October 18, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi “expressed deep concern” Tuesday about the recent detentions of two Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant staff members.

“This is another concerning development that I sincerely hope will be resolved swiftly,” Grossi said in a statement. 

The Ukrainian state energy company Energoatom claimed in a Telegram post on Monday that two workers at the Russian-occupied nuclear power plant were “kidnapped” and had pleaded for Grossi to intervene. 

The IAEA statement on Tuesday confirmed the detentions, but did not name the staff, stating: “Director General Grossi expressed deep concern about the recent detentions of two other ZNPP staff members, which have been confirmed by the IAEA.”

Separately, the statement welcomed the release of a ZNPP Deputy Director General, Valeriy Martynyuk, who was detained early last week.

The nuclear plant, which sits in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, is the largest in Europe. It has been held by Russian forces for more than seven months but is operated by its Ukrainian staff. 

The United States, France and the United Kingdom plan to discuss Iran’s drone transfers to Russia at a closed UN Security Council meeting Wednesday, a US official told CNN.

The meeting comes as Russia has launched Iranian-made drones against Ukrainian cities and infrastructure, killing several people. 

The three countries have said that the transfer of Iranian-made drones is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which restricts certain arms transfers to or from Iran. It is unclear whether they will raise this specific point in the meeting tomorrow or move to snap back sanctions on Iran for the arms transfers. 

“I think you probably saw earlier today, our French and British allies publicly offered the assessment that Iran’s supply of these UAVs to Russia is a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 2231, and this is something that we agree with,” State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Monday.

UNSCR 2231 was tied to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and elements of that resolution, including a ban on the transfer of conventional weapons, were phased out in 2020. The Trump administration attempted to unilaterally snap back the arms embargo in September 2021 and the Biden administration told the UN Security Council it was reversing those efforts in February 2021.

Patel noted that UNSCR 2231 prohibits the transfer from Iran of all items, materials, equipment and goods and technology unless approved in advance by the UN Security Council on a case-by-case basis.

He also said the range of the drones being greater than 300km put them in violation of the resolution.

Russia struck more infrastructure targets in Ukraine on Tuesday and at least three cities, including Kyiv, are experiencing power interruptions, according to officials.

Since Oct. 10, nearly a third of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, President Volodymyr Zelensky said as he urged people to conserve their energy use.

Here’s what else to know:

Iran has sent military personnel to Crimea to train and advise the Russian military on the use of Iranian-built drones, according to two sources familiar with US intelligence. Moscow has used these drones to devastating effect in its war in Ukraine, the sources say.

Russia has launched many of what is believed to be a store of hundreds of Iranian-made drones from Crimea in a fusillade that has targeted Ukrainian cities and energy infrastructure in increasing numbers in recent weeks. The drones have been seen as a signal of growing closeness between Tehran and Moscow. 

CNN has reached out to the Iranian mission at the United Nations. 

Earlier on Tuesday, a spokesperson for Iran’s foreign ministry said reports that Tehran was sending weapons, including military drones, to Russia for the war in Ukraine were “untrue.”

However, State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Tuesday that the deepening of relations between Moscow and Tehran should be seen as “a profound threat.”

It was not immediately clear how many trainers traveled to Crimea – which was annexed by Russia in 2014 – and whether they remain present. One source briefed on US intelligence said “dozens” of Iranian personnel had been sent. 

US officials have said that when Russia first began testing and deploying the drones in Ukraine in August, many of them experienced numerous failures. Russian operatives had been training on the systems inside Iran, but Iranian personnel began traveling to Crimea in recent weeks to help Russia operate the systems and try to fix their problems.

Tehran has provided two types of drones: Shaheds, which explode on impact and have a range of upwards of 1,000 miles, and the Mohajer-6, which can both carry missiles and be used for surveillance. 

The Daily Mirror first reported the trainers’ presence in Ukraine.

The lawyers for WNBA player Brittney Griner have told CNN that the athlete’s birthday is a “difficult” occasion for her as she awaits her appeal hearing next week.  

Griner, who turned 32 years old on Tuesday, spent the day “away from her family, from friends, from teammates” in her prison cell in Moscow’s suburbs, according to her lawyer Maria Blagovolina who spoke to CNN’s Matthew Chance on Tuesday.  

Blagovolina and her colleague Alexander Boykov spoke of how they spent a few hours with Griner as part of an effort to “cheer her up as much” as they could, relaying birthday messages from “all over the world.”  

Boykov said Griner is not doing any “better” or “worse” than her fellow inmates, adding that her “likable character” has helped with personnel in the prison. Blagovolina said the athlete is attempting to “do some exercises” every day despite the “limited” facilities available to her.  

Her lawyers told CNN as Griner’s Oct. 25 appeal hearing draws closer, the athlete is feeling anxious and is “very much concerned with the outcome of the appeal.”

“Brittney can’t help thinking that if this [prisoner] swap doesn’t happen, she will have to spend the whole period of the sentence in Russia. So that’s why she is very much concerned with the outcome of the appeal,” Boykov said.  

Griner’s anxiety ahead of the upcoming hearing stem from the fact the “legal process will be basically over after the appeal,” Boykov added, highlighting her concern that “if anything goes wrong, she will have to serve [her jail time] here in Russia.” 

Both lawyers reiterated the extreme nature of Griner’s nine-year sentence, with Blagovolina calling it “very severe for this type of crime and this amount of this substance,” expressing her strong hope that the “turnover sentence will be reduced.”  

When asked how much information the Russian legal team has about the negotiations between Russia and the US to secure her release, Blagovolina said: “We are in Russia….I would say we have very limited information about what is going on about the status of negotiations. What I can say is that as her lawyers we are doing as much as we can. So, we hope that the government does the same.” 

She added that Griner is “informed” about what’s going on and “really” appreciated the fact that President Joe Biden met with her wife Cherelle in September.  

“So, she knows what’s being done for her,” Blagovolina added. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday that Russia’s attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure meant that “very conscious consumption of electricity” was still required, especially during peak usage hours.

“Wherever possible, we are trying to speed up the restoration work,” he said.

He said the fact that Russia was “crawling to Tehran” for support with weaponry was a sign of weakness.

“We must remember that the very fact that Russia is asking Iran for such assistance is the Kremlin’s recognition of its military and political bankruptcy,” he said.

“Strategically, this will not help them in any way. It only further proves to the world that Russia is on the trajectory of its loss and is trying to involve someone else in its accomplices in terror,” the Ukrainian president said.

More background: Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday, citing two Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats, that Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, and additional drones. The pledges were made when several Iranian officials visited Moscow in October, Reuters said.

Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied claims that the country is sending weapons for Russia to use in Ukraine.

Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said he has seen the reports but does not have “have any information to corroborate at this time.”

US consular officers spoke by phone with detained Americans Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan on Tuesday, according to the State Department.

“A consular officer had the opportunity today to speak with Brittney briefly on the phone,” principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at a State Department briefing. “A consular officer also had the opportunity to briefly speak with Paul Whelan.”

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said last week that the US Embassy has not had consular access to Griner since early August. 

Fighting for their release: The Biden administration has had communications with Russia as part of ongoing efforts to secure the release of Griner and Whelan “as recently as within past days” a senior administration official told CNN.

The US first put an offer for a prisoner swap on the table with Russia back in June — the details of which CNN exclusively reported -— and “conversations have not been static since then,” the official said.

Despite the “pretty persistent” pace of discussions between the US and Russia to secure the Americans’ release, the official said that the Biden administration has yet to receive a serious counteroffer from the Russian side.   

Tuesday was Griner’s 32nd birthday and she expressed gratitude for the support she has received, according to a statement shared by Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm.

“Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home. All the support and love are definitely helping me,” Griner said in her message, according to the statement.

The new commander of Russia’s so-called Special Military Operation in Ukraine said on Tuesday that his country’s goal was a Ukraine that was “friendly” to Russia and independent of the West.

“Russians and Ukrainians are one people,” General Sergey Surovikin said on state television. “We just want one thing, for Ukraine to be independent of the West and NATO and be friendly to the Russian state.” 

Surovikin took up his post commanding Ukraine operations just over a week ago, following an appointment approved by the Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

“We do not strive for high rates of advance,” he said on Tuesday. “We protect each soldier and methodically ‘grind’ the advancing enemy.”

He described the state of Russia’s campaign in Ukraine as “tense.”

“The enemy does not abandon attempts to attack the positions of Russian troops,” he said.

The Russian-backed leader in Ukraine’s Kherson region announced Tuesday that there would be a further “organized relocation” of civilians away from front-line settlements.

“I took the difficult but correct decision to announce the organized relocation of the civilian population of Beryslav, Bilozerka, Snihurivka and Oleksandrivka communities to the left bank of the Dnipro river,” Vladimir Saldo said on Telegram, referring to the eastern bank of the river.

“This decision was prompted by the creation of large-scale defensive fortifications so that any attack could be repelled. There is no place for civilians where the military operate. Let the Russian army do its job,” he said.

Saldo said that any civilians who decided to move on “to the regions of Russia” would be given assistance with housing.

Some background: The newly appointed commander of Russia’s Special Military Operation in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin, on Tuesday called the situation in the Kherson region “very difficult.”

“The Russian army will ensure the safe evacuation of the population,” Surovikin said.

Ukraine has made significant advances toward Kherson in recent weeks, along the western (or right) bank of the Dnipro river. The head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency said that he hoped to recapture the city by the end of the year.

The Ukrainian military said Monday that Russian forces were busy building fortifications in the Kherson region and that they were moving civilians to Crimea.

The deputy Ukrainian head of the Kherson region characterized Russia’s “evacuations” as “semi-voluntary deportation of the Ukrainian population.”

Iranian officials are denying reports which claim that the country is sending weapons, including military drones, to Russia for the war in Ukraine, calling it “untrue.”

Iran “has always opposed the continuation of the [Ukraine] war,” said Nasser Kanaani, the spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, adding that Iran is prepared to negotiate with Ukraine to resolve these accusations, according to a foreign ministry statement.

Reuters reported earlier on Tuesday, citing two Iranian officials and two Iranian diplomats, that Iran has promised to provide Russia with surface-to-surface missiles, and additional drones. The pledges were made when several Iranian officials visited Moscow in October, Reuters said.

“The Russians had asked for more drones and those Iranian ballistic missiles with improved accuracy, particularly the Fateh and Zolfaghar missiles family,” one of the Iranian diplomats, who was briefed about the trip, told Reuters. 

Pentagon spokesperson Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said he has seen the reports but does not have “have any information to corroborate at this time.”

CNN has reached out to the Iranian Foreign Ministry for comment. 

Ukraine has, in recent weeks, reported a number of Russian attacks with Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones.  

Iran has denied it is supplying weapons to Russia several times this month.

The head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency predicts “significant victories” for Kyiv by the end of the year and said “it should be over” by next summer.

“Russia’s loss is inevitable. It cannot be stopped, and it will lead to its destruction,” Maj. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov said on Tuesday. “We will make significant progress by the end of the year. These will be significant victories. You will see it soon.”

He said that he hoped the victories would include the southern Russian-occupied city of Kherson, where Ukraine has made significant progress in recent weeks.

In remarks distributed by his agency, Budanov said: “At the end of spring it should be over. By the summer everything should be over.”

He said that Ukraine intended to return to its 1991 borders. That would mean recapturing Crimea and the areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions occupied since 2014.

Budanov also said that he does not believe Russia will use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

“Theoretically, they can, but it will only accelerate the disintegration of the Russian Federation, and they know and understand this very well. They are not as stupid as we would like them to be,” he said.

Budanov said he believes that those in the Kremlin had now coalesced on a central goal for the war in Ukraine: “Not to lose.”

“Some of them are notional ‘doves,’ others are notional ‘hawks,’” he said. “Both these towers understand that things are very bad, they just have slightly different opinions on how to get out of this situation.”

He added, “Some understand clearly that they should stop and look for some kind of peaceful resolution, others believe that Russia will cease to exist if they do not continue, if they are defeated, so to speak.”

“It is no longer a question of winning — it’s now ‘not to lose,’” he said of his assessment of Kremlin thinking.

With a Ukrainian victory, he said, a “very serious political process will begin, connected with changes in the current Russian Federation.”

The Biden administration has had communications with Russia as part of ongoing efforts to secure the release of Brittney Griner and Paul Whelan “as recently as within past days” a senior administration official said, speaking to CNN on Griner’s birthday, which she will be spending in Russian jail.

The United States first put an offer for a prisoner swap on the table with Russia back in June — the details of which CNN exclusively reported — and “conversations have not been static since then” the official said.

Despite the “pretty persistent” pace of discussions between the US and Russia to secure the Americans’ release, the official said the Biden administration has yet to receive a serious counteroffer from the Russian side.  

“We have worked hard to try to demonstrate the sorts of things that could well be the basis for resolving this and each time we have articulated that it’s been met not with a serious counteroffer,” the official said.  

They said the Russians have countered with “something not in our control, not in our ability to deliver,” but did not go into further specifics. 

“They’re not non-responsive. I would say that they continue to respond with something that they know not to be feasible or available,” the official said of the Russian response.

The official said the US has used multiple channels for discussions with the Russians and conversations have taken place both in-person, by phone, and “through other forms.” The US has dangled multiple ideas for “things that could be in play” to urge a serious response from the Russians.

With Griner spending her 32nd birthday in Russian prison the official said that “every day is too long” for her to remain wrongfully detained by Russia. 

“I wish you weren’t spending this birthday in Russian detention. I wish you weren’t spending the past weeks and months there,” the official said, speaking to Griner. “As far as we’re concerned, each day is too long and we will keep working this until we resolve it and get her home. Regrettably, the other side gets a vote in this. They’re the ones who created this horrific situation. They’re the ones we regrettably need to deal with to resolve it.”

Next week, Griner will appeal her nine-year prison sentence in Russian court. It is unclear if the passage of that court date will bolster ongoing efforts to get her home.

“To the extent that that different phases of that decidedly imperfect system pass and open the possibility on the other side of real negotiations, we would welcome that. But the most candid answer is, we don’t know,” the official said.

President Joe Biden said last week that he would consider meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 in November if he wanted to discuss Griner. When asked if there has been discussion between the US and Russia about that possible meeting on Griner the official said they would let Biden’s remarks “speak for themselves.”

The UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine underlined on Tuesday “the utter devastation” in areas impacted by the war and the ever-changing dimensions of the humanitarian crisis there. 

The official also highlighted her deep concerns about the upcoming onset of winter.

“This is about utter devastation. Loss of life and total loss of livelihoods in areas directly impacted by the war,” Denise Brown said. “Of this I am absolutely convinced: a high risk of mortality during the winter months with families and communities who have been left with absolutely nothing.”

The humanitarian situation in Ukraine is also influenced by several different factors, she said, one being changing frontlines.

“As the frontline moves, we have to adapt,” Brown said. But she added, “we are not soldiers” and the “humanitarian community is not a military force.”  

She said the second factor was the upcoming onset of winter, where the UN was addressing “very basic stuff” in order to offer to those in need a “safe, dignified and warm place to be over the winter months.” 

This includes things like winter clothes, blankets, and mattresses, Brown said. But, she underlined, the damage to the power and thermal stations is not something the humanitarian community would be able to address, which she called a matter that should be of great concern to member states.  

Brown said trauma from the war is also contributing to the humanitarian situation and Ukrainians will need some kind of support in the future, “that will be the next fight,” she said, adding whether they were “demobilized soldiers, children who hear air sirens every day, or people just going about their business.”  

The United States tracked and intercepted two Russian Tu-95 Bear-H bomber aircraft flying near the Alaskan coast on Oct. 17, a release from the Alaskan North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said.

The Russian aircraft were “entering and operating within the Alaskan Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ),” the release said, and “remained in international airspace and did not enter American or Canadian sovereign airspace.”

The “recent Russian activity” in the ADIZ “is not seen as a threat nor is the activity seen as provocative,” NORAD said in the release. 

Some more context: The ADIZ is international airspace adjacent to Alaska that extends in places more than 100 miles (more than 160 kilometers) from US territory. The US military initiates identification procedures for aircraft in the ADIZ in the interest of national security. NORAD is the part of the US military that oversees the US military presence in North America.

Two Russian maritime patrol aircraft were identified operating within the ADIZ by NORAD on Sept. 11, a previous release from NORAD said. NORAD detected Russian military aircraft flying into the ADIZ three times in the same week in August, CNN previously reported. The three incidents occurred sometime between Aug. 8 and Aug. 10, NORAD said at the time.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Tuesday that there is “no point” in maintaining the country’s current level of diplomatic presence in the West, according to the country’s state media RIA Novosti.

“It makes no sense, and we have no desire to maintain the same presence in Western countries. Our people work in conditions that can hardly be called human. They face constant problems, threats of physical attacks,” Lavrov was quoted as saying by the state media during a meeting with university graduates accepted into the diplomatic service.

“The main thing is that there is no work there since Europe decided to close itself from us and stop any economic cooperation. You can’t be forced to be nice,” he added.

Lavrov said that the Russian foreign ministry is currently carrying out a “geographical reorientation” of its activities both abroad and in the central office, suggesting a potential downgrade of Russia’s diplomatic presence in the West.

ExxonMobil says it has “safely exited” its Russian oil business, accusing the government in Moscow of the “expropriation” of its share in a huge oilfield.

The US oil giant said the Russian government had “unilaterally terminated” its interest in the Sakhalin-1 oil and gas field in the far east of Russia.

“We made every effort to engage with the Russian government and other stakeholders. With two decrees, the Russian government has unilaterally terminated our interests in Sakhalin-1 and the project has been transferred to a Russian operator,” an ExxonMobil spokesperson added.

In March 2022, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, ExxonMobil said it was beginning the process of exiting the Sakhalin-1 Russian joint venture. In April it announced it would take a $3.4 billion charge in its second quarter results, related to its Russian operations.

Other big Western companies have also struggled with exiting Russia. In May, Shell announced the sale of its Russian lubricant and retail energy business, but said it was still in the process of phasing out its other Russian businesses.

In February, BP said it would exit its 19.75% stake in Rosneft but said that sanctions and Russian rules meant that it had not been able to sell its Rosneft shares yet. In September, Norwegian energy company Equinor confirmed it had fully completed its withdrawal from Russia, saying it has “no remaining assets or projects in Russia”. Equinor announced plans in May to pull out of four joint ventures with Russian oil firm Rosneft and leave an oilfield, the Kharyaga project.

The head of Germany’s cybersecurity agency has been fired over alleged connections with Russia.  

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser sacked Arne Schönbohm, the head of the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI), with immediate effect from his duties, a spokesperson for the ministry told CNN on Tuesday.  

“There was no longer any confidence in Schönbohm’s leadership,” the spokesperson told CNN.

His firing comes after recent media reports alleging he had links with people involved with Russian intelligence services. 

In the wake of the “current crisis situation regarding Russian hybrid warfare,” the allegations “have permanently damaged the necessary public trust in the neutrality and impartiality of Schönbohm’s conduct of office as president of Germany’s most important cybersecurity authority,” the spokesman said in a statement.  

The accusations “also affected the (interior) minister’s indispensable relationship of trust in the conduct of her office,” the spokesperson added. 

“All known allegations will be thoroughly and vigorously investigated and subjected to a detailed evaluation. Until this investigation has been completed, Mr. Schönbohm is, of course, presumed innocent,” the spokesperson concluded. 

Schönbohm was the head of the BSI since February 2016.  

CNN has reached out to the agency for comment. 

Schönbohm hasn’t publicly commented since the allegations of his Russian ties surfaced.  

More on this: According to reports in German media, he was connected to Russia through his role in the Cyber Security Council of Germany. In 2012, Schönbohm co-founded the organization, which describes itself as politically neutral and advises the private and public sectors on cybersecurity issues. Among its members is a German company that is a subsidiary of a Russian cybersecurity firm founded by a former member of the KGB. 

While declining to comment on Schönbohm, the Cyber Security Council’s spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday that the company had “repeatedly warned that Russian actors could exploit weaknesses in German cyber defenses.” 

“Our focus in the future will continue to be on strengthening the national security architecture as best we can. This explicitly includes possible further threats from Russia,” the spokesperson added.

Aerican basketball star Brittney Griner has released a message on her 32nd birthday from a Russian jail, according to a statement shared by Maria Blagovolina, a partner at Rybalkin, Gortsunyan, Dyakin and Partners law firm. 

“Thank you everyone for fighting so hard to get me home. All the support and love are definitely helping me,” Griner said in her message Tuesday, according to the statement. 

Griner’s attorneys, Blagovolina and Alexander Boykov, spent a few hours with Griner on Tuesday and relayed numerous birthday wishes to her, the statement said. 

“Today is of course a difficult day for Brittney. Not only this is her birthday in jail away from her family, teammates and friends, but she is very stressed in anticipation of the appeal hearing on 25 October,” the statement added. 

Uraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency believes that Russia’s supply of several missile types is critically low.

“The Russian defense industry cannot produce enough new missiles, and the ones they went to war with on February 24 are already running out,” Brig. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, the head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency, said in remarks distributed by the Agency.

“For many items this figure has already fallen below the critical level. I mean the level of 30%,” he added.

Budanov alleged that Russia’s supply of “Iskander” cruise missiles, for example, had fallen to 13% of normal levels.

More on Russia’s military supplies: Estimating Russian missile inventories is guesswork. In May, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched 2,154 missiles and probably used up 60% of its precision-missile arsenal. That now looks like wishful thinking. 

The Pentagon’s view in May was that of its weapons stocks, Russia was “running the lowest on cruise missiles, particularly air-launched cruise missiles,” but that Moscow still had more than 50% of its pre-war inventory.

Budanov said that Russia has been “forced to look for some options to overcome the shortage of missiles. They came to the point that they began to use Iranian unmanned aerial vehicles.”

He said that Russia was “gradually exhausting” its supply of Iranian drones and that Russia continues to order more, Iran’s manufacturing “is not an instant process.”

A senior US military official said on Friday that Russian forces had used an “extensive” number of precision-guided missiles throughout the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

“I think the fact that they’re now going to the Iranians to use drones speaks to their concern associated with precision munitions, so every one of them fired is probably a very careful consideration for the Russians,” the official said.

CNN’s Tim Lister and Ellie Kaufman contributed reported to this post.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry on Tuesday called on Israel to “openly stand with Ukraine” and provide support “in the air defense sphere.”

“We [have been] working hard for a long time in order to ask Israel to get open to cooperation with Ukraine in the air defense sphere,” Dmytro Kuleba told reporters. “If Israel’s policy is to counteract Iran’s destructive actions, then it is time for Israel to openly stand with Ukraine.”

“Only the decisive support for Ukraine from our partners will definitely lead to Ukraine’s victory and stop the evil country, which is the Russian Federation, and everybody who helps that country,” he said. “Now Iran helps the Russian Federation for real with certain weapons. Today, without any exaggeration, the same drones that destroy Ukraine are aimed at Israel. I think [that’s] enough said. This should be a starting point for developing Israel’s policy.”

Israel has officially condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and has sent aid to Kyiv, but it hasn’t yet provided the country with weapons.

Nachman Shai, Israel’s minister of diaspora affairs – whose agenda does not include military policy – tweeted on Sunday: “There is no longer any doubt where Israel should stand in this bloody conflict. The time has come for Ukraine to receive military aid as well, just as the USA and NATO countries provide.”

At least 14 people have died following the crash of a Russian fighter jet into a residential building in the southern Russian city of Yeysk, a local official said Tuesday.

“The tragedy claimed the lives of 14 people. I offer my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the victims,” the governor of the Krasnodar Krai region, Veniamin Kondratiev, said in a statement on his Telegram channel on Tuesday.

Kondratiev added that the body of the 14th deceased person was found by rescuers while clearing the rubble.

Estonia’s parliament, also known as the Riigikogu, on Tuesday designated Russia a “terrorist regime” and a “state supporting terrorism” over its war in Ukraine.

“Supporting the call of the Parliament of Ukraine to countries and international organisations, the Riigikogu declares the Russian regime a terrorist regime and the Russian Federation a state supporting terrorism, whose actions must be confronted together,” the president of Estonia’s parliament said in a statement. “The Riigikogu calls on the international community to adopt similar declarations.”

It also said that it considers Russia’s Wagner mercenaries, as well as the armed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, to be terrorist organizations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s nuclear threats, it said, had “turned Russia into the biggest danger to peace both in Europe and in the whole world.” It also condemned Russia’s war and its “illegal annexation of territories.”

It said that Russia should be stripped of its permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council.

“The Riigikogu calls on the European Union and NATO Member States to decisively increase military aid to Ukraine. This is needed to stand against the aggression of the Russian Federation and to restore the sovereignty of Ukraine on its territory within its internationally recognised borders,” it added.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday that the investigation into the Nord Stream pipeline incident will “shift the blame on Russia.”

“We are unable to conduct our own investigation,” Peskov said during a daily call with journalists.

“The investigation will be adjusted to shift the blame on Russia. This is absurd,” he added.

Danish police said earlier Tuesday that the preliminary investigation shows damage to Nord Stream pipelines was caused by “powerful explosions.”

Last month, four leaks were discovered in the Nord Stream pipelines, near the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea. 

Western leaders said the leaks were the result of sabotage. Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that “Anglo-Saxons” were to blame for the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines.

British Minister of Defense Ben Wallace is in Washington, DC, to meet with his Pentagon counterpart US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and senior White House officials on Tuesday, according to a British Ministry of Defense source and multiple US officials.

His conversations will focus on shared security concerns — including Ukraine, the source said. 

Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley will join the Austin-Wallace meeting, a defense official said. Wallace will also be meeting with White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan, a senior administration official separately confirmed.

Wallace was due to take questions from the House of Commons Defense Select Committee in Parliament Tuesday. 

The number of people killed in a Russian attack on Kyiv Tuesday morning now stands at three, according to the mayor of the Ukrainian capital.

“Three people were killed in today’s attack on critical infrastructure in Kyiv,” Mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. “They are employees of one of the critical infrastructure facilities.”

Klitschko said that two objects were “heavily damaged.”

Kyiv residents have been asked to save electricity and water after two critical infrastructure facilities were struck on Tuesday, Klitschko said earlier in the day.

Ukrainian police said they have exhumed the bodies of five children in the formerly Russian-occupied town of Lyman in eastern Donetsk region on Tuesday. 

Four of the kids were buried in a mass grave at a cemetery and another was exhumed from a makeshift grave dug by his mother in their yard, according to the police.

“Investigators found four children in a mass burial at the cemetery. A mother has buried a boy in her own yard. It was preliminarily established that all of them died from shrapnel wounds as a result of Russian shelling,” the National Police of Ukraine said in a statement posted to Telegram.

Preliminary results indicated all five died from shrapnel wounds as a result of Russian shelling, police added.  

“Police officers retrieved girls born in 2021, 2019, and 2008, and boys born in 2011 and 2012 from spontaneous graves. The two youngest girls were sisters,” the statement said.

The children will be reburied after forensic examination, according to the police.

Investigations are ongoing in Lyman, which was liberated by Ukraine on Oct 2.

“Investigative actions have been ongoing for two weeks in Lyman — at the site of the largest mass burial in the de-occupied part of Donetsk region. Investigative teams work continuously, searching for and interviewing relatives, establishing the history of all the dead,” the statement said.

Ukrainian authorities said Monday that they are exhuming up to 15 bodies a day in formerly occupied areas of Donetsk.

Russian Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Russian Armed Forces continued high-precision strikes on targets in Ukraine. 

“During the day, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation continued to strike with long-range high-precision air and sea-based weapons on military command and energy systems of Ukraine, as well as arsenals with foreign-made ammunition and weapons, all designated targets were hit,” Lieutenant-Colonel Igor Konashenkov said during a daily briefing on Tuesday. 

The Russian Defense Ministry also said it targeted a Ukrainian space communication center near Odessa.

As Ukraine’s energy infrastructure came under renewed attacks on Tuesday, residents in parts of the capital have been urged to save electricity and water. Since October 10, nearly a third of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Tuesday.

Here are the latest developments:

Two people have been killed and one injured in Russia’s attacks on Kyiv on Tuesday, according to the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office. 

“According to preliminary data, two people were killed and one was injured,” the prosecutor general’s office said in a statement.

“According to the investigation, on October 18, 2022, the armed forces of the Russian Federation, using means of warfare prohibited by international law, launched a missile attack on an energy supply facility on the left bank of the capital,” the statement added.

A separate series of drone attacks launched by Moscow on Monday killed at least five people in the Ukrainian capital city, including a pregnant woman and an elderly woman, according to local authorities.

The Kremlin said it has not set an end date for President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization order, despite as many as 40 regions having fulfilled their military draft quota as of Tuesday.

The Russian Ministry of Defense sets the quota for each region which needs to be completed, according to Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

However, the fulfilment of the quota in these regions does not mean that mobilization is over. It can only end with a presidential decree.

“There have been no such decisions on the end of mobilization,” Peskov said when asked about it, adding that “there can be no question” on surpassing the targeted figure of 300,000 soldiers “under current decree.”

On Monday, Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin announced the fulfilment of the quota in the Russian capital.

But Russian human rights group Agora said that Sobyanin’s statement does not mean partial mobilization is over.

“As long as the partial mobilization is not completed by the official who announced it, its legality is preserved. That is, you need to wait for the presidential decree,” Russian human rights lawyer Pavel Chikov said on Telegram.

Putin has defended his partial mobilization of Russians that began in September, telling reporters on Friday that it is expected to end in two weeks. Some 222,000 troops out of the planned 300,000 Russians have been drafted so far, he added.

Residents in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv have been asked to preserve electricity and water after two critical infrastructure facilities were hit on Tuesday.

“In Kyiv, as a result of rocket attacks by Russian barbarians, two critical infrastructure facilities were damaged. Emergency and rescue services are working on the ground,” the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said on Telegram.  

“Currently, the provision of electricity and water supply services is partially limited in many houses on the left bank of the capital… I appeal to all Kyiv residents to save electricity as much as possible.”

“For residents who have low pressure in the water supply network – save water as much as possible now.”

Work was underway to “stabilize the situation,” Klitschko added.

There were at least three attacks on an energy facility located on the left bank in Kyiv on Tuesday morning, the deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, confirmed earlier.

As many as three Ukrainian cities are experiencing power outages Tuesday as a result of Russian attacks overnight. 

Thirty percent of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed since October 10, according to the country’s president Volodymyr Zelensky.

“Another kind of Russian terrorist attacks: targeting energy & critical infrastructure. Since Oct 10, 30% of Ukraine’s power stations have been destroyed, causing massive blackouts across the country. No space left for negotiations with Putin’s regime,” Zelensky tweeted Tuesday.

Zelensky’s announcement comes in the wake of Russia’s recent strikes on critical energy infrastructure in Ukraine.

Areas in at least three Ukrainian cities have been hit with power outages following Russia’s attacks on key infrastructure Tuesday, according to local authorities.

The number of people killed by Russia’s fatal attacks on the Ukrainian capital on Monday has risen to five, according to the city’s mayor. 

“The body of another dead resident — an elderly woman — was recovered from under the rubble of the building in the city center, which was hit by a Russian kamikaze drone yesterday morning,” Vitali Klitschko said on Telegram. 

“This is the fifth victim of Russia’s barbaric attack on the capital on October 17,” he said. 

A pregnant woman and her husband were also among the five people killed in Kyiv after Moscow launched a spate of deadly “kamikaze” drone attacks on Monday.

Search and rescue operations are ongoing.

Areas in at least three Ukrainian cities, including the capital Kyiv, are experiencing power interruptions as a result of Russia’s strikes on critical infrastructure on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.

The local energy company in Kyiv, DTEK, said in a statement on Facebook that a residential neighborhood in the city is experiencing power cuts and water outages.

“Russian shelling has damaged a critical infrastructure facility in the Desnyansky district, causing interruptions in the electricity supply to the residents of the Troyeshchyna residential district and the water channel that supplies water to the Left Bank of the capital,” the company said.

In Dnipropetrovsk region, at least three areas, including parts of Dnipro city, experienced electrical outages and a water pumping facility lost power after Russia launched two missiles at an energy facility, causing “fire and severe destruction,” according to local authorities.

A CNN team in Dnipro saw from a distance the aftermath of a hit on a power plant in Dnipro and smoke rising from the facility.

Further west, the mayor of Zhytomyr said in a statement earlier that the city was experiencing power and water cuts, with hospitals running on back up energy.

Preliminary investigations have confirmed that explosions were the cause of damage to two major gas pipelines between Russia and Europe last month, according to a statement Tuesday by Danish authorities.

“The investigations have confirmed that there has been extensive damage to Nord Stream 1 and 2 in Denmark’s exclusive economic zone and that the damage was caused by powerful explosions,” said the statement from Copenhagen Police and the Danish Security and Intelligence Service.

A joint investigation team has been created “to further investigate the incidents,” it added.

Some context: Western nations have said leaks discovered last month in the two Russian gas pipelines were likely the result of sabotage.

Investigations by European authorities have determined powerful underwater explosions had occurred just before the pipelines burst in several places.

The pipelines were created to funnel gas from Russia into the European Union, and were controversial long before Russia waged war on Ukraine, largely because of fears around European reliance on Russian energy.

Read more about the leaks here.

Russia’s use of Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones to attack Ukraine shows its army lacks equipment and personnel, according to Ret. Lt. Gen. Mark Hertling, a former Commanding General for the US Army in Europe.

On Monday, Russia deployed Iranian-manufactured Shahed-136 drones to attack Kyiv, killing four people including a pregnant woman and her partner, according to Ukrainian officials.

“Mr. Putin’s army is hollow right now,” Hertling told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “They didn’t come into this hollow, but they’re hollow now, both from equipment and increasingly from a personnel standpoint. So much so that they have to go to other nations, Iran for the Shahed-136 drones and now missiles to replace a system that has just been depleted.” 

Iran has denied supplying weapons to Russia, but evidence points to the contrary.

According to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, Russia has previously ordered 2,400 of the Shahed-136 drones from Iran. The drones are capable of carrying precision-guided missiles and have a payload of approximately 50 kilograms (110 pounds).

“The thing is, that is critically important, is the majority of missiles, rockets more than likely, that Russia will get from Iran will be unguided, they will continue to be terror weapons like Mr. Putin has already used against Ukrainian citizens,” Hertling said.

Two strikes on an energy facility in Zhytomyr, located west of Ukraine’s capital, are causing power and water outages, according to Ukrainian officials. 

“Preliminarily, two hits at the power supply facility. The State Emergency Service is working,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the President’s Office said in a post on Telegram. 

The mayor of Zhytomyr, Serhii Sukhomlyn, said the city is experiencing power outages.

Hospitals are working on backup power supply, he added. 

Power facilities in Kyiv and Dnipro were also hit by Russian strikes Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.

Two Ukrainian workers at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were “kidnapped” Monday, Ukrainian state energy company Energoatom claimed in a Telegram post. 

“Yesterday, Russian nuclear terrorists detained Oleh Kostyukov, the head of information technology service at the Zaporizhzhia NPP, and Oleh Osheka, assistant of the general director of the plant, and took them to an unknown destination. Currently, nothing is known about their whereabouts and condition,” Energoatom said Tuesday. 
“We appeal to the Director General of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, and the entire world to make every effort and take all possible measures to free the ZNPP workers from the captivity of Russian terrorists and facilitate their return to duty.”

CNN cannot independently confirm Energoatom’s claims. 

Last week, Energoatom also accused Russian forces of kidnapping Valeriy Martyniuk, a deputy director general at the nuclear plant. 

The plant, which sits in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, is the largest in Europe. It has been held by Russian forces for more than seven months but is operated by its Ukrainian staff.

An energy facility in Ukraine’s capital Kyiv was hit by at least three Russian strikes on Tuesday morning, according to a senior official

“Preliminary three strikes on an energy facility on the Left bank of the city,” Deputy head of the President’s Office of Ukraine Kyrylo Tymoshenko said in a post on Telegram. 

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitchko said: “Explosions again in Kyiv this morning. It’s Desnyanskyi district. Critical infrastructure facility. All services are headed to the scene.”

The strikes come a day after at least four people were killed when Russia attacked Kyiv with Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones.

Energy targeted: A power facility in the central city of Dnipro was severely damaged by two strikes on Tuesday, according to Ukrainian officials.

Last week, Ukraine’s energy minister told CNN that recent Russian strikes had hit about 30% of the country’s energy infrastructure. Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Moscow’s new tactic was targeting Ukrainian electricity exports to Europe, which “helps European countries to save on Russian gas and coal.”

A man was killed when a residential building was hit by shelling in the southern Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv overnight, Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich said on Telegram Tuesday. 

“A night of shelling in Mykolaiv left a two-story residential building in the city’s central district destroyed. Rescuers pulled the body of a 55-year-old man from under the rubble. A flower market was also destroyed in the same area of the city,” Senkevich wrote. 
“As of 6:20 a.m., power supply was restored in Mykolaiv. I thank the power engineers for their efficient work.”

A power facility in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro was severely damaged by two strikes on Tuesday, a top Ukrainian official said.

“Two strikes have hit an energy infrastructure facility, causing severe damage. The State Emergency Service is on site,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s office, said in a statement on Telegram.

“Due to the shelling of the city, some areas may experience a loss of electricity and water supply. Response teams are already working on restoring services,” he added in a later post. 

Some context: Last week, Ukraine’s energy minister told CNN that recent Russian strikes had hit about 30% of the country’s energy infrastructure. Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko said Moscow’s new tactic was targeting Ukrainian electricity exports to Europe, which “helps European countries to save on Russian gas and coal.”

Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine is “under fire,” the city’s mayor said in a Telegram post Tuesday, reporting a “series of explosions.” 

“Kharkiv is under fire. Within five minutes there were two series of explosions in the city. According to preliminary information, the district of one of the industrial enterprises of the city is under attack,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city before the start of the war, is among the territories reclaimed by Ukrainian forces during their recent counteroffensive.

The reports of explosions in Kharkiv Tuesday come a day after at least four people were killed when Russia attacked Ukraine’s capital Kyiv with Iranian-made “kamikaze” drones, according to Ukrainian officials.

At least 13 people have died after a Russian SU-34 fighter jet crashed into a residential building in the western city of Yeysk during a training flight Monday, according to Russian state media and authorities.

The incident was due to one of the engines catching fire, reported state-run news agency RIA Novosti, which cited Russia’s Defense Ministry.

“According to the report of the ejected pilots, the cause of the plane crash was the ignition of one of the engines during take-off. At the site of the crash of the Su-34 in the courtyard of one of the residential quarters, the plane’s fuel ignited,” the ministry said in a statement to RIA.

The conditions of the ejected pilots are not clear.

RIA reported that 13 bodies, including those of three children, were removed from the debris as of Tuesday morning, according to the Ministry of Emergency Situations. Earlier state media reports said at least 25 people were injured.

Yeysk is a port town on the shore of the Sea of Azov and is separated from occupied Russian territory in southern Ukraine by a narrow stretch of the sea.

Read more:

Fire area caused by Russian jet crash spans 2,000 sq meters - state media Yeysk, Russia

Related article Military jet crashes in residential area in western Russia, state media reports | CNN

SpaceX founder Elon Musk said Monday afternoon that the funding request the company had made to the Pentagon to start picking up the bill for satellite internet services for Ukraine has been withdrawn.

Musk’s announcement on Twitter followed an exclusive CNN report that SpaceX made a request to the Pentagon in September saying they were no longer able to donate the critical Starlink terminals or support the expensive accompanying service “for an indefinite period of time.”

SpaceX asked the Pentagon to start paying for the service for the current terminals operated by the Ukrainian government as well as fund almost 8,000 new terminals and service for Ukraine’s military and intelligence services.

After the CNN report revealed the request and showed in greater detail that SpaceX is not solely responsible for Starlink access in Ukraine (in fact numerous international efforts funded much of it), Musk tweeted on Saturday: “To hell with it…even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding the Ukraine govt for free.”

Musk’s tweet on Monday went a bit farther, saying the step had been taken to rescind the request to the Defense Department.

CNN has asked the Pentagon if SpaceX has withdrawn its request for funding.

Read more:

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA - OCTOBER 04: SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spacecraft atop is seen as Space X and NASA prepare for the launch of the Crew-5 mission, on October 04, 2022 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Crew-5 is scheduled to launch Wednesday, October 5 and will carry a four-person crew to the International Space Station. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Related article Elon Musk says SpaceX has withdrawn request for Pentagon to fund Starlink in Ukraine | CNN Politics

Wind and solar power have made up a record 24% of the European Union’s electricity mix since Russia launched its war on Ukraine, a new report says, a boost that has also helped the bloc battle soaring inflation.

The growth in renewable power capacity has saved the 27-nation bloc €99 billion ($97 billion) in avoided gas imports between March and September, which is €11 billion ($10.8 billion) more when compared with the same period from last year, according to the report published by climate think tanks E3G and Ember.

The boost in renewables comes as Europe tries to wean itself off Russian gas, as Moscow reduces, even cuts off, European nations’ energy supplies to gain leverage in the conflict. The war has forced the the EU to confront its costly dependence on Russian gas, which in 2020 accounted for 41% of the EU’s imports of the fossil fuel.

Read more:

Record EU renewable energy production has softened the rising cost of gas.

Related article EU produces record wind and solar energy as it shirks Russian gas | CNN Business

The US Defense Department is trying to speed up the delivery of two advanced surface-to-air missile systems to Ukraine as Russia has increasingly used Iranian-supplied drones that explode on impact to pummel Ukrainian cities and infrastructure.

The Pentagon’s effort is just the latest evidence of a newly urgent push by the US and its allies to help Ukraine build a comprehensive air and missile defense system to protect itself against these drones, which killed four in an attack on Kyiv on Monday.

The drones have become an increasingly urgent problem for Ukraine, and one that has drawn US condemnation. The State Department on Monday said that the drones are a violation of a UN Security Council resolution which restricts certain arms transfers to or from Iran.

Read more:

Raytheon Technologies contractors set up and functions check a National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile launcher in support of Advanced Battle Management System (ABMS) Onramp 2 at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, on Aug. 26, 2020.

Related article US trying to speed up delivery of key air defense systems to Ukraine after Russia's Iranian-supplied drone attacks | CNN Politics

Ukrainian officials said at least four people were killed when Russia launched a barrage of Iranian-made “kamikaze” drone attacks in Kyiv on Monday, setting off warning sirens across the capital.

Four people were injured in the attacks and 19 people trapped under the destruction have been rescued, according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior official working for Ukraine’s president.

The strikes on Kyiv appear to be part of a wider assault involving drones and cruise missiles aimed at critical infrastructure, especially power sources.

The Ukrainian Air Force said it had destroyed 37 Iranian-made kamikaze drones and three cruise missiles in the south and east of the country early Monday. Ukraine Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi said security forces were able to shoot down 36 of 42 drones that Russia launched on Monday. Around 30 of the drones targeted Kyiv, Monastyrskyi said on Ukrainian television.

Read the full story:

TOPSHOT - A drone approaches for an attack in Kyiv on October 17, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Yasuyoshi CHIBA / AFP) (Photo by YASUYOSHI CHIBA/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Kyiv's air raid sirens ring out as Russia launches kamikaze drone strikes | CNN