Russia’s war in Ukraine

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

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev attends a podium discussion on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on November 8, 2014 in Berlin, Germany.

Mikhail Gorbachev, the last president of the Soviet Union before its dissolution, has died in Moscow at the age of 91, according to official statements. 

Gorbachev, whose tumultuous rule was associated with the terms of perestroika and glasnost — reform and openness — died after a long illness, according to official Russian news agencies.

Russian President Vladmir Putin expressed his deepest condolences over Gorbachev’s death, Putin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told RIA Novosti. 

Putin will send a message tomorrow to Gorbachev’s family and friends, the Russian new agency added. 

Here’s a look back at the life and times of former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev:

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02:48 • Source: CNN

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy meets with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in Kyiv on August 30.

As the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation arrives in Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelensky said their mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is important “and we’re doing everything we can to make it happen safely and at full capacity.”

“Unfortunately, Russia does not stop provocations precisely in those directions from which the mission is supposed to arrive at the station. But I hope that the IAEA mission will be able to start its work,” he claimed.

Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of daily attacks using rockets and artillery in the vicinity of the plant.

Some context: Zelensky met with the IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi on Tuesday, according to a press officer with Zelensky’s office. The delegation plans on visiting the power plant later this week.

Zelensky urged the IAEA to do more than inspect the plant, saying that strategic decisions were required “regarding the urgent demilitarization of the station, the withdrawal of all, any, military personnel of the Russian Federation with explosives, with any kind of weapon.”

The president insisted that the area should become a demilitarized zone and that there should be a transition of the plant to full control of the Ukrainian state.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has spoken of the military’s efforts to take the battle to Russian forces and says the occupiers “can do only two things: run away or surrender.”

In his daily video message, Zelensky said the armed forces and security services were doing “everything possible and impossible so that every Russian serviceman will necessarily feel the Ukrainian response to this terrible terror that Russia has brought to our land.”

He was speaking as a Ukrainian offensive in the south got underway. Few details have emerged about its goals and timeline, nor about Ukrainian advances in the Kherson region.

Zelensky promised that “Throughout the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine, from Crimea to the Kharkiv region, the Russian army does not have and will not have a single safe base, a single quiet place. Our defenders will destroy all warehouses, headquarters of the occupiers, and their equipment, no matter where they are located.”

Zelensky also addressed the people of Crimea, saying, “Please stay as far as possible from Russian military facilities. Do not be near Russian bases and military airfields, report to the special services of Ukraine all the information you know about the occupiers so that the liberation of Crimea can happen faster.”

State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel confirmed that the US believes Russia has received unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from Iran and “intends to use these Iranian UAVs, which can conduct air to surface attacks, electronic warfare, and targeting on the battlefield in Ukraine.”

CNN’s Natasha Bertrand reported Monday evening that the US assessed that Russia was in possession of the UAVs.

A top Kremlin official is leading Russia’s efforts to stage sham referenda in occupied parts of Ukraine, US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Tuesday.

“Preparations for the sham referenda are being led by the first deputy head of Russia’s presidential administration, Sergey Kiriyenko,” Patel said during a phone briefing. 

Kiriyenko was sanctioned in March 2021 and sanctioned again in February 2022 — two days before the Russian war in Ukraine began — in response to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to recognize the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics as “independent.”

Patel reiterated that the US assesses that Russia could hold sham referenda in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and parts of Kharkiv. They “could take place in the coming weeks,” he said.

“We expect Russia to manipulate the results of these referenda in order to falsely claim that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia,” he said. 

Wind turbines rotate in the Baltic Sea between the islands of Rügen and Bornholm, belonging to Denmark on August 29, 2020.

European countries bordering the Baltic Sea agreed on Tuesday to ramp up offshore wind energy seven-fold by 2030, as Europe seeks to wean itself off Russian gas supplies.  

The agreement was signed at the Baltic Sea Summit in Copenhagen, which was hosted by Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and government heads from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Finland. Organizers said the summit’s aim was to strengthen the EU’s independence from Russian gas, improve energy security and boost the Baltic Sea’s offshore energy potential.

More on the agreement: Initial projects announced include a hybrid offshore wind park between Estonia and Latvia, a cross-border district heating grid between Germany and Poland and a project to produce renewable electricity in Italy, Spain and Germany for conversion, transport and use of green hydrogen in the Netherlands and Germany, according to a news release issued by the European Commission.

During a news conference following the summit, the European Commission president also addressed concerns over rising energy prices across Europe.

“The real driver for the increase of electricity prices is somewhere else, that is gas, and mainly Russian gas that has been manipulated by Putin. Putin who uses gas as a weapon and you can see that in the figures,” she said, adding the electricity market is no longer functioning because of Putin “who is systematically trying to destroy it and to manipulate it.”

These are some of the latest developments in the war in Ukraine:

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi ahead of a planned visit this week by a delegation of the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog.

As Ukraine and Russia continue to accuse each other of shelling the area around the plant, the European Union is donating 5.5 million potassium iodide tablets to Ukraine to safeguard people from potential radiation exposure in what the EU Commission called a “preventative safety measure.”

Ukrainian southern counteroffensive: US President Joe Biden’s administration has been helping the Ukrainian military prepare for its now-ongoing counteroffensive for the last couple of months by fulfilling specific arms requests leading up to the launch this week, according to an administration official.

Ukrainian officials also said that the damage to bridges across the Dnipro river in the Kherson region means that Russian forces are unable to cross the river to assist units on the front lines further north.

Kharkiv strikes: At least four people were killed and nine others wounded in shelling of central Kharkiv — Ukraine’s second-largest city — on Tuesday, according to Oleh Synehubov, the head of the regional military administration. 

Rssian gas supplies: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, while saying that Russia is using gas as a strategy in the war against Ukraine, assured Germans that “we can deal quite well with the threats that are coming our way” in terms of the gas supply for the coming winter months. On Aug. 19, Gazprom announced unscheduled maintenance orders onNord Stream 1 from Aug. 31-Sept. 2, which will suspend gas flow. Meanwhile, French industrial energy group Engie said that Russian gas company Gazprom will reduce its supply of gas to France, effective today.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy shakes hands with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi in Kyiv on August 30.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky met with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi on Tuesday, according to a press officer with Zelensky’s office. 

The meeting came as Ukraine and Russia continue to accuse each other of shelling the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant ahead of a planned visit by a delegation of the IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, later in the week.

Zelensky told Grossi that the IAEA’s mission in Ukraine is “urgent” and that Ukraine wants its team to do more than carry out an inspection at the plant.

Zelensky said that he hoped the delegation would “find an opportunity, thanks to our special services, thanks to the security corridors, to get to the station, and do the best to avoid all those threats on a global scale.”

He blamed the Russian military for the “creation of great risks, regarding explosions, regarding the failure to work of the nuclear reactors, regarding the risks of disconnecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant units from our network, and regarding the risks of the heating season for our citizens.” 

Zelensky urged the IAEA to do more than inspect the plant, saying that strategic decisions were required “regarding the urgent demilitarization of the station, the withdrawal of all, any, military personnel of the Russian Federation with explosives, with any kind of weapon.”

Zelensky insisted that the area should become a demilitarized zone and that there should be a transition of the plant to full control of the Ukrainian state.

The Biden administration has been helping the Ukrainian military prepare for its now ongoing counteroffensive for the last couple of months by fulfilling specific arms requests, an administration official says.

Ukraine had been asking the US for weapons specifically suited to their planned southern counter offensive in the months leading up to the launch this week, the official says.

The US fulfilled many of those requests — including additional ammunition, artillery and Javelins — over the course of several presidential drawdown assistance packages provided to Ukraine over the last two months, the official said. 

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and top US General Mark Milley have routinely talked to their Ukrainian counterparts to determine what specific weapon needs depending on Ukraine’s battlefield goals. 

The European Union Parliament in Brussels on June 22.

All European Union member states agree on launching the “work necessary to define the parameters for a new military assistance mission for Ukraine,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Tuesday. 

There are “many training initiatives on the way” for the Ukrainian military, he said after a meeting of EU defense ministers in Prague.

The top EU diplomat also said that the Ukrainian defense minister had shown the EU a list of short-, medium- and long-term training activities that country’s military needs. 

“We need to ensure the coherence of this effort,” he said. “It’s clear that we need to be quick and ambitious, demonstrate added value, flexibility, once again based on the needs of Ukrainian armed forces.”

A picture taken on July 21 shows a car moving past a crater on a bridge across the Dnipro river, near Kherson, caused by a Ukrainian rocket strike.

Ukrainian officials say that the damage to bridges across the Dnipro river in the Kherson region means that Russian forces are unable to cross the river to assist units on the front lines further north.

“The enemy is trying to pull up reserves from the Left (south) bank,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian military’s Operational Command South, said at a briefing Tuesday.

That had proved impossible, she added, “because we carefully and precisely worked on these bridges: they are the main transport arteries across the Dnipro, they became impassable for heavy equipment.” 

“They may continue to try to set up a ferry or pontoon crossing, but the whole area where it can be deployed is also under our fire control and will be hit,” Humeniuk added.

There were further strikes reported on the main Antonivskiy road bridge connecting southern Kherson with Kherson city early Tuesday.

Minister for Foreign Affairs, Annalena Baerbock, attends the closed meeting of the German Cabinet at Schloss Meseberg, Germany on August 30.

Germany would want to see Russian persecuted opposition members excluded from a possible European Union-wide visa ban for Russian citizens, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on the side of a German cabinet retreat on Tuesday. 

Berlin is ready to suspend a visa facilitation agreement with Russia and stop issuing multiple visas or multiple-years visas, Baerbock said. 

During a two-day informal gathering in Prague, EU defense and foreign ministers are considering further measures against Russia, and one proposal put forward by Eastern European countries is to ban Russian tourists from entering the EU.

The German government wants to enable “persecuted people in Russia to leave the country very quickly,” Baerbock said. 

The visa opportunity should offer refuge not only for “very well-known journalists or very well-known opposition members, but we must also leave the possibility for students who have the courage at their university to inform themselves elsewhere,” the minister said.

“We must prepare ourselves for the fact that Russia will continue to pose a threat to our security and our freedom in the near future and that at the same time we cannot view the entire security policy solely in terms of this Russian war of aggression,” she added. 

Pope Francis meets with Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash, during a private audience at the Vatican on April 7.

In a Vatican statement, Pope Francis today issued by far his strongest words yet on Russia’s war in Ukraine, calling it “morally unjust, unacceptable, barbaric, senseless, repugnant and sacrilegious.”

The Vatican’s daily news bulletin called for everyone to pray to “rebuild peace” and the “defense of human life and the values connected to it, and not as political positions.”

In the bulletin, the Pope also responded to some of the criticism he’s faced due to his recent comments concerning the death of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Russian ultranationalist firebrand Alexander Dugin. 

Dugina was killed after a bomb planted in a car she was driving went off in the outskirts of Moscow on Aug. 20.

Last week, the Pope said: “I think of that poor girl who was blown up by a bomb that was under her car seat in Moscow. The innocent pay for war, the innocent.”

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) have blamed Ukrainian special services for the murder of Dugina; however, Ukraine has denied any involvement, calling the FSB claims fiction.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs reacted last week by expressing disappointment over the Pope’s statement, saying it “unjustly” equates “the aggressor and the victim.”

Communal employees work on a roof after it was damaged during a Russian attack in Kharkiv, Ukraine on August 30.

At least four people were killed and nine others wounded in shelling of central Kharkiv on Tuesday, according to Oleh Synehubov, the head of the regional military administration. 

“All emergency services are working on the spot” to help those injured, Synehubov wrote on his official Telegram channel.

Ukraine and Russia continued to accuse each other on Tuesday of shelling the area around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine ahead of a planned visit by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expected later in the week. 

The Russian authorities, who are in control of the plant and the nearby city of Enerhodar, reported artillery strikes early Tuesday morning close to a spent fuel storage building. The claim was made on the authorities’ official Telegram account and put the blame on Ukraine.

A statement from the Russian defense ministry repeated the allegation and noted that “the radiation situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remains normal.” 

Kyiv again blamed Moscow for attacking the area around the power plant. 

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, alleged in a tweet that Russia, “is deliberately shelling corridors for [the] IAEA mission to reach ZNPP [the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant],” and reiterated Ukrainian demands for Russian troops to withdraw from the plant. 

CNN is unable to verify who is responsible for the shelling, as both sides have repeatedly accused each other. 

The head of the IAEA, who is leading the organization’s mission to Ukraine, has said that “military actions near to such a large nuclear facility could lead to very serious consequences.” 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists in a briefing Tuesday that he hoped the IAEA visit will proceed.

“We hope that this mission will take place as agreed and discussed. I repeat once again: We are interested in this mission and have been waiting for it for a long time,” he said.  

Russian gas company Gazprom will reduce its supply of gas to France, effective today, French industrial energy group Engie announced in a statement on Tuesday morning.

The decrease in supply is “due to a disagreement between the parties on the application of contracts,” according to Engie.

Engie also said these actions won’t affect supply.

The company had “already secured the necessary volumes to ensure the supply of its customers and of its own needs” and it has implemented a series of “measures to significantly reduce the direct financial and physical impacts that could result from an interruption of gas deliveries by Gazprom,” it said.

Russian tourists have their passport checked at the Nuijamaa border crossing in Finland on July 28.

European officials are gathering for a two-day informal meeting in Prague to discuss the situation in Ukraine and how European Union countries can support the country in terms of military and social support.

During the gathering, EU defense and foreign ministers will also consider further measures against Russia stemming from Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine six months ago.

One proposal put forward by Eastern European countries is to ban Russian tourists from entering the EU.

“In a situation where people in Ukraine are being tortured, murdered, and terrorised, Russian citizens should not be enjoying tourist trips to Europe,” Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in a statement.

“It is important that we limit the opportunities for Russian citizens to travel in Europe,” the statement said.

Reaching a consensus among the 27 EU countries may be difficult, said Artis Pabriks, Latvia’s deputy prime minister and defense minister.

The Russian government will take measures if the EU decided to ban visas for Russian nationals, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists Tuesday. 

“This is a very serious decision that can be directed against our citizens. And such decisions cannot remain unanswered,” he said, adding that a response from Russia will reflect what “protects the interests of our citizens.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz briefs the media prior to a two days cabinet meeting at the German government guest house in Meseberg, Germany, on August 30.

Germany is better prepared for winter “than was foreseeable a few months ago” when it comes to gas supply, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said Tuesday. 

“We can deal quite well with the threats that are coming our way from Russia,” Scholz said ahead of a cabinet retreat.

Russia is using gas as a strategy in the war against Ukraine, he claimed. 

Germany has been building liquid gas terminals on its northern coasts “at a fabulous pace,” he added.

The German pipeline operator Gascade announced plans Tuesday to connect a new liquified natural gas terminal in the northeastern town of Lubmin to the German gas grid by the end of 2022. The re-gasification unit at the terminal will connect Germany and Europe with long-distance pipelines to the network via a pipeline that is hundreds of meters long.

Germany had started filling gas storages to prepare for winter earlier than in previous years because of fears of curbed or suspended gas deliveries from Russia. 

Some background: The Nord Stream 1 pipeline was interrupted for scheduled maintenance in July. On Aug. 19, Gazprom announced unscheduled maintenance orders from August 31-Sept. 2, which will suspend gas flow. The Nord Stream pipeline had already been running at just a fifth of its capacity.

As of Monday, gas storage facilities were filled to nearly 83% capacity, according to the federal network agency. 

Germany has received gas from Norway and the Netherlands, as well as via western European ports.

The European Union is donating 5.5 million potassium iodide tablets to Ukraine to safeguard people from potential radiation exposure, in what the EU Commission called a “preventative safety measure” on Tuesday.

The tablets would be used in “limited scenarios to avoid that inhaled or swallowed radioactive iodine is absorbed by the thyroid,” the commission said in a statement.

The tablets were requested by the Ukrainian government to “increase the level of protection” around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to the commission.

A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency has arrived in the Ukrainian capital ahead of a planned visit to the power plant in southeastern Ukraine later this week.

Members of the IAEA delegation were seen by CNN at their hotel in Kyiv early Tuesday.