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Russia Ukraine War Updates: Russia says its troops have left east Ukraine stronghold of Lyman, according to RIA

Russia-Ukraine War Updates, October 1, 2022: A regional official in Ukraine says Russian forces have shelled a civilian evacuation convoy in the country's northeast, killing 20 people.

By: Express Web Desk
Updated: October 2, 2022 10:17 IST
Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to declare the annexation of four Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 30, 2022. (Sputnik/Grigory Sysoyev/Pool via Reuters)Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony to declare the annexation of four Russian-controlled territories of Ukraine in Moscow, Russia, Sept. 30, 2022. (Sputnik/Grigory Sysoyev/Pool via Reuters)

Russia Ukraine War Updates:  Russian troops have pulled out of the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine “in connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement”, news agency RIA quoted Russia’s defence ministry as saying on Saturday.

A regional official in Ukraine says Russian forces have shelled a civilian evacuation convoy in the country’s northeast, killing 20 people. Kharkiv region Gov Oleh Syniehubov called Saturday’s attack on people who were trying to flee the area to avoid being shelled “cruelty that can’t be justified.” Russian forces have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region after a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive last month but continued to shell the area.

Meanwhile, Russian authorities have informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that the head of Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was held for questioning, the UN agency said on Saturday. “The IAEA sought clarification from the Russian authorities and has been informed that the Director-General of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was temporarily detained to answer questions,” a spokesperson said without elaborating.

Live Blog

Russia Ukraine War Updates: Twenty killed as Russia shells civilian convoy, says Ukraine official; Putin announces Russian annexation of 4 Ukraine regions; Zelenskyy leans in on NATO membership request; West rejects Putin's claim it sabotaged Baltic gas pipelines. Check out the latest updates here.

21:34 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Chechen leader Kadyrov: Russia should use low-yield nuclear weapon after new defeat in Ukraine

Ramzan Kadyrov, head of Russia's region of Chechnya, said on Saturday that Moscow should consider using a low-yield nuclear weapon in Ukraine after a major new defeat on the battlefield.

As Russia confirmed the loss of its stronghold of Lyman in eastern Ukraine, Kadyrov slammed top commanders for their failings and wrote on Telegram: "In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, right up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and the use of low-yield nuclear weapons".

He was speaking a day after President Vladimir Putin proclaimed the annexation of four Ukrainian regions - including Donetsk, where Lyman is located - and placed them under Russia's nuclear umbrella, saying Moscow would defend the lands it had seized "with all our strength and all our means".

Russia has the world's largest atomic arsenal, including low-yield tactical nuclear weapons that are designed to be deployed against opposing armies.

Other top Putin allies, including former president Dmitry Medvedev, have suggested that Russia may need to resort to nuclear weapons, but Kadyrov's call was the most urgent and explicit.

The influential ruler of the Caucasus region of Chechnya has been a vocal champion of the war in Ukraine, with Chechen forces forming part of the vanguard of the Russian army there. Kadyrov is widely believed to be personally close to Putin, who appointed him to govern restive Chechnya in 2007.

In his message, Kadyrov described Colonel-General Alexander Lapin, commander of the Russian forces fighting at Lyman, as a "mediocrity", and suggested that he should be demoted to private and stripped of his medals.

"Due to a lack of elementary military logistics, today we have abandoned several settlements and a large piece of territory," he said.

Kadyrov said that two weeks before he had raised the possibility of a defeat at Lyman with Valery Gerasimov, chief of Russia's general staff, but that Gerasimov had dismissed the idea. (Reuters)

21:32 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Russia loses UN aviation council seat in Ukraine rebuke

Russia failed to win enough votes for re-election to the United Nation's aviation agency's governing council on Saturday, in a boost for Western powers that wanted to hold Moscow accountable following its invasion of Ukraine.

Russia fell short of the votes needed to stay on the International Civil Aviation Organization's (ICAO) 36-nation governing council, during the agency's assembly which runs through October 7 in Montreal.

The voting results set off a procedural review on Saturday, after a challenge by Russia for an additional vote. Poppy Khoza, assembly president and South Africa's director general of civil aviation, called the circumstances 'unprecedented.'

'When we have votes in our countries, if we don't like the result, we don't ask for another vote,” the French representative told the assembly.

Russia, along with the G7, China, Brazil and Australia, held spots as 'states of chief importance in air transport' on ICAO's 36-member council.

'We'd like to express regret regarding the outcome of the voting,' the Russian representative said. 'We view this as a purely political step and has nothing to do with Russia's position in the field of civil aviation.'

Russia closed its airspace to airlines from 36 countries, including all 27 members of the European Union, in response to Ukraine-related sanctions targeting its aviation sector following Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

The West says Russia has illegally confiscated hundreds of foreign jets, a charge Moscow denies.

Canada and Europe said before the vote they would oppose Russia's re-election to the council.

Omar Alghabra, Canada's transport minister, told Reuters this week 'it's important that Russia is held accountable.'

The 193-nation ICAO assembly, held every three years, is the first since the Covid-19 pandemic and Ukraine war. (Reuters)

19:36 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Russia says its troops have left east Ukraine stronghold of Lyman, according to RIA

Russian troops have pulled out of the town of Lyman in eastern Ukraine "in connection with the creation of a threat of encirclement", RIA news agency quoted Russia's defence ministry as saying on Saturday. (Reuters)

18:19 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Head of Ukraine nuclear plant held for questioning, IAEA says

Russian authorities have informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that the head of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was held for questioning, the UN agency said on Saturday.

"The IAEA sought clarification from the Russian authorities and has been informed that the Director-General of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was temporarily detained to answer questions," a spokesperson said without elaborating. (Reuters)

17:05 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Ukraine official: Russia shells civilian convoy, kills 20

A regional official in Ukraine says Russian forces have shelled a civilian evacuation convoy in the country's northeast, killing 20 people.

Kharkiv region Gov Oleh Syniehubov called Saturday's attack on people who were trying to flee the area to avoid being shelled “cruelty that can’t be justified.” He said the convoy was struck in the Kupiansky district.

Russian forces have retreated from much of the Kharkiv region after a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive last month but continued to shell the area. The bombardment intensified drastically this week, as Moscow moved to annex four Ukrainian regions in the east and the south under its full or partial control.

16:31 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Ukrainian soldiers reach outskirts of long-time Russian bastion of Lyman, according to video

Ukrainian soldiers on Saturday clambered onto a vehicle with the Ukrainian flag on the outskirts of the eastern town of Lyman, a long-time Russian bastion that Kyiv says it has encircled, a video posted by the president's chief of staff showed.

"Oct. 1. We are unfurling our state flag and establishing it on our land. Lyman will be Ukraine," one of the soldiers said before taping the flag onto what appeared to be the "Lyman" welcome sign on the way into the town.

Reuters could not immediately verify the video independently. (Reuters)

15:32 (IST)01 Oct 2022
EU chief: New Greece-Bulgaria gas pipeline 'means freedom'

The president of the European Union's executive arm traveled Saturday to Bulgaria for the opening of a natural gas link between the country and Greece, emphasising the EU’s determination to stop relying on Russian energy imports by.

Speaking at a ceremony in Sofia, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the pipeline as an important contribution to limiting opportunities for Russia to use its gas and oil reserves to blackmail or punish the EU.

“This pipeline changes the energy security situation for Europe. This project means freedom,“ von der Leyen told an audience that included heads of state and government from the region.

The European Commission committed nearly 250 million euros to finance the project, von der Leyen said.

The importance of the Gas Interconnector Greece-Bulgaria pipeline, which was completed in July, has significantly risen after Moscow decided to turn its natural gas deliveries into a political weapon.

In late April, Russia cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria after it refused Moscow’s demand to pay for the deliveries in rubles, Russia’s currency. Relations between the two former Soviet bloc allies have tanked in recent months, and last month Bulgaria ordered the expulsion of 70 Russian diplomats, triggering an angry response from Moscow.

“People in Bulgaria and across Europe are feeling the consequences of Russia’s war. But thanks to projects like this, Europe will have enough gas for the winter,” von der Leyen said. "Europe has everything it needs to break free from our dependency on Russia. It is a matter of political will."

The 182-kilometer conduit runs from the northeastern Greek city of Komotini, where it links to the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline, up to Stara Zagora in central Bulgaria. Plans call for an initial capacity of 3 billion cubic meters of gas a year, and the prospect of future expansion to 5 billion cubic meters.

The Bulgarian executive of the project, Teodora Georgieva, said the pipeline would help supply other countries in southeastern Europe. “We have the opportunity to supply gas to the Western Balkans, to ensure supplies to Moldova and Ukraine,” Georgieva said. (AP)

15:28 (IST)01 Oct 2022
UN watchdog asks Russian authorities about Ukrainian nuclear plant head

The International Atomic Energy Agency said it was seeking information about the director general of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant whom the state-owned company in charge of the plant said was detained by a Russian patrol.

"We have contacted Russian authorities and are requesting clarifications," a spokesperson for the IAEA, the UN nuclear watchdog, said in response to a query on Saturday. (Reuters)

15:14 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Who is behind the Nord Stream pipeline leakages, and who gains from it?

Sweden’s coast guard said on Thursday (September 29) that it discovered the fourth leak in the two damaged offshore pipelines that comprise the crucial Nord Stream pipelines (Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2), designed to carry gas from Russia to Europe via the Baltic sea.

The presently unexplained leak is the second of its kind to be discovered in Swedish waters, while two other leaks were found near Denmark earlier this week, Reuters reported.

The Danish military on Tuesday released a video of gas bubbles at the surface of the Sea, approximately a kilometre in diameter, near the island of Bornholm. While both pipelines contained gas, neither was transporting it to Europe at the time of the leak. Raghu Malhotra explains

14:14 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Ukraine encircles Russian forces around Lyman stronghold, says military

Ukraine has encircled Russia's forces around a bastion that is critical for Moscow at the eastern town of Lyman, in an operation that is still underway, a Ukrainian military spokesperson said Saturday.

Russia's forces at Lyman totalled around 5,000 to 5,500 soldiers, but the number of encircled troops may have fallen because of casualties and some soldiers trying to break out of the encirclement, said Serhii Cherevatyi, spokesperson for Ukraine's eastern forces.  (Reuters)

13:46 (IST)01 Oct 2022
New US sanctions on Russia hit top officials and the defense and technology sectors

The Biden administration is enacting a round of new sanctions aimed at further crippling Russia’s defense and technology sectors and other industries, as well as cutting off more top officials and their families from global commerce, to punish Moscow for its efforts to annex parts of eastern Ukraine.

US President Joe Biden (Reuters)

The Treasury and Commerce Departments will impose sanctions and export controls on any companies, institutions or people who “provide political or economic support to Russia for its purported annexation,” White House officials said Friday.

“Make no mistake: these actions have no legitimacy,” President Joe Biden said in a statement. “I urge all members of the international community to reject Russia’s illegal attempts at annexation and to stand with the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.” (Read more)

13:18 (IST)01 Oct 2022
What do we know about the Nord Stream gas leak?

➡️ Putin, without providing evidence, blamed the United States and its allies for blowing up pipelines under the Baltic Sea, raising the temperature in a crisis that has left Europe racing to secure its energy infrastructure and supplies.

➡️ US President Biden said it "was a deliberate act of sabotage and now the Russians are pumping out disinformation and lies," adding that Washington and its allies would send divers to find out what happened.

➡️ The ruptures on the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline system have led to what is likely the biggest single release of climate-damaging methane recorded, the United Nations Environment Programme said. (Reuters)

12:54 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Russia's Gazprom to ship 41.7 mcm of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Sat

Russia's Gazprom said it will ship 41.7 million cubic metres (mcm) of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Saturday versus the 43.7 mcm it said it would ship on Friday. (Reuters)

12:47 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Putin slams West and US for ‘double standards’; cites plundering of India and Africa

Russian President Vladimir Putin has reminded the world of the West’s colonial policy, plundering of India and Africa, slave trade, and the use of nuclear and chemical weapons by the US, as he slammed them for their “utter deceit” and “double standards” on insisting on a rules-based global order.

Putin made the remarks during a carefully-choreographed formal speech at the Kremlin’s opulent St George’s Hall on Friday, days after the so-called referendums in the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that were dismissed as “shams” by Ukraine and the US-led Western nations.

In his address, Putin said, “All we hear is, the West is insisting on a rules-based order. Where did that come from anyway? Who has ever seen these rules? Who agreed or approved them? Listen, this is just a lot of nonsense, utter deceit, double standards, or even triple standards! They must think we’re stupid.” Russia is a great thousand-year-old power, a whole civilisation, and it is not going to live by such makeshift, false rules, Putin said in his speech in Russian, the English version of which has been uploaded later on the Kremlin’s official website. (Read more)

12:22 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant director general detained by Russian patrol, says report

The director general of Ukraine's Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was detained by a Russian patrol, Energoatom, the state agency in charge of the plant, said on Saturday.

Ihor Murashov was detained on his way from Europe's largest nuclear plant to the town of Enerhodar around 4 pm (1300 GMT or 6.30 pm IST) on Friday, the company said in a statement.

"He was taken out of the car, and with his eyes blindfolded he was driven in an unknown direction," it said. (Reuters)

12:14 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Russian forces are partly encircled in Lyman, says a pro-Kremlin proxy leader

Ukrainian forces appeared to have made progress toward recapturing Lyman, a rail hub in the country’s east, with the head of Russia’s proxy administration in the province saying Friday that the town was “half encircled.”

Ukrainian military near the city of Lyman in east Ukraine on Thursday, as Ukrainian forces were trying to recapture the area. (New York Times)

“This is very unpleasant news, but we must look soberly at the situation and draw conclusions from our mistakes,” said Denis Pushilin, leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic.

In another sign of Ukraine’s progress in the strategic town, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said on Telegram that Russian forces “will have to ask for an exit” from Lyman. (Read more)

11:28 (IST)01 Oct 2022
In New York, Russian Consulate is vandalised with red paint

The Russian Consulate in New York was vandalised with spray paint early Friday morning, according to police.

Officers responded to a 911 call about vandalism on the facade of the building, located on East 91st Street, just off Fifth Avenue, about 1.30 am on Friday, police said.

The Russian Consulate, located on East 91st Street in Manhattan, is marred by red paint on Friday, Sept 30, 2022. (Jeenah Moon/The New York Times)

No words were visible, just wide streaks of red paint sprawled across the ground floor facade of the building, covering windows and a set of double doors. But some on social media and a few people passing by interpreted the vandalism to be a protest of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. (Read more)

10:58 (IST)01 Oct 2022
With bluster and threats, Putin casts the West as the enemy

President Vladimir Putin asserted Friday that Russia would annex four Ukrainian regions and decried the United States for “satanism,” in a speech that marked an escalation in Moscow’s war against Ukraine. In starkly confrontational terms, he positioned Russia as fighting an existential battle with Western elites he deemed “the enemy.”

Speaking to hundreds of Russian lawmakers and governors in a grand Kremlin hall, Putin said that the residents of the four regions — which are still partially controlled by Ukrainian forces — would become Russia’s citizens “forever.” He then held a signing ceremony with the Russian-installed heads of those regions to start the official annexation process, before clasping hands with them and chanting, “Russia! Russia!” (Read more)

10:12 (IST)01 Oct 2022
World Bank to give Ukraine $530 million in additional aid

The World Bank has said it will provide an additional $530 million in support to Ukraine, bringing the total aid by the bank to $13 billion, as Russia's invasion of the country continues.

The aid is supported by the United Kingdom ($500 million) and the Kingdom of Denmark ($30 million), the World Bank said in a statement.

Of the total aid of $13 billion to Ukraine to date, $11 billion has been fully disbursed, the bank added.

The World Bank's most recent analysis puts the total long-term cost of reconstruction and recovery in Ukraine over the next three years at well over $100 billion, said Arup Banerji, World Bank Regional Country Director for Eastern Europe. (Reuters)

09:45 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Putin signs decree on routine autumn conscription, says report

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree on routine autumn conscription, said a report in The Kyiv Independent, quoting TASS.

"Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Sept. 30 authorizing routine autumn conscription for men aged 18 to 27, calling 120,000 people for military service, according to Russian state-controlled media TASS," it said in a tweet. 

09:25 (IST)01 Oct 2022
‘Western satanism, plunder of India’: Top quotes from Putin’s speech at Ukraine annexation ceremony

Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday presided over a ceremony at the Kremlin to annex four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by his forces. During the ceremony, he made several remarks on Russia’s “historical” past and mentioned the West’s “plunder of India” while criticising colonialism.

Following are extracts from his speech, translated by Reuters:

On colonialism

"The West ... began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, and then followed the slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India, of Africa, the wars of England and France against China ..."

"What they did was hooking entire nations on drugs, deliberately exterminate entire ethnic groups. For the sake of land and resources they hunted people like animals. This is contrary to the very nature of man, truth, freedom and justice." (Read more)

08:58 (IST)01 Oct 2022
South Korea, Japan condemns Russian annexation of parts of Ukraine

Japan and South Korea said that they condemned the Russian annexation of four territories of Ukraine. 

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, in a telephone call Friday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, condemned Russia’s new annexation of parts of Ukraine as illegal and a violation of the country's sovereignty, reported AP.

Meanwhile, South Korea said Saturday it does not recognise Russia's declared annexation of parts of Ukraine or what Moscow called referendums that took place in those areas, reported Reuters.

08:34 (IST)01 Oct 2022
Putin references West's 'plunder of India' in annexation speech

Russian President Vladimir Putin, in his speech Friday announcing the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, termed the West as "satanic" and referred to its "plunder of India" while criticising their colonial past.

"The West ... began its colonial policy back in the Middle Ages, and then followed the slave trade, the genocide of Indian tribes in America, the plunder of India, of Africa, the wars of England and France against China ...," said Putin.

"What they did was hooking entire nations on drugs, deliberately exterminate entire ethnic groups. For the sake of land and resources they hunted people like animals. This is contrary to the very nature of man, truth, freedom and justice," he added. (Reuters)

08:19 (IST)01 Oct 2022
A quick recap

➡️ Russian President Putin proclaimed the annexation of territory seized in his invasion in four regions amounting to 15% of total Ukrainian territory while Kyiv said it would continue its fight to retake occupied land.

➡️ Before signing documents to annex four regions — an act denounced as illegal by Ukraine, the United States, the European Union and the head of the United Nations — Putin delivered a 37-minute anti-Western diatribe.

➡️ President Zelenskyy of Ukraine said it was formally applying for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance and that Kyiv was ready for talks with Moscow, but not while Putin was president.

➡️ Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution introduced by the United States and Albania condemning Moscow's proclaimed annexations, with Russia's strategic partner China abstaining from the vote.

➡️ The United States responded to the annexations by imposing sanctions on Russia, targeting hundreds of people and companies, including those in Russia's military-industrial complex and lawmakers. (Reuters)

08:04 (IST)01 Oct 2022
‘America, NATO ready to defend every single inch’: Biden reacts to Putin's speech

The United States and its allies hit back at Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Friday, slapping sanctions on more than 1,000 people and companies including arms supply networks as President Joe Biden warned Vladimir Putin he can’t “get away with” seizing Ukrainian land.


“America is fully prepared, prepared with our NATO allies to defend every single inch of NATO territory. Every single inch,” Biden said. “And so, Mr. Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. Every inch.” (Read more)

07:15 (IST)01 Oct 2022
India abstains on UNSC resolution condemning Russia’s ‘illegal referenda’ in Ukraine

India has abstained on a draft resolution tabled in the UN Security Council which condemned Russia’s “illegal referenda” and annexation of four Ukrainian territories and called for an immediate cessation of violence while underlining the need to find pathways for a return to the negotiating table.


The 15-nation UN Security Council on Friday voted on the draft resolution tabled by the US and Albania that condemns Russia’s “organisation of illegal so-called referenda in regions within Ukraine’s internationally recognised borders.”


The resolution declares that Russia’s “unlawful actions” with regards to the “illegal so-called referenda” taken on September 23 to 27 this year in parts of Ukraine’s regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya that are under Russia’s temporary control can have “no validity” and cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of these regions of Ukraine, including any “purported annexation” of any of these regions by Moscow. (Read more)

22:26 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin tells Red Square concert Russia will achieve victory in Ukraine

President Vladimir Putin told invited spectators watching a televised patriotic pop concert on Moscow's Red Square on Friday that Russia would achieve victory in its seven-month-old military campaign with Ukraine.

The concert, held in the shadow of the Kremlin walls, was being held to celebrate the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, for which Putin had signed documents a few hours earlier at a ceremony in the Kremlin.

Flanked by the leaders of their Russian-backed administrations, with the multicoloured spires of the 16th-century St Basil's Cathedral as the backdrop, Putin said people in the regions had made a choice to rejoin their "historic motherland". He said Russia would do everything to support them, boost their security and rebuild their economies. (Reuters)

21:57 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Russia's latest actions 'most serious escalation' since war began - NATO chief

Recent actions by Russia constitute the most serious escalation of the conflict since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.

"Putin has mobilised hundreds of thousands of more troops, engaged in irresponsible nuclear sabre rattling and now illegally annexed more Ukrainian territory. Together, this represents the most serious escalation since the start of the war," Stoltenberg told a news conference.

He said NATO reaffirmed its "unwavering support" for Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, and would not be deterred by Russian President Vladimir Putin from supporting the country in defending itself against Russia. (Reuters)

21:13 (IST)30 Sep 2022
US imposes visa restrictions on more than 900 people from Russia and Belarus

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken says State Department imposing visa restrictions on 910 people including members of Russia's military, Belarus military officials and Russia's proxies over the annexation move. (Reuters)

21:00 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Biden on Putin's annexation move: 'These actions have no legitimacy'

President Joe Biden said of Putin's steps: “Make no mistake: These actions have no legitimacy." He said the new financial penalties will impose costs on people and companies inside and outside of Russia “that provide political or economic support to illegal attempts to change the status of Ukrainian territory.” “I look forward to signing legislation from Congress that will provide an additional $12 billion to support Ukraine,” he said. (Reuters)

20:42 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Ukraine's Prime Minister confirms signing NATO membership application

Ukraine's Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelenskyy confirms the signing of Ukraine's NATO membership application on Friday. (Reuters)

20:13 (IST)30 Sep 2022
US hits Russia with sanctions for annexing Ukrainian regions

The US on Friday sanctioned more than 1,000 people and firms connected to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, including its Central Bank governor and families of National Security Council members, after President Vladimir Putin signed treaties absorbing occupied regions of Ukraine into Russia, in defiance of international law.

The Treasury Department named hundreds of members of Russia's legislature, leaders of the country's financial and military infrastructure and suppliers for sanctions designations. The Commerce Department added 57 companies to its list of export control violators, and the State Department added more than 900 people to its visa restriction list.

“We will not stand by as Putin fraudulently attempts to annex parts of Ukraine,” said Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen. (Reuters)

20:11 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Zelenskiy says Ukraine applying for NATO membership

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday Ukraine was formally applying for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance.

"We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine's application for accelerated accession to NATO," he said in a video on Telegram. (Reuters)

19:17 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin accuses West of blowing up pipelines as Europe steps up vigilance

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday blamed the United States and its allies for blowing up the undersea Nord Stream pipelines, raising the temperature in a crisis that has left Europe racing to secure its energy infrastructure and supplies.

In a speech to mark the annexation of four Ukrainian regions invaded by Russian forces, Putin offered no evidence for the claim. Russia has previously said the United States would profit from attacks on Europe's energy infrastructure.

"The sanctions were not enough for the Anglo-Saxons: they moved onto sabotage," Putin said. "It is hard to believe but it is a fact that they organised the blasts on the Nord Stream international gas pipelines." (Reuters)

18:35 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Russia's annexation of Ukraine regions is illegal, EU's von der Leyen

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Friday that Russia's annexation of four Ukrainian regions was illegal and that occupied land would remain part of Ukraine.

"The illegal annexation proclaimed by (Russian President Vladimir) Putin won't change anything," von der Leyen said on Twitter after Russia's annexation of the areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. "All territories illegally occupied by Russian invaders are Ukrainian land and will always be part of this sovereign nation," von der Leyen added. (Reuters)

18:08 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin declaring annexation of Ukrainian lands says, "Will of million of people"

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday presided over a ceremony to annex four Ukrainian regions partly occupied by his forces, escalating his seven-month war and taking it into an unpredictable new phase.

"This is the will of millions of people," he said in a speech before hundreds of dignitaries in the St George's Hall of the Kremlin.

The ceremony took place three days after the completion of hastily staged referendums in which Moscow's proxies in the occupied regions claimed majorities of up to 99% in favour of joining Russia.

Ukraine and Western governments described those votes as bogus, illegitimate and conducted at gunpoint.

In a speech repeatedly interrupted by applause, Putin declared that Russia had four new regions.

He urged Ukraine to cease military action and return to the negotiating table. Kyiv has vowed to recapture all the lands seized by Russia and said that Russia's decision to annex the territories had destroyed any prospect of talks. Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia.  (Reuters)

18:06 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin announces annexation of four areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia

Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four areas of Ukraine occupied by Russia. 

18:05 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin urges Ukraine to sit down for talks but warns that Moscow will not give up the newly incorporated regions

Putin urges Ukraine to sit down for talks but warns that Moscow will not give up the newly incorporated regions, reports AP. (PTI)

17:59 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Russia's Putin opens signing event to annex parts of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin has opened a Kremlin ceremony to start the process of absorbing parts of Ukraine into Russia, defying international law.

The annexation ceremony in the Kremlin's opulent white-and-gold St. George's Hall will feature Putin and the heads of the four regions of Ukraine signing treaties for them to join Russia, in a sharp escalation of the seven-month conflict.

The ceremony comes three days after the completion of Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” on joining Russia that were dismissed by Kyiv and the West as a bare-faced land grab, held at gunpoint and based on lies. (AP)

17:27 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Russian strike kills 25 as Kremlin to annex Ukraine regions

Russia pounded Ukrainian cities with missiles, rockets and suicide drones, with one strike reported to have killed 25 people, as it moved Friday to annex Ukrainian territory and put it under the protection of Moscow's nuclear umbrella despite international condemnation. But even as it prepared to celebrate the incorporation of four occupied Ukrainian regions, the Kremlin was on the verge of another stinging battlefield loss, with reports of the imminent Ukrainian encirclement of the eastern city of Lyman. Retaking it could open the path for Ukraine to push deep into one of the regions Russia is absorbing, a move widely condemned as illegal that opens a dangerous new phase of the seven-month war.

Salvos of Russian strikes reported in Ukrainian cities together amounted to the heaviest barrage that Russia has unleashed for weeks. (AP)

16:10 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Ukraine's Zelesnkiy meets military chiefs to discuss 'liberation' plans

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy met military chiefs on Friday to discuss "the further plan for liberation" of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.

Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app that he and the military chiefs also discussed supplies of weapons for the country's armed forces, as well as Russia's possible further plans following its invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)

16:05 (IST)30 Sep 2022
EU countries provisionally agree new Russia sanctions - sources

European Union countries reached an initial agreement on what would be the bloc's eight round of sanctions against Russia for waging war against Ukraine, three diplomatic sources told Reuters on Friday.

The EU executive earlier this week recommended that the bloc imposes more trade curbs and individual blacklistings and moves towards - rather than adopting straight away - a price cap for Russian seaborne oil deliveries to third countries, mostly insured by European companies.

The 27 EU countries' national envoys to Brussels discussed the proposal on Friday and gave their initial green light, with a final approval expected next week, said the three sources. (Reuters)

14:11 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin cannot alter international borders using 'brute force', UK PM

Britain will never accept the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia as "anything other than Ukrainian territory" Prime Minister Liz Truss said, adding that Russian President Vladimir Putin was violating international law.

"Putin cannot be allowed to alter international borders using brute force. We will ensure he loses this illegal war," Truss said in a statement on Friday.

"Putin has, once again, acted in violation of international law with clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent." (Reuters)

13:44 (IST)30 Sep 2022
We have evidence West involved in 'sabotage' of Nord Stream pipelines, says Russian spy chief

Russia's top spy said on Friday that Moscow had materials which indicated the West had a role in ruptures to the undersea Nord Stream pipelines that have threatened to put them permanently out of use, Russian news agencies reported.

"We have materials that point to a Western trace in the organisation and implementation of these terrorist acts," the Interfax news agency quoted Sergei Naryshkin, head of Russia's foreign intelligence service, as saying on Friday.

Naryshkin's remarks are the most direct accusation against the West from a senior Russian official. He did not say what evidence Russia had. (Reuters)

13:09 (IST)30 Sep 2022
‘Putin is a fool’: Intercepted calls reveal Russian Army in disarray

The Ukrainian capital was supposed to fall in a matter of days.

But plagued by tactical errors and fierce Ukrainian resistance, President Vladimir Putin’s destructive advance quickly stalled, and his forces became bogged down for most of March on the city’s outskirts.

From trenches, dugouts and in occupied homes in the area around Bucha, a western suburb of Kyiv, Russian soldiers disobeyed orders by making unauthorised calls from their cellphones to their wives, girlfriends, friends and parents hundreds of miles from the front line. (Read more)

13:06 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin calls ‘sabotage’ against Nord Stream an ‘act of international terrorism’: Kremlin

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said the “unprecedented sabotage” against the Nord Stream gas pipelines was “an act of international terrorism,” the Kremlin said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Putin made the remarks in phone call with his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.

He also said it was necessary to fulfil an internationally-brokered deal on Ukrainian grain exports, including the removal of barriers for Russian food and fertilizer supplies to the global markets, the Kremlin said. (Read more)

12:09 (IST)30 Sep 2022
23 killed in Russian strike in Zaporizhzhia, says Ukrainian official

Russian strike in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia killed 23 people and wounded 28 in a humanitarian convoy, reports Associated Press, quoting an official. 

11:57 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Where is the fighting today?

➡️ Ukrainian President Zelenskiy promised a strong response to the annexations and summoned his defence and security chiefs for an emergency meeting.

➡️ Democratic and Republican US lawmakers said they wanted to continue the flow of money and weapons for Ukraine's battle against Russia's invasion, denouncing Moscow's annexation plan. (Reuters)

11:20 (IST)30 Sep 2022
What to know about Russia’s annexation of 4 Ukrainian provinces

President Vladimir Putin plans to declare on Friday that some 40,000 square miles of eastern and southern Ukraine will become part of Russia — an annexation broadly denounced by the West, but a signal that the Russian leader is prepared to raise the stakes in the 7-month-old war.

Putin is expected to deliver a “voluminous” speech, his spokesperson said. He is likely to downplay his military’s struggles in Ukraine and rising domestic dissent. He will probably ignore worldwide denunciations of discredited referendums held in occupied Ukraine on joining Russia, where some were made to vote at gunpoint. (Read more)

10:19 (IST)30 Sep 2022
UNSC to vote on resolution condemning Russia's referendum in Ukraine

The United Nations Security Council has scheduled a vote for Friday afternoon on a resolution that would condemn Russia for its “illegal so-called referenda” in four Ukrainian regions and declare that they “have no validity”.

The US- and Albanian-sponsored resolution would call on all countries not to recognise any alterations to the status of Ukraine's Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

It would reaffirm the UN commitment to Ukraine's sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence within its internationally recognised borders. (AP)

09:20 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Uzbekistan says won't deport Russians fleeing conscription

Uzbekistan has no plans to deport Russians who are fleeing en masse to Central Asia to evade conscription amid Moscow's military campaign in Ukraine, the Tashkent government said on Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of men, some with families, have left Russia since President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilisation last week; many headed to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and other Central Asian former Soviet republics.

Some draft dodgers, however, remain concerned about their safety in those countries since their governments have close ties with Moscow.

Uzbekistan's foreign ministry said in a statement it remained committed to principles such as respecting other states' sovereignty and territorial integrity and supported a peaceful settlement of the Ukrainian conflict. (Reuters)

09:20 (IST)30 Sep 2022
Putin to host Kremlin ceremony annexing parts of Ukraine

Russian President Vladimir Putin was set to host a Kremlin ceremony on Friday annexing four regions of Ukraine, while his Ukrainian counterpart said Putin would have to be stopped for Russia to avoid the most damaging consequences of the war.

There was a warning too from United Nations chief Antonio Guterres, who said the planned annexations were a “dangerous escalation” and jeopardise prospects for peace.

Putin has doubled down on the invasion he ordered in February despite suffering a major reversal on the battlefield this month and discontent in Russia over a widely criticised “partial mobilisation” of thousands more men to fight in Ukraine. Russia calls the war in Ukraine a “special operation.” (Read more)

At least 200,000 Russians have left the country since Putin’s draft began

At least 200,000 Russians have left the country in the week since President Vladimir Putin of Russia announced a partial military mobilization after a series of setbacks in the country’s war with Ukraine, according to figures provided by Russia’s neighbours.

Travellers walk after crossing the border with Russia at the frontier checkpoint Verkhny Lars - Zemo Larsi, Georgia, Sept. 28, 2022. (Reuters)

The mobilization could pull as many as 300,000 civilians into military service, from what Russian officials have said is a pool of some 25 million draft-eligible adults on their rolls, suggesting that the departures, though unusual, may not prevent the Kremlin from achieving its conscription goals.

“I left because of my disagreement with the current government in Russia,” said Alexander Oleinikov, 29, a bus driver from Moscow who had crossed overland into northeastern Georgia. He said that many people he knew were against the war, which he called a “tragedy” caused by “one crazy dictator.”

The size of the exodus is difficult to determine, however, given that Russia has borders with 14 countries, stretching from China and North Korea to the Baltic States, and not all governments release regular data about migration. (Read more)

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First uploaded on: 30-09-2022 at 09:09 IST
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