Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 201

Here is the situation as it stands on Monday, September 12.

Fighting

• Ukrainian forces advanced north from Kharkiv to within 50 kilometres (30 miles) of the border with Russia and are also pressing to the south and east in the same region, Ukrainian chief commander General Valerii Zaluzhny said.

• Zaluzhnyi said Ukraine had retaken more than 3,000 square kilometres (1,160 sq miles) this month.

• Britain’s Defence Ministry said Russia had “likely” ordered the withdrawal of its troops from the entire occupied Kharkiv region west of the Oskil River. “The rapid Ukrainian successes have significant implications for Russia’s overall operational design,” it said.

• Russia’s defence ministry ordered troops to leave the area around the city of Izyum, and the installed chief administrator of Russian-controlled parts of the region told residents to evacuate to Russia.

• Russian nationalists called angrily for immediate changes by President Vladimir Putin to ensure ultimate victory in the Ukraine war after Moscow was forced to abandon Izyum.

• Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine needs to prepare for a possible counterattack by Russian forces. Ukrainian troops were tired after their six-day offensive but morale was good, he told the Financial Times newspaper.

Nuclear plant

• Operations at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have been fully stopped as a safety measure. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) nuclear watchdog confirmed the restoration of a power line, allowing the plant to draw power from the grid to cool its reactors.

• The presidents of Russia and France held talks about plant safety with Vladimir Putin blaming Ukrainian forces while Emmanuel Macron pointed the finger at Russian troops.

• Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Russian attacks had hit Kharkiv’s CHPP-5 electricity station, one of the country’s largest ones.

Diplomacy, trade

• Russia will do “everything” to break Ukrainian and European resolve this winter, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “Ninety days – that more than all other years will determine the existence of the European Union,” he said.

• Indonesian President Joko Widodo is considering joining India and China in buying Russian oil to offset the growing pressure of rising energy costs, the Financial Times reported.

• The International Monetary Fund is looking for ways to provide emergency funding to countries facing war-induced food price shocks and will discuss measures at an executive board meeting.

• The UK dismissed Putin’s assertion that only a tiny fraction of grain exported from Ukraine under an international deal was going to poor countries, saying 30 percent has gone to low- and middle-income countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

• France’s transport minister said he would sign a pact with Romania to help increase Ukrainian grain exports to developing countries, including the Mediterranean.