Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 206

Ukrainian officials have said they found hundreds of bodies, some with hands tied behind their backs, buried in territory recaptured from Russian forces in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called proof of war crimes.

There was no immediate response from Russia, which denies targetting civilians.

Fighting

• Zelenskyy said it was too early to say if the tide of the war was turning and the outcome hinged on the swift delivery of foreign weapons to his country.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his first comments on Ukraine’s counteroffensive, brushed off the advances with a smile but warned Russia would respond more forcefully if its troops were put under further pressure.
• Ukraine continues its offensive in the northeast while Russia has established a defensive line between the Oskil river and the town of Svatove, protecting one of its few main resupply routes from Russia’s Belgorod region, British military intelligence said.
• The head of a pro-Russian administration pushed out by the counteroffensive, Vitaly Ganchev, accused Ukrainians of staging atrocities in the city of Izyum. United Nations human rights monitors will go to Izyum “to try to establish a bit more about what may have happened”, a spokesperson said.
• Western sanctions are starting to hurt Russia’s ability to make advanced weaponry for the war in Ukraine, a top NATO military adviser said, though he added Russia could still manufacture “a lot of ammunition”.

Diplomacy

• Belying Putin’s claim that Russia is not isolated because it can look to Asian powers such as China and India, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi assailed the Kremlin chief, telling Putin this was not the time for war. A day earlier, Putin acknowledged what he said were Chinese President Xi Jinping’s concerns about the conflict.
• Zelenskyy said he would only back the idea of reopening Russian ammonia exports through Ukraine if Moscow handed back prisoners of war, an idea the Kremlin quickly rejected.