Day 215: Gun Attack at Russian School; Two More Burial Sites Found in Izyum
Facts
- At least 13 were killed and 21 injured on Monday, when a gunman opened fire at a school in the city of Izhevsk, central Russia. Seven of the school's 1k pupils were reportedly among those killed, as were two security guards and two teachers. The region will observe a period of mourning until Sept. 29.
- The news came as Kazakhstan announced it will not recognize ongoing referendums on the potential annexation of eastern regions of Ukraine currently occupied by Russian forces. "We reconfirm our readiness to provide all possible assistance to the establishment of a political dialogue," said foreign ministry spokesperson Aibek Smdiyarov.
- Kyiv and its Western allies have denounced the annexation ballots as illegitimate. Ivan Fedorov - the Ukrainian mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol - has spoken of local citizens' "fear and reluctance to vote," claiming that "armed troops" are going between apartments and coercing people into voting.
- Elsewhere, in the northeastern Ukrainian town of Izyum, two more mass burial sites have been discovered. According to Ukrainian Pres. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "big graves with hundreds of people" - in addition to the site from which 436 people were exhumed last week - were found.
- Ukraine's Armed Forces general staff on Monday alleged that some Russian conscripts are being immediately sent to the frontlines in Ukraine without training. The claims chime with warnings from the UK MOD, that alleges many conscripts will likely face "high rates of attrition."
- According to human rights organizations, 2k people were arrested in Russia between Wednesday and Sunday for demonstrating against Putin's mobilization order. Officials in both chambers of Russia's parliament have reportedly acknowledged the disquiet but Valentina Matvientko, the speaker of the upper chamber, reportedly blamed the backlash on poor implementation of the order by regional governors.
Sources: BBC News, Jerusalem Post, ABC, Al Jazeera, Guardian, and Telegraph.
Narratives
- Anti-Russia narrative, as provided by The Washington Post. As the war shifts to the strategically important Donbas region of Donetsk, the US and its allies need to continue to do everything in their power to arm Ukraine with all the weapons they need. Doing so is the only way to push Putin's forces back as was done in Kyiv.
- Pro-Russia narrative, as provided by Republic World. As stated by Putin, the whole purpose of the war was never to invade Kyiv, but to liberate the ethnically Russian people of Donetsk and Luhansk, who have been subjected to systematic killing by Ukrainian forces for not recognizing the 2014 coup in Kyiv.