October 20, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

President Joe Biden seized on comments from several Republicans, including House GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy, calling into question future Ukraine aid, framing the position as undermining the US role – and leadership – in an increasingly volatile world.

“You heard what they said today?” Biden asked at a fundraiser in Philadelphia for Senate candidate John Fetterman, according to the press pool. “They said that if they win, they’re not likely to fund – to help – continue to fund Ukraine, the Ukrainian war against the Russians. These guys don’t get it. It’s a lot bigger than Ukraine – it’s Eastern Europe, it’s NATO. It’s real, serious, serious consequential outcomes. They have no sense of American foreign policy.” 

Biden sought to broaden the implications for Republican opposition or reluctance, tying it to palpable concerns from allies after former President Donald Trump’s four years in office that the US was receding from its role in the world. Biden noted it was something that raised the stakes for the midterm elections even further, and explicitly tied in the Jan. 6 attack on the US Capitol – and the GOP’s response – as an element driving anxiety for allies. 

“These guys on the other team don’t get it. They don’t get it that how America does is going to determine how the rest of the world does,” Biden said, according to the pool. “They look to us as a leader. They look to us … because they’re not as big or as powerful.” 

The President also repeated his story about how at his first G7 meeting when he said he told leaders “America’s back and one of the other heads of state turned to me and said ‘For how long’?”

On the Jan. 6 insurrection, Biden said that it was “a bunch of thugs attacked the United States Capitol,” continuing, “then they come along and they’re called patriots and heroes.”

“The rest of the world is looking at this election as well, both the good guys and the bad guys out there to see what, they want to see what’s going to happen,” Biden said, according to the pool. 

The White House says Iranian military personnel have visited Crimea to assist with Russian drone strikes targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.

John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the National Security Council, said Iran’s training visit was evidence of Tehran’s direct engagement in the conflict.

“We can confirm that Russian military personnel that are based in Crimea have been piloting Iranian UAVs, using them to conduct strikes across Ukraine, including strikes against Kyiv,” Kirby said, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles.

CNN previously reported that Iranian military personnel had been sent to Crimea to train Russian forces.

“Iranian military personnel were on the ground in Crimea and assisted with these operations,” he said. “Russia has received dozens of UAVs so far and will likely continue to receive additional shipments in the future.”

The US has said that Russia was obtaining drones from Iran, but has not previously said that Iranian personnel were on the ground.

Kirby said it was a “relatively small number” of Iranian personnel on the ground.

“Tehran is now directly engaged on the ground and through the provision of weapons that are impacting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, that are killing civilians and destroying civilian infrastructure in Ukraine,” he said.

Kirby said the Russians weren’t familiar with the use of the drones and needed Iranian training to use them.

He added that the US is now concerned that Russia will seek additional weapons, including surface-to-surface missiles, from Iran.

Some background: Iran has repeatedly denied supplying Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, saying last week that it “has not and will not” do so.

A Russian representative to the UN also insisted that drones used against Ukraine have all been Russian — not Iranian. He called claims to the contrary a “disinformation campaign.”

That hasn’t convinced Ukraine’s Western allies. The European Union just agreed on new sanctions against Iran over the drone allegations.

“They can lie to the world but they certainly can’t hide the facts,” Kirby said Thursday.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he has spoken to Israel’s Prime Minister Yair Lapid to tell him about the “unspeakable suffering” caused by Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones.

It’s the latest appeal Ukraine has made to Israel to help it acquire modern air defense systems.

“I spoke to Israeli Prime Minister @YairLapid and informed him on unspeakable suffering, loss of life, and destruction caused by Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones. We discussed in detail Ukraine’s request for Israel to provide air and missile defense systems and technology,” the Ukrainian foreign minister tweeted Thursday.

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz responded to Ukraine’s request on Wednesday, saying that Israel would help Ukraine develop an air defense alert system, but had no plans to deliver weapon systems.

“We have sent a request to the Ukrainians to share information about their needs for air defense alerts. Once we gain this information, we will be able to assist in the development of a life-saving civilian early-warning system,” Gantz said.

View Kuleba’s tweet here:

US President Joe Biden said he’s worried the US commitment to supporting Ukraine could waver if Republicans retake control of the House of Representatives.

Biden made the remark to reporters on the midterms campaign trail, days after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said if the GOP wins the chamber they may not be as forthcoming with aid to the embattled nation.

“Yeah, I am worried about that because they said they’ll cut it,” Biden told reporters while visiting a sandwich shop in Moon Township, Pennsylvania, on Thursday. He was touring with Senate candidate John Fetterman.

What McCarthy said: The minority leader’s comments were published by the political news outlet Punchbowl News on Tuesday.

“I think people are gonna be sitting in a recession and they’re not going to write a blank check to Ukraine. They just won’t do it. … It’s not a free blank check,” he said. “And then there’s the things [the Biden administration] is not doing domestically. Not doing the border and people begin to weigh that. Ukraine is important, but at the same time it can’t be the only thing they do and it can’t be a blank check.”

A former employee of state television network Channel One in Russia has been ordered under arrest in absentia for “spreading misinformation” about the war in Ukraine, according to state news agency TASS.

In March, journalist Marina Ovsyannikova appeared in the background during a live broadcast on Channel One holding a sign that read “Stop the war!” and “They’re lying to you!”

Ovsyannikova was fined twice and placed under house arrest. In early October, she and her family fled Russia to Europe while Russian authorities continued to investigate her.

Ovsyannikova joins a growing list of journalists, including Alexander Nevzorov and Dmitry Gordon, who Russia has ordered arrested in absentia for criticizing the state.

Soon after Russia’s invasion, the State Duma passed a law imposing a prison sentence of up to 15 years for anyone knowingly spreading “fake news” that discredits Russia’s Armed Forces and the “special military operation,” which is how it refers to the war in Ukraine.

As the Kremlin steps up its military assault, Ukrainian energy officials said they had no choice but to introduce emergency and scheduled blackouts Thursday. Days of devastating Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have caused the nation to lose at least 40% of its power-generating capacity. 

Meantime, fighting is escalating in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region where authorities are attempting to “relocate” up to 60,000 civilians, despite humanitarian bodies warning such a strategy could constitute human rights violations.

Here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged that Russian forces have mined a critical dam on the Dnipro river in the southern Kherson region, as well as the adjacent hydroelectric plant.

“We have information that Russian terrorists have mined the dam and units of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant,” Zelensky told the Council of Europe during a video address.

CNN has reached out to the Russian Ministry of Defense for a response to the allegations.

The dam and hydroelectric plant have been working at much-reduced capacity as the area was captured by Russian forces in March. Ukrainian forces are some 40 kilometers (more than 24 miles) north of the dam. Over the past four months, they have launched several strikes against the bridge that forms part of the dam to prevent its use by the Russian military.

Separately, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Ukrainian President’s office, said on Twitter Thursday that Russia planned to mine the dam and transformers, forcing the deportation of Ukrainian civilians from Kherson and flooding territory to stop the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the region. The land to the south and east of the river is low-lying.

What pro-Moscow officials are saying: The Russian-appointed head of the Nova Kakhovka administrative district, Vladimir Leontiev, told Russian state media TASS that it makes no sense for Russia to destroy the dam of the power station.

“What is the point for Russia to destroy it now? Even from a formal point of view, this is nonsense. This is absolute nonsense,” Leontiev said.

“First of all, you need to think about who benefits from it: it is only beneficial for Ukraine to destroy the dam, the hydroelectric power station, to disrupt logistics, to sow fear and panic, to stop the possibility of supplying water through the North Crimean Canal to the territory of Crimea,” he said, according to TASS.

A Russian military convoy near Stara Krasnyanka in the eastern region of Luhansk was struck by a Ukrainian missile, new video shows. 

CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of the video, which was posted on Thursday. The video is a compilation of a series of videos taken by a drone that shows five military vehicles, first traveling east on a road in eastern Kreminna. 

Later, the convoy is seen turning around in Stara Krasnyanka and returning to Kreminna. As the convoy nears a set of train tracks, it moves into a wooded area just outside of Stara Krasnyanka. 

They are then targeted by a Ukrainian missile salvo, and a number of explosions are seen. The resulting fire appears to explode the munitions that are being carried by the vehicles. Later, the burnt husks of the convoy are seen.

In recent weeks, Ukrainian forces have repeatedly hit Russian positions in the town of Kreminna, located just west of Severodonetsk. 

The UK is slapping new sanctions on Iran for supplying Russia with “kamikaze” drones used to bombard Ukraine, British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said.

In a statement, Cleverly accused Iran of “warmongering” by profiting off of “Russia’s abhorrent attacks on Ukrainian citizens and adding to the suffering of the people and the destruction of critical infrastructure.” 

The new sanctions match measures agreed to by the EU on Thursday, targeting three individuals and one business responsible for providing drones to Moscow. 

Subject to asset freezes and travel bans are:

One entity — Aerospace Force UAV Command — reported to have been in the temporarily controlled territories of Ukraine advising Russian forces on how to use the drones, is also subject to an asset freeze. 

More context: Iran has denied supplying weapons to Russia despite evidence to the contrary. CNN reported Tuesday that Iran has sent military personnel to Russian-occupied territory inside Crimea to train and advise the Russian military on the use of their drones, according to two sources familiar with US intelligence. 

A spokesperson for the Iranian mission at the United Nations said “Iran does not confirm this claim and rejects it.” 

“These cowardly drone strikes are an act of desperation. By enabling these strikes, these individuals and a manufacturer have caused the people of Ukraine untold suffering. We will ensure that they are held to account for their actions,” Cleverly said.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is facing criticism for comments on his relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin and the invasion of Ukraine.

The 86-year-old former Italian leader said he “re-established relations with President Putin,” according to audio released this week by Italian news agency LaPresse.

Putin sent him 20 bottles of vodka and a “very sweet letter” on his birthday last month, Berlusconi says, and he sent back a letter and some Italian sparkling wine, according to the LaPresse audio.

He went on to boast that Putin called him “the first of his five true friends.” 

A secret recording: Berlusconi’s comments were surreptitiously captured during a meeting of his Forza Italia party in the Parliamentary Chamber Tuesday, his office confirmed with CNN on Thursday, while confirming the authenticity of the audio clips released by LaPresse.   

Berlusconi, who will be part of Italy’s incoming coalition government, can be heard saying Putin “was against any initiative” for war against Ukraine.

In the audio clips, the Italian politician can be heard talking to the members of his party about what he thought led to the war.

He accuses Kyiv of violating a 2014 treaty with separatist-controlled regions in Donbas and says the Russian-backed leaders in the area asked Putin to defend them.

“He (Putin) entered Ukraine and found himself faced with an unexpected and unpredictable situation of resistance from the Ukrainians, who began receiving money and weapons from the West on the third day (of the war),” Berlusconi can then be heard saying. “And the war, instead of being a two-week operation, has become a two-century war.”  

In the LaPresse audio, Berlusconi is also heard saying, “I do not see how Putin and Zelensky can sit at a mediation table.

Defending his remarks: Berlusconi defended his comments in an interview with the Italian daily Corriere della Sera Thursday.  

“Everything was taken out of context. It was circulated without knowing the global meaning of my words. With the only scope to spread disinformation and lies,” he told the newspaper.   

“I don’t deny my past friendship with Vladimir Putin, that brought to important results, which were achieved in full accord with our western allies … But today the circumstances have changed,” he said.   

The comments he made were “ended with the condemnation of the Russian invasion and with the hope of a negotiated solution that would put an end to this massacre and protect the rights of the Ukrainian people,” Berlusconi went on to say.  

A senior Ukrainian official says that Russian forces’ “task number one” is to hold the southern frontline.

The Russians are digging in and sending more resources in hopes of holding off the Ukrainian forces pushing toward Kherson, said Oleksii Hromov, a top official with the military’s General Staff.

“The enemy plans to fulfill this task with the help of the first wave of the partial mobilization and by increasing the number of their troops on the west bank of the Dnipro River,” he said, referring to a key waterway where fighting has recently taken place on both banks.

Hromov suggested there were now more than 40 Russian battalion tactical groups in the Kherson region. Each group usually comprises some 1,000 personnel.

Why this region is key:

“For Putin’s regime, the south direction — Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv — has strategic meaning from the point of view of preserving the land corridor to Crimea and water supply to the peninsula, as well as creating a future bridgehead for the capture of Mykolaiv and Odesa regions, depriving Ukraine of the status of a maritime state,” Hromov said. 

In his own statement, the Russia-backed head of Crimea stressed the region’s importance to Moscow and its appointed leaders in occupied Ukraine.

“Our common position is that the protection of Kherson region will ensure the security of the Republic of Crimea. To that end, we will continue to take all necessary measures, including providing maximum assistance to the troops and law enforcement units on the front lines,” Sergey Aksenov said Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin visited mobilized troops at a training ground in the western Ryazan region, according to a statement published by Kremlin on Thursday.

The statement said he inspected the “combat coordination of the units and the readiness of the military personnel to perform tasks” at the site in the Western Military District.

Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu presented Putin with a report on combat training for the mobilized, according to the statement.

“Vladimir Putin inspected practical exercises as part of tactical, firearms, engineering and medical training,” officials said.

Putin also visited “a multifunctional shooting complex, where military personnel practice various types of shooting under the guidance of full-time commanders and professional instructors with combat experience,” according to the statement.

The Ministry of Defense says instructors are training newly mobilized servicemen with “increased intensity.” Recruits fire at least 600 rounds and use five grenades in the course of their training, according to the ministry.

Putin’s partial mobilization order: The Russian president announced in September that he sought to recruit 300,000 military personnel, but its execution has been widely criticized inside Russia.

The process has been beset by errors, caused angry protests and prompted a mass exodus when it was announced last month.

In early October, Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said more than 200,000 new people had joined the Russian Armed Forces through the mobilization.

Ukraine is turning to its global allies for help as it faces blackouts brought on by Russian attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said Thursday the Kyiv government is working with NATO, the European Union and other partners to overcome the effects of the Russian barrage, which knocked out at least 40% of the country’s power-generating capacity.

A statement from the Foreign Ministry added that Ukrainian diplomats have appealed to several dozen international and non-governmental organizations and private companies with a request for generators as well as equipment for the gas transportation system.

“The first deliveries have already been arranged from Italy, France, Lithuania, Finland, Germany and Poland. The first of about 600 pieces of equipment will arrive in Ukraine next week,” the statement reads.

“Russia’s targeted attacks on critical energy infrastructure are war crimes for which we will hold Russia accountable,” Kuleba said. “Russian missile terror will not break either Ukraine or our partners.”

A senior Ukrainian military official says there is growing danger that Russia will open a new front in the war through its coordination with Belarus, using it to cut military supplies to Ukraine.

“The threat of the Russian armed forces resuming the offensive on the northern front is growing,” Oleksii Hromov, a senior official in the military’s General Staff, said at a news conference in Kyiv.

“This time, the direction of the offensive may be changed to the (western part) of the Belarusian-Ukrainian border to cut the main logistics arteries of supplying weapons and military equipment to Ukraine from partner countries.”

Hromov said Ukraine’s defense forces were “taking measures to ensure reliable coverage of the state border of Ukraine and the city of Kyiv from the northern direction. In case the enemy decides to open the so-called second front, namely, to conduct offensive actions from the Republic of Belarus, we will be ready for an adequate response.”

More background: Belarusian authorities have denied any plans for mobilization but have held a high number of training and readiness exercises this year and recently announced a joint force with Russian troops.

The last time Belarusian and Russian forces held joint exercises, in February, many of those Russian forces went on to cross the Ukrainian border in their ill-fated drive toward the capital.

Ukraine and Belarus share a 1,000-kilometer (about 620-mile) frontier, much of it sparsely populated and thickly forested.

Belarus does not have a mighty army in numbers. But the prospect of the long northern border again becoming a passageway for Russian forces would be a nightmare for Ukraine’s already stretched forces.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken described recent Russian attacks in Ukraine as another sign of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “desperation” in a television interview this week.

Blinken’s remarks came in an interview with George Stephanopoulos that aired Wednesday on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

Blinken also said Putin’s latest moves were “pretty close” when Stephanopoulos asked if Putin was preparing for “all-out war.” When asked if the Russian president was acting rationally, he said that Putin’s “objectives are not rational.”

“We’ve been very clear with President Putin directly and privately about the severe consequences that would follow any, any use of nuclear weapons,” Blinken said when asked about the potential use of nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

“We have not seen reason at this point to change our own nuclear posture,” he added.

US steaming at oil decision: “It’s helping to line Putin’s pockets,” Blinken said of Saudi Arabia and OPEC+’s recent decision to slash oil production, describing now as “exactly the wrong time to engage in production cuts.”

“There was no reason to make the decision when they made it,” he said, while also acknowledging: “We have a multiplicity of interests with Saudi Arabia.”

More context: OPEC+ is a group of major oil producers, including Saudi Arabia and Russia. The countries announced a production cut equivalent to about 2% of global oil demand earlier this month, despite US pressure not to tighten supply further.

Russia’s production has held up better than predicted against Western sanctions for the invasion of Ukraine, with supply being diverted to China and India.

Around 15,000 civilians in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region have been “relocated” away from the frontline, Kirill Stremousov, a regional leader backed by Moscow said Thursday.

“Already about 15,000 residents, having listened to the recommendations of the leadership of the Kherson region, have moved to the left bank of our region,” Stremousov said in a post on the Telegram messaging app. 

Remember: Pro-Moscow officials in occupied Kherson plan to move up to 60,000 residents across the Dnipro River, further into Russian-held territory, amid fears of a Ukrainian counteroffensive on the southern front. 

Kyiv has dismissed what Stremousov and colleagues have termed an “organized relocation” as a “propaganda show” and accused Moscow of trying to “intimidate” residents.

In an earlier post on Thursday, Stremousov published guidance for residents crossing the Dnipro on what to take with them. The list included money, identity documents, a mobile phone, personal hygiene products, comfortable clothes, two to three days’ of food and drink and a first aid kit.

Stremousov said everyone would have to be registered and then stay in their assigned group.

Ukraine’s deputy head of the Kherson regional council, Yurii Sobolevskyi, claimed Thursday that the Russian troops in occupied Kherson planned to take over the houses of residents that leave.

Ukraine’s state energy company has been forced to extend its temporary electricity restrictions to three eastern regions as the nation continues to grapple with limited supply.

Kharkiv, Sumy and Poltava were added to the list of areas under a “temporary controlled restriction,” according to Ukrenergo, the energy agency.

The company said earlier Thursday that it had been forced to implement restrictions on electricity use in the capital Kyiv and other central regions because of high energy demand there.

Ihor Taburets, the head of the Cherkasy regional military administration, said the emergency power outages were needed to stabilize the country’s power grid.

The electricity supply to “socially important facilities” would be maintained, he added.

Remember: Days of devastating Russian attacks on energy infrastructure have caused the nation lose at least 40% of its power-generating capacity. Ukrainian officials warned earlier this week that both emergency and scheduled blackouts would follow.

The Ukrainian government has appealed to Jewish organizations to help it acquire modern air defense systems from Israel as the country continues to face Russian attacks.

Israel has a policy of not sending military equipment to Ukraine but has said it is ready to assist the country with early warning systems. Israel has some of the world’s most sophisticated air defense systems, including some developed to counter Iranian ballistic missiles and long-range drones.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office said Thursday that the head of the office, Andriy Yermak, spoke with “representatives of leading Jewish organizations, during which he emphasized the importance of providing our state with modern air defense systems that Israel has.”

Yermak told the meeting that Russia had carried out 190 strikes with missiles and drones on the territory of Ukraine on Oct. 7 and 8 alone.

“We are talking about the intention to intimidate civilians, efforts to destroy the critical infrastructure of Ukraine before winter, to plunge the country into darkness and frost,” he said.

Yermak told the meeting it was “important to unblock military-technical cooperation between the two countries” and Jewish organizations could “persuade the Israeli government to provide our state with the necessary systems.”

Natan Sharansky, the chair of the executive board of the Jewish Agency for Israel, said he believed “that being together with Ukraine at this moment is not just a moral obligation, it is in the interests of Israel.”

According to Ukraine’s presidential office, the chief rabbi of Kyiv, Yaakov Dov Bleich, said that they “are talking now about saving lives….This is terror to destroy people. We have to do something to stop this.”

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Wednesday that Israel would help Ukraine develop an air defense alert system but does not plan to deliver weapon systems.

Ukraine’s state energy supplier Ukrenergo said on Thursday it had been “forced” to implement restrictions on electricity use in the capital Kyiv and other central regions because of a rapid increase in consumption there.

“The level of electricity consumption is rapidly increasing in the central regions of Ukraine. The ‘Ukrenergo’ dispatch center is forced to introduce a temporary controlled restriction of electricity consumption in this region,” it said in a post on Facebook. “We ask the residents of Kyiv and the Kyiv region, Chernihiv region, Cherkasy region and Zhytomyr region to urgently reduce their electricity consumption! This will help reduce the load on power grids and give energy companies time to repair equipment damaged by terrorist attacks.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky had appealed to Ukrainians to reduce their energy consumption from 7 a.m. local time on Thursday, but the restrictions were voluntary and not enforced.

Ihor Taburets, the head of the Cherkasy regional military administration, confirmed on Telegram that there would be “emergency power outages” in the region “to stabilize the operation of the country’s power grid.”

The electricity supply to “socially important facilities” would be maintained, he added.

On Thursday morning, the Kyiv region military administration had posted a schedule of potential power outages in the event that Ukrenergo needed to balance the power grid.

As the Kremlin steps up its military assault on Ukraine, Moscow’s recent strikes on energy facilities led authorities to impose nationwide blackouts starting Thursday, following electricity and water outages across the country.

Here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Here’s where the state of control stands in Ukraine:

Local Ukrainian authorities reduced electric transport services such as trams and trolleybuses on Thursday, as restrictions came into force nationwide following Russia’s recent bombardment of critical energy infrastructure.

Out of 38 trolleybus routes in Kyiv, 21 would be replaced by buses on Thursday “in order to save electricity,” according to the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko.

Further south in Mykolaiv, the city reduced electric transportation services by 60%, said mayor Oleksandr Sienkevych.

Public information campaigns have been launched in some Ukrainian regions to encourage people to reduce their energy consumption.

In the central Poltava region, authorities circulated a graphic on Telegram showing residents and business owners the electrical appliances they needed to turn off. Residents were asked to limit their use of kettles, irons, microwaves and other appliances.

Russian forces have deterred an attempted Ukrainian advance in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, the defense ministry said on Thursday.

“The enemy succeeded in wedging into the defense of Russian units near Sukhanovo [in Ukrainian: Sukhanove] (Kherson region),” spokesperson Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov said in a briefing, adding that Russian units successfully fought back. “The positions along the front line have been completely recovered.” 

CNN cannot independently verify the claims.

Sukhanove is near the front line in the northwest of the Kherson region, on the right bank of the Dnipro River. 

Some context: The Russian-installed authorities continued their attempts to “relocate” up to 60,000 civilians from the right bank of the Dnipro River in the occupied Kherson region to the left bank on Thursday, citing fears of a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The Russian-backed Service for Civil Defense and Emergency Situations of the Kherson region on Thursday called for residents to “urgently” move. “For the sake of our own safety, in connection with the escalation of hostilities, you urgently need to move to the left-bank territory of the region,” it said in a Telegram post. 

Kyiv has accused the separatist leaders in occupied Kherson of trying to “intimidate” residents and put on a “propaganda show.”

European Union members have agreed on new sanctions against Iran over supplying drones that have been used to attack Ukraine, the Czech presidency of the EU said on Thursday.

“EU ambassadors agreed on measures against entities supplying Iranian drones that hit Ukraine,” the presidency said on Twitter, adding that the sanctions will come into force on Thursday afternoon.

“EU states decided to freeze the assets of three individuals and one entity responsible for drone deliveries,” it said.

The EU is “also prepared to extend sanctions to four more Iranian entities that already featured in a previous sanctions list,” it concluded.

Some context: Iran has repeatedly denied supplying Russia with weapons for use in Ukraine, saying last week that it “has not and will not” do so.

On Wednesday, EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said the bloc had “sufficient evidence” to sanction Iran in relation to supplying drones to Russia, which are believed to have been used against Ukraine.

Earlier this week, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said a total of 37 Iranian Shahed-136 drones and three cruise missiles launched by Russia were shot down overnight Sunday and on Monday.

Russia’s foreign ministry has said it is “ready” to export food and fertilizer products to prevent a global food security crisis, but blamed the US for “making it very difficult” for Moscow to do so.

“The USA is making it very difficult for us to do this — and, accordingly, they take a hit at the world food security — by blocking as much as possible financial settlements for our products,” said foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova.

She accused countries supplying weapons to Ukraine of being “donors and sponsors of extremist terrorist activities.”

The US has supplied Kyiv with strategic arsenal to bolster its sweeping counteroffensives.

“You are not just accomplices in the crimes of the Kyiv regime, you are exactly those whom you regularly talk about in the adopted declarations and statements,” Zakharova said.

“You are the sponsors of terrorist activities that take place under the auspices of the Kyiv regime and directly with the participation of NATO as an Alliance and as its individual members, led by the United States,” she added.

Some background: Russia’s military assault on Ukraine has exacerbated the global food crisis.

Before the war, wheat supplies from Russia and Ukraine accounted for almost 30% of global trade, and Ukraine is the world’s fourth-largest exporter of corn and the fifth-largest exporter of wheat, according to the US State Department.

However, Moscow’s blockade of Black Sea ports earlier this year stalled millions of tons of grain exports from Ukraine.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative — brokered in July by the UN and Turkey — ended months of the blockade, allowing grain ships to navigate a safe corridor through the Black Sea, helping alleviate global food shortages.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized the importance of the deal, adding that since July Ukraine has exported 8 million tons of food by sea.

CNN’s Betsy Klein, Phil Mattingly and Jennifer Hansler contributed reporting.

Moscow’s “scorched earth” attacks against Ukraine are only strengthening the Western alliance against Russia, according to German Chancellor Olaf Scholz.

Scholz told members of the German Parliament that Russian President Vladimir Putin is using energy and hunger as weapons, adding that “such scorched earth tactics will not help Russia win the war.”

”They only bolster the resolve and perseverance of Ukraine and its allies,” he said in a key policy speech ahead of a European Council summit in Brussels.

“In the end, Russia’s bomb and missile terror is an act of desperation – just like the mobilization of Russian men for the war.

The German chancellor spoke in reference to Moscow’s recent barrage of strikes on Ukrainian energy infrastructure.

The attacks on power facilities have caused rolling blackouts across the country and prompted authorities to introduce curbs on electricity usage, starting Thursday. 

Scholz said that Germany had ”freed itself from dependence” on Russian gas but was working to bring energy prices down, including by securing new gas delivery contracts from other countries. 

He addressed the lower house of parliament in Berlin ahead of a meeting with the 27 European Union member countries on Thursday, which are set to meet for the second time in a fortnight in an effort to bring down energy prices across Europe.

Russian rockets hit a school in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region on Thursday, according to a Ukrainian official.

“This morning, around 7:20 a.m. (local), Russian terrorists launched a rocket attack on the territory of a children’s specialized school in the village of Komyshuvakha,” Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the Ukrainian President’s Office, said on Telegram.
“Information about destruction and victims is being clarified.”

Some context: The village is located about 35 kilometers (22 miles) southeast of Zaporizhzhia city, not far from the front lines of the conflict. Though the city is under Ukrainian control, about three quarters of the greater Zaporizhzhia region is occupied by Russian forces. The region is one of four Ukrainian territories Russia has claimed to annex in violation of international law.

An energy infrastructure facility and an industrial area were struck overnight in Ukraine’s central Kryvyi Rih region causing “serious destruction,” the head of Dnipropetrovsk’s regional military administration Valentyn Reznichenko said on Telegram Thursday. 

“It was a nerve-wracking night in the Kryvyi Rih region. The Russians struck an industrial company and an energy infrastructure facility, resulting in serious destruction. Response teams are at work,” the post read. 
“Initial reports are of no casualties. In other areas, the night passed without emergencies and currently, things are calm.”

Some context: Rolling blackouts are set to begin Thursday across Ukraine after the nation lost at least 40% of its power-generating capacity following days of Russian attacks on energy infrastructure targets.

On Wednesday, Kryvyi Rih Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul confirmed parts of the city were without electricity due to an overnight strike on an energy infrastructure facility.

Iran’s Ambassador to the United Nations Amir Saeid Iravani on Wednesday denied his country has supplied Russia with drones for use in Ukraine. 

Speaking to reporters after a closed-door UN Security Council meeting, Iravani claimed Western countries were running a disinformation campaign against Iran, saying Tehran would not violate a Security Council resolution by shipping drones to Russia.

“Iran is of the firm belief that none of its arms exports, including UAVs [unmanned aerial vehicles], to any country fall within the provisions of paragraph four of annex B to resolution 2231,” Iravani said, referring to UN Security Council Resolution 2231 which restricts certain arms transfers to or from Iran.

Ukrainian authorities say Russia has used the Iranian-supplied drones in strikes against Kyiv and other cities in recent weeks. 

Russia’s denial: Dmitry Polyanskiy, first deputy permanent representative of Russia to the UN, told reporters in a news conference after the Security Council meeting that all drones used against Ukraine are Russian — not Iranian — calling claims to the contrary a “disinformation campaign” by the West. 

The United States, the United Kingdom and France have called for a UN Security Council briefing “on recent evidence that Russia illegally procured Iranian UAVs that it is using in its war on Ukraine,” Nate Evans, spokesperson for the US mission to the UN said in a statement after Wednesday’s meeting.

Polyanskiy, however, said the UN Secretariat “has no mandate to investigate anything regarding United Nations Security Council resolution 2231.”

Some context:  Drones have played a significant role in the conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, but their use has increased since the summer when the US and Kyiv say Moscow acquired Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones from Iran.

US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday the US has “abundant evidence” that Russia is using Iranian drones to strike Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Iran of taking “blood money” from Russia for supplying “kamikaze” drones used in deadly attacks against cities including Kyiv.

The use of drones in the war in Ukraine has increased since the summer, when the United States and Kyiv say Moscow acquired Shahed-136 drones from Iran. Tehran has denied supplying weapons to Russia despite evidence to the contrary.

“I do not trust the leadership of Iran,” Zelensky said in an interview with Canada’s CTV on Wednesday.
“They publicly denied all that, saying that we didn’t sell anything, but here we see. Hundreds of strikes. At Ukraine, at the capital, at civil infrastructure, at schools, nearby the university, at the university and the shutting down of our energy system.” 

CNN reported Tuesday that Iran has sent military personnel to Russian-occupied territory inside Crimea to train and advise the Russian military on the use of their drones, according to two sources familiar with US intelligence.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission at the United Nations said, “Iran does not confirm this claim and rejects it.”

Zelensky however, was unequivocal in his accusations against Tehran.

The United States has “abundant evidence” that Russia is using Iranian drones to strike Ukraine, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday.

“The United States began warning in July that Iran was planning to transfer UAVs to Russia for use in Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine, and we now have abundant evidence that these UAVs are being used to strike Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure,” Price said in a statement.

The United Nations Security Council received expert briefings on Iran’s transfer of such drones to Russia, Price said, and the issue was collectively raised by the US, United Kingdom and France at a closed-door UNSC meeting Wednesday.

Drones have played a significant role in the conflict since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in late February, but their use has increased since the summer, when the United States and Kyiv say Moscow acquired the drones from Iran. Iran has denied supplying weapons to Russia despite evidence to the contrary.

CNN reported Tuesday that Iran has sent military personnel to Russian-occupied territory inside Crimea to train and advise the Russian military on the use of their drones, according to two sources familiar with US intelligence.

A spokesman for the Iranian mission at the United Nations said, “Iran does not confirm this claim and rejects it.”

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Ukrainian firefighters works on a destroyed building after a drone attack in Kyiv on October 17, 2022, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Related article US State Department says there's 'abundant evidence' Russia is using Iranian drones in Ukraine | CNN Politics

The US Justice Department announced charges on Wednesday against nearly a dozen people and two companies in connection with illegal schemes to send military technology to Russia, some of which has allegedly been recovered from battlefields in Ukraine.

The department said in a statement that some of the defendants also tried to send “nuclear proliferation technology” to Russia, but that it was intercepted before it arrived.

“These charges reveal two separate global schemes to violate U.S. export and sanctions laws, including by shipping sensitive military technologies from U.S. manufacturers – including types found in seized Russian weapons platforms in Ukraine – and attempting to reexport a machine system with potential application in nuclear proliferation and defense programs to Russia,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.
“As I have said, our investigators and prosecutors will be relentless in their efforts to identify, locate, and bring to justice those whose illegal acts undermine the rule of law and enable the Russian regime to continue its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.”

The indictments are the most recent action law enforcement has taken with the help of the department’s Task Force KleptoCapture, which was announced earlier this year and part of an effort to enforce sanctions against Russian government officials and oligarchs.

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U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland

Related article Multiple foreign nationals charged in alleged schemes to send military technology to Russia | CNN Politics

Ukrainian energy officials on Wednesday said they had no choice but to introduce emergency and scheduled blackouts after losing at least 40% of the country’s power generating capacity following days of devastating Russian cruise missile and drone strikes.

“Unfortunately, according to new data, about 40% of the total infrastructure and our generating capacities are really seriously damaged,” Oleksandr Kharchenko, an adviser to Ukraine’s energy minister, said in a statement broadcast on national television.
“Restoration and repair work is ongoing, but miracles are possible only to a certain extent.
“Therefore, we should expect not only emergency but also scheduled outages today and tomorrow in order not to overload the grid.”

NPC Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national energy company, on Wednesday called for the “understanding and support” of its energy users as they have been forced to introduce consumption restrictions following the missile attacks.

Ukrenergo said the “consumption restrictions may be applied throughout Ukraine from 7:00 a.m. to 22:00 p.m.” Thursday. 

“The outages will be alternate — the duration of the outage is also determined by the regional power distribution company, but not more than 4 hours,” the statement said.

“The enemy, who cannot compete with the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the battlefield, attacked the civilian energy infrastructure again. Therefore, tomorrow we will apply controlled and carefully calculated restrictions to consumers, which we must implement to make the system work in a balanced way,” the power company said.

The weather in Bakhmut deceives the senses, sunny and warm — almost peaceful.

But a deafening boom of outgoing artillery from the critical eastern Ukrainian town shakes that notion out of the system, as Ukrainian soldiers on Wednesday launched offensives to try and reclaim positions from Russian forces.

Three men could be seen making a run for it out of town, one with a microwave strapped to his back.

Russia’s war in Ukraine has been going on nine months. It’s only when you descend into the town that you really get a sense of the devastation and destitution that Vladimir Putin’s invasion has wrought on this city.

Our guide is a Ukrainian military medic, who goes by her nom-de-guerre “Katrusya.” In tinted sunglasses and fatigues, she slings our convoy into the center of the city at breakneck speed.

Flashing through the windows is a ghost town.

“For the past two months, Russians have been trying to break into the city defenses and have not been successful,” she tells us between cigarettes.

She took us to see a building that had just been shelled. Our car hadn’t even come to a complete halt as another artillery shell hit nearby. We scrambled for cover as more artillery rained and whizzed down nearby for around 20 minutes.

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BAKHMUT, UKRAINE - OCTOBER 19: A Ukrainian tank crew fighting on the frontline is seen in Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, Ukraine on October 19, 2022. (Photo by Wolfgang Schwan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Related article Devastation on Ukraine's eastern front, where the notorious Wagner group is making gains | CNN

As Russia faces growing setbacks in Ukraine, it appears to be increasingly turning to Iran for help, in a development that has sparked concern from the West and Tehran’s regional adversaries.

Sources familiar with US intelligence have told CNN that Iran has sent military trainers to Crimea to train and advise the Russian military on the use of Iranian-built drones that Moscow has used to rain down terror on cities across Ukraine.

The presence of Iranian personnel in occupied Ukrainian territory would mark a significant escalation in Iran’s involvement in the war in support of Russia, and a new phase in the two countries’ budding military alliance.

Reuters on Tuesday also reported that Iran may supply Russia with surface-to-surface missiles. Nasser Kanani, the spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied the allegation, saying Iran “has always opposed the continuation of the [Ukraine] war.”

Despite their differences, Iran and Russia have been getting closer because they “share the same threat perception,” said Behnam Ben Taleblu, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a hawkish lobby group in Washington. “They see a regional order aligned against them by an extra-regional power,” he said, referring to the United States.

If Iran sells missiles to Russia, this would mean that it is “moving some of its most accurate, some of its most precise ammunition closer to Europe,” he said.

Since Russia’s invasion, the two sanctioned countries have cooperated on political and economic matters, with the military dimension being the latest facet in their relationship.

Editor’s Note: A version of this story first appeared in CNN’s Meanwhile in the Middle East newsletter, a three-times-a-week look inside the region’s biggest stories. Sign up here or read more:

A view of drones during a military exercise in an undisclosed location in Iran, in this handout image obtained on August 24.

Related article Iran is slowly entrenching itself as a player in the Ukraine war | CNN

The European Union is working on new Iran sanctions that could come as soon as this week due to the use of Iranian drones by Russia in Ukraine, a European diplomat told CNN.

These ongoing EU efforts came as the UN Security Council was set to discuss the Iranian drones during a closed-door meeting on Wednesday in New York. But diplomats caution that they do not expect they could get new sanctions through the security council because they will be vetoed by Russia.  

The State Department said the US would “welcome” EU sanctions on Iran for supplying drones to Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said the US has been “coordinating closely with the EU” but would not get into details of those discussions.

“I would again note and reiterate that the United States itself continues to have tools at its disposal that are practical, that are aggressive, that are useful in holding Iran accountable,” said Patel, “and you have seen us take those actions as it relates to Iranian malign activity.”

The “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens to fight in the country’s war on Ukraine has been beset by errors, caused angry protests and prompted a mass exodus when it was announced last month.

Now, as Russian officials suggest the scheme will wind up soon, questions linger over whether the turmoil was really worth it for President Vladimir Putin.

Roughly half of Russia’s regions, including Moscow, had fulfilled their draft quota as of Tuesday, and the capital’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said the city would close its draft offices.

The Kremlin later said it has yet to set an end date for Putin’s “partial” mobilization plan, which can only end with a presidential decree. “There have been no such decisions on the end of mobilization,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, adding “there can be no question” of surpassing the targeted figure of 300,000 soldiers “under current decree.”

But the signs from Moscow suggest that at least the current phase of the divisive scheme is set to finish soon. “Mobilization is ending. I assume in two weeks all mobilizing measures will be over,” Putin said on Friday.

It may be too early to tell whether the influx of soldiers can be considered a military success for Putin, who announced the plan after weeks of Ukrainian counteroffensives flipped the momentum in the conflict.

But, to date, few parts of the plan can be considered a success.

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TOPSHOT - Russian Foreign Ministry building is seen behind a social advertisement billboard showing Z letters - a tactical insignia of Russian troops in Ukraine and reading "Victory is being Forged in Fire" in central Moscow on October 13, 2022. - Five Russians drafted to fight in Ukraine, as part of the "partial" mobilization ordered in September, died after joining the army, authorities said, as similar announcements have multiplied in recent days. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP) (Photo by ALEXANDER NEMENOV/AFP via Getty Images)

Related article Russia says its chaotic military draft is starting to wind down. Has it actually helped Putin? | CNN

The Russian-installed leaders in Ukraine’s Kherson region on Wednesday began massively ramping up the relocation of up to 60,000 people amid warnings over Russia’s ability to withstand a Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of generating “hysteria” to compel people to leave. Residents in the city of Kherson began to receive text messages on Wednesday morning from the pro-Russian administration.

“Dear residents,” it read. “Evacuate immediately. There will be shelling of residential areas by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There will be buses from 7:00, from Rechport [River port] to the Left Bank.”

Martial law: Meanwhile on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had signed a law introducing martial law in Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions the Kremlin claims to have annexed, in violation of international law. The other regions are Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk.

In his first outing on Russian state television as the Kremlin’s new commander for Ukraine, Gen. Sergey Surovikin said Tuesday evening that the situation in Kherson was “far from simple” and “very difficult.”

“Our further plans and actions towards the city of Kherson will depend on the military and tactical situation on the ground,” he said.

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A view of the village, located in the border of the Kherson region where the control was again taken by the Ukrainian forces, as Ukrainian soldiers patrol around the site amid Ukraine's counterattack against Russian forces in the southern Kherson region, heavy clashes continue between the two sides in Kherson city, located in Kherson Oblast, Ukraine on October 07, 2022. Ukrainian forces retook 29 settlements in Kherson on an area of 400 square kilometers (about 155 square miles) on Oct. 1-6 as the counter offensive launched on Aug. 29 continues, according to information provided by officials.

Related article Russia ramps up relocation of civilians in Kherson. It may soon lose one of the biggest prizes of its war | CNN