“Ukrainian officials directly stated today that the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive in southern Ukraine is a methodical operation to degrade Russian forces and logistics, rather than one aimed at immediately recapturing large swathes of territory,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says.

“Ukraine will determine when the war will end by liberating its territories, as well as the amount of the payment of reparations,” Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine wrote on Twitter, as quoted by Ukrinform.

None of the 56 members of the Russian delegation to the UN General Assembly session, scheduled for 20 September, has yet been granted a US visa, including Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Ukrainian Interior Ministry advisor Anton Gerashchenko wrote on Twitter.

According to the US, in the coming weeks Russia could hold pseudo-referenda in Kherson, Zaporizhzia and in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv regions. The Ukrainian authorities are urging Ukrainians in the Russian-occupied territories to evacuate, and if they choose to stay, not to take part in any “referenda” under any pressure or duress. If they do take part, they risk confiscation of their property, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said, as quoted by UNIAN. A growing number of people have been leaving the occupied territories during the past week, she said.

The attacks against the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continue, with the Russian and the Ukrainian side blaming each other. Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) has once again lost the connection to its last remaining main external power line, but the facility is continuing to supply electricity to the grid through a reserve line, the International Atomic Energy Agency was informed at the site today, the IAEA says. The Russian news agency TASS, on the other hand quotes Alexander Volga, head of the Enerhodar occupation administration as saying that the radiation level at the site is in line with the standard norms.