September 26, 2022 Russia-Ukraine News

Our coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news here or read through the updates below.

Ukraine’s president says gaining ground in the strategic Donetsk region is his number one priority because it is Russia’s top priority.  

President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking in his nightly address on Monday, said the “situation is particularly severe in the Donetsk region. We are doing everything to thwart enemy activity. This is our number one objective now, since Donbas is still the number one objective for the occupiers.”

Donetsk, which is a part of Donbas, is partially occupied by the Russian military.

As Russian forces continue to advance through the Donbas region, pro-Russian leaders in Donetsk and Luhansk are holding referendums on joining Russia.

Some context: Authorities in Kyiv and other Western countries say that the referendums are a “sham” whose outcome has been preordained, and which are carried out often literally at the barrel of a gun. International observers and the Ukrainian government expressed similar concerns in 2014 when Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea after a referendum carried out in the presence of Russian troops. 

White House officials are watching closely and preparing their potential response Monday as four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine continued to vote in referendums that are being effectively carried out at gunpoint and have been dismissed by the West as a “sham.”

With the results of the Russian-organized voting expected to be announced as soon as tomorrow, US officials anticipate Russia could move quickly to annex the four areas, potentially within days.

If and when they do, it would prompt a swift response from the US, which has pledged not to recognize the results, one official said. 

The US is not currently expected to respond until Russia has moved to annex the regions, the official said, and when Russia ultimately attempts to do so remains to be seen.  

British foreign secretary James Cleverly said in recent days that Russia has already decided in advance what will happen after these referendums are finished, stating that by “the end of the month, Russia’s intention will be to formalize the annexation of the four regions into the Russian Federation.”

As they monitor the referendums, top Biden administration officials have become more vocal in recent days about warnings they have delivered in private to Russian officials about the potential use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

“Russia understands very well what the US would do in response to the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine because we have spelled it out for them,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a television interview Sunday, though he declined to characterize who received those warnings or what the consequences would be.  

While officials have still not seen indications that Russia is planning to use nuclear weapons in the near term, they are more concerned about the possibility now than they were six or seven months ago, one official confirmed to CNN, though they still maintain that the likelihood of Russia doing so is low. 

The US State Department said they have not seen any indication that China is preparing to assist Russian President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine or assist Russia in evading sanctions.

“We are looking at every single bit of information we have,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price said. “We have seen nothing as of yet at least to indicate that the PRC is taking a different approach when it comes to security assistance, when it comes to efforts to systematically help Russia evade sanctions,” he said.

Price said the US is “continuing to watch” what China does on Ukraine, and said that remarks by Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi indicate that China has “a degree of unease with what Russia is doing in Ukraine.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Yi on Friday at the United Nations and “highlighted the implications if the PRC [People’s Republic of China] were to provide support to Moscow’s invasion of a sovereign state,” according to the State Department readout of the meeting.

The Ukrainian security service says that a Russian soldier captured during combat in Kherson region this month has been linked to an atrocity carried out in Bucha near Kyiv back in March.

In a statement Monday, the agency claimed that the captured soldier, together with other Russian troops, “shot a car with a machine gun on the highway near Zdvizhivka village, Bucha district” in early March.

“The driver died on the spot,” the statement said, claiming that the group then buried the victim’s body in the forest.

The security service also said the driver’s corpse was exhumed and submitted for forensic examination.

At the time Russian forces had just occupied Bucha.

When the Russian soldier was detained in September during combat in the Kherson region, the agency said its investigators proved the soldier’s involvement in the crime.

The United States will “never recognize” Russian-occupied territory as “anything other than… part of Ukraine,” the White House said, as separatist leaders in four regions of Ukraine say that referendums are underway on whether to secede from Ukraine and join the Russian Federation.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins at a Monday press briefing that the “sham referendum” was a “flagrant violation of international law.”

“We will continue to work with our allies and partners to hold Russia accountable and support Ukraine for as long as it takes,” Jean-Pierre said.

“As far as what we are doing, we are prepared to impose additional swift and severe economic costs on Russia, along with our allies and partners, in response to these actions that we’re seeing currently if they move forward with annexation,” she said.

She added, “you will hear more from us in the coming days on this.”

The Russian state news agency TASS reported that a school in Luhansk region in eastern Ukraine that was being used as a polling station in the so-called referendum on joining Russia has been hit by Ukrainian shelling.

Remember: Authorities in Kyiv and other Western countries say that the referendums are a “sham” whose outcome has been preordained, and which are carried out often literally at the barrel of a gun. International observers and the Ukrainian government expressed similar concerns in 2014, when Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea after a referendum carried out in the presence of Russian troops. 

TASS reported that six shells hit the school in Rubizhne. 

CNN is unable to verify what caused the extensive damage to the school.

The last day of the referendum process in four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine is Tuesday.

Russian artillery and missile attacks have left at least one person dead and several injured in Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, according to Ukrainian officials. 

Oleg Synehubov, head of the regional military administration in Kharkiv, said a missile attack on the city of Pervomaiske had killed a teenage girl and injured others. Two houses were destroyed.

Mykola Baksheev, the mayor of Pervomaiske, said there were several victims in the attack, and some Ukrainian media are reporting a higher number of fatalities.

In Donetsk, the middle of the city of Kramatorsk was hit, causing damage to an apartment block, according to images from the city council. 

The city of Sloviansk was also struck, according to the mayor Vadym Lyakh.

Despite recent progress by Ukrainian forces in the east, many cities and towns in those parts of Donetsk and Kharkiv under Ukrainian control are still within reach of Russian weapons. 

Satellite images from Sunday provided by Maxar Technologies show long lines of traffic on the Russian side of the border with Georgia.

Maxar says the northernmost image shows traffic queuing about 16 kilometers (nearly 10 miles) north of the border crossing, and adds that “the traffic jam likely continued further to the north of the imaged area.”

CNN reported earlier Monday, that images and social media video from the border crossing between Russia and Georgia have shown long lines of stationary traffic through a mountain pass. Drone video uploaded from the area Monday suggests there are hundreds of vehicles gathered on the Russian side, with witnesses saying that people are waiting up to 48 hours to cross into Georgia.

Several videos show additional Russian security forces arriving at the border in an armored personnel carrier.

Queues have built up at the Verkhnii Lars crossing from North Ossetia into Georgia and other border crossings since the announcement last week by President Vladimir Putin of a partial mobilization.

Videos show some families and many men on their own among those waiting to cross at Verknii Lars Hundreds of people are approaching the crossing on foot, pulling suitcases. 

Amid the sudden influx, “we have been pushing government to introduce visas and/or close the borders,” an opposition politician in Georgia, Nona Mamulashvili, told CNN.

At the moment, the border appears still to be open.

President Vladimir Putin has granted former US National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden Russian citizenship, according to an official decree published on the Russian government portal Monday. 

Snowden, who admitted to leaking information about US surveillance programs to the press, has been in Russia since 2013. He is facing espionage charges in the US and up to 30 years in prison.

In November 2020, Snowden and his wife applied for Russian citizenship. He had been already given permanent residency in Russia. 

What the US is saying: US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said their position on Snowden “has not changed” in light of this development. 

“Perhaps the only thing that has changed is that as a result of his Russian citizenship, apparently now he may well be conscripted to fight in Russia’s war in Ukraine,” Price said at a State Department briefing Monday. “Mr. Snowden should return to the United States where he should face justice as any other American citizen would.” 

Price said he was not aware of any change in Snowden’s American citizenship.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting to this post.

Multiple social media videos show hundreds of civilians taking part in a second day of protests against military mobilization in the Russian region of Dagestan. 

The videos show scuffles in the main square in the Dagestan capital of Makhachkala involving dozens of young men. They also show police making a number of arrests.

In an apparent effort to assuage the protestors, the head of the Republic, Sergey Melikov, said that mobilization should take place “strictly according to criteria set out by the President.”

In a message on his Telegram channel, Melikov said that if “those who are not included in the list were mobilized, including students, fathers with many children with young children, guys who have never held a machine gun in their hands, [this] should be immediately corrected.”

“I know that at the very beginning of the mobilization such mistakes took place, among other things, because some citizens did not notify the military enlistment offices in a timely manner about the circumstances giving them a respite from mobilization,” he continued.

“If on the ground you are faced with a violation of your rights in the process of partial mobilization, be sure to report this to the republican military registration and enlistment office. In each case, we will understand and make an objective decision,” he added.

Melikov also suggested that there were “fake stories on social networks that our enemies diligently spread through public pages created abroad” about mobilization. He asserted that the protests were “prepared and controlled from abroad.”

He said he was in regular contact with the military commissar of Dagestan about the mobilization process. 

More than 100 people were detained during the protests on Sunday in Makhachkala, according to an independent human right monitor OVD-Info.

More background: The protests come after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared last Wednesday that 300,000 reservists would be drafted under an immediate “partial mobilization,” in a bid to reinforce his faltering invasion of Ukraine.

Though Russian authorities have said it would only affect Russians with previous military experience, the decree itself gives much broader terms, sowing fear among Russians of a wider draft in the future – and the implications for ethnic minorities.

Anti-mobilization protests have spread across the country, with more than 2,350 people arrested since the announcement, according to OVD-Info.

CNN’s Josh Pennington and Jessie Yeung contributed reporting to this post. 

Ukrainian officials say there have been five attacks on the port city of Odesa in recent days by Russian forces using recently acquired Iranian drones.

Russia had launched Iran-made Shahid-136 kamikaze drones against the city “for several days in a row,” Serhii Bratchuk, spokesperson for Odesa region civil military administration, said. “The enemy is trying to save its cruise missiles, missiles of different calibers, because these drones are much cheaper … And they work not alone, but sometimes in pairs. We even note that the enemy may launch several such kamikaze drones during one attack.”

In the latest drone attacks, “there were two hits, one kamikaze drone was destroyed, but a detonation took place on the territory of this military object [installation]….There were no casualties,” he added.

Separately, Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Operational Command South, said samples of the drones were being studied to develop ways to destroy them.

The number of Russians who entered Finland via its land border with Russia on Sunday was double that of the previous Sunday, the Finnish border guard said. 

On Sunday, 8,314 Russians entered Finland via the Finnish-Russian land border — double the number than (the) week before, tweeted Matti Pitkäniitty, the border guard’s head of international affairs. 

Including Saturday’s numbers,16,886 Russians arrived in total, with “many in transit to other countries,” he added. 

Following the Kremlin’s announcement of “partial mobilization,” Russia saw nationwide protests and an exodus of citizens fleeing the country.

Last Wednesday, Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said the country was closely monitoring the situation.

Finland and Russia share a land border that stretches for 1,340 kilometers (about 830 miles), and there are several border crossing points available.

The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) said on Monday that it had notified four Russian-backed officials in occupied Ukraine that they are criminal suspects for their role in organizing so-called secession referendums in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“The Ukrainian special service established that these individuals played key roles in the organization and holding of a fake plebiscite in eastern Ukraine,” the SBU said.

Remember: Authorities in Kyiv and other Western countries say that the so-called referendums are a “sham” whose outcome has been preordained, and which are carried out often literally at the barrel of a gun. International observers and the Ukrainian government expressed similar concerns in 2014, when Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea after a referendum carried out in the presence of Russian troops. 

The individuals are suspected of violating Ukraine’s criminal code on “collaboration” and “encroachment on the territorial integrity and inviolability” of Ukraine.

The SBU said that the four men, “in collusion with other persons,” appealed to the self-declared Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics “with the initiative of holding a fake referendum on the territories temporarily occupied by the enemy, and also proposed immediate separation from Ukraine and joining the Russian Federation.”

The SBUT named the men as Volodymyr Vysotsky, “head of the Central Election Commission of the DPR”; Olena Kravchenko, “head of the Central Election Commission of the LPR”; Oleksandr Kofman, “head of the Public Chamber of the DPR”; and Maryna Filipova, “adviser to the head of the Luhansk People’s Republic”.

The SBU said that the men would be “declared wanted in the near future.”

CNN could not immediately reach any of the individuals named by the SBU.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced Monday the United States committed an additional $457.5 million in civilian security assistance for Ukraine.

This package is “to enhance the efforts of Ukrainian law enforcement and criminal justice agencies to improve their operational capacity and save lives as they continue to help defend the Ukrainian people, their freedom, and their democracy from the Kremlin’s brutal war of aggression,” the statement released on Monday said.

In addition to that, Blinken’s statement said that the assistance can contribute American support “for the Ukrainian government’s efforts to document, investigate, and prosecute atrocities perpetrated by Russia’s forces, drawing on our long-standing relationship with Ukrainian criminal justice agencies, including the Ukrainian Office of the Prosecutor General and the NPU’s war crimes unit.”

Kazakhstan, a former Soviet republic and one of Moscow’s close partners, said it “adheres to the principle of territorial integrity of the states,” as four Russian-occupied areas vote in referendums on joining Russia.

The referendums are illegal under international law and have been dismissed as “a sham” by Western governments and Kyiv. 

“As for the referendums on joining the Russian Federation being held in self-declared states of LPR and DPR, and military administrations of Zaporozhzhia and Kherson regions, Kazakhstan adheres to the principle of territorial integrity of the states, their sovereign equality and peaceful coexistence,” the official spokesperson of the Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs Aibek Smadyarov said on Monday, as quoted by Kazakhstan’s state news agency Kazinform.

“Our President has repeatedly stated, including in his recent speech from the UN tribune, the importance of constant observance of the international law principles, based on the Charter of this global universal organization. The Charter stipulates the responsibility of the UN member-states in maintaining peace and adherence to territorial integrity of the countries,” Smadyarov added.

Smadyarov reaffirmed the government’s readiness to provide assistance to the promotion of political dialogue, adding that “Kazakhstan believes that maintaining stability at the regional and global levels is of paramount importance.”

Russian-backed authorities in occupied portions of four Ukrainian regions holding ongoing so-called referendums on accession to the Russian Federation claim that voter turnout has been massive.

Authorities in Kyiv and the West say that the so-called referendums are a “sham” whose outcome has been preordained, and which are carried out often literally at the barrel of a gun. International observers and the Ukrainian government expressed similar concerns in 2014, when Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea after a referendum carried out in the presence of Russian troops. 

In the Kherson region, the deputy head of the Russian-backed administration said Monday that there is already enough of a margin to say that that region has approved seceding from Ukraine and joining Russia.

“The current votes cast are enough for a positive outcome of the referendum,” Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-backed head of the Kherson region administration, said on Telegram on Sunday. “However, voting will continue for two more days, not counting today, so that those voters who, for various reasons, have not voted yet, can express their will.”

The Russian-backed authorities in Ukraine’s Donetsk region – much of which is still controlled by Ukraine – claimed Monday that turnout so far has been 77%. Russian-backed authorities in the Luhansk region said that it is already 76.09%.

Ukrainian officials scoffed at those numbers.

Serhii Hayday, the Ukrainian head of the Luhansk region military administration, said that authorities were going door to door, trailed by armed guards, to collect votes. 

“If someone checked ‘against’ joining Russia, the data is recorded in some notebooks,” Hayday said on Telegram. “Rumors are being spread that people who vote against are being taken away somewhere. This is deliberately done to intimidate the local population.”

US Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter on Monday said the “sham” referendums are “merely propaganda stunts” to try to legitimize their seizure of territory and said that residents remaining in these regions were being forced, sometimes at gunpoint, to vote for annexation. 

This is “not a real vote,” Carpenter said on a briefing call, and reiterated that the United States would not recognize the results. 

A registration commissar is reportedly “fighting for his life” after being shot at Siberian enlistment office today, amid a backlash in Russia following President Vladimir Putin’s order of increased military conscription for his war in Ukraine.

Meanwhile, after Putin raised the specter of nuclear retaliation in the conflict during his address last week, his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky warned: “I don’t think he’s bluffing.”

Here are the latest developments:

Russia is in contact with the United States on nuclear weapons, but that communication is “sporadic,” the Kremlin’s spokesman said Monday. 

“[Contacts] are being carried out at the proper level. There are channels for dialogue, but they are very sporadic,” Dmitry Peskov said, adding that those channels allow the two sides to inform each other on their position and bring across “emergency messages.”

This comes after American officials said the US has privately communicated to Russia for the past several months that there will be consequences if Moscow chooses to use a nuclear weapon in the Ukraine war.

Asked to comment on statement that the US will “respond decisively” if Russia crosses the line, Peskov said, “I am leaving it without any comment.”

Ukrainian officials say that Russia is using so-called secession referendums in occupied portions of four Ukrainian regions as a pretense to draft Ukrainians into the Russian military.

“The main purpose of the fake referendum is to mobilize our residents and use them as cannon fodder,” Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor-in-exile of Russian-occupied Melitopol, said on Telegram.

Ukrainian officials also say that travel for young men out of occupied Ukraine has become much more difficult since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization. Such travel in Ukraine’s south has been difficult but possible, through arranged corridors.

In recent days, however, CNN understands from Ukrainian government sources that travel to Ukrainian-held territory has become much more difficult, and that those official corridors have now been effectively closed.

Ukraine’s National Resistance Center, a division of the defense ministry, said last week that the Russian military plans to enforce mobilization as soon as the “referendums” on joining the Russian Federation are approved, as is widely expected. 

The Ukrainian government says that Russian occupying administrations, together with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), are drawing up lists of thousands of people to be mobilized in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.

In Ukraine’s Luhansk region, which is almost entirely occupied by Russia and Russian-backed forces, Ukrainian officials say that the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic is already implementing widespread conscription.

“Unlike in the Russian Federation where mobilization is partial, in the so-called LPR everyone is taken,” Serhii Hayday, the Ukrainian head of the Luhansk region military administration, said on Telegram. 

“In Svatove, for example, call-up orders are handed out to every male aged 18 and over,” Hayday said. “Some individuals, such as lorry drivers, are dispatched to military units immediately, without training, because there are no reinforcements left to send to the front line.” 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said over the weekend that in occupied Crimea, which was annexed in 2014, Russia is specifically targeting ethnic Tatars, forcing them to flee the peninsula.

“Russia is trying to destroy the gene pool of the Crimean Tatars,” he said. “Males are taken from the age of 18.” 

“They’re forcing people to fight, people from the temporarily occupied territories,” Zelensky told CBS in an interview broadcast on Sunday. “A lot of people will be forced to do this.”

Crimean Tatars – who were deported en masse from the peninsula by Soviet ruler Josef Stalin in 1944 – have faced severe discrimination following Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, rights groups say.

Fedorov, the mayor of Melitopol urged people in his occupied city to leave for Crimea. He said that travel has been only sporadically possible between Russian-occupied southern Ukraine and Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia since it was annexed in 2014.

“They are now being let through, but before departure they provide all personal data, the place of residence of all relatives,” Fedorov said. “We urge our residents to leave through the temporarily occupied Crimea to Georgia or the European Union. We clearly understand that very soon a full-fledged hunt for our men will begin, in order to use them as cannon fodder.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky met with his top security and military staff on Monday and discussed plans for “further de-occupation” of Ukrainian territory.

“The participants heard information about the operational situation on the frontline,” the president’s office said in a statement.

“Decisions were made regarding the active actions of the defense forces with the aim of further de-occupation of the territory of Ukraine.”

Among those in attendance were Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Gen. Valery Zaluzhny.

Some context: Momentum swung in Kyiv’s favor earlier this month, after the Ukrainian military drove back Russian forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region and liberated huge swathes of territory.

Ukraine’s successful offensive marked an unwelcome collapse for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has since been the subject of pointed criticism by Kremlin loyalists.

Putin subsequently announced increased military conscription to boost Moscow’s invasion, a strategy that has prompted fierce backlash in parts of Russia in the form of protests.

Any territory that is formally incorporated into the Russian Federation will “benefit from full protection,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Saturday.

“The entire state territory of Russia that has already been or can additionally be formalized in the constitution of our country will certainly benefit from full protection,” Lavrov said during a press conference in New York.

“How can it be otherwise? All the laws, doctrines, concepts, and strategies of the Russian Federation are applicable throughout its territory.”

Lavrov’s comments came a day after four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine started voting in referendums on joining Russia, according to their separatist leaders – a process that continues Monday. The referendums are illegal under international law and dismissed as “a sham” by Western governments and Kyiv.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced immediate ramped-up military measures in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, adding: “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people.”

A British man released last week after being previously held by Russian-backed forces in Ukraine says he was “treated worse than a dog” by his captors.

In an interview with the UK’s Sun newspaper, Aiden Aslin described being held in a small cell with three other men, being subjected to regular beatings from his captors, and struggling to be given adequate food and water.

“We also had to sing the Russian national anthem every morning,” Aslin recalled. “And if you didn’t sing it, you would get punished for it. You could get beaten, or they would punish you some way or another.”

A court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) sentenced Aslin and two other foreign fighters to death on June 9. They were found guilty of being “mercenaries” for Ukraine by a court in the DPR, Russian state media reported at the time.

Aslin told The Sun that when he first revealed that he was a British citizen, one of his captors “beat me pretty good – probably the best I’ve ever been beaten.”

“He got down on his knees and he was smoking his cigarette,” Aslin added. “And he was like, ‘Do you know who I am?’ And I was like, ‘No.’ And he says, ‘I am your death,’ basically, in Russian.”

“He then asked me, ‘Do you want a quick death or do you want a beautiful death.’ I said, ‘A quick death.’ And he says, ‘No. You’re going to have a beautiful death. And I’m going to make sure it’s a beautiful death.’”

Russia is the only country that considers the DPR independent. The international community does not recognize the region and its institutions, and considers the territory to be part of Ukraine. Independent watchdog groups have long accused the separatists of a dismal human-rights track record and ill-treatment of prisoners.

A man opened fire at a military enlistment office Monday injuring a registration official in the Russian city of Ust-Ilimsk, in Irkutsk Region in southeastern Siberia, Irkutsk Region Governor Igor Ivanovich Kobzev said on his Telegram channel. 

“There was an emergency in the area today. In Ust-Ilimsk, a young man fired at the military registration and enlistment office. Military commissar Alexander Vladimirovich Eliseev is in intensive care, in critical condition. The doctors are fighting for his life,” Kobzev said. 

“The shooter was immediately arrested. And he will definitely be punished,” Kobzev said. “I cannot wrap my head around what happened. I am ashamed that this is happening at a time when, on the contrary, we should be united. We must fight not with each other, but against real threats.”

Kobzev said security measures will be strengthened and asked the public to remain calm. 

“I really hope that the doctors will do everything possible for Alexander Vladimirovich to survive,” he added. 

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti also reported the incident on Monday, saying it was a shooting at point-blank range and that no one beside the commissioner was injured. 

The shooter is a 25-year-old resident of Ust-Ilimsk and a criminal case has been opened against him, Russian state news agency TASS reported Monday quoting the Irkutsk Region’s Investigative Committee. 

“Investigators are currently working at the scene. The suspect is being questioned, the motives of the crime are being found out,” the press service of the regional Investigative Committee said, as quoted by TASS. 

Some background: The shooting comes days after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced an immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens in an effort to revive Moscow’s faltering invasion of Ukraine.

Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu confirmed that the country will call up 300,000 reservists as part of the mobilization— a move that has sparked protests and an exodus of military-age men.

CNN’s Simone McCarthy, Rob Picheta, Katharina Krebs, Radina Gigova and Sana Noor Haq contributed reporting.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threat of using nuclear weapons in Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine “could be a reality,” according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Maybe yesterday it was bluff. Now, it could be a reality,” Zelensky told CBS in an interview that aired on Sunday. “I don’t think he’s bluffing.”

Putin announced his military escalation during a national address on Wednesday, in an effort to strengthen Moscow’s floundering military campaign in Ukraine.

He called for increased military conscription, with Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu later confirming that the country will summon 300,000 reservists to serve in the conflict – a strategy that has already been met with backlash in the form of heated protests at home.

Addressing the potential use of nuclear weapons, Putin warned that “those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the prevailing winds can turn in their direction.”

Following Putin’s comments last week, Zelensky said Russia was trying to leverage its occupation of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine.

“He wants to scare the whole world. These are the first steps of his nuclear blackmail,” he said.

“I think the world is deterring it and containing this threat. We need to keep putting pressure on him and not allow him to continue.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky has said two more mass graves have been discovered in Izium, northeast Ukraine, following their liberation from Russian occupation earlier this month.

“Today I received more information,” Zelensky told CBS in an interview that aired on Sunday. “The journalists are on their way. They found two more mass graves, big graves with hundreds of people.”

“Also and we’re talking about a little town of Izium. Do you know? There are two more mass graves in a small town. This is what’s going on.”

Some context: On Friday, Ukrainian authorities completed the exhumation of over 400 bodies from a previously discovered mass burial site in Izium. Most of the bodies showed signs of violent death, and 30 had traces of torture, according to an official.

More than 2,350 people have been detained across Russia since President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilization, according to the independent protest monitoring group OVD-Info. 

At least 2,352 people have been detained in various cities across Russia from Sept. 21 to Sept. 25 but the number of those detained may be higher, the latest OVD-Info numbers showed Monday. 

On Sunday, at least 128 people were detained in five cities, including Makhachkala, Yakutsk, Irkutsk, Reftinsky and Kotlas, OVD-Info said. 

Some context: Makhachkala is the capital of the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan. Heated protests have broken out in some ethnic minority regions in Russia, including Dagestan, with activist groups and Ukrainian officials saying these minorities are being disproportionately targeted for conscription in the war.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - SEPTEMBER,24 (RUSSIA OUT) Police officers detain a protester during the unsanctioned rally hosted by the Vesna (Spring) Movement in protest against the military invasion on Ukraine and partial mobilization on September 24, 2022, in Moscow, Russia. More than 700 people were detained at the anti-war rallies in Russian cities on Saturday. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Related article Protests erupt in Russia's Dagestan region over Putin's mobilization orders

Russia (and before it, the Soviet Union) has built and maintained a large stockpile of tactical nuclear weapons. 

The initial thinking was that using a nuke on a battlefield gave leaders an option to make a decisive strike that could stave off defeat without resorting to the use of their biggest nuclear weapons, which after a counterattack would bring a “civilization-ending nuclear exchange,” according to the Union of Concerned Scientists.

On its website, the organization calls that thinking “flawed and dangerous.”

“Tactical nuclear weapons … introduce greater ambiguity, raising the possibility that a country might think it could get away with a limited attack,” the organization said.

Some analysis supports that theory, but the reality is likely to be far from that.

“A Princeton University simulation of a US-Russian conflict that begins with the use of a tactical nuclear weapon predicts rapid escalation that would leave more than 90 million people dead and injured,” it said.

Responding to Putin’s threat last week, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) says the Europe of 2022 is a much more dangerous place to use nuclear arms than the Japan of 1945, which had a smaller population and was relatively isolated. 

“Emergency services would not be able to respond effectively and widespread panic would trigger mass movements of people and severe economic disruption. Multiple detonations would of course be much worse,” it added.

With his forces retreating in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin has once again threatened to turn to nuclear weapons, most likely what are often called tactical nuclear weapons.

In a speech last week, he warned that, “In the event of a threat to the territorial integrity of our country and to defend Russia and our people, we will certainly make use of all weapon systems available to us. This is not a bluff.”

Russian weapon systems include 4,477 deployed and reserve nuclear warheads, with about 1,900 of these being “non-strategic” warheads, otherwise known as tactical nuclear weapons,according to the Federation of American Scientists. 

Tactical warheads refer to ones designed for use in a limited battlefield, say to destroy a column of tanks or an aircraft carrier battle group if used at sea. These warheads, with explosive yields of 10 to 100 kilotons of dynamite, are also called “low yield.”

In contrast, Russia’s most powerful “strategic” nuclear warheads have explosive yields of 500 to 800 kilotons and are designed to destroy entire cities – and then some.

The reference to “low yield” for tactical weapons is somewhat misleading as explosive yields of 10 to 100 kilotons of dynamite are still enough to cause major destruction – as the world discovered in 1945 when the US dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan. 

Those bombs were the equivalent about 15 and 21 kilotons of dynamite, respectively – within the ballpark of Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons.

And it’s because of this devastating capability that many people say there’s really no difference between a strategic and tactical weapon when used in war.

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - SEPTEMBER 20: (RUSSIA OUT) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the concert marking the 100th Anniversary of Karachay-Cherkessia, Adygea Republic and Kabardino-Balkarian Republic, at the Grand Kremlin Palace, September 20, 2022, in Moscow, Russia. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday blasted what he described as U.S. efforts to preserve its global domination, saying they are doomed to fail. (Photo by Contributor/Getty Images)

Related article Putin's tactical nuclear weapons could pack the same punch as atomic bombs dropped on Japan

Two drones launched by Russian forces into the Odesa region in Ukraine hit a military infrastructure facility, causing a fire and the detonation of ammunition, the Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South said on Monday.

“During the night, the enemy attacked the Odesa region with kamikaze drones,” the command said in a statement on Telegram. “Due to a large-scale fire and detonation of ammunition, it was decided to evacuate civilians.”

One drone was destroyed by the Ukrainian air defense forces. No casualties have been reported, and firefighting and rescue operations continue, the command added.

The attack comes after Russian forces hit the administrative building in Odesa’s city center three times on Sunday.

Japan will ban exports of chemical weapons-related goods to Russia in an additional sanction against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Monday.

Matsuno did not specify when the ban will take effect or provide the list of banned items.

“Japan is also deeply concerned about the possibility of the use of nuclear weapons in Russia’s recent invasion of Ukraine. As the only country to have ever suffered atomic bombings in war, I would like to strongly advocate that Russia should not threaten or even use nuclear weapons,” Matsuno said during a press conference on Monday.

Past actions: In August, the Japanese government held a meeting of relevant ministers and confirmed it will continue to work with the G7 and other related countries to impose sanctions against Russia and provide assistance to Ukraine.

Since March, Japan has introduced a series of sanctions against Russia, including freezing the assets of President Putin and his family members in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The Kremlin has responded by imposing its own sanctions on Japan, including the entry ban of Japanese officials including Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to the country.

That the United States should be forced to warn Russia publicly, and in more strident terms privately, not to use nuclear weapons is a mark of how dangerous the battle for Ukraine has become – and how much more risky it might get.

The war is in a critical new phase. Kyiv’s forces have won victories in the east using billions of dollars in Western-provided arms and Russian President Vladimir Putin has responded by pouring thousands more men onto the frontlines.

Facing increasing political pressure at home, isolation abroad and battlefield humiliations, the Russian leader ratcheted up his nuclear brinkmanship last week in warning that he could use all weapons systems available to him if he considered Russia’s territorial integrity under threat.

Putin’s rhetoric was a reminder that the better the war goes for Ukraine, the more the West will need to keep its nerve, especially if the Russian leader becomes more boxed in and tries to scare his foes with Russia’s best leverage – its nuclear arsenal.

Many Western observers believe Putin is bluffing and that there are strategic reasons for Moscow to stop short of this fateful step. There are no public reports that the Kremlin is readying its stock of battlefield nuclear weapons for use or that it has changed the posture of its international strategic missiles. And Putin has played the nuclear card before in the conflict in an apparent effort to frighten Western publics and to fracture support for Kyiv in the transatlantic alliance.

But at the same time, the Russian leader has gone all in on a war that he cannot afford to lose but that is going increasingly badly for Russia, as last week’s partial national mobilization showed. He is in a corner, a reality that may explain his return to nuclear scare tactics. And while Putin’s political position doesn’t seem immediately threatened, he’s facing increasing dissent at home and appears consumed by fury against the US and the West that is vehement even for him. 

Putin is led by a sense of historic mission rooted in a desire to restore respect for Russia as a great civilization. He has already shown callous indifference to human and civilian life in Ukraine. Such conditions mean clear strategic thinking and rational decisions cannot be taken for granted, especially since the ruthless Russian leader’s sense of caution deserted him with his reckless leadership of the war in Ukraine.

You can read Collinson’s full analysis here.

President Sauli Niinistö of Finland warned Sunday of a dangerous moment in the Ukraine war, with Russian President Vladimir Putin having invested so much credibility in an invasion that has turned against him.

“He has put all in,” Niinistö told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria.

“He is a fighter, so it is very difficult seeing him accepting any kind of defeat and this surely makes the situation very critical.”

Niinistö’s comments come as Finish border officials reported more than 8,500 Russians travelled into Finland by land on Saturday.

“Saturday 8,572 Russians arrived to Finland via Finnish Russian land border. Week ago Saturday 5,286 entered,” said Matti Pitkäniitty, the head of the International Affairs Unit at Finnish Border Guard, in a post on social media Sunday. 

Saturday’s number is a 62% increase compared to last Saturday’s, Pitkäniitty said.

The border crossing of Vaalimaa in south east Finland was the busiest crossing point for Russians coming into the country, Pitkäniitty said in another post Sunday.

“Sunday morning queue at 08.00 Finnish time [1 a.m. ET] approximately 500 m,” he added.

The increase in Russians entering Finland comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday significantly raised the stakes of his assault on Ukraine for ordinary Russians, with the announcement of an immediate “partial mobilization” in a bid to reinforce his faltering invasion following Ukrainian gains.

Several videos posted to social media that CNN has geo-located to Russia’s Dagestan region depict heated protests against the mobilization Sunday.

In the regional capital of Makhachkala, women are seen outside a theatre pleading with police: “Why are you taking our children? Who attacked who? It’s Russia that attacked Ukraine!”

In another video in Endirei, a police officer is seen shooting his rifle into the air in an apparent attempt to try to disperse the crowd.

People are seen in Makhachkala being violently detained while others flee the police on foot past a restaurant.

Independent Russian monitoring group OVD-Info has reported that several arrests have already been made, including that of Murad Muradov, a local journalist who was reporting on the day’s protests. 

The city’s mayor called for calm Sunday.

“I urge you not to commit illegal acts, each of which will be assessed by the law enforcement agencies for legal consequences. Do not succumb to the provocations of persons engaged in anti-state activities,” Mayor Salman Dadayev said according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Some context: The events in Dagestan come on the heels of mass anti-mobilization protests across Russia after Putin announced a partial mobilization last Wednesday. According to OVD-Info, more than 2,000 people have already been arrested across Russia since the announcement.

Addressing the media and supporters in the early hours of Monday morning, Giorgia Meloni claimed victory in a general election that seems set to install her as Italy’s first female prime minister, leading the most far-right government since the fascist era of Benito Mussolini. 

Final results are expected later Monday but preliminary results put an alliance of far-right parties, led by Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party, on track to win at least 44% of the vote, according to the Italian Interior Ministry.

With 63% of votes counted, the ultra-conservative Brothers of Italy party had won at least 26%, with coalition partners the League, led by Matteo Salvini, taking around 9% and Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia scoring over 8%. 

Why this matters: While Meloni differs from her fellow coalition partner leaders on the issue of Ukraine, both Berlusconi and Salvini have both said they would like to review sanctions against Russia because of their impact on the Italian economy.

And while Meloni has been steadfast in her support for defending Ukraine, both Salvini and Berlusconi have historically been friendly to Russian President Vladimir Putin. Salvini once wore a shirt with Putin’s face emblazoned on it and, in 2014, CNN reported on Berlusconi’s “bromance” with the authoritarian leader.

Many of Europe’s populist leaders have moved to distance themselves from Putin in the time since his invasion of Ukraine. But it remains to be seen what a more skeptical governing coalition would mean for Italy’s previously ironclad support for the embattled nation.

Russia’s “partial mobilization” for its war in Ukraine is off to a chaotic start amid protests, drafting mistakes and an exodus of citizens fleeing Russia, as the Kremlin tightens rules around evading military orders.

Some residents in Russia’s Far East Sakha Republic were conscripted “by mistake” despite not being eligible for mobilization, according to a local leader.

“All who were mobilized by mistake must be returned back. This work has already begun,” the republic’s head Aisen Nikolaev said in a Telegram post, following a meeting on the presidential decree on partial mobilization.

“Such extremes are absolutely unacceptable. And, in my opinion, the harsh reaction we are seeing in society is deserved,” Valentina Matviyenko, the speaker of Russia’s Federation Council, said in a post on Telegram.

In a direct address to Russia’s regional governors, Matviyenko said they were “fully responsible for carrying out mobilization campaigns” in “full and absolute compliance with the announced criteria.”

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, echoed Matviyenko’s calls for due diligence, adding, “If a mistake is made, it must be corrected.” 

Meanwhile, videos circulating on Russian social media appear to reveal the tensions, sadness and confusion that the draft – which began after a Wednesday announcement – has sparked, with scenes of families saying emotional goodbyes and others of recruits arguing about being called up.  

Some background: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday significantly raised the stakes of his assault on Ukraine for ordinary Russians, with the announcement of an immediate “partial mobilization” in a bid to reinforce his faltering invasion following Ukrainian gains. 

The mobilization would only affect Russians with previous military experience, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, who said 300,000 reservists would be called up. However, the decree itself gives much broader terms, sowing fears among Russians of a wider draft in the future.

Activist groups, such as Free Buryatia Foundation, have said ethnic minorities in Russia are being disproportionately mobilized. CNN has geolocated videos of some of these men being mobilized in Russia’s Far East regions

Newly drafted Russian men receive combat weapons in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, Russia, on Sept 23.

Related article Protests, drafting mistakes and an exodus: Putin's mobilization off to chaotic start | CNN

Vladimir Putin’s announcement of increased military conscription to bolster Moscow’s faltering invasion of Ukraine shows the Russian President “has been outsmarted” by Kyiv, Britain’s Prime Minister Liz Truss told CNN in an exclusive interview.

The new leader, who takes power at a time of historic upheaval, told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” that Putin had ordered an immediate military escalation “because he isn’t winning.”

“He made a strategic mistake, invading Ukraine,” Truss said in her first interview with a US network, which aired Sunday.

Truss, who faces perhaps the biggest set of challenges of any incoming British prime minister since Winston Churchill, met with US President Joe Biden on Wednesday.

In a subsequent interview at 10 Downing Street, she told CNN that Washington “is an incredibly close partner” but did not roll back controversial comments she made last year, while UK Foreign Secretary, in which she described the US-UK relationship as “special but not exclusive.”

“I do think our relationship is special and it’s increasingly important at a time when we’re facing threats from Russia, increased assertiveness from China. You know, we are both freedom-loving democracies. We have such a strong connection,” she told Tapper.

When asked how Western leaders should respond if Putin ramps up military activity in Ukraine, Truss said they “should not be listening to his saber-rattling and his bogus threats.”

“Instead, what we need to do is continue to put sanctions on Russia and continue to support the Ukrainians.”

Read more here.

White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan promised Sunday that there would be “catastrophic” consequences if Russia used a nuclear weapon in Ukraine and said the US will enact further economic sanctions against Russia if the Kremlin completes its “sham” referendums.

“If Russia crosses this line, there will be catastrophic consequences for Russia. The United States will respond decisively. Now in private channels, we have spelled out in greater detail exactly what that would mean,” Sullivan told Chuck Todd on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” 

On further consequences against Russia for the referendums in occupied Ukrainian territories, Sullivan pointed to the G7 leaders’ statement from Friday and said there will be more announcements from the US in the days ahead. 

“They reiterated that there would be consequences and specified that that would include additional enhanced sanctions, including sanctions on entities and companies outside of Russia that are supporting the Russian war machine or supporting these fake referenda or Russia’s efforts,” Sullivan said. 

In an interview on ABC “This Week”, Sullivan also said the US is planning “for every contingency.” 

“We want to lay down the principle that there will be catastrophic consequences, but not engage in a game of rhetorical tit for tat. So, the Russians understand where we are, we understand where we are, we are planning for every contingency, and we will do what is necessary to deter Russia from taking this step. And if they do, we will respond decisively,” Sullivan said. 

Asked about ongoing protests in Russia, Sullivan said the US is focused on continuing to support Ukraine: “The future of Russia is for the Russian people to decide.”

Tension was in the air as a long trail of cars lined up near the Petkuhovo checkpoint on the border between Russia and Kazakhstan late Friday night.

Andrei Alekseev, a 27-year-old engineer from the city of Yekaterinburg, was among many men in the queue who were fleeing Russia in the wake of President Vladimir Putin’s mobilization orders.

Cars had to go through Russian and Kazakh border checks, both of which lasted about two hours.

Alekseev woke up to the news of Putin’s mobilization order Wednesday morning and knew he had to flee Russia. He met up with his friends that night to discuss their next steps and decided to avoid taking any risks and to leave Russia with no plan in mind.

“At the border, all the men were asked whether they served in the army and what is their military service category,” Alekseev told CNN.

“I felt that the border guards were very understanding, however, I had friends who crossed the border to Kazakhstan at a different checkpoint and they were met with grueling questions, it took them seven hours to cross,” he told CNN.

Kirill Ponomarev, 23, who also fled Russia via a Kazakhstan border, said he struggled to book a ticket. The night before Putin’s address he was looking up tickets out of Russia.

“For some reason, I couldn’t buy a ticket, the night before while waiting for Putin’s speech. And then I fell asleep without buying a ticket, when I woke up, ticket prices jumped,” Ponomarev told CNN.

Men rushed to the borders, exchanging tips on Telegram channels and among friends. One-way flights out of Russia sold out within hours of the mobilization announcement.

Four of the five European Union countries bordering Russia have banned entry for Russians on tourist visas, while queues to cross land borders out of Russia to the former Soviet countries Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia take over 24 hours to cross.

You can read Pavlova’s full report here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed several amendments to the country’s criminal code, making wartime punishments for various offenses more severe.

Under the amendments, published Saturday on the government’s legal portal, crimes such as refusing to follow the orders of a senior officer during wartime, during an armed conflict or combat operations – or the refusal to participate in military or combat operations during such times – may result in jail terms of up to 10 years.

“The federal law also introduces criminal liability for military personnel for voluntary surrender, as well as criminal liability for looting during martial law, in wartime or in conditions of armed conflict or combat operations,” according to a statement by the Kremlin about the amendments. 

The punishment for those sentenced to imprisonment for committing especially grave crimes can now be replaced by forced labor or another milder type of punishment only after at least two-thirds of the imprisonment term has been served, the Kremlin statement said. 

The Russian President also signed a law that would punish the violation of the terms of a state contract in the field of state defense, especially if such violation caused damage to the state in the amount of at least 5% of the contract price and at least 5 million rubles (about $86,000), as well as failure to fulfill the contract. 

Exemption from punishment is possible “if violations are voluntarily eliminated,” the Kremlin statement says.

Some context: In the wake of Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive this month, Putin and Russian authorities have taken a series of steps to bolster the country’s faltering military and clamp down on dissent at home.

Some 300,000 reservists have been called into military service in what Putin terms a “partial mobilization.”

More than 2,000 anti-war protesters have been detained in cities across Russia since the announcement, with some directly conscripted into the military, according to a monitoring group. The punishment in Russia for refusing the draft is now 15 years in jail.