October 27, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

The United States will provide a new security package to Ukraine “very, very soon,” according to John Kirby, White House National Security Council spokesperson.

Drawdown authority refers to a form of military spending that allows for speedy approval.

Putin’s war of words: Asked about escalating rhetoric from Russian President Vladimir Putin, Kirby said, “He’s the one who invaded Ukraine and in a completely unprovoked manner.”

“Ukraine poses a threat to no one, let alone Russia,” he continued. “So if it’s uncertain, it’s dangerous right now, it’s because of Mr. Putin. And it wasn’t the West who raised any concerns about nuclear weapons first — it was Mr. Putin.”

Kirby added that the US sees no indication that the Russians plan to use a “dirty bomb” — a weapon combining conventional explosions with uranium — or other nuclear weapon in Ukraine.

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced this week that it will look for any signs of “dirty bomb” production in Ukraine — and it’s doing so at Kyiv’s request.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi outlined the plans in a letter Thursday. He said the decision was prompted by a written request from the Ukrainian government, which is responding to unproven claims from Russia that it is developing the weapons.

Inspectors will look for any possible undeclared nuclear activities and materials related to the development of dirty bombs at two locations, according to the statement from Grossi.

The results would be released to the agency’s board of directors and the public as soon as possible, he added.

What is a dirty bomb? The weapons in question combine conventional explosives like dynamite with radioactive material like uranium. They are often referred to as weapons for terrorists, not countries, as they’re designed to spread fear and panic more than eliminate any military target.

What does Russia claim? Without providing any evidence, Moscow claims there are scientific institutions in Ukraine housing the technology needed to create a dirty bomb – and that Kyiv plans to use it.

The international community rejects this narrative: Russia’s allegations have been strongly refuted by Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO, which have in turn accused Moscow of trying to launch its own false-flag operation, which would provide motivation or justification for its own attacks.

CNN’s Brad Lendon contributed to this report.

The US State Department detailed efforts underway to prevent United States weaponry in Ukraine from falling into the hands of criminal and non-state actors, a move that comes as Washington braces for congress to scrutinize Ukraine assistance next year.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that while Ukraine has “has committed to appropriately safeguarding and accounting for transferred defense equipment” the US “remains vigilant” about the possibility of the weapons falling into the wrong hands.

The action plan that is in place to prevent that from happening has a few parts, according to the department:

“Wars can provide opportunities for weapons to fall into private hands via theft or illicit sales, sometimes creating black markets for arms that endure for decades. A variety of criminal and non-state actors may attempt to acquire weapons from sources in Ukraine during or following the conflict, as occurred after the Balkans Wars in the 1990s,” the State Department said in a fact sheet.

Some context: Some incoming House Republicans are expected to call for cutting the assistance or putting greater oversight into place. Yet so far the vital need for the weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine “is assessed to be impeding black-market proliferation of small arms and guided infantry weapons,” the department explained.

A building during a blackout in Kyiv on October 26.

Thursday was a difficult day for Ukrainians after more Russian attacks left hundreds of thousands of homes without power, the CEO of Ukraine’s Yasno Energy Company said.

The power supply was slashed by 40% in some areas, Serhiy Kovalenko said in a statement. The new power cuts applied to Kyiv, Kyiv region, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and the Zhytomyr region, the CEO said.

At one point, more than 320,000 homes in the capital were without power. By the evening, that number had fallen to 159,000 homes, he said.

In the wider Kyiv region, at least 258,000 homes were without power and more than 500,000 homes were disconnected throughout the day.

Kovalenko added:

Infrastructure facilities were attacked with Iranian-made drones in the Kyiv region Thursday, according to the Emergency Services of Kyiv region.

There were no injuries or deaths, but 48 emergency service workers responded to put out the fires.

Putin speaks during the annual meeting with participants of the Valdai International Discussion Club, on October 27 in Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin took some familiar swipes at the US and its allies during a speech on Thursday, accusing “Western elites” of playing a “dangerous, bloody and dirty game” and seeking to blame them for much of the world’s problems, including his own invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at the Valdai Club discussion forum in Moscow, he also blamed Western governments, many of which have offered support to Kyiv in the face of Moscow’s illegal invasion, of seeking global domination and attempting to control the world’s natural resources.

“Power over the world is what the so-called West is banking on in its own game. But this is a dangerous game. It’s a bloody game and it’s a dirty game. It denies all the sovereignties of countries, and their uniqueness, it doesn’t take into consideration the interests of other countries,” Putin said.

The Russian president also said that no one could tell Russia how to build its society: “The West can do whatever they want with gay parades but they shouldn’t dictate the same rules for Russia.” Putin has repeatedly cracked down on same-sex relationships in an effort to uphold what his regime considers traditional family values.

His speech in Moscow came hours after Russian lawmakers agreed to toughen the country’s discriminatory law against so-called same-sex “propaganda,” moving to ban all Russians from promoting or “praising” homosexual relationships or publicly suggesting that they are “normal.”

The original version of the law adopted in 2013 banned “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” among minors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Thursday that Moscow had never “intentionally said anything” about using nuclear weapons, but said that as long as the weapons existed, there was always the danger of their use.

And he denied that Russia was planning to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

“We never intentionally said anything about the possibility of using nuclear weapons by Russia. We only responded with hints to (nuclear threats from) from Western leaders,”

Putin said, accusing Western governments, including former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, of engaging in “nuclear blackmail” against Russia.

He also accused the West of “forcing the thesis that Russia will use nuclear weapons” to influence neutral countries against Moscow. He stressed that Russia’s military doctrine only allows the use of nuclear weapons for “defense” purposes.

Putin also reiterated Russia’s baseless claims that Ukraine was building a dirty bomb to use on its own territory and blame Moscow for it.

Russia has been accusing Ukraine of planning to use a so-called dirty bomb, which combines conventional explosives like dynamite and radioactive material such as uranium. Kyiv and its Western allies say there is no truth to the accusation and that Moscow could be mounting a false-flag operation.

Ukraine has invited experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit two facilities the Russian government says – without evidence – are involved in a plan to create a dirty bomb.

More background: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the consequences for Russia if it uses a nuclear weapon in its war on Ukraine have been conveyed to Putin.

Blinken also denounced Russia’s latest claim that Ukraine is considering the use of a “dirty bomb” as “another fabrication and something that is also the height of irresponsibility coming from a nuclear power.” 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.”

Despite Putin’s rhetoric, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin told CNN Wednesday that Russia will not use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine.

However, actions taken by Moscow in recent weeks – the “dirty bomb” allegations, attacks on civilian infrastructure, looming defeats on the battlefield, and its annual military exercise – have increased concerns, a senior administration official said.

This official told CNN that the potential collapse of parts of Russia’s military in Ukraine could be the factor that could cause Putin to turn to nuclear weapon use. As such, the US is keeping a close eye on the developments in the Kherson region, where it’s not easy for Russian soldiers to retreat.

Russia informed the US of its annual GROM exercise, which includes its strategic nuclear forces, the Pentagon said. The Kremlin said in a statement Wednesday that Putin was leading military training drills involving practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles.

Despite increased concerns, US officials have not seen evidence of Russian actions that would indicate Moscow is preparing to use nuclear weapons.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian soldiers drive a captured Russian tank after re-fitting it for use in battle, in Kharkiv Oblast on October 15.

The US is “certainly concerned” about escalation in Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a news conference at the Pentagon.

Austin also said that Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would result in “a very significant response from the international community.”

“We’re going to continue to communicate that any type of use of a weapon of that sort or even the talk of the use of a weapon of that sort is dangerous and irresponsible,” Austin, said, who added that if Russia used one, it “has a potential of changing things in the international community.”

“Russia has been indiscriminately using thousands of offensive missiles in Ukraine,” a senior defense official said. “Their use of missiles in Ukraine shows we should expect these weapons to become a common feature of 21st century conflict.”

So far, Russia has been “absolutely deterred from attacking NATO,” a second defense official said with a level of confidence rarely heard from the US, especially amid escalating rhetoric from Russia and its state-run media outlets.  

“President Biden has stated unequivocally that we will defend every inch of NATO territory, and it’s very clear to us here in the Pentagon that Russia has received that message,” the official said. 

US President Joe Biden does not intend to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he attends the G20 summit in Bali next month.

Biden previously told CNN’s Jake Tapper earlier this month he didn’t plan to meet with Putin, but there was one circumstance under which he could consider it.

“Look, I have no intention of meeting with him, but look, if he came to me at the G20 and said, ‘I want to talk about the release of Griner,’ I would meet with him, but that would depend,” he said.

Biden, Kirby said, will be focused on alliances and partnerships during the trip, which comes days after the midterm elections.

“The President is proud of the work that we have done around the world to shore up alliances and partnerships … and I think you’re going to see President Biden focus on that,” Kirby said.

Putin addresses a session of the Valdai Discussion Club forum in Moscow on October 27.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the world faces the “most dangerous decade” since the end of World War II.

“The unipolar world is a thing of the past. We are at a historical frontier. Ahead is the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time important decade since the end of World War II,” Putin said, speaking to the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow.

He also spoke about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and said what’s happening was unavoidable and blamed the West for creating the crisis — a claim he has made repeatedly since the invasion began. Western nations have denounced Putin’s invasion and vowed not to recognize the region Moscow is claiming to annex, in violation of international law.

“Changes in Ukraine did not begin with the start of a special military operation. These changes have been going on for many years. The tectonic change in the world order has been going on for many years,” Putin said.

“NATO enlargement with the Ukraine, which was totally unacceptable to us, and everybody knew that, and they ignored. They totally ignored interest in the security area, and a certain try just failed,” the Russian leader added.

“Russians and Ukrainians are one people historically. It’s almost like civil war happening right now,” he continued.

He ended his speech saying that the current situation around the world has the “prerequisites for a revolution.”  

Earlier in his speech he stressed on the need to mend relations with Western countries, adding that Moscow “has never considered and does not consider itself an enemy of the West.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in a video address on October 26.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that “of course” they’ll be able to defeat the Russians in the southern region of Kherson, one of the territories Moscow claims to have annexed.

Speaking in an on-camera interview Thursday Zelensky explained it’s difficult because of the “price of people.” He said for Russia “it doesn’t matter how many people will be dead tomorrow … For us it’s very important, we can’t just push people, go there and die.”

He added the Russians will be sieged if they stay because “they know this problem and dangerous situation. But we’ll work on it.”

When asked about Russian-installed leaders of the occupied Kherson region evacuating civilians, Zelensky called it “theatre,” adding that “their most tough soldiers, they are on the places. All of them. Nobody gets away. We see it and don’t believe them.”

Meanwhile, Russian state media reports the “situation in Kherson area is stabilizing, artillery bombardments are less frequent, and the Ukrainian forces make no attempts to counter-attack,” TASS says, according to the Kherson region’s Russian-appointed Gov. Vladimir Saldo, speaking Thursday on Russia-24 television.

“For now, there are no serious changes, or counterattacks, or anything else on the line of engagement. There are far fewer shellings than usual or than ten days ago. In general, the situation looks stable,” Saldo added.

Russia has not decided whether to extend its participation in a United Nations-backed deal that allows the export of Ukrainian grain, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters in a daily briefing on Thursday.

The agreement has allowed Ukraine – one of the world’s largest wheat producers – to export more than 8 million tons of grain and fertilizers, according to UN data. Ships had been prevented from leaving the country’s Black Sea ports after Russia launched a full-scale assault on it in February.

The grain deal was agreed by Russia, Turkey and the UN in July and implemented at the beginning of August. It is due to expire in mid-November.

Zakharova said the Kremlin may not extend the agreement because Russia faced its own problems exporting fertilizers and other agricultural products, despite a memorandum it negotiated with the UN in parallel to facilitate this. “They [the exports] are blocked due to Western sanctions,” she said.

“The UN secretary general said that we were talking about a package agreement. It was his idea, about the equality of the two parts,” Zakharova said. “As far as the memorandum is concerned, we are not seeing any results.” 

“We cannot accept such a situation,” she added. “This is a package deal, and all its parts must be complied with.”

Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters in a news briefing in New York Wednesday he was “relatively optimistic” the deal would be renewed.

“I think we all understand the issues,” he said, adding that the UN was committed to “removing those impediments to Russian grain and fertilizer exports.”

“A lot of work has been done to remove those impediments. It’s very important for the global south. It’s also important for us. We want those two agreements that were signed on July 22 to continue to operate,” Griffiths said. 

CNN’s Nic Robertson has exclusive reporting from a power station incapacitated by Russian forces.

Workers are facing a “very steep hill to climb” as the power stations are becoming one of the main targets of attacks by the Russians against Ukraine.

As Roberston and his team visited the plant, which CNN is not identifying for safety purposes, there were air raid sirens, which are now a daily occurrence. The CNN team went into the bunker with the workers and remained there for “quite a period of time.” 

When they came out, they witnessed “quite extensive destruction” of the equipment from previous strikes. There was damage to switching equipment and high voltage cabling which is particularly vulnerable to missile strikes. 

Some of the equipment is no longer manufactured which means it needs to be ordered and can take a long time to arrive or it may need to be scavenged from other power plants across Ukraine or requested from international partners.

There is increasing concern about the vulnerability of power plants in Ukraine as the cold winter months approach.

Power outages are seen in the city center on October 25, in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s energy agency will implement “severe” and “unprecedented” emergency power cuts in the capital Kyiv to avoid a “complete blackout,” the city administration said in a Telegram post on Thursday.

The announcement came after Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities overnight, which left Kyiv and the surrounding region with ”a power shortage of 30% of consumption,” it said. 

The post urged residents to use electricity “sparingly,” especially in the morning and at night, while businesses were asked to turn off the lights outside offices, restaurants and shopping centers. 

Ukraine’s state emergency service said the strikes were by Iranian-made drones on “infrastructure facilities” in the region. 

The government in Kyiv has said Russia is damaging critical infrastructure to make life more difficult as temperatures drop as the country heads into winter. 

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is seen during the Warsaw Security Forum on October 4 in Warsaw, Poland.

An opposition leader in exile from Belarus has demanded that President Alexsandr Lukashenko be held to account for his regime’s complicity in the Ukraine war and for Russian soldiers to withdraw from Belarusian soil, after a CNN investigation revealed new evidence that the country provided medical assistance to injured Russian troops.

Russia used Belarus as a staging ground for its invasion of Ukraine in February, deploying troops and weaponry to its territory. A CNN report published Wednesday found that Belarus’ authoritarian government also provided medical aid to Russian military personnel, who were secretly ferried to several civilian hospitals in the southern Gomel region and treated by Belarusian doctors operating under harsh surveillance.

Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has lived in exile in Lithuania since 2020, said that Lukashenko’s regime had helped facilitate Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – in violation of international law – and that CNN’s investigation was further evidence of his complicity.

“But this is also a testament to the courage of those Belarusian doctors. They, despite threats and terror, recorded the truth so that Belarusians and the world would learn what Putin and Lukashenka are actually doing in Ukraine,” she added.

Read more here.

The Russian-backed authorities in control of occupied parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region have announced plans to check residents’ phones for what they call “propaganda.” 

“Starting today, law enforcement officers in the Zaporozhye region have begun selective preventive checks of citizens’ mobile phones,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed regional council, said in a Telegram post on Thursday.

Anyone found to be a “foreign agent” would be subject to possible criminal prosecution, he added. 

Rogov said the checks were allowed under martial law, which Moscow introduced in occupied Zaporizhzhia and three other regions on Oct. 19.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to make a “very important” speech at an event in Moscow on Thursday, as Russian forces hit Kyiv region, Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut, as well as targeting the Ukrainian energy grid yet again. Attacks on energy infrastructure could cause “deep suffering” this winter, according to the United Nations, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the energy transition as Moscow’s fossil fuel exports decline, the International Energy Agency reports.

Here are the latest headlines:

Three civilians were killed in Bakhmut on Wednesday as Russian troops continue a months-long attempt to seize the strategically important city in Ukraine’s east.

The Russians shelled residential buildings and infrastructure facilities, the Donetsk regional police said in a Telegram post Thursday. In total, 15 Russian shells hit eight locations in the Donetsk region, including Bakhmut, the post said.

Late Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian troops in eastern Ukraine of “craziness” in their repeated efforts to take Bakhmut.

“The fiercest battles are in Donetsk region: Bakhmut direction, Avdiivka,” he said in his nightly video address.

“The craziness of the Russian command is now most visible there: day after day for months, they drive people there to death, concentrate the maximum power of artillery strikes there,” said Zelensky.

“All our soldiers who hold positions in these directions in Donetsk region are simply heroes.”

Russian forces have made small, steady gains in Bakhmut, which lies on a road leading to the towns of Kostiantynivka to the southwest, and Kramatorsk and Sloviansk to the northwest.

Much of the city’s pre-war population of 70,000 have fled since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.

On Thursday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a Facebook post that Russian troops were “not stopping [their] offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions.” 

Due to Russian massive missile attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities, rolling blackouts were introduced in the cities to stabilize the power system.

A wave of Russian attacks on critical energy infrastructure has left some Ukrainian communities without access to heat, water and electricity.

Now the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are worried about its impact as cold weather begins to set in.

“We are extremely worried about the humanitarian impact of continued attacks on energy infrastructure as they deprive communities of heat and water just as the temperatures are dropping,” UN OCHA spokesperson Anna Jefferys told CNN in an email.

Russian missile and drone attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power plants and electrical grid in recent weeks, leading to rolling blackouts and disrupting water supplies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said more than a third of the country’s energy sector has been destroyed.

Jefferys said the UN was especially worried about those who had stayed in their homes near Ukraine’s frontline, many of whom are old, disabled or chronically ill.

“We are particularly concerned about people in eastern and southern oblasts who have suffered relentless shelling for months and have been left utterly traumatized,” she said. “Their ability to cope is wearing thin.”

The ICRC echoed the UN’s concerns, telling CNN that attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure had led to “deep suffering” that could worsen as temperatures drop.

“Across Ukraine, electricity grids are tied directly to water systems, meaning that when the electricity is knocked out, residents also do not have access to water in their homes and places of business,” Achille Després, the ICRC’s spokesperson in Ukraine, said in an email.

“This is already causing deep suffering for civilians as temperatures started to drop significantly.

“As winter closes in, people across the country are going to struggle to meet their basic needs like having clean drinking water, staying warm, using electricity or cooking,” Després warned, adding that “the needs are massive.”