October 3, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Moscow will “continue consulting” with the residents of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions to establish the exact borders of the Ukrainian regions claimed to be annexed by Russia.

“As for the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia (regions), we will continue consulting with the population of these regions," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday, when asked to clarify the borders of the territories annexed by the Russian Federation.

In response to questions about what format these consultations will take place, Peskov said he “cannot answer this question at the moment,” but added it will depend on the will of the people living on those territories. He said that no new referendums are planned.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin formally signed a decree to annex nearly a fifth of Ukraine's territory in blatant violation of international law, following so-called referendums held by Russian-backed officials in eastern and southern Ukraine on joining Russia. The votes are illegal under international law and have been dismissed by Ukraine and Western nations as "a sham."

Part of the territory of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions is currently under control of the Ukrainian military. Peskov declined a comment on whether Russia will consider this as its own land following the ceremony at the Kremlin's St. George's Hall on Friday.

Talking about the other two regions, Peskov reaffirmed that Russia recognized as part of its territory the entirety of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), within their borders of 2014.

On Sunday, the Constitutional Court of Russia recognized the treaties on the admission of the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the DPR and the LPR to the Russian Federation as legal. The treaties published by the government do not specify the exact borders of the new territories.

CN's Joshua Berlinger, Anna Chernova and Tim Lister contributed reporting.

Kyiv has recaptured more territory in the eastern Donetsk region, shortly after liberating the key city of Lyman.

Russian forces are pursuing young men of conscription age in occupied areas of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian officials.

Here are the latest developments:

Russian forces are carrying out “door-to-door” checks in occupied areas of Ukraine, looking for young men of conscription age, the Ukrainian military said on Monday.

Russian forces have also stepped up document checks at checkpoints, making it "as difficult as possible," to leave the occupied areas, the statement added

Ukrainian officials have been warning for some time that Russia planned on using its claimed annexations as a pretext to draft Ukrainians in occupied areas to use as “cannon fodder.”

The Ukrainian military’s sudden and successful counter-attack in the Kharkiv region this month has left Russian forces controlling less Ukrainian land than they did after their first thrust into the country in February, 2022, according to a CNN analysis of exclusive data from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Russia’s first massive push, which began on the night of Feb. 23, allowed it to secure or advance on one fifth of Ukrainian territory, or about 119,000 square kilometers (46,000 square miles) of the total 603,500 square kilometers Ukraine claims and considers “temporarily occupied,” the analysis shows.

Seven months after launching an invasion — one that Western officials thought would be over in days with an overrun Ukrainian capital — Russia controls roughly 3,000 square kilometers less land than it did in the first five days of the war, CNN found. (Unverified claims are excluded from the analysis.)

Read the data analysis:

RELATED

The turning points in Russia's invasion of Ukraine

Ukrainian forces liberated the village of Torske near Lyman in the Donetsk region on Sunday, as they inch closer to taking back the Luhansk region, according to the Ukrainian military.

Serhiy Cherevaty, spokesman for the Eastern Group of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said on national television that Ukrainian forces are hitting Russian military units in Luhansk’s city of Kreminna “with fire.”

Zelensky hails advances: Ukraine's latest gains come after the key Donetsk city of Lyman was liberated by Ukrainian forces at the weekend.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that Ukraine's military successes were not limited to Lyman. In his nightly address to the nation, Zelensky said a substantial part of the war reports he receives are taken up with a growing list of recently liberated Ukrainian settlements.

Zelensky also praised the liberation of Arkhanhelske and Myroliubivka settlements in Kherson region by soldiers of Ukraine's 129th brigade.

The ghostly emptiness of the streets of Lyman in eastern Ukraine belies this city’s strategic significance.

There are no signs of Russian troops at all on Sunday — few damaged Russian tanks, or Russian dead, or Russian prisoners. Members of the Ukrainian National Guard from the Dnipro-1 unit hover in small numbers on some streets.

The occasional rattle of gunfire, or thud of artillery, pierces the silence. A few locals emerge, riding bicycles, searching for food, bewildered about what is happening.

“One day I wear one cap, another day a different cap,” said one woman in tears, pretending to take off a hat.

CNN was among the first media outlets into the recently liberated city, arriving 30 minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Lyman completely cleared of Russians troops.

Ukrainian officials and troops had spoken repeatedly of large numbers of Moscow’s better units being trapped there. Yet on Sunday there were few signs of encirclement to be seen.

Some officials said Russian corpses had already been cleared away and prisoners removed. But locals offered another explanation: that Russian forces had left the city on Friday in an orderly fashion.

“They got on their tanks, and drove out,” said Tanya, riding her bicycle back to the bomb shelter, where she still spends the nights with 15 others.

Read the full story here.

The presidents of nine NATO countries from Central and Eastern Europe issued a joint statement Sunday supporting Ukraine's bid for membership of the defense alliance as they called for increased military aid to Kyiv. 

The presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia and Romania expressed their firm support for "the decision of the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit regarding the future membership of Ukraine in the Alliance."

“We support Ukraine in its defence against Russia's invasion, demand Russia to immediately withdraw from all the occupied territories and encourage all Allies to substantially increase their military aid to Ukraine,” the statement added. 

The statement noted that the leaders of these countries — which account for nearly a third of NATO's members — “visited Kyiv during the war and witnessed with their own eyes the effects of Russian aggression.” 

The statement also called on “all those who commit crimes of aggression” to be brought to justice. 

Some context: A decision about Ukraine’s application for accelerated NATO membership must be agreed upon by all 30 members of the alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, said Sunday. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that Ukraine was applying “under an accelerated procedure” to become a NATO member.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he believes Ukraine is “making progress,” in the Kherson region of the country as they continue to counter Russia’s invasion, adding there has been a “kind of change in the battlefield dynamics.”

Austin attributed the change to the skill of Ukrainian soldiers and their strategic use of weapons supplied by US and NATO allies, specifically their use of the high mobility air rocket systems, or HIMARS. He made the comments in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired Sunday on “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”

Austin said Ukrainian forces have used “technology like HIMARS” and employed it in the “right way” to “conduct attacks on things like logistical stores and command and control, that’s taking away — taken away significant capability from the Russians.”

In doing so, Ukrainians have “changed the dynamics, and it’s created an opportunity for the Ukrainians to maneuver,” he added.

When asked why the US has not supplied longer-range weapons that Ukrainians have asked for, Austin said he communicates with his Ukrainian counterpart, Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov, “routinely,” and believes the US has been “very effective in providing them those things that are very, very effective on a battlefield.”

Read more here.

Russian officials have criticized their military leadership following the retreat of Moscow's forces from the strategic eastern city of Lyman, in the Donetsk region, underlining concerns the Kremlin could be eyeing nuclear weapons on the battlefield.

A Russian lawmaker and former army commander on Saturday told pro-Kremlin digital outlet Soloviev Live that he could not explain this “surrender” from a military point of view.

Using the Russian name for Lyman, the Russian Defense Ministry said Saturday that “troops were withdrawn from the settlement of Krasny Liman to more advantageous lines.”

Russian state media Russia-24 reported that Russia’s withdrawal was because “the enemy used both Western-made artillery and intelligence from North Atlantic alliance countries.”

The retreat marks Ukraine’s most significant gain since its successful counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

Read more here.