Live blog: Ukraine accuses Russia of over 400 war crimes in Kherson

Sunday, November 13, 2022

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said that investigators have uncovered more than 400 Russian war crimes and found the bodies of both servicemen and civilians in areas of the Kherson region freed from Russian occupation.

“Investigators have already documented more than 400 Russian war crimes. Bodies of dead civilians and servicemen have been found,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address.

He said “stabilisation and the restoration of law” had been established in 226 settlements affecting more than 100,000 residents.

Ukrainians in Kherson express relief after Russian withdrawal

Ukrainians in the liberated southern city of Kherson have expressed relief after months of Russian occupation.

Residents said the Russians left a trail of destruction, laying mines and going on a looting spree before their withdrawal.

Ruined buildings and destroyed military vehicles could be seen at the entrance to the strategic Black Sea port city where battles raged just days ago.

Yellen: Russian sanctions could extend beyond war's end

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said some sanctions on Russia could remain in place even after any eventual peace agreement with Ukraine, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Yellen said that any eventual peace agreement would involve a review of the penalties the United States and its allies have imposed on Russia's economy, according to the Journal.

"I suppose in the context of some peace agreement, adjustment of sanctions is possible and could be appropriate," Yellen said in an interview in Indonesia, where she is attending the G20 summit.

Russia's Lavrov arrives in Indonesia's Bali for G20 summit

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has arrived in Indonesia's resort island of Bali to lead his country's delegation at the G20 Summit this week. 

It would be the first G20 Summit since Russia began attacks on Ukraine in February. Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a "special military operation".

UK: Ukraine has momentum, Russia a long way from giving up

Ukraine has the momentum in its war with Russia but Moscow is a long way from giving up, British Defence Minister Ben Wallace has said.

"Ukraine has momentum ... It's not big step momentum, but nevertheless, the direction of travel is with the Ukrainians," Wallace told Times Radio before cautioning that it would be foolish to see Russia's withdrawal from Kherson as the end of the war.

"No one is underestimating Russia. Russia is a long way from giving up."

Putin moves to revoke citizenship of those discrediting military

Russian President Vladimir Putin has proposed a presidential amendment to a bill enabling Moscow revoke the citizenship of those who discredit the Russian military, state media said.

The amendments, proposed to a bill originally adopted by the State Duma in April, defines the “public dissemination of deliberately false information about the Russian Armed Forces” as a crime, with punishment being stripping passports of those who acquired Russian citizenship, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.

After Kherson success, Ukraine vows to keep pushing out Russia

Ukraine’s president has vowed to keep pushing Russian forces out of his country after they withdrew from Kherson, leaving behind devastation, hunger and booby traps in the southern Ukrainian city.

The Russian retreat from Kherson marked a triumphant milestone in Ukraine’s pushback against Moscow’s offensive almost nine months ago. Kherson residents hugged and kissed the arriving Ukrainian troops in rapturous scenes.

“We will see many more such greetings” of Ukrainian soldiers liberating Russian-held territory,” President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Saturday.

He pledged to the people in Ukrainian cities and villages that are still under occupation: “We don’t forget anyone; we won’t leave anyone.”

2 civilians killed, 1 injured due to Russian strikes in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region

Two civilians were killed and one person was wounded during Russian strikes in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine as intense fighting in the region forced locals to take refuge in bunkers.

“On November 12, Russians killed two civilians in the Donetsk region — in Bakhmut. In addition, law enforcement officers found the bodies of two dead during the occupation: in Yampol and in Yarovaya,” Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko announced in a message on Telegram early on Sunday.

Kyrylenko also reported that one person was injured due to strikes in the region, adding that it was "currently impossible" to determine the exact number of victims in Mariupol and Volnovakha.

Russia rejects G20 focus on security

Russia has called for the G20 to stop talking about security and focus on the world's most pressing socio-economic problems, ahead of a summit set to be dominated by Western criticism of Russia's offensive in Ukraine.

The G20 - a group of the world's largest economies that make up more than 80 percent of global GDP - is set to meet on the Indonesian island of Bali this week, with Western leaders including US President Joe Biden expected to use the high-profile forum to slam Russia publicly over the conflict in Ukraine.

In a statement issued ahead of the summit, Russia's foreign ministry said it was "fundamentally important that the G20 concentrate its efforts on real, rather than imaginary, threats."

S Korea's Yoon vows to expand humanitarian support for Ukraine

South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol has vowed to expand humanitarian assistance for Ukraine as he condemned Russia's actions in Ukraine as a violation of international laws, his office said.

Yoon was speaking at the East Asia Summit in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

At the meeting, Yoon also said freedom of navigation should be guaranteed in the South China Sea, adding any acts escalating tensions in the disputed waters should be restrained. 

Zelenskyy: Battles in eastern Donetsk 'hellish'

Russian forces destroyed the critical infrastructure in the southern city of Kherson before fleeing, Zelenskyy has said, adding that local authorities were starting to stabilise the city.

"Before fleeing from Kherson, the occupiers destroyed all the critical infrastructure: communications, water, heat, electricity," Zelenskyy said in a video address.

"Police have launched stabilisation measures. Stabilisation measures are also underway in Kherson," he said, noting that almost 2,000 mines, trip-wires and unexploded shells had been dealt with so far.

But pro-Moscow forces are putting up a much stiffer fight elsewhere and Zelenskyy said the battles in the eastern Donetsk region were "hellish."

For live updates from Saturday (November 12), click here