Ukraine marks battlefield gains as reports expose widening toll of Russian atrocities on civilians and culture

From the Newshound archive · first published 21 September 2026.

Ukrainian forces have struck a significant operational blow against Russian positions near Lyman in the Donbas, with military expert Philip Ingram analysing the breakthrough step by step. A UN report recording 1,004 verified conflict-related sexual violence cases has simultaneously laid bare the scale of Russian atrocities, with 89 per cent of cases attributed to Russian forces. Russian drones also killed three children and a woman in the Kyiv region overnight, with 31 sites damaged across five districts.

The UN report, covering February 2022 to July 2026, found gang rape, genital mutilation and electric shocks used against Ukrainian prisoners of war and civilians.

A mother and her twin three-year-old children died when a Russian drone hit their home; a fourth child, a girl, subsequently died in hospital following a separate strike.