6 September 2023

September 2023 in brief

A strike on an outdoor market in Kostiantynivka killed at least 16 people, Ukrainian officials said; Zelensky called it a deliberate Russian attack, while the head of the UN monitoring mission confirmed the deaths without naming who carried it out. ^[1] The UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission said over 9,500 civilians had been killed and more than 17,000 injured since the invasion, and that the true toll was likely higher. ^[1][2] A strike on Lviv burned down a Caritas-Spes warehouse holding about 300 tonnes of aid, which the UN humanitarian coordinator described as a Russian airstrike, and WHO recorded attacks affecting health facilities in Beryslav and Odesa. ^[1][2][3] Russia fired 43 cruise missiles in the first mass strike on Ukraine's energy system in six months, Ukrenergo said, and the UN counted the 21st attack on Ukrainian ports since the grain deal ended. ^[1][2] Ukraine struck Black Sea Fleet sites in Crimea, including the Sevastopol shipyard, an air defence system near Yevpatoria and the fleet headquarters, where its special operations forces claimed 34 officers including the commander were killed; Russia's defence ministry then released video it said showed the commander at a meeting. ^[1][2][3] The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said it found widespread and systematic torture by Russian armed forces in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, and called on Ukraine to investigate a few cases of violations by its own forces. ^[1]

Written from the records it cites; every figure appears in a cited record.