November 2, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia demanding security guarantees from Ukraine demonstrates the failure of its invasion after eight months of fighting.

In his nightly address on Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader said: “252 days ago, Russia demanded security guarantees from the United States of America. After eight months of Russia’s so-called ‘special operation,’ the Kremlin is demanding security guarantees from Ukraine. These are indeed striking changes.” 

“It shows both the failure of Russian aggression and how strong we are when we remain united,” Zelensky added.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russia resumed its participation in the UN-brokered grain deal that it had left days earlier, saying it had received written security guarantees from Ukraine on demilitarizing the maritime corridor.

In televised comments, Russian President Vladimir Putin said, “having received the necessary guarantees from the Ukrainian side that the humanitarian route will not be used for military purposes, Russia resumes the implementation of the grain deal.” 

The Biden administration approved the potential sale of approximately $535 million in Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems to Finland, the State Department announced Wednesday.

The approval comes as Finland awaits approval by Turkey and Hungary to join NATO. Helsinki’s move to join the defense alliance was prompted by Russia’s war in Ukraine — Finland shares shares an 800-mile border with Russia. 

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a trusted partner, which is an important force for political stability and economic progress in Europe. It is vital to the U.S. national interest to assist Finland in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defense capability,” the notice from the State Department said.

“Finland intends to use these defense articles and services to increase its national stock, bolstering the land and air defense capabilities in Europe’s northern flank,” it said. “The increased national stock is critical to Finland’s defense and deterrence due to the deteriorated security situation in Europe.” 

Ukrainian officials say that the military has struck an important target in the southern region Kherson, as the pro-Russian authorities continue to press civilians to leave.

Serhii Khlan, member of the Kherson Regional Council, said that Ukrainian forces hit Russian air defense systems close to the stadium in Kherson city. Those systems have also been used to shell Mykolaiv, sometimes with devastating effect.

Khlan posted a photograph purportedly showing the “remains of the equipment.”

Khlan said there had also been further hits in the area of the Antonivskyi bridge, where Russian forces and the pro-Russian administration have been operating ferries and pontoon bridges to resupply the west bank, where thousands of Russian troops remain.

He said that in the city of Kakhovka —on the east bank of the river Dnipro — the three streets closest to the river were being forcibly evacuated. He said the Russians “in the city are digging in, setting up concrete trenches.”

Khlan said the Russians “are digging in on the east bank, preparing for defense, thinking that this make our offensive impossible. But the resistance movement and the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to fight.”

Khlan repeated what other Ukrainian officials have asserted: that the Russian-backed authorities have left the city of Kherson — which is on the west bank — to set up office in the city of Skadovsk, much closer to Crimea. 

“As for the urgent and mandatory “evacuation” called for by the Russians, our people are not going to go anywhere. If the locals did not have the opportunity to go to the de-occupied [Ukrainian-held] territory or decided to stay at home, they definitely do not want to go to Russia,” Khlan said.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Iran has been informed through diplomatic channels of the consequences of Tehran sending new weapon deliveries of attack drones and ballistic missiles to Russia. 

Kuleba said at a news conference in Kyiv that “the threat is real” of reported new weapon deliveries from Iran.

On Tuesday, CNN reported that Iran is preparing to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine, according to officials from a Western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program.

“I have said and will repeat again that when it comes to the complicity of any country in Russian aggression and the killing of our citizens, we will be absolutely ruthless in our actions in response, because it is about the protection of our state and our citizens,” Kuleba said.

“A much wiser decision for Iran would be to completely curtail its military cooperation, supply to Russia of any weapons used against Ukraine,” Kuleba added. 

Iran has repeatedly denied sending weapons to Russia despite clear evidence to the contrary. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday said he thanked Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for his “active participation in preserving the grain deal” after Russia said it would rejoin the agreement.

Zelensky said in a Telegram post that during the phone call with Erdoğan, he also thanked his Turkish counterpart for his “strong support of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.”

Zelensky said that they also discussed “further steps for the return of our captured political prisoners.”

“Turkey’s support is important for us in this matter,” he added. 

Russia on Wednesday said its nuclear doctrine will only permit the use of atomic weapons in a way that is defensive in nature and that the strict guidelines “pursue solely defensive goals.”

A statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation said the Russian military is “strictly and consistently guided by the tenet that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought.”

“Russian doctrinal approaches in this sphere are defined with utmost accuracy” and do not allow room for “expansive interpretation,” the ministry said.

“These approaches allow for Russia to hypothetically resort to nuclear weapons exclusively in response to an aggression involving the use of weapons of mass destruction or an aggression with the use of conventional weapons when the very existence of the state is in jeopardy,” it added.

The statement comes amid a recent increase in concern among United States and Western officials that Russia was considering using a tactical nuclear weapon on Ukraine.

On Wednesday, CNN reported that Russian military officials have discussed how and under what conditions Russia would use a tactical nuclear weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to a US intelligence assessment described to CNN by multiple sources who have read it.

The Russian foreign ministry in its statement said that it reaffirms its commitment to a joint statement signed on Jan. 3 by China, Russia, France, the UK and the US on preventing nuclear war and arms races.

“We urge other states of the ‘nuclear five’ to demonstrate in practice their willingness to work on solving this top-priority task and to give up the dangerous attempts to infringe on vital interests of each other while balancing on the brink of a direct armed conflict and encouraging provocations with weapons of mass destruction, which can lead to catastrophic consequences,” the ministry said.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres “warmly welcomes” Russia resuming participation in the Black Sea grain deal, his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric said on Wednesday. 

“The Secretary-General warmly welcomes the announcement from the Russian Federation on its resumed participation in the implementation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative to facilitate the safe navigation for exports of grain, foodstuffs and fertilizer from Ukraine,” Dujarric said in a news release.

Dujarric said that Guterres is “grateful” for the diplomatic efforts of Turkey, thanking “UN Coordinator, Amir Abdulla, and his team for their work to keep this vital food supply line open.”

“The Secretary-General continues his engagement with all actors towards the renewal and full implementation of the Initiative, and he also remains committed to removing the remaining obstacles to the exports of Russian food and fertilizer,” Dujarric added.  

Russian military officials have discussed how and under what conditions Russia would use a tactical nuclear weapon on the battlefield in Ukraine, according to a US intelligence assessment described to CNN by multiple sources who have read it.

The assessment, drafted by the National Intelligence Council, is not a high confidence product and is not raw intelligence but rather analysis, multiple people who have read it told CNN. For that reason, some officials believe the conversations reflected in the document may have been taken out of context, and do not necessarily indicate that Russia is preparing to use a nuclear weapon.

The US has still not seen any signs that Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to take the drastic step of using one, officials said, and Putin is not believed to have been involved in the discussions described in the NIC product.

But others within the administration who have viewed the document have reacted with concern, because it provides a rare window into conversations between senior Russian generals and reveals their intensifying frustration about Russia’s losses on the battlefield in Ukraine. That frustration could turn into desperation, some officials fear. There are also questions about whether Russia’s self-declared annexation of eastern Ukraine earlier this year means Russia is willing to take more extreme measures to protect that territory.

Some more context: The US has also been watching Russia’s actions around the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces are trying to take back from Russian forces in a counteroffensive. In recent weeks, Russian officials have ordered the city to be evacuated, and the US is concerned that if Ukraine drives the Russians out in a humiliating defeat, it could be the kind of trigger that would lead Putin to resort to tactical nukes. It’s among the scenarios envisioned by the intelligence assessment, although officials emphasized that Kherson is not the sole focus of the product.

The New York Times first reported on the intelligence assessment. But the internal divisions over the quality of the intelligence and how to interpret it has not been previously reported.

CNN’s Barbara Starr contributed to this report.

Read more about this here.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that Moscow reserves the right to pull out of the grain deal if Kyiv breaks promises and uses the humanitarian corridor for military purposes. 

Putin said that Russia considers Ukraine’s written guarantees, which were received with the assistance of Turkey and the UN, sufficient to resume the grain deal.

“In this regard, I have instructed the defense ministry to resume our participation in this work. However, Russia reserves the right to withdraw from these agreements if these guarantees are breached by Ukraine,” Putin said during the meeting with the Security Council.

Putin reiterated that Russia will stick to its promise to supply grain to the poorest countries regardless of the developments with the grain deal.

Prices of wheat and corn on global commodities markets fell Wednesday after Russia reversed course and said it will rejoin a deal to allow vital grain exports from Ukraine to pass through the Black Sea.

Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 6.34% to $8.45 a bushel. Corn futures fell 1.93% to $6.84 a bushel. The moves reverse sharp gains in the prices of both commodities earlier this week, after Russia suspended its participation in the deal on Saturday.

Ukraine and Russia together account for nearly a third of global wheat exports and the grain deal has played a crucial role in lowering the price of wheat and other commodities globally.

After reaching a record high in March, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s global food price index has declined for seven months in a row.

Last week, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said the renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative was crucial to avert a global food crisis.

The UN estimates that the reduction of prices for staple foods as result of the deal has indirectly prevented about 100 million people from falling into extreme poverty.

Exports of grains and other food products under the initiative have surpassed 9 million tons, according to the intergovernmental organization.

Nord Stream AG, the operator of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline from Russia to Germany and into Europe, has completed “initial data gathering” at the location of the pipeline damage on Line 1, in the Swedish exclusive economic zone, the operator said in a statement Wednesday.

According to preliminary results, technogenic – created by human technology — craters with a depth of 3 to 5 meters were found on the seabed at a distance of 248 meters from each other, the statement said. 

The section of pipe between the craters is “destroyed,” the statement said, adding that analysis of the survey data continues.

Last week, the pipeline operator said it was still waiting for approval to carry out a similar survey on the parts of pipeline damaged in the Danish exclusive economic zone.

Some background on this: In September, Western nations said leaks in two Russian gas pipelines, Nord Stream 1 and 2, were likely the result of sabotage.

The leaks were discovered in the pipelines, prompting investigations by European authorities that 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.

Swedish authorities first sounded the alarm about leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines – both of which run under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark.

A group that says it is composed of war victims from Ukraine have launched a lawsuit at the United Kingdom High Court of Justice against the Wagner Group, the shadowy Russian paramilitary group involved in Russia’s war in Ukraine, and its leader and key-Putin ally Yevgeny Prigozhin, lawyers for the alleged victims announced in a statement Wednesday.

“The action will allow ordinary, courageous Ukrainian citizens to pursue legal compensation claims against dominant actors within ‘Putin’s War-Machine’, with the purpose of frustrating its efforts and obtaining damages for the atrocities being carried out in Ukraine,” McCue Jury & Partners, the law firm representing victims, said in the statement.

“Whilst Putin and [Wagner Group] continue to carry out acts of terrorism in Ukraine, in commendable contrast, the Ukrainian victims bringing this legal action choose to use the rule of law and justice to fight back,” the statement added.

The lawsuit will target any sanctioned or unsanctioned assets owned by “any entity of Putin’s war machine” and lawyers intend to explore ways to launch similar lawsuits in the United States and around the world, according to the statement.

Various politicians from both Ukraine and the UK have expressed their support to the legal action, including former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

What the Kremlin is saying: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said the Wagner Group is a private organization and he cannot comment on the lawsuit.

“Firstly, we cannot say anything about the company’s activities; it is a private organization. Secondly, judging by the wording that you quoted, this is an extremely unqualified question. These are absolutely superficial statements, so it is hardly possible to talk about any serious steps here,” Pekov said Wednesday during a regular call with journalists. 

CNN’s Anna Chernova contributed reporting to this post.

Russia’s military equipment and weapons should be constantly modernized and improved, President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday during a virtual meeting of the so-called Coordination Council, formed recently to address the needs of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine. 

Putin told officials that all key industries should work together to support the needs of the military, and nothing should stand in the way of “achieving the desired results.” 

The Coordination Council, which was created on Oct. 20 and is headed by Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, will continue holding regular meetings.

The United States is accusing North Korea of secretly supplying Russia with a significant number of artillery shells for use in the Ukraine war and is trying to hide the shipments by making it appear as if the ammunition is being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa, according to newly declassified intelligence.

US officials believe that the surreptitious North Korean shipments — along with drones and other weaponry that Russia has acquired from Iran — are further evidence that even Moscow’s conventional artillery arsenals have dwindled during eight months of combat. 

Recent intelligence suggesting that the shipments are proceeding comes about two months after the US intelligence community said that it believed Russia was in the process of buying millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea for use on the battlefield, CNN and other outlets reported at the time. 

“In September, the DPRK publicly denied that it intended to provide ammunition to Russia,” the National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications John Kirby said in a statement to CNN. “However, our information indicates that the DPRK is covertly supplying Russia’s war in Ukraine with a significant number of artillery shells, while obfuscating the real destination of the arms shipments by trying to make it appear as though they are being sent to countries in the Middle East or North Africa.”

Officials did not provide evidence to support the new allegations. The declassified intelligence also did not provide details about how many weapons are part of the shipments, or how they would be paid for.

But American officials have publicly touted the alleged deal as evidence that Russia is struggling to maintain the necessary weapons stockpiles to continue to prosecute the conflict. 

As recently as two weeks ago, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines argued that “export controls are forcing Russia to turn to countries like Iran and North Korea for supplies, including UAVs, artillery shells and rockets.” 

Russia is resuming participation in the grain deal, President Vladimir Putin told Indonesian President Joko Widodo in a phone call Wednesday, according to the Kremlin readout.

Putin informed Widodo that “having received the necessary guarantees from the Ukrainian side that the humanitarian route will not be used for military purposes, Russia resumes the implementation of the ‘grain deal,” the official readout said.

Putin also expressed Russia’s “readiness to provide significant amounts of grain to the poorest countries free of charge as humanitarian aid.”

Putin effectively confirmed the Ministry of Defense announcement earlier Wednesday that Russia will resume participation in the Black Sea Initiative grain deal, as it has received “sufficient” guarantees.

Russian forces are preparing new defensive positions on the east bank of the Dnieper river in Kherson and telling local civilians they should move away from the area.

Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-appointed deputy head of the Kherson military administration, confirmed Wednesday that the evacuation of civilians has been extended to the east bank of the river, a move that Ukrainian officials describe as “evictions.”

Stremousov said in a video on Telegram that Ukrainian forces had made no progress in breaking through the defense line. But a zone of 15 kilometers (about 9 miles) on the east bank would be evacuated. “There is a certain list of settlements where there will be the line of defense,” Stremousov said.

“No one is talking about forced evacuation,” Stremousov insisted. “But we recommend that you listen to the military, because I myself see how the line of defense is being built directly on some people’s plots in villages. … If hostilities take place, then the soldiers will be forced to evacuate you, given that this may be dangerous.”

Stremousov also made a rare acknowledgment of reports of looting and drunkenness among Russian troops.

“Regarding the situation that may occur in the villages: we are talking about looting and drinking that some ignoramuses who represent the Russian army can do now. You can contact me directly … I need reports from you about all the facts — drinking, looting, humiliation or attempts at violence,” he said.

On the Ukrainian side, the Kherson regional military administration said that active hostilities continue. “The enemy shelled the recently liberated villages of Beryslav district [on the west bank]. Numerous damages and destruction of civil infrastructure were recorded,” it said.

The Ukrainian military’s General Staff asserted that the Russian occupation’s administration of Kherson had been transferred to the city of Skadovsk, much closer to Crimea and close to the Black Sea.

Ukrainian officials said Russian troops are “preparing the territory of the Nova Kakhovka community for defensive battles. In this regard, trenches are being dug along the line of the east bank” over a distance of about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles).

The regional military administration also claimed that occupying forces “continue to kidnap residents of the Kherson region,” especially in Nova Kakhovka.

The displaced mayor of one community on the east bank — Eugene Ryshchuk, the mayor of Oleshky — said it was being turned into a “bridgehead for hostilities.” 

“We were led to a choice - a difficult LIFE in evacuation or DEATH in our homes,” he said.

He urged people to do everything possible to survive and assured that “if you are forcibly taken to Russia, remember the state of Ukraine will not leave its people.”

Ukrainian officials have frequently accused Russian forces of widespread and organized looting throughout Kherson, most recently alleging that much of the stolen property was being taken to the city of Skadovsk.

On Wednesday, Yaroslav Yanushevych, head of the Kherson region administration, said Russian forces were looting the “largest light industry enterprise,” a company making uniforms. 

Yanushevych said “the occupiers are taking out sewing machines, cutting tables, embroidery machines, office and computer equipment and other equipment with trucks.”

CNN is unable to verify the claim.

The US is “delighted” after Russia has agreed to participate again in the Black Sea grain deal, marking a reversal after the country said Saturday it would suspend its participation, according to US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield.

“I was delighted to hear this news and I want to first commend the UN the secretary general, in particular, for continuing to negotiate this important deal because it’s providing needed food to the world. So clearly, Russia was finally convinced that they needed to continue this. They can’t stand in the way of feeding the entire world,” Thomas-Greenfield said during an interview on “CNN This Morning.”

She said the deal was “beneficial to Russia” as well, as it enables the country to move grain.

A warning on Russia and Iran: Thomas-Greenfield also warned that Russia and Iran are violating a UN resolution as the countries engage in talks about potentially sending ballistic missiles to Russia. She said the UN will “ramp up the pressure” on other nations to condemn those actions, and said it would be brought before the UN Security Council. And more broadly, she said that any planning for Russia to use a nuclear weapon is “absolutely irresponsible.”

She reiterated that President Joe Biden has “no plans” to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G20, but she said that the release of American citizens like Brittney Griner remains a “priority” and she is “prepared” to hold such a meeting if Griner’s release is on the table.

Russia announced it will resume its participation in a key grain deal after saying it would back out of the agreement on Saturday. If you’re just joining us, here are the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet decided whether he will run for a new presidential term in 2024, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Thursday during a regular call with journalists. 

Putin has been in power since 1999. He has served as president of Russia since 2012 and previously between 2000 and 2008. He also served as prime minister from 1999 to 2000 during the presidency of Boris Yeltsin, and again from 2008 to 2012 when he swapped jobs with Dmitry Medvedev, who currently serves as deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation. 

In 2021, Putin signed a law that would allow him to run for two more six-year presidential terms, potentially extending his rule until 2036.

International assistance will be vital in overcoming Russia’s sustained assault on Ukrainian energy facilities, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address on Tuesday, highlighting diplomatic efforts to counterbalance Moscow’s attacks.

“We will do everything to give people electricity and heat this winter,” said Zelensky. “But we must understand that Russia will do everything to destroy the normality of life.”

Zelensky repeated his regular call for air defenses to protect Ukraine, and revealed that he discussed “very specific projects both to strengthen our defense and to rebuild the destroyed facilities” during a conversation with French counterpart Emmanuel Macron.

Also on Tuesday, Zelensky met with Kadri Simson, the top energy official at the European Commission (EC), and the pair agreed “many working agreements,” he said.

Russia’s missile and drone attacks have seriously damaged more than 30% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, the EC said in a statement Tuesday, and the assault continues.

“The bet of terrorists for the winter is completely transparent to everyone, and this challenge should be viewed precisely as a challenge to all of Europe,” said Zelensky. “Moscow will present any winter difficulties in its propaganda as alleged proof of the failure of a united Europe.”

“They are hopeless on the battlefield. Ukrainian warriors have already proved it,” the Ukrainian president added.

“But it takes time, it takes effort, it takes patience to prove that even the hope for winter will not come true for Russian terrorists. I’m sure we’ll get through it.”

Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s national power supply company, says several regions will face extended power cuts as it tries to repair damage caused by recent Russian missile strikes.

“Unfortunately, today’s hourly power outages schedules are not enough to maintain the stable operation of the energy system,” Ukrenergo said on Telegram.

Further restrictions would be required on “the electricity supply of all categories of consumers in the Sumy, Kharkiv and Poltava regions. Hourly power outage schedules in these areas have been temporarily suspended,” added the company.

It said the additional measures were needed “to reduce the load on the networks, to support sustainable balancing of the energy system and to avoid repeated accidents after the power grids were damaged by missile and drone attacks by the Russians.”

The Black Sea grain deal was set to resume at midday Turkish time (5 a.m. ET) Wednesday, said Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan following a call with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

“After our phone conversation with Putin yesterday, as of noon today, grain shipments will continue as previously planned,” Erdogan said at a party meeting in parliament on Wednesday, reports Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency.

Erdogan will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the grain deal later Wednesday, reports Anadolu. 

Read more here.

Russia has said it will resume participation in the Black Sea grain deal that ensures safe passage for ships carrying vital food exports from Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense said on Telegram that it considers that “the guarantees received at the moment seem sufficient and resumes the implementation of the agreement.”

Moscow suspended its participation in the United Nations-brokered grain export deal with Ukraine on Saturday, citing drone attacks on the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

Moscow blames Kyiv for the attacks. CNN cannot independently verify Russia’s claims. On Saturday a top Ukrainian official accused Russia of inventing “fictitious terrorist attacks” on its own facilities in Crimea, and also accused Moscow of “blackmail.”

On Tuesday, however, Russian Ministry of Defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that Ukraine had submitted “the necessary written guarantees” that it would not use the humanitarian corridor, or ports designated for agricultural exports, to launch military operations against Russia.

The Kremlin’s decision to pull out of the agreement sparked “grave concerns” over global food supplies at a time when the world is already facing a growing hunger crisis.

Global humanitarian organizations, the European Union, NATO and the United Nations all pleaded with Moscow to reverse its decision, warning that any decline in exports coming from Ukraine could have potentially deadly consequences.

Authorities in Kyiv are preparing to deploy about 1,000 “heating points” across the city in case of an emergency, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said Tuesday. 

“We are considering various scenarios of how events may develop. The worst scenario is when there will be no electricity, water and heat supply at all,” Klitschko said on the TV channel “Kyiv,” according to a statement by the City Council. 

“For this occasion, we are preparing more than a thousand heating points in our city. Electric generators have been purchased, water reserves have been made and everything necessary for these heating points to receive people,” he said. 

Such heating points will be located in facilities such as schools and kindergartens, Klitschko added. People will be able to warm up, drink tea, recharge their phones, and get help as needed, he said. 

Video has emerged purporting to show a man preparing and planting explosives on a Russian military helicopter at an airbase deep inside Russia.

Subsequent satellite imagery shows several damaged helicopters at the base in Pskov region in northern Russia. The base is about 35 kilometers from the border with Latvia, but nearly 1,000 kilometers from Ukraine.

The sabotage of the helicopters is the furthest from Ukrainian territory that an attack has been confirmed against a Russian military target since the conflict began. 

The video shows an unidentified man placing something inside a helicopter. At one point he puts something to his ear, possibly a timer. At another moment, a Ka-52 attack helicopter is clearly visible.

The video is shot in daylight but the explosions did not occur until after nightfall, according to unofficial Russian media. 

CNN has geolocated the video to the Veretye base at Beredniki.

Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said Tuesday that a “powerful explosion occurred at the air base of the Russian Armed Forces “Veretier” on the night of October 31.”

While not claiming a Ukrainian sabotage unit carried out the attack, it said that “as a result of mining, two Russian attack (KA-52) helicopters and one MI-28N were completely destroyed. Two more were significantly damaged.”

A satellite image published Tuesday showed several damaged helicopters at the base. 

One unofficial Russian media outlet reported explosions at the base.

The Telegram channel Baza said: “At around 10 pm [on October 31], the military personnel of the unit heard several explosions, and then saw the scattered wreckage of two helicopters. The explosion was so strong that the fragments of the fuselage scattered 200 meters around. The reason for the Ka-52 explosion is unknown.”

Poland said it will take measures to “increase security” on its border with Russia by building a temporary wall, Poland’s Deputy Prime Minister Mariusz Błaszczak said Wednesday. 

“I have decided to take measures to increase security on the border with the Kaliningrad Oblast. We will start building a temporary wall that will strengthen border protection,” he tweeted Wednesday. 

In a televised press conference Wednesday, Błaszczak told reporters the decision comes after a surge in flights from the Middle East and North Africa to Kaliningrad, a Russian exclave along the Baltic Sea which is nestled between Poland and Lithuania. 

The wall will be 2.5 meters high and 3 meters wide and consist of three rows of razor wire, Błaszczak said speaking to reporters in Warsaw. A fence will also be erected from the Polish side to protect animals, he added. 

“We have taken steps to ensure that the fence is built as soon as possible. There will be as many soldiers involved as needed,” he said. 

For months, tensions have mounted around the Russian exclave, an isolated but strategically significant territory that experts fear could become a flashpoint in tensions between Moscow and Europe.

Ukrainian forces are pushing towards an important highway as they make gradual territorial advances in the Luhansk region, one of four areas illegally annexed by Russia in September, according to both the Ukrainian military and Russian military bloggers.

The Ukrainian advance focuses on a road running south from the Russian border to parts of Luhansk captured by Russian forces early in the summer. 

Ukrainian officials say the road is already under their fire control, meaning that Russian military traffic uses it at high risk.

“We hit everything that can move there,” said Ukrainian military spokesman Serhii Cherevatyi on Monday. “We do not allow the enemy to move personnel, military equipment, or ammunition through it.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense said Tuesday that Ukrainian attacks in the area were being repelled, northwest of the town of Svatove. And Russian military bloggers say that the Russian units defending the line have inflicted heavy casualties on Ukrainian forces. 

Senior Ukrainian military official Serhii Hayday told CNN at the weekend that recently liberated villages in the area were being shelled constantly. Ukrainian officials say another obstacle is extensive mining by Russian forces. 

Hayday, who is head of the regional military administration, said Monday that the Russians “did have some plans for a counter-offensive, but these plans were ruined by [our] offensive actions, so most probably we won’t see any attacks from their side.”

Hayday also claimed that the Russian units in the area were “freshly mobilized and ex-convicts, people who had civilian professions, who have no military experience and have no coordination among themselves.”

At least one Russian officer serving with a reserve unit in the area has said he expects further Ukrainian attacks towards Svatove imminently. The officer said Ukrainian forces had increased their “grouping” near the town in a post on Telegram.

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, said late Tuesday that the situation along the Donetsk/Luhansk border “remains one of the toughest ones.”

Another target of Ukrainian forces is the city of Kreminna in Luhansk. Social media videos and comments by Russian military bloggers indicate the Ukrainians have pushed forward north of the city, complicating efforts to defend it. Kreminna and other settlements in the area suffered widespread destruction in the spring as Russian forces and their allies pushed westwards. 

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian General Staff said that Russian forces continued to launch artillery strikes and mortars against several recently liberated settlements close to the north-south highway. 

While Ukrainian forces are slowly pushing forward in the area, analysts don’t expect any rapid breakthroughs given the scale of artillery and other indirect fire from Russian defensive lines, which were reinforced after Russian forces were routed from much of neighboring Kharkiv in September.

Ukraine is “actively conducting a dialogue” to get more anti-aircraft missile systems from the West while Russia plans to import more ballistic missiles from Iran, a top Ukrainian official said on Wednesday.

“We must be one step ahead in military chess. The desire of the enemy to obtain Iranian missiles only confirms the effectiveness of sanctions,” the head of the president’s office Andrii Yermak said in a statement on his Telegram channel.

“While we are doing everything possible and impossible to speed up the delivery of modern weapons to us, the President proposes to create an ‘energy Ramstein.’ We will maintain energy despite the enemy’s dream of destroying us,” Yermak added, vowing that Ukraine will defeat Russia.

The arms trade between Russia and Iran has been growing. Tehran is preparing to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Moscow, officials from a Western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program told CNN on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s Air Force on Tuesday said that it currently has no effective defense against the types of ballistic missile that Iran is preparing to ship to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood contributed reporting.

Russia has started its routine autumn conscription drive, just days after its defense ministry declared that the “partial mobilization” effort for the war in Ukraine was over.

By a decree published on the government’s website, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered to “conscript in the period from November 1 until December 31 2022 citizens of the Russian Federation aged 18 to 27 who are not in the reserve … in the number of 120,000 people.” 

The defense ministry earlier reported, according to the state news agency TASS, that the routine autumn conscription had nothing to do with Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Conscripts will not enter the war zone, and most of them will spend a year of military service close to home, TASS said Tuesday.

The previous spring drive carried out in April-July had a goal of 134,500 conscripts, according to the presidential decree published in March. 

The Russian Defense Ministry announced Monday all “partial mobilization” activities to fight in the country’s war on Ukraine had been halted after the draft’s target of recruiting 300,000 personnel had been met.

Spain’s Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares arrived in Kyiv on Wednesday to deliver 30 ambulances to Ukraine, according to Spanish authorities. 

Spain’s Foreign Ministry said Albares took an overnight train from Przemysl, Poland to Ukraine. His visit to the Ukrainian capital had previously been kept secret. 

The donated ambulances are specially equipped to handle pregnant women, the Foreign Ministry’s press office told CNN. 

Albares will visit areas affected by recent Russian missile strikes and pay tribute to Ukrainians who have died in the war, the press office said. He is also expected to meet with Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba and Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

Pakistan has approved a deal to import 30,000 tonnes of wheat from Russia in the wake of devastating floods that decimated the South Asian country’s domestic food supply.

The deal, endorsed by Pakistan’s Economic Coordination Committee (ECC), was approved Monday to buy the wheat from Prodintorg, a Russian state-owned enterprise, according to a government statement. 

Some context: Earlier this year, Pakistan was hit with devastating floods that killed more than 1,100 people and impacted 33 million others.

The flooding, which Pakistan’s Prime Minister called “the worst in the country’s history,” decimated the nation’s food supply after water covered millions of acres of crops and wiped out hundreds of thousands of livestock.

The southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol and a nearby town along the Dnipro river were struck by multiple rocket launchers overnight Tuesday, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration. 

No casualties have yet been reported and the extent of the damage is being investigated, he added. 

In an earlier post, Reznichenko said Ukrainian air defenses had destroyed six Shahed-136 drones overnight. 

The Ukrainian Air Force said Wednesday its air defenses had shot down 12 out of 13 attacks.

Ukrainian military intelligence on Tuesday said Iran is planning to send more than 200 combat drones to Russia, including the Arash-2 touted by the Iranian military as one of the longest-range attack drones in the world.

Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, part of the Defense Ministry, said “a batch of more than 200 combat drones Shahed-136, Mohajer-6 and Arash-2 is planned to be sent from Iran to the Russian Federation at the beginning of November.”

The intelligence agency said in a post on Telegram that the Unmanned Aerial Vehicles “will be delivered via the Caspian Sea to the port of Astrakhan.”

The agency said the drones are being shipped in a disassembled state and once inside Russian territory, “they will be collected, repainted and applied with Russian markings.”

The intelligence agency did not specify how it obtained the information on the shipments and CNN cannot independently verify the details.

But it echoes reporting by CNN on Tuesday, citing officials from a Western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program, that Tehran was preparing a large shipment of drones and ballistic missiles to Russia.

Any Russian deployment of the Arash-2 drone to the war in Ukraine could put further pressure on the country’s already challenged air defenses. 

Since Sept. 13, Ukraine’s air defense forces say they have shot down more than 300 attack drones — but dozens have managed to strike their targets and destroy vital energy infrastructure.

Some background: CNN’s Clarissa Ward said the deployment of the Arash-2 has the potential to be a “big game changer” in the war in Ukraine as it “can carry five times the explosives of the Shahed.” 

Unlike the noisy propeller of the Shahed-136, it has been claimed the Arash-2 uses jet propulsion, not only making it much faster and harder to shoot down, but also giving it a greater range. However, photos of what was described as an Arash-2 by Iranian state media clearly show it having a propeller at the back.

Speaking on Iranian TV at a military event in Tehran in late September, Iran’s Brig. Gen. Kioomars Heidari suggested the Arash-2 had a range of 2,000 kilometers (1,243 miles), which would make it one of the longest-range attack drones in the world. However, Iranian military leaders have a history of exaggerating the capabilities of Iranian-built weapons systems. 

Ukraine’s military has accused Russian-installed officials in the southern region Kherson of spreading misinformation to coerce civilians to leave the region in a forced evacuation, a war crime.

In a statement on Tuesday, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said, “The occupiers continue the forced displacement of civilians in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson region.”

The Ukraine armed forces explained that the local population in Kherson has been “deprived of means of communication,” and are unable to get an accurate picture of what is really happening in the war.

Earlier in the week, Russian-installed officials announced a new evacuation from Kherson, saying they are taking civilians to safety because of the risk Ukraine might use unconventional weapons.

“Due to the possibility of the use of prohibited methods of war by the Ukrainian regime, as well as information that Kyiv is preparing a massive missile strike on the Kakhovka hydroelectric station, there is an immediate danger of the Kherson region being flooded,” Vladimir Saldo, Russian-installed head of occupied Kherson province, said in a video message Monday.

Ukraine has categorically denied the allegation that it intends to blow up the dam and flood the area.

The United States will “use every relevant and appropriate tool in our toolkit to expose, to confront, to counter” Iran’s provision of weapons to Russia, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Tuesday.

Speaking at a State Department briefing, Price said the US has “taken aim at Iran’s UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) proliferation networks over the course of months now,” and “we are always looking at targets that may be appropriate for this sort of response, sanctions, other, other financial measures.”

“We are concerned that Russia may also seek to acquire advanced conventional weapons from Iran, such as surface to surface missiles that will almost certainly be used to support Russia’s war against Ukraine,” Price said.

The spokesperson added the US will “vigorously” enforce all sanctions on both Russian and Iranian arms trade “to make it harder for Iran to sell these weapons to Russia.”

CNN reported Tuesday that Iran is preparing to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia.

Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations have agreed to not plan for any ship movements in the Black Sea grain corridor on Wednesday, according to a statement from the UN Secretariat at the Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) in Istanbul on Tuesday.

UN and Turkish teams on Tuesday carried out 36 inspections aboard outbound vessels, according to the statement. They attempted to inspect another two ships, but the process was cut short because of “issues related to fumigated cargo,” the statement said. The inspection reports would be shared with the Ukrainian and Russian delegations, it added.

“The UN Secretariat reiterates that movements and inspections carried out after the Russian Federation suspended its participation in implementation activities at the Joint Coordination Centre is a temporary and extraordinary measure,” according to the statement.

The JCC said earlier that three ships had left Ukrainian ports Tuesday, despite Russia’s decision to suspend its participation in the arrangement on Saturday.

Ukraine’s Air Force on Tuesday said it currently has no effective defense against the types of ballistic missile that Iran is allegedly preparing to ship to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine.

Yuriy Ihnat, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Air Force Command, said the range of the Iranian ballistic missiles being supplied, with “one having a range of 300 kilometers the other 700 kilometers,” will allow Russian forces to strike anywhere inside Ukraine.

“There is a high probability that they will be delivered to the north above Ukraine [border], from where they can be launched to threaten the entire Ukraine,” Ihnat said at a press conference in Kyiv on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, CNN reported that Iran is preparing to send about 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones for Russia to use against Ukraine. 

Asked whether Ukraine’s Armed Forces were ready to defend against these types of Iranian ballistic missiles, Ihnat replied they “will take all measures and means of protection against these missiles” that they can. 

However, he warned “currently we have no effective defense against these missiles. It is theoretically possible to shoot them down, but it is very difficult to do it with the means we currently have.” 

Ihnat said he believed Russia is being sent the Iranian ballistic missiles to boost its dwindling supply of Russian-built Iskander-M missiles.

“It is obvious that these missiles are coming to them to supplement these Iskanders, because they are actually running out of Iskanders,” he said.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, called Tehran “an accomplice of aggression.”

“Transferring missiles to the Russian Federation, Iran knows that it will attack our cities. Teaching Russians to use drones, it knows that they will attack Ukraine’s energy sector, provoking waves of refugees to EU,” he tweeted.

Iran is preparing to send approximately 1,000 additional weapons, including surface-to-surface short range ballistic missiles and more attack drones, to Russia to use in its war against Ukraine, officials from a Western country that closely monitors Iran’s weapons program told CNN.

The shipment is being closely monitored because it would be the first instance of Iran sending advanced precision guided missiles to Russia, which could give the Kremlin a substantial boost on the battlefield.

The last shipment of weapons from Iran to Russia included about 450 drones, officials said, which the Russians have already used to deadly effect in Ukraine. Ukrainian officials said last week that they have shot down more than 300 Iranian drones.

This new expected shipment would mark a significant increase in Iranian support to Russia’s war effort. While the precise timing of when the shipment will arrive in Russia is unclear, officials believe the weapons will definitely be delivered before the end of the year.

Read more here.