By Travis Caldwell, Christina Walker, Aditi Sangal, Hannah Strange, Adrienne Vogt and Elise Hammond, CNN
From CNN’s Vasco Cotovio and Yulia Kesaieva
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed his country’s soldiers have retaken the key Kharkiv city of Balakliia.
Zelensky posted a video on his social media accounts with Ukrainian soldiers standing above a building in Balakliia, alongside the Ukrainian flag.
In front of the soldier, a Russian flag can been seen on the ground.
Zelensky captioned the video saying “everything was in its place.”
“The Ukrainian flag is in the free Ukrainian city, under the free Ukrainian sky,” the Ukrainian president said.
US President Joe Biden spoke with counterparts from Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Romania, Poland and the United Kingdom, as well as NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and representatives from France and the European Union on Thursday to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine.
Biden “(underscored) continued international support for Ukraine, including through the ongoing provision of security and economic assistance and the sustained imposition of costs on Russia to hold the Kremlin accountable for its aggression,” according to a White House readout of the call.
That comes as the White House is “closely” monitoring an escalating energy crisis in Europe after Russian energy giant Gazprom halted flows through the vital Nord Stream 1 pipeline indefinitely, claiming it had found an oil leak in a turbine.
From CNN’s Richard Roth
Torture and the forcible deportation of 2.5 million people were among the shocking details of human rights violations against Ukrainian civilians recounted at a meeting of the UN Security Council on Wednesday.
Deputy Ukrainian Ambassador to the UN Khrystyna Hayovyshyn told the council that 2.5 million people, including 38,000 children, have been forcibly deported from the country under a Russian “filtration” program.
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) has also documented “filtration” cases, it said.
Brands Kehris said there have been credible allegations of forced transfers of Ukrainian children to “Russian occupied territory, or to the Russian Federation itself.”
In addition, Brands Kehris said that men and women “perceived as having ties with Ukrainian armed forces or state institutions, or as having pro-Ukrainian or anti-Russian views” being subjected to torture, arbitrary detention, and “enforced disappearance.”
Russian officials said the allegations of forced "filtration" are unfounded, adding that newcomers to the country go through "registration," not filtration.
Refugees and displaced persons in Russia are given health and financial assistance, Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said in his remarks to the UN Security Council Wednesday.
It’s very unfortunate that human rights groups are making unfounded allegations against Russia, Nebenzia said. "We have wasted time" discussing this issue rather than real issues, the ambassador added.
Meanwhile, Rosemary DiCarlo, UN Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs said that over 6.9 million people remain internally displaced in Ukraine, with most of the newly-displaced coming from eastern and southern Ukraine.
There have been 5,718 civilians killed, including 372 children, and 8,199 injured, including 635 children, during the war so far, she said.
DiCarlo added that “these are only verified figures and the actual numbers are likely significantly higher.”
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