প্রকাশ: 08/09/2022
The United Nations
cited "credible accusations" Wednesday that Moscow's forces have
forcibly taken Ukrainian children to Russia, while Russian President Vladimir
Putin accused the West of benefitting from the eased grain blockade.
Kyiv meanwhile said its forces had recaptured significant
territory in a counter-offensive southeast of Kharkiv that experts say could
threaten key Russian supply routes.
As Europe girded for the prospect of winter with diminished
energy supplies, the European Commission proposed a series of measures to
control energy skyrocketing prices and punish Moscow for invading Ukraine,
including a price cap on Russian gas.
"We are facing an extraordinary situation, because
Russia is an unreliable supplier and is manipulating our energy markets,"
warned EU chief Ursula von der Leyen.
"Our unity and our solidarity will ensure that we will
prevail," she added.
Abusive 'filtration' program
In Washington and at a UN Security Council meeting, Moscow
was accused of forcing large numbers of Ukrainian non-combatants into detention
camps and even prisons via a Kremlin-directed "filtration" program,
and removing children from the war zone to hand over to adoptive parents inside
Russia.
"We are concerned that the Russian authorities have
adopted a simplified procedure to grant Russian citizenship to children without
parental care, and that these children would be eligible for adoption by
Russian families," Ilze Brands Kehris, the assistant UN secretary-general
for human rights, told the Security Council.
She said Russian forces are putting Ukrainians in occupied
territories through invasive security checks that have involved numerous human
rights violations.
Some Ukrainians judged as close to the Ukraine government or
military have been tortured and forcibly removed and sent to Russian penal
colonies and other detention centers, she said.
The US State Department said Russian President Vladimir
Putin's office is directly managing the relocation of Ukrainians into Russia,
and doing it as part of a plan to annex occupied territory.
"Russia has systematically used the practice of forced
deportations previously, and the fear and misery it evokes for people forced to
live under the Kremlin's control are hard to overstate," said State
Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel.
But Russian UN Ambassador Vasily Nebenzya called the
allegations unfounded and said what was labelled "filtration" was
simply registering Ukrainians willingly fleeing the war to Russia.
"As far as we can judge similar procedures are applied
in Poland and other countries of the European Union against Ukrainian
refugees," he told the Security Council.
Putin says Europe taking the grain
Putin accused Europe of taking advantage of Russia's lifting
of a blocked on Ukraine grain exports to help itself while poorer countries
were being deprived of essential food.
Official data collected by a joint centre in Istanbul
monitoring implementation of the recent grain export agreement showed 30
percent of the grain reaching low and lower-middle income countries.
Data compiled as of Wednesday showed Turkey receiving 20
percent of the grain followed by Spain (15 percent) and Egypt (10 percent).
But much of the grain reaching Turkey and some other
destinations is then re-sold under agreements not monitored by the Istanbul
centre.
"Almost all the grain exported from Ukraine is sent not
to the poorest developing countries, but to EU countries," Putin alleged.
European countries were acting as "colonialists,"
he said, "once again simply deceived developing countries."
"Maybe we should think about limiting the export of
grain and other produce along this route?" he said.
A US official dismissed Putin's remarks as untrue, noting
that some grain sent to Europe was then processed for poor nations.
Ukraine advances near Kharkiv
Late Wednesday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said
that Kyiv troops have recaptured several settlements in the Kharkiv region,
though he declined to name them.
The US Institute for the Study of War, which follows in
detail the fighting, said the Ukraine counterattack was near Balakliya and
probably drove Russian forces back to the north side of the Severskyi Donets
and Serednya Balakliika rivers.
It appeared Ukraine forces also recaptured Verbivka and that
Russian forces may have destroyed bridges to prevent Ukrainian fighters from
pursuing them, ISW said.
"Russia's deployment of forces from Kharkiv and eastern
Ukraine to Ukraine's south is likely enabling Ukrainian counterattacks of
opportunity," it said.
– BSS/AFP
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