October 5, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

The US is considering offering to use its most advanced underwater sound reading capabilities to analyze audio recordings from around the time of the Nord Stream gas pipelines’ apparent sabotage, according to two sources familiar with the matter.

The US Navy’s processing of the sonar signatures — the term for the unique underwater sounds — provided by Sweden and Denmark could boost the investigations by providing a more detailed picture of what was in the area at the time of the pipeline explosions and what caused them, sources said. While many countries have the capability to process underwater sounds, the US has the most advanced system, sources said.

The processing of the underwater sound is viewed as a key piece of the investigation in addition to what underwater investigators find, sources said. Officials have said satellite images from the days before the leaks are unlikely to prove helpful because it was cloudy.  

But the degree to which the US assistance in processing the underwater recordings could be helpful will depend on the quality of the recordings. The quality of any recordings that the Swedes and Danes have is unclear, sources said. 

Each type of underwater machinery like submarines, torpedoes and vessel engines makes a unique sound that is called a “sonar signature,” and the US has an extensive library of these sounds.

A Navy spokesperson would not confirm the US is offering to analyze the sonar recordings but said the Navy is ready to help with the investigations. 

 “We are aware of reports concerning leaks to the Nord Stream pipelines. We stand ready to provide support and assistance in close coordination with our allies and partners, if needed,” Capt. Tamara Lawrence said.

The Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN) said it had detected the explosions and experts said that the SNSN could share recordings with the US for processing, but seismic recordings are not the same as high-quality sonar recordings. 

The US has helped to analyze underwater recordings from the Swedes in the past, experts said.

These conversations about providing that assistance now come as the US Defense Department is doing “prudent planning” to see what assets, equipment and technical expertise the US has available to assist Baltic nations with the investigations, CNN reported last week.

Russian-speaking hackers on Wednesday claimed responsibility for knocking offline state government websites in Colorado, Kentucky and Mississippi, among other states — the latest example of apparent politically motivated hacking following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kentucky Board of Elections’ website, which posts information on how to register to vote, was also temporarily offline on Wednesday, but it was not immediately unclear what caused that outage. The board of elections’ website is also managed by the Kentucky government, though the hackers did not specifically list the board as a target.

The websites in Colorado, Kentucky and Mississippi were sporadically available Wednesday morning and afternoon as administrators appeared to try to bring them online.

It’s an example of the type of digital disruption or distraction that US officials and election officials are preparing for ahead of the November midterm elections. Websites like that of the Kentucky Board of Elections are not directly involved in the casting or counting of votes, but they can provide useful information for voters.

The hacking group claiming responsibility for Wednesday’s website outage is known as Killnet and stepped up its activity after Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine to target organizations in NATO countries. They are a loose band of so-called “hacktivists” — politically motivated hackers who support the Kremlin but whose ties to that government are unknown.

Some context: Killnet thrives off of public attention and bravado, and cybersecurity experts have to strike a balance between being mindful of Killnet’s online antics and not hyping a low-level threat.

“We do not want to build up this group or convey a false sense of doom to scare people or give Killnet unwanted publicity,” Jason Passwaters, chief operating officer of security firm Intel 471, previously told CNN. “This group is capable of causing disruptions, but it’s up to organizations to understand what kind of risk Killnet actually poses to their operations.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Wednesday that more settlements in the south of Ukraine have been liberated amid a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Kherson region.

The communities of Novovoskrensenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka had been recaptured, he said in his daily address, suggesting that Ukrainian forces are making progress through the largely rural hinterland of Kherson. 

However, Ukrainian forces remain some distance from Kherson’s capital and other strategically important areas.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said on Wednesday that Russia will halt oil supplies to those countries that plan to introduce a price ceiling on Russian oil.

“Our budget is formed at a price of $70 [per barrel], and we believe that this is a comfortable price, which today can be taken as a basis,” he said. 

More context: Both the G7 and the European Union have announced plans to penalize Russia for its invasion of Ukraine by setting a price cap for imports of Russian oil. The G7 plan calls on participating countries to deny insurance, finance and other assistance to Russian oil cargoes above a certain price. That price is yet to be determined. 

The Czech government, which currently holds the EU rotating presidency, said Wednesday that a political agreement on the EU’s eighth sanctions package against Moscow had been reached.

“The package contains: Prohibition of maritime transport of Russian oil to third countries above the oil price cap and a ban on related services,” the Czech government said on Twitter.

Novak also said that Russia is ready to supply gas through the undamaged branch of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline. 

Participants stand next to a coffin during a memorial service for Darya Dugina in Moscow on August 23.

The US intelligence community believes that the car bombing that killed Darya Dugina, the daughter of prominent Russian political figure Alexander Dugin, was authorized by elements within the Ukrainian government, sources briefed on the intelligence told CNN.

The US was not aware of the plan beforehand, according to the sources, and it is still unclear who exactly the US believes signed off on the assassination. It is also not clear whether the US intelligence community believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was aware of the plot or authorized it.

But the intelligence finding, first reported by the New York Times, would seem to corroborate elements of the Russian authorities’ findings that the car bombing was “pre-planned.” Russia had accused Ukrainian nationals of being responsible for the attack, which Ukraine had strongly denied in the aftermath of the explosion.

Ukrainian government officials did not immediately respond to CNN’s requests for comment.

The NSC, CIA and State Department declined to comment.

US intelligence officials believe that Dugina was driving her father’s car on the night she was killed, and that her father was the actual target of the operation, one of the sources said. Dugin is a Russian ultranationalist and philosopher who has been a fierce proponent of Russia’s war in Ukraine. A friend of Dugina also told the Russian  news outlet TASS shortly after the explosion that the car she was driving was her father’s.

To date, Ukrainian strikes inside Russia have largely been limited to attacks on fuel depots and military bases in cities along the Russia-Ukraine border, like Belgorod. But the US does not have good visibility into all of Ukraine’s planned strikes, sources told CNN.

Despite Russian President Vladimir Putin signing into law a measure to annex four Ukrainian regions into the Russian Federation, Kyiv’s forces continue to push ahead with territorial gains in the south and east of Ukraine.

The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said he is traveling to Kyiv after Putin announced the seizure of Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant located in Zaporizhzhia. The seizure was included in a decree signed by Putin on Wednesday.

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

The Ukrainian military said that as its forces advance in the southern region of Kherson, Russian units have suffered losses and are trying to evacuate their wounded and equipment to the nearest crossings across the Dnipro River. 

There is a heavily damaged bridge near the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant located in Nova Kakhovka. Ukrainian forces have been making progress down the west bank of the Dnipro. 

Meanwhile in the northeast of the country, the Ukrainian military said the Russians have been taking heavy casualties in that area too, where Ukrainian forces are consolidating gains along the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

“Due to the large number of wounded and overload of local medical institutions, the enemy has equipped and is using a school as a military hospital. According to preliminary information, there are up to 200 wounded servicemen there,” the General Staff said.

It also claimed that Russia was recruiting more men from penal colonies. “The command of the Russian occupation continues to recruit prisoners to replenish the losses of personnel. According to preliminary information, more than 650 prisoners from high-security penal colonies of Stavropol Krai agreed to take part in hostilities on the territory of Ukraine,” it said.

The General Staff said that the Ukrainian air force had conducted more than 10 strikes against Russian concentration of weapons. “In addition, our air defense units shot down seven enemy UAVs. Six of them were Iranian-made.”

The General Staff said Russian rocket attacks on a wide range of settlements had continued — in Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia. But all enemy assaults had been repelled, the General Staff added.

In the occupied city of Enerhodar, “the occupiers continue to exert moral and psychological pressure on the employees of the Zaporizhzhia NPP [nuclear plant],” it said. “Employees are forced to obtain Russian passports and conclude employment contracts with the State Atomic Energy Corporation “Rosatom” under threat.”

The chief of the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog agency will head urgently to Kyiv on Wednesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree to incorporate Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant, located in Zaporizhzhia, as Russian federal property.

Russian forces have controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant for months, and the area has seen heavy fighting in recent weeks.

Earlier on Wednesday, Putin signed a decree that puts the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power under Russian state control — and amends the country’s constitution by admitting new regions into the Russian federation.

Remember: The annexation of Zaporizhzhia and three other regions has been widely condemned by the international community as “a sham”, and the vast majority of governments have described it as against international law.

The confrontation over the status of the plant, and shelling that has damaged some installations there, has led the IAEA to intervene.

See the IAEA chief’s tweet:

The International Boxing Association (IBA) reversed the ban on Russian and Belarussian boxers from competition, the governing body announced on Wednesday.

The IBA board of directors voted to allow boxers from Russia and Belarus to return to competition and perform under their flags. The national anthems will be played if the boxer were to win a gold medal.

The association added, “IBA calls for peace and remains a peacemaker in any conflicts. Moreover, the IBA has obligation to ensure equal treatment towards the athletes and competition officials, regardless of their nationality and residence.” 

Technical officials of Russia and Belarus will also be included in the return to competition.

Boxers, judges and officials from both countries have been banned from IBA international competition since March following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is seen in Enerhodar on September 11.

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday signed a decree that puts the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine under Russian state control — and amends the country’s constitution by admitting new regions into the Russian Federation.

Putin also instructed the cabinet to determine how to regulate and operate the Zaporizhzhia plant — which has been under Russian military control since March — through 2028.

Remember: The annexation of Zaporizhzhia and three other regions has been widely condemned by the international community as “a sham”, and the vast majority of governments have described it as against international law.

The confrontation over the status of the plant, and shelling that has damaged some installations there, has led the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to intervene.

Just as Putin was signing the decree, the Ukrainian state nuclear operator, Energoatom, said its president would assume the duties of the plant’s director general. 

Petro Kotin, Energoatom president, said in a video address to the employees of the plant: “In accordance with the current legislation, approval and regulatory documents, I have decided to take up the duties of the director general of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant.”

He said the administration of the plant would be transferred directly to Kyiv following the detention by Russian officials of the plant’s general director, Ihor Murashov. The official also noted that operational issues at the plant would be resolved by the technical staff by agreement with the central office of the company.

Some more context: On Tuesday, the IAEA said that Murashov will not continue his duties at the nuclear power plant following his release from Russian detention.

The nuclear plant, with six reactors, is the largest in Europe. It continues to be run by Ukrainian technicians, but the forcible annexation of Zaporizhzhia means that according to Russian law it is now on Russian territory.  

Ukrainian soldiers stand at the entrance to the village of Hrekivka, inside Luhansk region.

Social media images from Wednesday showed Ukrainian troops in at least one village in the eastern Luhansk area, after crossing from the neighboring Donetsk region.

One photograph showed a Ukrainian unit kneeling and standing around a road sign at the village of Hrekivka, just inside Luhansk region.

More on Ukraine’s advances: All of Luhansk region is claimed as Russian territory by the Kremlin, following its forcible annexation. But in recent days Ukrainian forces have been approaching the region from several directions, building on their successful offenses in Kharkiv and Donetsk. 

Social media video also showed Ukrainian troops in the town of Terny in Donetsk region, about 20 kilometers (about 12 miles) from the town of Kreminna in Luhansk, which analysts believe is a critical defensive line for the Russians now that they have lost ground in both Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.

The Ukrainian advances in the northeast come within days of the so-called referendums held by pro-Russian local authorities that led to the annexation by Moscow of Donetsk and Luhansk as well as much of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson. Since the annexation measures were approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin last Friday, Russian forces have lost hundreds of square kilometers of territory in Donetsk and Kherson. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was pleased and surprised by the results of the so-called referendums in four regions of Ukraine that have since been annexed by Russia.

“The results of the referendums, frankly speaking, not only pleased me, but also surprised me — after all, people lived in such difficult conditions, and still continue to live,” Putin said during a televised meeting with Russian teachers on Wednesday. “This result, I assure you, I think the election observers know this as well, there was no desire to correct something, clean something up, add something.”

Remember: The votes are illegal under international law and have been universally dismissed as “a sham” by Ukraine and Western nations. In all four regions that have subsequently been annexed by Russia, the declared vote in favor of joining the Russian Federation was more than 90%. The “votes” – and the results that Russia and its local allies have claimed – are an important step in Russia’s faltering effort to seize control in Ukraine.

Addressing a teacher from the Donbas region, Putin said that these regions will be stabilized and developed while “helping strengthen the country as a whole.”

“We always, despite the tragedy of today, have had great respect for the Ukrainian people and Ukrainian culture, and the Ukrainian language, literature, and so on,” Putin said. “We have never allowed the sort of things that Ukraine allows against Russian culture or the Russian language.”

Kyiv’s forces continue to press forward with territorial gains in the south and east of the country, including in the regions Russia claims it is annexing.

Here’s how the state of control looks right now:

The Russian military lacks the manpower necessary to hold off a further Ukrainian advance into the Luhansk region, a correspondent embedded with the Russian military in the occupied city of Svatove said on Tuesday evening.

“The Russian troops do not have enough manpower to stop the enemy attacks,” Alexander Kots, for Russian pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda said in a video posted to Telegram. “The recent Russian losses are directly connected to that. It’s a very difficult period of time on the front line at the moment.”

He said that “we expect a serious fighting here very soon,” and that “it remains to be seen if it could stop the enemy advances.”

Kots confirmed that Russian forces were trying to fortify their defense at the line connecting the occupied cities of Kreminna and Svatova. Yuriy Podolyaka, a pro-Russian military blogger said on Monday that Russian troops had withdrawn to the Zherebets River, which runs just west of Kreminna and Svatova.

“The enemy is concentrating its forces to attack Svatove from two directions,” Kots said on Tuesday. “The enemy artillery is reaching and working over the Kreminna-Svatove road and its sabotage and reconnaissance groups can operate there. This area is being fortified by the Russian troops who dig trenches and place land mines.”

He said that Ukrainian forces are “on the high and enjoying a numeric advantage.”

“They don’t have problems with the intelligence data or high precision weapons which they are constantly using. We are just waiting for our reserves to become fighting fit and join the battle.”

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow, Russia on May 9.

Moscow refrained from giving a concrete answer when asked how the borders of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions should be defined under the Kremlin’s newly-signed claimed illegal annexations.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said “certain territories there are still to be returned,” following rapid advances by Ukrainian forces in the south. 

When asked by CNN how he would interpret the language of the laws signed by Putin earlier Wednesday, which refers to the borders of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as “the territory which existed on the day of its adoption in the Russian Federation,” Peskov said: “I will leave this question unanswered.”

When asked by CNN if he can provide any comment at all for better understanding, Peskov said: “You should read the decree, there is a legal wording there. On the whole, of course, we are talking about the territory in which the military-civilian administration operated at the time of its adoption (as part of the Russian Federation).”

When asked again by CNN if this should to be read as the territory captured by Russian troops as of September 30, Peskov said: “(You should stick to) what is written in the decree. But I repeat once again: Certain territories there are still to be returned, and we continue to consult with those populations that will express a desire to live with Russia.”

Asked one more time by CNN whether any additional laws would be required to include those areas into the Russian Federation, or whether they would automatically be included as part of the regions under the signed laws, if and when they are “returned,” Peskov said: “For now, I have nothing to add.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law the documents on the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions on Wednesday, completing the last step of the annexation process, based on the Russian legal system. The annexation is illegal under international law. 

Putin’s move comes as Ukrainian forces continue to press forward with territorial gains in the south and east, including in the regions Russia claims it is annexing.

A man walks past a residential building in Lysychansk, the city controlled by pro-Russian troops in the Luhansk region, Ukraine, on September 21.

The “de-occupation” of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region “has begun,” according to a regional official.

“Several settlements have already been liberated from the Russian army, from the Russian occupiers,” Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region’s Ukrainian military administration, said on national television Wednesday.

“All those soldiers realize that a counterattack is just inevitable, they are being defeated.”

After regaining the key eastern city of Lyman, in the Donetsk region, over the weekend, Ukrainian forces have continued their counteroffensive, pushing into the Luhansk region, pro-Russian officials and propagandists said on Monday. 

Russia controls nearly all of Ukraine’s Luhansk region. Ukrainian forces liberated the Luhansk village of Bilohorivka at the end of September.

Hayday urged residents who fled their homes earlier this year not to try to return. 

“I’d like to appeal to everyone,” he said. “First, do not get ahead of yourselves, do not rush to bring stuff and come back. We will let you know when and where exactly you can return. Because it is necessary that the Armed Forces of Ukraine move the front line further, and only then it will be possible to enter certain settlements. The territory must be demined.”

He also urged residents in occupied areas of Luhansk to try to evacuate away from the front line, or to stay in shelters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday met with his top military and security staff, and considered plans for “further liberation of Ukrainian territories,” according to the president’s office.

“Those present heard information from the intelligence, the headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the commanders of the operational directions about the situation at the front and the latest actions of the enemy,” the readout of the meeting read.

“They also discussed the issue of stabilizing the situation in the newly de-occupied areas. Plans regarding further liberation of Ukrainian territories were also considered.”

The participants also “focused on the issue of countering new types of weapons used by the Russian army.”

Among those present were Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhny, and Head of the Main Intelligence Directorate Kyrylo Budanov.

Ukrainian forces are making gains in the east as well as in the south, where they are piercing through Moscow’s defenses in the Kherson region.

Earlier Wednesday, Zelensky said that in the Kherson region the towns of Liubymivka, Khreshchenivka, Zolota Balka, Biliaiivka, Ukraiinka, Velyka, Mala Oleksandrivka and Davydiv Brid had all been liberated, “and this is not a complete list.”

Kherson is one of the four regions in Ukraine that Russia has announced it is annexing, in violation of international law.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed into law measures that claim to annex four Ukrainian regions, in violation of international law.

Ukrainian forces have gained ground in the south, pushing even further toward the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.

Here are the latest developments:

Marina Ovsyannikova, a former Russian state TV journalist speaks to the press as she arrives for a hearing in a court in Moscow, Russia, on July 28.

Marina Ovsyannikova, the Russian journalist who held up an anti-war poster on Russian state TV, has confirmed that she has left her court-ordered house arrest.

“I consider myself absolutely not guilty and because of our country’s refusal to execute its own laws, I refuse as of 30 September 2022 to observe my pre-trial restriction in a form of a house arrest and I free myself from all that,” Ovsyannikova said in a statement on her Telegram channel. 

A court in August placed her under house arrest until October 9, charging her with disseminating false information about the Russian Armed Forces, TASS reported.

Ovsyannikova, a former employee of Russia Channel One, interrupted a broadcast in March holding up a sign that read: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Do not believe propaganda they tell you lies here.”

At the time, Ovsyannikova told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour that many Russian journalists see a disconnect between reality and what is presented on the country’s television channels, saying “it was simply impossible to stay silent.”

“Dear law enforcers, please put this type of bracelet on Putin as it’s he who should be isolated from society and not me. Putin should be put on trial for the genocide against the people of Ukraine and mass murder of Russia’s male population,” Ovsyannikova said in a separate video on Telegram on Wednesday while pointing to a monitoring bracelet on her ankle.

Russia’s military leadership has “no idea about the number of victims among the civilian population” in Ukraine,” Ovsyannikova added.

“Мaybe some judge’s, prosecutor’s or investigator’s conscience will wake up and they will stop calling the children who died in Ukraine fakes,” she said. “And they will stop prosecuting me for telling the truth.”

“I’ve spent almost two months under house arrest,” she continued, adding that the whole time investigators have been referring to the words of Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and his spokesperson Major-General Igor Konashenkov, “trying to pretend that not a single child died during the war in Ukraine.”