September 19, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

More bodies of mostly civilians, including two children, were found in the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine, officials said Monday.

Separately, two more bodies were discovered in Bucha, the town on the outskirts of Kyiv that was the scene of mass atrocities at the start of the war, authorities said.

In Izium, 146 bodies of mostly civilians were exhumed from a mass burial site, according to Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv region civil-military administration.

On Sunday, Izium Mayor Valerii Marchenko said the exhumation of bodies would continue for another two weeks.

Ukraine's Defense Ministry said at least 440 "unmarked" graves were found in the city in recent days and on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that some of the bodies showed "signs of torture," blaming Russia for what he called "cruelty and terrorism." Russia has dismissed Ukraine's accusations of war crimes as a “lie."

In Bucha, volunteers found two more “victims of Russian aggression” in civilian clothing, according to a Facebook post on Monday from the Bucha City Council. The bodies were discovered while volunteers were patrolling the forest around the Warsaw Highway near the Vorzel settlement. 

Some background: Bucha's name became a byword for war crimes after accounts of summary executions, brutality and indiscriminate shelling emerged in the wake of Russia's hasty retreat on March 31.

Russia’s presence in Syria has become “more aggressive” both in the air and on the ground since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Lt. Gen Alex Grynkewich, Commander of US Air Force Central Command which oversees the US Air Force presence in the Middle East, said during a panel at the Air & Space Forces Association's 2022 Air, Space & Cyber Conference in Maryland on Monday.

US forces are seeing this “increased pressure both in the air and on the ground from the Russians,” Grynkewich added. 

“Frankly, it’s a bit concerning, where we have forces on the ground and armed Russian aircraft that fly over them,” Grynkewich said. “Your airmen and guardians are in close contact with those Russians every single day, intercepting them, escorting them and making sure our forces on the ground remain safe in Syria and Iraq as they continue the fight against ISIS.”

Grynkewich said he believes this Russian activity is driven by “some of the personalities of the Russian leadership that is in Syria right now.”

“Some of those Russian general officers frankly failed in Ukraine for all the reasons that Gen. Hecker outlined upfront, and now they’re in Syria, and my assessment is they’re trying to make a name for themselves again, and regain a favorable standing within the Russian federation armed forces. I don’t think they’ll succeed, but that’s what they’re trying to do,” Grynkewich added.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense released video on Monday showing extensive damage and destruction in the town of Sviatohirsk after the area was liberated from Russian forces last week.

The video shows the pockmarked exterior walls of the Sviatohirsk Lavra, a 16th century monastery in the northern part of Ukraine's Donetsk region, that was damaged by "Russian shelling" in June 2022 according to President Volodymyr Zelensky who spoke at the time.

An unnamed Ukrainian military reporter speaking at the start of the video accuses Russian forces of "burning the relics and killing people seeking shelter inside the monastery compound."

CNN cannot independently verify the claims made by Ukrainian forces. 

The monastery tower, with a partially demolished corner is shown, as well as military equipment, tanks and armored vehicles abandoned and littering the streets nearby.

Residential buildings were also impacted.

“All of the windows in my house, from top to bottom have been shattered,” an elderly woman says on the verge of tears.

Commercial buildings are also shown as having been substantially damaged in the fighting.

Another resident of the town says his water, electricity and internet were cut off as the Russian troops entered the area. 

The village of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region is now entirely under Ukrainian control according to a Telegram post from Sehiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration on Monday.

Haydai asked Ukrainians to be patient with their operation to free towns and villages in the Luhansk region, saying it is proving to be a “much more difficult” operation than the liberation of Kharkiv. 

Earlier in the year, Ukrainian forces stopped Russian advances in Bilohorivka. In May, the Ukrainian military blew up two pontoon bridges near Bilohorivka, stopping Russian efforts to cross the Siverskyi Donets River in the Luhansk region.

A CNN team travelled to Bilohorivka where they saw destroyed Russian tanks and armed personnel carriers, shattered Russian armor.

In July, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Ukrainian soldiers “competently repelled another combat reconnaissance attempt near Berestove and Bilohorivka” and that Russian soldiers suffered losses and withdrew.

There will be an all-member classified briefing for United States senators on Ukraine Monday night, according to two Senate aides.

The briefing comes as Ukraine has had some success in its counter-offensive efforts last week against Russia, and the Biden administration announced another $600 million package of military assistance for Ukraine on Friday.

Moscow dismissed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s statement about Russia’s war crimes in the liberated territories in northeast Ukraine as a “lie” accusing Kyiv of using “the same scenario” in Kyiv’s suburb of Bucha.

“This is the same scenario as in Bucha,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Monday. “This is a lie. Of course, we will defend the truth in this whole story.”

After Russia’s hasty retreat from the Kharkiv region, a mass burial of people was found on the territory of the liberated Izium last week with Ukraine's Defense Ministry saying at least 440 "unmarked" graves were found in the city in recent days.

Some of the bodies found in Izium showed "signs of torture," blaming Russia for what he called "cruelty and terrorism," Zelensky said Friday.

There have been numerous allegations of atrocities committed against civilians since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. In Ukraine’s town of Bucha, investigators and journalists revealed what appeared to be the aftermath left by Russian forces after their retreat. 

Russia dismissed the allegations of killings of civilians in Bucha as a staged provocation. A brigade accused of committing war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha had been awarded an honorary title by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Russian missile attacks across southern and northeastern Ukraine have damaged a power complex and left multiple people injured, amid an onslaught of shelling from Moscow targeting civilian infrastructure.

The Kremlin has accused the US of engaging in "media madness" after President Joe Biden personally met with the families of two American detainees last week.

Here are the latest developments:

Moscow says it is ready to negotiate the fate of American prisoners in Russia, but has accused the US of engaging in "media madness" after President Joe Biden personally met with the families of two American detainees last week.

Biden held separate meetings with the relatives of professional basketballer Brittney Griner and ex-marine Paul Whelan at the White House on Friday, marking the first time he personally convened them since the two were detained.

“Instead of fulfilling its direct official duties -- maintaining contacts with the diplomats of the host country -- the US Embassy in Moscow is engaged in some kind of media madness,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Telegram on Monday, pointing to videos and "funny pictures" posted by the US embassy in Moscow, as well as Biden's meeting.

"Relatives were unable to get a clear explanation from the President of the United States about Russia's demands for a prisoner exchange," she said, adding that she learned of the details of the meeting through a CNN report citing Cherelle Griner, Brittney's wife.

She added that she would have to turn to Whelan and Griner's relatives herself.

“If the US Embassy in Moscow has a minute of free time they will tell President Biden about it, and he, in turn, will tell the relatives of Whelan and Griner,” Zakharova said.

Following Griner's sentencing in August, the US and Russia indicated they were ready to hold talks over a prisoner swap.

Griner was detained in February, accused of 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 around $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 denies. He was sentenced in June 2020 to 16 years in prison in a trial US officials denounced as unfair.

In the meetings, Biden reiterated "his continued commitment to working through all available avenues to bring Brittney and Paul home safely," White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement on Friday. “The President appreciated the opportunity to learn more about Brittney and Paul from those who love them most, and acknowledged that every minute they are being held is a minute too long."

Russian pop legend Alla Pugacheva criticized the country as having “illusory aims” in Ukraine on Sunday, becoming the latest high-profile Russian figure to voice opposition to the war.

Her comments came in an Instagram post in which she expressed support for her husband, Maxim Galkin, a comedian who was designated a “foreign agent” by Russia’s Justice Ministry on Friday under a draconian law to rid the country of foreign influence and funding.

In her post, Pugacheva said her husband wished for an end to the death of Russian soldiers, who were “dying for illusory aims that make our country a pariah.”

She said Galkin was a “good real and incorruptible patriot of Russia” who wished for “prosperity” and “freedom of speech,” while she appealed to the ministry to label her a foreign agent as well.

In a call with reporters on Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on Pugacheva’s post.

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