Putin escalates battle, sends diseased Russian prisoners to front lines
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What we covered here
Russian-installed authorities are stepping up pressure on residents to leave the southern Kherson region, as an adviser to the Ukrainian president warned of the “heaviest of battles.”
President Vladimir Putin called on his government to “speed up” decision-making and manufacturing of military equipment as the Kremlin admitted that the army is experiencing equipment issues.
Several airstrikes hit Kyiv, military official says
From CNN’s Josh Pennington and Philip Wang
Several airstrikes hit Kyiv on Thursday morning local time, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional military administration.
The strikes hit a community in the region, Kuleba said. The fire was extinguished, and the local air defense forces have taken out some “enemy objects” from the sky, he said.
No casualties have been reported.
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Russia tries to halt a UN investigation into the use of Iranian-made drones in Ukraine
From CNN’s Sr. UN Correspondent Richard Roth
Russia tried again at the UN Security Council on Wednesday to shift the focus on the use of Iranian-made drones in Ukraine.
Russia claimed the senior UN leadership was stepping outside its responsibilities by planning to send experts to Ukraine to examine drones the US insists were made and shipped by Iran.
Russia believes that Article 100 of the UN Charter prohibits the UN Secretary-General and his staff from receiving or seeking instructions from a member state.
However, the UN legal office disagreed and provided past examples of countries asking the Secretary-General for assistance, including Russia.
Wednesday’s discussions came after British, French and German diplomats wrote to the Secretary-General last Friday urging the UN to investigate Iran’s transfer of drones to Russia, saying it violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which restricts certain arms transfers to or from Iran.
US Ambassador Robert Wood said that Moscow was again wasting time to deflect attention from its egregious wrongdoing while UK Ambassador James Kariuki said Russia and Iran had been “caught red-handed violating resolution 2231.”
The resolution was linked to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and elements of that resolution, including a ban on the transfer of conventional weapons, were phased out in 2020. But the Western countries said that both Iranian drone models were manufactured after the resolution entered into force and that the transfer “has not been permitted in advance by the Security Council.”
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Israel's Herzog says there are limitations on supplying Ukraine with air defense systems
From CNN’s Philip Wang
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog speaks with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
CNN
Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said Wednesday there are limitations that prevent his country from supplying Ukraine with certain air defense systems, but he also said Israel was willing to supply non-lethal products.
The Israeli president took exception to criticism about Israel’s stance on supplying weaponry, noting that the US and Europe have declined to provide some military equipment to the Kyiv government.
He also noted that Israel was “analyzing the situation” when it comes to the Russian deployment of Iranian-made drones in the conflict.
Russia has so far used around 400 Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure since the invasion started, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday.
The Ukrainian leader also said this week that Russia could be paying Iran for drones by providing assistance for Iran’s nuclear program.
In the CNN interview, Herzog responded that he didn’t have specific information about such a deal, but that there was no further proof needed to demonstrate that Iran was a danger to “world order and stability.”
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It's nighttime in Kyiv. Here's what you need to know.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that the toughest battles are taking place in the eastern Donetsk region, specifically toward the city of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
Meanwhile, a Zelensky advisor, Oleksiy Arestovych, said the “heaviest of battles” lies ahead in Kherson, the strategically important southern city that is under Russian control.
The Moscow-installed local authorities have warned of an impending Ukrainian attempt to retake the regional capital and ordered civilians to leave.
Here are the latest headlines:
Tens of thousands of civilians have left Kherson region, Russian-appointed official says: More than 70,000 people have left the right bank of the Dnieper river in the Kherson region in recent days, the Russian-appointed governor, Vladimir Saldo, said. Ukraine’s military intelligence claimed Moscow was reinforcing the city with recently mobilized recruits, which it described as “cannon fodder.”
Drone strikes are a response to the Crimea bridge explosion, says Russian envoy: Russia’s Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin said Moscow launched the wave of drone strikes in Ukraine in retaliation for the Crimean bridge explosion earlier this month. Ukraine’s Zelensky said that the Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones “destroyed more than a third” of the country’s energy sector.
Russian ambassador says Moscow will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine: Ambassador Kelin said Russia will not use nuclear weapons in the country’s war against Ukraine. “Russia is not going to use nukes. It is out of the question,” he told CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour.
CIA chief visited Ukraine: CIA director Bill Burns traveled to Ukraine earlier this month to meet with Zelensky and other officials as the war appears poised to grind into its second year, according to two sources familiar with the trip.
Kremlin: Any Griner prisoner swap conversations need to be done quietly: The Kremlin said that any discussions on a potential prisoner exchange involving US basketball star Brittney Griner can only be done quietly. Speaking on a daily briefing, spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the Moscow Regional Court’s decision Tuesday to uphold Griner’s drug smuggling conviction. Asked about a potential prisoner swap, Peskov said all conversations regarding possible exchanges could only be carried out in conditions of “complete impermeability and silence.”
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White House claims US is seeing signs Russia may be advising Iran on how to crack down on protests
From CNN's Maegan Vazquez
White House officials said that the United States is seeing signs Russia may be advising Iran on how to crack down on public demonstrations after clashes broke out across Iran during demonstrations marking 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini.
Jean-Pierre and John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the National Security Council who spoke later in the briefing, did not provide evidence for the accusation.
Protests have swept through the Islamic Republic following the death of Amini, the 22-year-old Kurdish Iranian woman who died on Sept. 16 after being detained by the country’s “morality police” and taken to a “re-education center,” allegedly for not abiding by Iran’s conservative dress code. And nationwide protests marking 40 days since Amini diedsparked clashes through Iran on Wednesday.
Zelensky says the toughest battles are taking place in Donetsk region
From CNN’s Philip Wang
Ukraine’s President Zelensky said Wednesday that the toughest battles are taking place in the Donetsk region, specifically toward the city of Bakhmut and Avdiivka.
“The situation on the frontline has not changed significantly,” Zelensky said during his daily address when talking about the frontline situation in the eastern region.
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Inside the House GOP effort to keep weapons flowing to Ukraine
From CNN's Kylie Atwood, Jeremy Herb, Katie Bo Lillis and Melanie Zanona
After House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested last week that Republicans might pull back funding for Ukraine next year if they take the majority, the GOP leader has worked behind the scenes to reassure national security leaders in his conference that he wasn’t planning to abandon Ukraine aid and was just calling for greater oversight of any federal dollars, sources told CNN.
McCarthy told key Republican national security committee members – some of whom reached out to McCarthy – that his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t get a “blank check” in a Republican majority were being taken out of context, the sources said. Rather, McCarthy told his members he was simply saying that a GOP-led House would not automatically rubber-stamp a request from the administration for additional Ukraine aid.
“McCarthy was not saying, ‘We wouldn’t spend money.’ McCarthy was saying, ‘We’re gonna be accountable to the taxpayer for every dollar we spend,’” one GOP lawmaker familiar with McCarthy’s thinking told CNN. “A ‘blank check’ means that people get whatever they ask for. What we’re saying is there’s going to be some thought, there’s going to be accountability, and taxpayer dollars are going to be used appropriately.”
McCarthy’s effort to soothe the House’s senior defense hawks, which has not been previously reported, underscores the fine line the aspiring speaker is walking on foreign policy as the war in Ukraine appears poised to grind into a second year. But it also offers a preview of the types of policy and political battles to come between the establishment and pro-Trump wings of the GOP, presenting a tricky balancing act — and potential headaches — for Republican leaders in a House majority.
Analysis: Putin has been watching and waiting for this moment in Washington
From CNN's Stephen Collinson
Vladimir Putin in Sochi on September 29, 2021.
Vladimir Smirnov/Pool/AFP/Getty Images/File
For months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has waited and watched, hoping for a fracturing of the remarkable Washington consensus built by President Joe Biden on the need to do everything it takes to defend democracy in Ukraine.
There is no sign that the $18 billion US pipeline of military aid that has helped Ukraine drive back Russia’s onslaught is immediately in danger. But the stirrings of political opposition to an endless US role in the war are growing on both sides of the aisle just two weeks before the November midterms.
Even the slightest hint of a softening of American resolve could comfort Putin as the Kremlin strongman prepares to inflict a painful winter on Ukrainian civilians and Europeans reliant on Russian gas.
In what can only be described as a political debacle on Tuesday, progressive Democrats published, then withdrew, a letter initially signed in June that called on the White House to match its effort to arm Ukraine with a strong diplomatic effort to engage Russia and seek a ceasefire. This came days after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the possible next speaker, warned that Kyiv could not expect a “blank check” on aid if the GOP is in charge next year.
Seeking to highlight US and Western commitment to Ukraine amid the political chatter, Biden delivered a fresh warning on Tuesday against the use of smaller-yield nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.
The President’s comments were a reminder that the maneuvering in Washington over Ukraine aid is taking place in a critical context, with anxiety still acute over a possible escalation of the war that could spill over into direct US-Russia hostilities and put the world on a disastrous path toward a full-on nuclear escalation.
This is why signs of fraying political resolve in the United States, and in some allied nations, are so significant. They could convince Putin that a war of attrition over the winter could sooner or later cause fatigue in the West and therefore weaken Ukraine’s ability to fight.
CIA director traveled to Ukraine earlier this month
From CNN's Alex Marquardt and Katie Bo Lillis
CIA Director Bill Burns testifies during a Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing on March 10.
Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images/File
CIA director Bill Burns traveled to Ukraine earlier this month to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials as the war appears poised to grind into its second year, according to two sources familiar with the trip.
The sources declined to provide further details about the trip.
Some more context: Burns’ trip comes as the US has grown increasingly concerned that Russia may turn to a nuclear weapon in its struggling war. Burns and other US officials have said publicly that they see no evidence that Moscow is actively preparing to take such a step, but officials familiar with the intelligence warn that the risk is perhaps the highest it has been since Russia invaded in February.
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Ukraine's military intelligence says Russia is reinforcing Kherson with recruits as "cannon fodder"
From CNN's Nic Robertson in Kyiv
Ukraine’s military intelligence says Russia continues to remove its “occupation administration” from the southern Kherson region but is reinforcing the city with recently mobilized recruits and suggests they are being used as “cannon fodder.”
But at the same time, Budanov said, Russia is “bringing into Kherson some new ‘cannon fodder’ from the newly mobilized Russian soldiers, getting ready for the street fighting.”
Russia, he said, “realizes and understands the whole difficulty of their situation and they don’t want to be totally encircled.”
Budanov said the Russian withdrawal will accelerate when Ukraine “takes the Nova Kakhovka dam under our artillery fire control.”
“That’s why all our fighting units are moving towards both Kherson and Nova Kakhovka,” he added.
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EU looks forward to working with new UK leader on Russia's war and climate change, bloc's chief says
Von der Leyen said in a tweet that she is looking forward to working with the UK on issues such as Russia’s war on Ukraine and climate change.
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US has warned Putin about possible consequences for use of a nuclear weapon, secretary of state says
From CNN's Jennifer Hansler
Antony Blinken during an interview in Washington, DC on October 26 2022.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg/Getty Images
The consequences for any use of a nuclear weapon have been conveyed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.
Blinken did not indicate who or how it was communicated to Putin.
Officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration have said that Moscow has been warned at the highest levels about use of nuclear weapons in Russia’s war against Ukraine, but Blinken’s remark is the first explicit acknowledgement that the message has been communicated to Putin himself.
Blinken reiterated that the US is tracking the Kremlin’s nuclear saber-rattling “very carefully” but hasn’t “seen any reason to change our nuclear posture.”
He said Russia’s latest claim that Ukraine is considering the use of a dirty bomb is “another fabrication and something that is also the height of irresponsibility coming from a nuclear power.”
He said the US has also communicated directly with the Russians “about trying to use this false allegation as a pretext for any kind of escalation.”
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US says it is appreciative to Ukraine for including recovery of slain American man in Russian negotiations
From CNN's Michael Callahan
The US State Department expressed condolences to the family of an American man killed in August while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military in a statement.
Joshua Jones’ remains will soon be released to his family, spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.
A CNN team witnessed the transfer from the Russian military to Ukrainian custody in the southeast Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday.
Price reiterated that United States citizens should not travel to Ukraine at this time.
“US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options. US citizens who travel to Ukraine, including to participate in the fighting there, face significant risks and the United States cannot guarantee their safety,” Price added in the statement.
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Russia has used around 400 Iranian drones to attack Ukrainian civilians, Zelensky alleges
From CNN’s Eve Brennan and Oleg Racz in London
Russia has so far used around 400 Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure since the invasion started, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged on Wednesday.
Moscow’s “dialogue” involves “400 missiles instead of words,” Zelensky said in a press conference with Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.
Zelensky said “60-70% of those deadly (drones) were downed” by Ukraine’s military.
While Iran denies providing drones to Russia used against Ukraine, top British, French and German diplomats wrote to the UN secretary general on Friday urging investigation into Iran’s transfer of drones to Russia, according to a letter reviewed by CNN.
These diplomats cited “significant open source evidence” of the Iranian drones in Ukraine.
The British Ministry of Defence also said that “Russia is likely expending a high number of Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs in order to penetrate increasingly effective Ukrainian air defences,” in its latest assessment Monday.
Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied the Western allegations on Saturday, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.
“We condemn the allegations of giving drones to Russia in the Ukraine war. We are against war anywhere in the world,” Amir-Abdollahian said.
CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Radina Gigova and Aliza Kassim contributed reporting to this post.
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More than 70,000 civilians have left Kherson region in recent days, according to Russian-appointed official
From CNN's Katharina Krebs in London
Civilians evacuated from the Russian-controlled city of Kherson walk from a ferry to board a bus heading to Crimea, in the town of Oleshky, Kherson Oblast, on October 23.
Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
More than 70,000 people have left the right bank of the Dnieper river in the southern Kherson region in recent days, the region’s Russian-appointed governor, Vladimir Saldo, said on Wednesday.
Saldo said in an interview with the Crimea 24 channel that Russian-backed authorities of the region had organized the evacuation of residents away from the frontline in light of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Saldo said that there is a threat of Ukrainians “blowing up” the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and it shouldn’t be ignored.
He added that preventive measures of discharging water from the Kakhovka reservoir are now being taken in case of action from Ukraine.
“The North Crimean and main canals will be additionally opened for water discharge. Water is being discharged,” the official said, adding that “some missiles reach the area of the station, but most of them are shot down by our air defense.”
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Ukrainian official says Russia dirty bomb allegations have become "something of a joke"
From CNN’s Allegra Goodwin, Nicholas Pearce and Ben Kirby
Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, attends a press conference in Kyiv on September 22.
Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters/File
Ukraine is not developing a so-called dirty bomb — as Russia has alleged without evidence — Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, told CNN.
“This is a question that became something of a joke. And my answer is direct: We’re not getting prepared. We are not working on a dirty bomb,” Budanov told CNN’s Nic Robertson.
A dirty bomb is a weapon that combines conventional explosives like dynamite and radioactive material like uranium.
Ukraine has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the facilities where Russia alleges the bombs are being developed.
Earlier on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow’s claim that Ukraine was planning to use the bomb for “provocations.”
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called the claims “transparently false” and said that they must not be used by the Kremlin as a pretext to escalate the war.
Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin also repeated the unsubstantiated claims to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.
Kelin claimed without evidence that Kyiv is building the weapon as Ukraine’s counteroffensive on the battlefield has stalled.
“We have a feeling that at this moment that authorities in Kyiv need to attract attention by something because the offensive attack on different fronts, the counterattack as they are calling it, has stopped. They are losing resources. The frontline has stabilized… there is no movement. At the moment, it [Ukraine] needs something,” he said.
CNN’s Katharina Krebs contributed reporting for this post.
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US issues sanctions over Russia's "malign influence campaign" in Moldova as Moscow faces setbacks in Ukraine
From CNN's From Kylie Atwood
The Biden administration announced sanctions on nine people and 12 entities to counter Russia’s malign influence campaigns and corruption in Moldova, the US Treasury Department announced on Wednesday.
The sanctions come as Russia “faces military setbacks and global outrage over its brutal actions in Ukraine,” which has prompted Russian operatives to consider “increasingly desperate measures to prevent further erosion of its influence,” the US Treasury department said.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is “committed to supporting Moldova’s efforts to counter corruption, reform the justice sector, strengthen the independence and transparency of its democratic institutions, and promote accountability for those seeking to undermine its democracy.” Blinken said that in addition to the sanctions today the US “will continue to hold accountable those threatening democracy abroad.”
Among the sanctioned individuals is a former Moldovan government official who served as the elected chair of the Democratic Party of Moldova: Vladimir Plahotniuc. Plahotniuc maintained control over the country’s law enforcement apparatus to target political and business rivals, the Treasury epartment said.
lan Shor, leader of the Shor Party in Moldova, is also among those being sanctioned “for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in interference in a foreign government election, for or on behalf of, or for the direct or indirect benefit of the Government of the Russian Federation,” Blinken said.
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Drone strikes are a response to Crimea bridge explosion, says Russian ambassador
From CNN’s Nicholas Pearce and Ben Kirby
Explosion causes fire at the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea on October 8.
Vera Katkova/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
Russia’s Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin has claimed that Ukrainians have crossed a “red line” and said Moscow has launched drone strikes across Ukraine in retaliation for the Crimean bridge explosion earlier this month.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones have “destroyed more than a third” of Ukraine’s energy sector, at an international conference on Tuesday.
When pressed on drones, the ambassador admitted that “drones are being used in this area for many years starting in 2014.”
Kelin denied attacks on Ukrainian civilians in the strikes.
US, EU and Ukrainian officials have all said Moscow has deliberately targeted civilians and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as “pure acts of terror” on Tuesday.
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Body of American killed in Ukraine returned to Ukrainian custody by Russian military
From CNN’s Clarissa Ward, Mick Krever, and Scott McWhinnie in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, and Dave Alsup in Atlanta
Joshua Jones was killed in Ukraine this summer.
Telegram
The body of an American man killed in August while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military has been returned to Ukrainian custody by the Russian military. A CNN team witnessed the transfer in the Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday.
The American is 24-year-old Joshua Jones, who was killed in August. The US State Department has informed Jones’ family about the body’s return, Jones’ father told CNN Wednesday.
The transfer took place just north of Vasylivka. The two sides had agreed to a two-hour ceasefire in no-man’s land between Russian- and Ukrainian-held Ukraine.
A Ukrainian ambulance was on site to transport Jones’ body. The Ukrainians said that they were able to identify the body by Jones’ tattoos and other identifying characteristics. The Russians had also sent photos of the body in advance.
In a tearful phone call, the man’s father, Jeff Jones, told CNN, “We got him back!”
Jones said he got a message from the Ukrainian military’s International Legion Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. ET via the Signal app, but he missed the call. At 7 a.m. ET, he got a call from his son’s fiancée with the news. The US Embassy in Ukraine informed him shortly thereafter.
