ukraine’s Donetsk region has admitted that the Russian stronghold of Lyman is “semi-encircled” by the Ukrainian army.
It comes after western analysts said Russian forces faced “imminent defeat” in the key north-eastern city of Lyman as Ukrainian soldiers continue their counteroffensive in the east of the country.
The villages of Yampil and Drobysheve near the Russian-occupied Lyman “are no longer fully controlled” by Russian forces, Denis Pushilin, the Russian-backed leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said in a message posted on Telegram today.
The Ukrainian army “is trying with all its might to blacken this historic event for us”, Pushilin said, as Russian president Vladimir Putin stands poised to formally annex the Donetsk region from Ukraine.
Lyman, a key railway juncture about 100 miles (160km) south-east of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, was captured by Russia in May after an extended battle.
Bellingcat’s Christo Grozev, citing Russian reports, said Ukrainian forces have now surrounded Lyman. The loss of this key city would be a major embarrassment for Vladimir Putin, he writes.
Russian war channels acknowledge niw that Ukraine has now surrounded Liman, a town of strategic military importance in Donbass. The loss of Liman just a day after Putin signed the annexation of “DNR”, which has claimed the city since May this year, will be a major embarrassment.
— Christo Grozev (@christogrozev) September 30, 2022
Ukrainian soldiers have also claimed they have retaken the village of Yampil, while pro-Russian Telegram channels said Russian troops have “withdrawn from Yampil to Lyman”.
On Thursday, the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War said a possible collapse of the Lyman pocket would allow Ukrainian troops to “threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk” region.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Peter Beaumont
Volodymyr Marchuk, a spokesperson for the governor’s office, explained to the Guardian what had happened:
It’s a logistics hub to allow people go into the temporarily Russian occupied territories. The Russians only accept 150 cars a day so that’s why we created a programme, where people could come register and get their number in line.
So at 7.15 in the morning there were a large number of cars waiting for the turn to cross, mostly people who want to go to and drop off aid to relatives and maybe pick up people who want to leaver on the way back.
They hit that queue with an S-300 missile. There’s no doubt it is a deliberate war crime. They always say they are aiming at a military object and hit something else. But there are no military objects near that site. That’s why there’s no doubt that’s it’s a terrorist act.
Peter Beaumont
The Guardian’s Peter Beaumont reports from Zaporizhzhia, after a civilian convoy of cars was hit by Russian forces this morning:
Even five hours after the attack it remained a scene of utter carnage with broken bodies spread around the site.
Many, it appears, had been standing outside of their vehicles, not far from a registration point with white tents and a desk when the missile flew in exploding some 10 metres from the cars leaving a huge crater.
In one car, a victim sat slumped dead with one hand gripping his steering wheel, the windows blown out.
Another body was slumped on its knees, covered with a blanket next to the luggage the person was pulling a few metres away.
Summary of the day so far …
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A civilian convoy of cars heading to pick up relatives trying to flee Russian occupied territory in Ukraine has been hit by Russian forces near the city of Zaporizhzhia, with initial reports saying at least 25 people were killed and 50 people injured. Footage posted on social media showed a horrific scene with dead and injured people lying on a road on the south-eastern outskirts of the city.
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The governor of Zaporizhzhia region, Oleksandr Starukh, said in a statement: “The enemy launched an attack on a civilian convoy and the outskirts of the city. People were standing in line to leave for the occupied territory to pick up their relatives and to deliver aid. There are dead and wounded. Emergency services are at the site.
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According to locals, 60 cars had gathered on a road in two lines after registering for a convoy that was due to take people back into the Russian-occupied territories in the south, some planning to return to homes in places such as Mariupol, others planning to fetch relatives and bring them to government-occupied territory for fear that Russia will prevent people from leaving. In the hours before the attack, Russia launched strikes on several cities, including the centre of the nearby city of Dnipro.
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The attack on the convoy on Friday morning came amid a feared Russian escalation in its war in Ukraine, as the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, prepared to publicly sign annexation orders for four regions.
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Putin will sign accession documents at the Kremlin before delivering a speech. A pop concert is also planned on Red Square, where a stage and screens have been set up. The territory Russia controls amounts to about 15{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of Ukraine’s total area.
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The Kremlin said again on Friday that it would consider attacks against any part of the regions of Ukraine that it is about to annex – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as acts of aggression against Russia itself.
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Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Russia would “de jure” incorporate parts of Ukraine which are not under the control of Russian forces. Of the four regions, Luhansk and Kherson are the only territories that Russia is close to having total control over.
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US ambassador to Ukraine Bridget Brink has reiterated her country’s opposition to Russia’s planned annexations, saying “Russia’s sham ‘referenda’ were a spectacle, an effort to mask a further attempted land grab. We will never recognise Russia’s purported annexation of Ukrainian territory.”
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The UN secretary general has warned Russia that annexing Ukrainian regions would mark a “dangerous escalation” that would jeopardise the prospects for peace in the region. António Guterres said any decision to proceed with the annexation of the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions “would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned”.
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The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, warned of a “very harsh” response by Ukraine if Russia went ahead with the annexations.
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British prime minister, Liz Truss, has said that the UK will never accept the Russian annexations, and accused Putin of acting in violation of international law with clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent.
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A large number of Russian forces in the strategic Donbas town of Lyman were reported to have been encircled in the latest setback in the battlefield for Russia.
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Ukrainian forces have secured all of Kupiansk and driven Russian troops from their remaining positions on the east bank of the river that divides the north-eastern Ukrainian city. Most of Kupiansk, a strategic railway junction, was recaptured earlier this month as part of a counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops. AFP reported that those Russian troops who held out on the east bank of the Oskil river have been driven out.
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The so-called “People’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)” has stated that the first Russian troops from the partial mobilisation have arrived in Donetsk, and are undergoing training.
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The Kremlin has reiterated calls for an international investigation into the circumstances of the suspected attack on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea. Without providing any evidence, the head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence service, Sergei Naryshkin said “We have materials that point to a western trace in the organisation and implementation of these terrorist acts.”
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. Léonie Chao-Fong will be with you shortly.
A civilian convoy of cars heading to pick up relatives trying to flee Russian occupied territory in Ukraine was hit earlier this morning by Russian forces near the city of Zaporizhzhia, with initial reports suggesting at least 25 people have been killed and at least 50 wounded.
Footage from the horrific scene shows dead and injured people lying on a road on the south-eastern outskirts of the city.
Please be warned that this video includes graphic images that some viewers may find distressing.
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, has reiterated her country’s opposition to Russia’s planned annexations. She tweeted:
Russia’s sham “referenda” were a spectacle, an effort to mask a further attempted land grab. We will never recognise Russia’s purported annexation of Ukrainian territory and, as President Joe Biden has said, the United States will support Ukraine for as long as it takes.
Russia’s sham “referenda” were a spectacle, an effort to mask a further attempted land grab. We will never recognize Russia’s purported annexation of Ukrainian territory and, as @POTUS has said, the United States will support Ukraine for as long as it takes. https://t.co/g1NE7NgYgT
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) September 30, 2022
The so-called “People’s militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR)” has stated on Telegram that the first Russian troops from the partial mobilisation have arrived in Donetsk. It posted to Telegram:
The first military personnel called up for military service in the partial mobilisation announced in Russia arrived in the zone of the special military operation, on the territory of the DPR. Now they are undergoing an intensive combat training course at the training grounds, which takes into account the experience of the battles of recent months. Residents of the People’s Republic enthusiastically met the approaching forces and thank the President of the Russian Federation for the decision.
Russia, Syria and North Korea are the only UN member states to recognise the DPR as a legitimate authority. Russia is expected to announce the annexation of Donetsk, a territory it does not fully control, into the Russian Federation later today.
Kremlin: Russia will ‘de jure’ incorporate parts of Ukraine it does not control
The Kremlin said again on Friday it would consider attacks against any part of the regions of Ukraine that it is about to annex as acts of aggression against Russia itself, which appears to also include the areas it does not currently control on the ground.
Reuters reports the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters Russia would “de jure” incorporate parts of Ukraine which are not under the control of Russian forces into Russia itself as part of its move to annex four regions of Ukraine.
Vladimir Putin will sign a decree incorporating occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson into the Russian Federation later today.
Of the four regions, Luhansk and Kherson are the only territories that Russia is close to having total control over. The line of contact between Ukrainian and Russian forces runs through significant parts of Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia, with Ukraine maintaining control of the northern areas of each region.
The Kremlin has reiterated calls for an international investigation into the circumstances of the suspected attack on the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea.
Declining to comment on earlier reports by the head of Russia’s foreign intelligence service that it held unspecified “materials” pointing the finger of blame at the west, Reuters reports the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said there was a need for a thorough international investigation.
My colleague Peter Beaumont is in Zaporizhzhia, and has just posted this video showing several hundred cars escaping the occupied areas of southern Ukraine.
The head of Moscow’s foreign intelligence service has said Russia has “materials” to show western forces had responsibility for the Nord Stream pipeline incident.
Without providing any evidence, Sergei Naryshkin said “We have materials that point to a western trace in the organisation and implementation of these terrorist acts.”
Reuters notes that Naryshkin’s remarks are the most direct accusation yet against the west from a senior Russian official.
Peter Beaumont and Artem Mazhulin are in Zaporizhzhia for the Guardian:
A civilian convoy of cars heading to pick up relatives trying to flee Russian occupied territory in Ukraine has been hit by Russian forces near the city of Zaporizhzhia, with initial reports saying dozens were killed and injured. That casualty figure could not immediately be confirmed.
Footage posted on social media showed a horrific scene with dead and injured people lying on a road on the south-eastern outskirts of the city. In one video, taken from inside a nearby building, a woman can be heard sobbing, saying repeatedly: “Dead people are lying there.”
At least one crater was visible in other images showing cars that had taken the full force of the blast.
At the site of the blast, in a wooded area just outside the city, police and military were clearing the area after discovering another unexploded munition, with the dead and wounded removed to nearby hospitals.
According to locals, about 60 cars had gathered on a road in two lines after registering for a convoy that was due to take people back into the Russian occupied territories in the south, some planning to return to homes in places such as Mariupol, others planning to fetch relatives and bring them to government occupied territory for fear that Russia will prevent people from leaving following Friday’s annexation ceremony.
Standing on the road outside, Dalina Yakushava, 48, had arrived after the explosion to see if she could register for a convoy.
“This is where people are told to come and register by the authorities to join a convoy. You register online but I came to make sure my permission had been received. I live in Mariupol. We just drove our daughter to Poland but we need to go back because my parents are there. It’s terrible but it is our home.
“There were a lot of cars waiting to leave this morning because no one has been able to go into the occupied areas for the past week.”
Read more of Peter Beaumont and Artem Mazhulin’s report from Zaporizhzhia: Dozens feared dead after Russian strike on civilian convoy near Zaporizhzhia
Ukrainian president condemns ‘terrorist state’ rocket attack
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has posted a response on Telegram to the earlier attack on the convoy in Zaporizhzhia. He wrote:
The terrorist state fires rockets at the civilian population in Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, and Dnipropetrovsk. It strikes Ukrainian regions from rocket launchers and drones. The occupiers fired 16 rockets in one morning in Zaporizhzhia district alone. Only complete terrorists can do this, who should have no place in the civilised world. The enemy rages and seeks revenge for our steadfastness and his failures. It cynically destroys peaceful Ukrainians, because it lost everything human a long time ago. Bloodthirsty scum. You will definitely answer for every lost Ukrainian life.
My colleague Andrew Roth highlights in this map just how much of Ukraine Putin is planning to annex today that he is yet to control. Our Moscow correspondent notes that “under Russia’s amended constitution, no Kremlin leader can cede territories once they are annexed”.
Useful @guardian map showing how much of the territory Putin is “annexing” isn’t even under Russian control. The total territory is about 15{515baef3fee8ea94d67a98a2b336e0215adf67d225b0e21a4f5c9b13e8fbd502} of Ukraine and includes major cities. Under Russia’s amended constitution, no Kremlin leader can cede territories once they are annexed. pic.twitter.com/HVgTGP1QFC
— Andrew Roth (@Andrew__Roth) September 30, 2022
UK PM Liz Truss rejects annexation of Ukrainian regions
The British prime minister, Liz Truss, has said that the UK will never accept the Russian annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
She accused Vladimir Putin of acting in violation of international law with clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent.
Reuters reports she said in a statement that Putin could not be allowed to alter international borders by brute force.
The Ukrainian governor of Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Starukh, has declared tomorrow to be a day of mourning in the region following the strike on a convoy this morning that has killed at least 23 people and wounded 28 others.
In a message posted to Telegram, Starukh said:
This morning, the Rashists fired at civilians who were waiting in a civilian humanitarian convoy to leave the regional centre. These people went to their relatives in the occupied territories, brought humanitarian aid. They were supposed to take our fellow citizens and take them to the free part of Ukraine. The occupiers struck defenceless Ukrainians. This is another terrorist attack by a terrorist country. In connection with the tragedy and in order to honour the memory of the dead, 1 October 2022 is declared a day of mourning in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Reuters is carrying a witness report from the scene of the attack on the civilian convoy that happened earlier on Friday.
Jonathan Landay writes for the agency that police and emergency workers had rushed to the scene of the missile strike, the impact of which threw chunks of dirt into the air and sprayed the vehicles with shrapnel. The windows of the vehicles – mostly cars and three vans – were blown out.
The vehicles were packed with the occupants’ belongings, blankets and suitcases. A body leaned from the driver’s seat into the passenger seat of a yellow car, his left hand still clutching the steering wheel.
Reuters reports plastic sheets were draped over the bodies of a woman and young man in a green car in the next car in front. A dead cat lay next to the young man in the rear seat.
Two bodies lay in a white mini-van in front of that car, its windows blown and the sides pitted with shrapnel.
A woman who gave her name to reporters as Nataliya said she and her husband had been visiting their children in Zaporizhzhia.
“We were returning to my mother who is 90 years old. We have been spared. It’s a miracle,” she said, standing with her husband beside their car.
The proxy Russian authorities have already issued a denial that the incident was caused by Russian munitions, instead blaming Ukrainian forces for the attack. The Russian news agency RIA quotes Volodymyr Rogov, one of the pro-Russian leaders imposed on occupied Zaproizhzhia, saying: “Ukrainian militants hit a convoy with dozens of civilian cars queuing.”
Russia has repeatedly denied targeting civilians since its latest invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February, despite the clear evidence of damage to civilian infrastructure and discovery of mass burial sites in areas that had been occupied by Russian forces.
