October 21, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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Blackouts are threatening a long, harsh winter in Ukraine. The energy crisis is the result of Russian missile and drone strikes on civilian infrastructure — and Kyiv’s Western allies are pointing the finger at Iran for supplying the drones.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the press at the State Department in Washington, DC, on Oct. 21.

Russian President Vladimir Putin thinks drone attacks against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine “will somehow break the will of Ukrainian people,” but the strikes are having the opposite effect, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Friday.

Blinken repeated the US assertion that Russia’s drones are supplied by Iran, an assessment echoed by a growing number of international bodies this week. Moscow and Tehran officials deny collaborating on the attacks.

The strikes have “a clear goal: to make the Ukrainian people suffer,” Blinken said.

“Moscow can knock out the lights across Ukraine, but it cannot, it will not, extinguish the Ukrainian spirit,” he added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia on Friday of exacerbating the global food shortage, pointing to recent delays in grain shipments.

“The enemy is doing everything to slow down our food exports,” Zelensky said in his evening address.

He added:

CNN has not independently verified Zelensky’s claim that Moscow is hindering the flow of shipments.

A tenuous agreement: The Black Sea Grain Initiative — which was brokered by the UN and Turkey — was signed by representatives from Russia and Ukraine in July.

The agreement ended five months of a Russian blockade, allowing ships carrying grain from Ukrainian ports in Odesa to navigate a safe corridor through the Black Sea, helping alleviate global food shortages.

Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, said last week that Moscow could leave the deal, according to Reuters. Later, President Vladimir Putin weighed in, saying Russia would shut the export corridors if they are used to carry out “terrorist attacks.”

Authorities exhume the the bodies of slain civilians in Lyman, Ukraine on October 15. The bodies will be documented and reburied.

More than 6,000 civilians have been killed since Russia invaded Ukraine, and the number is likely much higher than can be accounted for right now, according to the United Nations’ authority on human rights.

“As of Oct. 18, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has recorded 15,956 civilian casualties: 6,322 killed and 9,634 injured since Feb. 24,” Rosemary DiCarlo, the under-secretary-general for political and peacebuilding affairs, said while speaking at a UN Security Council meeting Friday.

“At least 397 children have been killed in the war,” she said.

The UN is also concerned about the destruction of critical energy infrastructure, DiCarlo said.

She said the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine submitted its report to the UN General Assembly this week.

“The document states that there are reasonable grounds to conclude that war crimes and violations of human rights and international humanitarian law have been committed in Ukraine,” DiCarlo said. 

“The impact of these violations on the people in Ukraine is immense — and so is the need for accountability,” she continued. “Accountability remains crucial as new allegations of atrocities have emerged in areas that have recently returned to Ukrainian government control. We must not let impunity prevail.”

Both trench sections the Wagner group dug are seen behind the rows of anti-tank pyramids in this October 17 Maxar Technologies satellite image.

An almost 2-kilometer fortification has been constructed outside the Russian-occupied town of Hirske, in eastern Ukraine, new satellite images from Maxar Technologies show.  

The fortification comprises of four rows of cement pyramids that the Russians hope will stop any Ukrainian vehicles and tanks from moving eastward. A large trench is located behind the anti-tank fortifications. 

Additional satellite imagery from the European Space Agency shows that the trench digging was conducted in two parts: the first section of trench was dug starting on Sept. 25; the second section of trench was dug sometime between Sept. 30 and Oct. 5. 

Four rows of anti-tank pyramids were laid down by the Wagner Group, in hopes they'd stop any potential Ukrainian military advance.

Two Russian media outlets have reported from the fortification site, which they named the “Wagner Line” referring to the Russian mercenary Wagner Group. Zvedza TV, the media outlet for the Russian military, said it was a “second line of defense” if the Ukrainians tried to break through in the area.    

Although the fortification could help defend against a frontal attack, there’s nothing stopping Ukrainian forces from just traveling around the fortifications, which only stretch 1.6 kilometers or just over a mile.

RIA/FAN, a Russian tabloid, published a map on Wednesday claiming the Wagner group would continue building their “line” until it stretches east from the Russian-Ukrainian border to Kreminna, and then south to Svitlodarsk.

An image, taken by Russian tabloid outlet RIA/FAN, shows two rows of the anti-tank pyramids sitting in the field just outside of Russian-occupied Hirske, Ukraine.

A CNN analysis of the map showed that a fortification that long would stretch roughly 217 kilometers, or about 135 miles. 

Additional satellite imagery reviewed by CNN did not show that any other construction along the purported path of the “Wagner Line.”

It’s not the first time the Wagner Group has utilized trenches to fortify their positions. In 2021, the mercenary group constructed roughly 40 miles, or more than 70 kilometers, of trenches across the Libyan desert to stop ground attacks on their positions there. 

The people of Ukraine are “ready to suffer” through a potentially dark and cold winter as long as Russian troops are still occupying Ukraine’s territory, the country’s infrastructure minister told CNN on Friday.

“Everybody feels that our army on the battlefield is winning,” Oleksandr Kubrakov told CNN’s Julia Chatterley. But they also understand that the attacks on the infrastructure are aimed at making people’s lives more complicated, he said. 

Some background: Days of devastating attacks on energy infrastructure have caused the nation to lose at least 40% of its power-generating capacity.

Ukrainian officials warned earlier this week that both emergency and scheduled blackouts would follow. Those power outages impacted the capital Kyiv and other central regions Thursday before expanding to eastern regions.

A top priority for Ukraine now is to maintain connectivity between different regions for military and humanitarian transport, while also keeping the energy infrastructure running, Kubrakov told CNN.

Ukraine will not negotiate with Russia as long as Russian soldiers are still occupying Ukrainian land, he added.

Three members of the US House Intelligence Committee met with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday.

It is the first visit by a congressional delegation to the city in more than a month, and the first since Russia began a campaign of air strikes targeting civilian infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital and other major cities.

Standing close to the site of a recent drone attack on a power plant in Kyiv, Rep. Jim Himes, the head of the delegation, told CNN’s Nic Robertson the visit was about showing solidarity with Ukraine, which he said was “fighting for the democracy that so much of the world cares about.”

GOP Rep. Mike Turner said “there is strong bipartisan support for Ukraine, and it will continue,” when asked by CNN whether US aid to Ukraine could change if Republicans gain control of the House in November’s midterm elections.

Remember: That issue became a campaign trail talking point this week after House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy said if the GOP wins the chamber, it may not be as forthcoming with aid to the embattled nation.

US President Joe Biden seized on those comments and similar remarks from some Republicans, framing the position as undermining US leadership in an increasingly volatile world.

Creating an “air shield”: Ukraine’s military considers bolstering its air defense capabilities a key concern. Zelensky appealed to the visiting delegation for help with creating what he described as an “air shield” over the country, according to a statement released by his office.

Turner told CNN the US supply of weapons and intelligence to Ukraine would change as the nature of the threat changes.

“We’re looking at both air defense and also ways in which we can defeat these individual drones. But we’re going to have to accomplish that together,” he said. “Our goals are aligned.”

Top British, French and German diplomats are urging the United Nations to investigate Iran’s supply of drones to Russia, according to a letter reviewed by CNN.

In the letter, officials argue that the weapons transfers violate a UN Security Council resolution restricting the flow of certain arms to or from Iran.

“We would welcome an investigation by the UN Secretariat team responsible for monitoring the implementation of UNSCR 2231 and stand ready to support the work of the Secretariat in conducting its technical and impartial investigation,” the diplomats wrote to UN Secretary General António Guterres Friday.

UNSCR 2231 was tied to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. The diplomats said 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.”

The three countries would like a UN team to visit Ukraine to investigate the matter, accordin got the letter. Earlier this week, a Russian ambassador said Moscow would “reassess” cooperation with Guterres if a team of experts are sent to Ukraine to inspect the drones.

Some background: A growing number of countries and international organizations have condemned Russian-Iranian coordination on drone strikes, which have at times targeted civilian infrastructure.

Both Moscow and Tehran officials deny that Iran has supplied and trained Russia’s forces in using the deadly weapons.

Earlier this week, State Department spokesperson Ned Price said the US has “abundant evidence” that Russia is using the Iranian drones, specifically to target Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure. The White House added claims that Iran’s military gave the Russians hands-on training with the weapons.

Earlier this week the European Union and the United Kingdom rolled out sanctions on the manufacturers of Iranian drones.

Women receive food and humanitarian aid in Svyatohirs'k, Ukraine, on Thursday.

The European Union is discussing plans to provide Ukraine with 1.5 billion euros per month ($1.45 billion) to help with basic needs such as energy, food and water, European Commission President Ursula Von der Leyen said at a news conference Friday at the end of a two-day EU summit.

At this stage, it’s still a proposal and the 27 countries will explore ways to find ways to finance this aid to Ukraine.

“We have tasked the finance ministers to develop the appropriate mechanism, but it was important also to give this signal to Ukraine that we very well know how important this reliable flow of income is,” she said.

Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, part of the Defense Ministry, says Russian forces have begun mining the sluice gates and supports of the dam at Nova Kakhovka on the river Dnipro.

Its allegations follow comments by President Volodymyr Zelensky, where he claimed Russian forces are mining a critical dam on the Dnipro river in the southern Kherson region, as well as the adjacent hydroelectric plant.

Defense Intelligence said the “Russians foresee a quick liberation of the west bank part of Kherson region by the Ukrainian Defense Forces and are preparing a series of terrorist attacks on this territory. In particular, the dam of the Kakhovka reservoir and units of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant are under the threat of destruction.”

“During the current week, the sluices and supports of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant were additionally mined,” it said, claiming, “Two military tented Kamaz trucks without drivers were placed on the dam. Both vehicles are fully loaded with boxes of explosives.

Russian-appointed officials in Kherson have dismissed the claims as “nonsense.”

The reservoir behind the dam, which provides water to cool the reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, holds about 18 million cubic meters of water.

About Zelensky’s comments: Zelensky claimed that Russia was creating grounds for a large-scale catastrophe in the south of Ukraine.

“If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the zone of rapid flooding. Hundreds of thousands of people may suffer. Water supply to a large part of southern Ukraine could be destroyed. This Russian terrorist attack could leave Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant without water for cooling — water for ZNPP is taken from the Kakhovka reservoir,” he said.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin speaks at NATO headquarters in Brussels on October 12.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu by phone on Friday, a readout of the phone call from Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said.

Austin last spoke with Shoigu on May 13, a previous readout from the Pentagon said. The conversation in May was the first time the two leaders had spoken since Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Austin urged Shoigu to implement an “immediate ceasefire,” according to a brief readout of the May call.

Before the May phone call, the leaders spoke on Feb. 18, days before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on Feb. 24.

On Friday, Austin also spoke with Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov to “reiterate the unwavering US commitment to supporting Ukraine’s ability to counter Russia’s aggression,” a separate readout from Ryder said.

 Iran has urged its citizens in Ukraine to leave the country and avoid traveling there due to “intensifying military clashes and increased unrest,” according to a statement from the Iranian Foreign Ministry.

“Due to intensifying military clashes and increased unrest in Ukraine, Iranian citizens are strongly advised not to travel to this country. At the same time, all Iranians living in Ukraine are advised to leave the country to protect their life and safety,” the statement reads.

The move comes after the US and European allies accused Iran of supplying drones to Russia for use in Ukraine. State Department Spokesperson Ned Price said on Wednesday that the US has “abundant evidence” that Iranian drones are being used to strike Ukrainian civilians and critical civilian infrastructure.

The White House said Iranian military personnel have visited Crimea to assist with Russian operations targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine using drones.

Iran continues to deny it is sending weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine. “Iran does not send arms to the warring sides in Ukraine and wants an end to the war and an end to the displacement of people,” Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian tweeted on Friday.

Read more:

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

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

Estonia's Prime Minister Kaja Kallas answers questions at the European Council in Brussels on Friday.

The European Union should use over €300bn ($292bn) of frozen Russian foreign assets to help Ukraine, Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said on Friday.

“Today we’re going to focus on Ukraine. First of all, we have to talk about the use of [frozen] assets that we have – Russian [frozen] assets. We have over €300bn ($292bn) of [frozen] assets and how we can use them in benefit of Ukraine,” Kallas told reporters in Brussels, where she is attending a meeting of the Council of the European Union.

In a tweet, Kallas said it was “time [the EU] move ahead with making the aggressor pay.”

“Second, we definitely have to discuss the legal response to the crimes of aggression that have been committed and how to make a separate tribunal to prosecute those,” Kallas also told reporters.

Dam mining “pure terrorism”: Kallas called the alleged mining of a critical dam on the Dnipro river in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region – which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky mentioned to the Council on a video address on Thursday – “pure terrorism.”

“If you look at the definition of terrorism, this is what it is. It is to make us afraid, it is to make us refrain from the decisions that we would otherwise make and this is awful that it is possible to do this in 2022,” Kallas said.

Zelensky claimed that Russia was creating grounds for a large-scale catastrophe in the south of Ukraine, with Russian forces mining a critical dam on the Dnipro river in the southern Kherson region, as well as the adjacent hydroelectric plant.

“If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the zone of rapid flooding. Hundreds of thousands of people may suffer. Water supply to a large part of southern Ukraine could be destroyed. This Russian terrorist attack could leave Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant without water for cooling – water for ZNPP is taken from the Kakhovka reservoir,” Zelensky said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in this September 2022 file photo.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said that Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure are aimed at creating a new wave of refugees.

Speaking to the European Council in a video address, Zelensky said after failing to use energy resources as a weapon against Europe, “the current Russian leadership has ordered to turn the energy system itself into a battlefield. The consequences of this are very dangerous, again for all of us in Europe.”

“Attacks by Russian cruise missiles and Iranian attack drones have destroyed more than a third of our energy infrastructure,” he said. “Because of this, unfortunately, we can no longer export electricity to help you maintain stability.”

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

Zelensky added: “Russia is also provoking a new wave of migration of Ukrainians to the EU countries. Russia’s terror against our energy facilities is aimed at creating as many problems with electricity and heat in Ukraine as possible this autumn and winter and making as many Ukrainians as possible leave for your countries.”

Critical dam mined: Zelensky also claimed that Russia was creating grounds for a large-scale catastrophe in the south of Ukraine, with Russian forces mining a critical dam on the Dnipro river in the southern Kherson region, as well as the adjacent hydroelectric plant.

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

“The dam of this hydroelectric power plant holds about 18 million cubic meters of water.

“If Russian terrorists blow up this dam, more than 80 settlements, including Kherson, will be in the zone of rapid flooding. Hundreds of thousands of people may suffer. Water supply to a large part of southern Ukraine could be destroyed. This Russian terrorist attack could leave Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant without water for cooling - water for ZNPP is taken from the Kakhovka reservoir. “

A satellite image shows a view of the location of the Kakhovka dam, right, and the surrounding region in Kherson, Ukraine, on October 18. 

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

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

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

“Russia is preparing a man-made catastrophe,” Podolyak said.

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

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

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

Tetyana Safonova, 61, sits with her cat Asya as she looks at her mobile phone during a power outage on October 20, 2022 in Borodyanka, Ukraine.

Cars move along a dark road during the energy conservation on Thursday, October 20, 2022, in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

At least two members of a local television station were killed by Ukrainian shelling late Thursday, the Russian-appointed deputy governor of the Kherson region, Ekaterina Gubareva, said.

A Russian producer was one of those killed, Gubareva said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian speaks during a joint news conference in Moscow, on August 31.

Despite its cooperation with Russia on defense capabilities, Iran respects Ukraine’s “territorial integrity,” the Iranian foreign minister claimed on Friday in a phone call with the European Union’s top diplomat ― in which he also denied that Tehran had provided Moscow with the drones used in deadly attacks on Kyiv this week.

Some context: Iran has repeatedly denied supplying “kamikaze” drones to Russia in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary. On Thursday, the White House said Iranian military personnel have visited Crimea to assist with Russian operations targeting civilian infrastructure in Ukraine using drones. John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the National Security Council, said the presence of Iranian personnel was evidence of Tehran’s direct engagement in the conflict. “They can lie to the world but they certainly can’t hide the facts,” he said.

A least six people have been killed and 10 others injured in the past 24 hours by Ukrainian missile attacks on the eastern Luhansk region, according to pro-Russian officials in the occupied territory.

The Moscow-backed Luhansk People’s Republic Joint Centre for Control and Coordination (JCCC) claimed the attacks were carried out by Ukrainian forces using American HIMARS multi-launch rocket systems. 

The settlements of Lysychansk, Brianka, Troitske, Rubizhne, Chervony Prapor and Brianka were hit in the attacks on Thursday and Friday, the JCCC said.

Five of those killed were employees of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in Chervony Prapor, it added.

Some context: Luhansk is among four regions of Ukraine that Russia is attempting to annex in violation of international law even as a Ukrainian counteroffensive advances in the the south and east of the country. On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had signed a law introducing martial law in the four regions.

Authorities exhume the graves of civilians who were killed in Lyman, Ukraine on October 15.

Ukraine has completed the exhumation of bodies in the largest mass grave discovered following the retreat of Russian troops from the eastern city of Lyman, Ukrainian police said Thursday.

According to the National Police of Ukraine, 146 bodies were exhumed at the Lyman cemetery in the Donetsk region, of which 111 were civilians and 35 military personnel.

Police said some of the victims died of shrapnel injuries from Russian shelling, adding some bodies showed signs of having suffered “a violent death,” without giving further details.

CNN teams who went to Lyman previously reported seeing bodies with their hands tied behind their backs in the mass graves.

With the cemetery exhumations now complete, the number of bodies exhumed in Lyman now totals 166, of which five are children, according to police.

The victims will be reburied after a forensic medical examination while the exhumation of civilians buried elsewhere is ongoing, police said.

At least two people have been killed and 10 more wounded after Ukrainian missile strikes hit a “civilian crossing” near the Antonivskyi Bridge in Kherson late Thursday, according to the southern region’s Russian-appointed chairman.

Eliseev said he went to the scene of the strikes, and later to the regional hospital where the injured had been taken with shrapnel wounds and head injuries.

The Russian-backed Kherson region administration said on its Telegram channel that Ukraine’s military “fired 12 HIMARS at the civilian crossing near the Antonivskyi Bridge, which also operates at night due to the large number of people wishing to travel to the left bank of the Dnipro River.”

Ukraine’s military is yet to comment.

Some context: The alleged missile strikes come as fighting escalates in the Russian-occupied part of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, where the pro-Moscow authorities are trying to “relocate” up to 60,000 civilians. Kherson is among four regions of Ukraine that Russia is attempting to annex in violation of international law. 

It also comes after days of Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure that have caused fatalities and the loss of at least 40% of the country’s power-generating capacity.