October 4, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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

Ukrainian police on Tuesday claimed to have uncovered a “torture chamber” in the formerly Russian-occupied town of?Pisky-Radkivski in the eastern Kharkiv region.

Among the items found, according to police, was a container full of extracted gold teeth.

“After the liberation of the village of Pisky-Radkivski, local residents reported to the police that in the basement of one of the houses captives were kept – local residents, ATO [Anti-Terrorist Operation] soldiers and POWs from the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” Serhiy Bolvinov, head of the investigation department of the National Police in the Kharkiv region,?said in a statement on Facebook.

Bolvinov said that local residents heard constant screaming from the building.

A large disturbance in the sea is seen off the coast of the Danish island of Bornholm on Tuesday, September 27.

The operator of the Nord Stream gas pipeline said Tuesday that it is “unable to inspect” the damage following gas leaks last week due to restrictions imposed by Swedish and Danish authorities.

The company – whose shareholders include Russian gas giant Gazprom and four European energy companies – said that according to the Swedish authorities, “a ban on shipping, anchoring, diving, using of underwater vehicles, geophysical mapping, etc. has been introduced to conduct a state investigation around the damage sites in the Baltic Sea.”

The processing time of the Nord Stream AG request for the survey may take more than 20 working days, the company said, citing Danish authorities.

And the ship that was going to investigate the damage hasn’t been given permission to depart by the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Nord Stream AG said.

Some background: Last week, four leaks were discovered in the pipelines, near the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea.?President Joe Biden?on Friday called the?leaks a “deliberate act of sabotage” and accused Russia and President Vladimir Putin of “pumping out disinformation and lies,” though he did not directly accuse Moscow of the leaks. Putin, for his part, claimed “Anglo-Saxons” were to blame for the explosions.

Ukrainian forces have pushed even further toward the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Tuesday.

In the southern Kherson region, he said that 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.”

“Our warriors do not stop. And it is only a matter of time when we will expel the occupier from all our land,” he said.

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

US military aid to Ukraine is hastening the possibility of a “direct military clash” between Russia and NATO, a Russian diplomat said on Tuesday.

“The US continues to pump more weapons into Ukraine, facilitating the direct participation of its fighters and advisers in the conflict,” Konstantin Vorontsov, the head of the Russian delegation to the United Nations Disarmament Commission,?said at the UN General Assembly’s First Committee.

“Not only does this prolong the fighting, but it also brings the situation closer to a dangerous line of a direct military clash between Russia and NATO,” he added.

The diplomat’s comments come as the US announced an additional?$625 million in security assistance to Ukraine. In a statement Tuesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken cited Ukrainian forces effectively?using US support to push ahead with their “successful counter-offensive?to take back?their lands?seized illegally by Russia.”?

Mykhailo Podolyak in an interview with Christiane Amanpour for CNN, on Tuesday.

Ukraine intends to liberate all of the country’s territory, including Crimea which has been under Russian occupation since 2014, Mykhailo Podolyak, a key advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, told CNN.

He was unambiguous on Ukraine’s aims following successful counteroffensives in the east and in the south of the country.?

“We are liberating cities and towns in all sorts of directions. In the south, in Kharkiv, in Luhansk. We will have to hold on to those territories,” Podolyak told CNN. “Using western weaponry our partners have sent to us, it has proven to be more effective than all Russian repertory that the Russian army is using.”?

“All of this mobilization panic that Russia is demonstrating shows the Russian army does not have enough soldiers,” he said.?

Podolyak was Ukraine’s lead negotiator in the last round of diplomatic negotiations between Ukraine and Russia earlier this year.

Ihor Murashov, the director general of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, will not continue his duties at the facility following his release from Russian detention, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Tuesday.

Murashov was detained by a Russian patrol, the president of Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom, Petro Kotin, said on Saturday. Kotin said Murashov was in his vehicle on his way from the plant when he was stopped, taken out of the car, and driven in an unknown direction while blindfolded. The IAEA said Monday that it had received confirmation that Murashov had returned to his family safely.

The IAEA, the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, said that Murashov’s “absence from duty in this way had an immediate and serious impact on decision-making in ensuring the safety and security of the plant.”

Key things to know about the plant: The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest nuclear complex of its kind in Europe, was seized by Russian forces at the start of the war.

The plant and the area around it, including the nearby city of Enerhodar, have endured persistent shelling in recent months, with Ukraine and Russia trading accusations for the shelling.

The agency also said that “IAEA experts present at the ZNPP reported that repair work was completed today at the sprinkler pond in the area of Unit 5 and Unit 6, which had been damaged from shelling on 20 September.”

There has been no reported shelling in the vicinity of the ZNPP since Oct. 4, according to IAEA.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi is due to travel to Kyiv and then to Moscow later this week for consultations “aimed at agreeing and implementing a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the ZNPP as soon as possible.”

Russia is trying to establish a “state border” at the point that divides Russian and Ukrainian control in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, a regional Ukrainian official said on Tuesday.?

The number of people crossing out of Russian-occupied territory through the Vasylivka checkpoint has dropped from several thousand per day last week —?before Russia’s claimed annexations —? to just a handful now, according to the Ukrainian government, which says that the crossing is effectively closed.

In establishing these borders, they are placing “rules to pass that they had come up with,” Oleksandr Starukh, head of the Zaporizhzhia Regional Military Authority,?said on national television.

Zaporizhzhia is one four territories in Ukraine that Russia claims it is annexing.

These actions replicate what Moscow “did with Crimea and Donbas,” Starukh said.

Ukraine is “trying to solve this issue through the international communities, and through addressing Russia, who are obliged to open the humanitarian corridors,” said Iryna Vereshchuk, the Ukrainian minister of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories.

The Kremlin does not appear to be clear on what territory exactly it has annexed, as large parts of the regions it says are Russia are still controlled by Ukrainian forces. On Monday, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, “we will continue?consulting?with the population of these regions.”

Belarus' President Alexander Lukashenko speaks during an interview at his residence, the Independence Palace, in the capital Minsk, on July 21.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Tuesday that his country has been caught up in the Russia-Ukraine war but that it is not an active military party to the conflict.

“As for our participation in a special military operation in Ukraine, we are participating. We do not hide it. But we are not killing anyone. We are not sending our military anywhere. We do not violate our obligations,” Lukashenko said during a military meeting, according to a video recording of the meeting by the state news agency Belta. Russia also calls its war in Ukraine a “special military operation.”

He then said that his country is “participating” in the war by preventing its spread into Belarus and by preventing “a strike on Belarus under the guise of a special military operation from Poland, Lithuania and Latvia.”

He added that Belarus is also caught up in the conflict as a point of entry for refugees.

“Yes, treat people if necessary. Yes, we feed people. And not only Russians. We feed most of all those refugees, beggars, poor people who come to us from Ukraine,” Lukashenko said. “… How not to feed them, how not to treat them? This is our participation in this military operation. There is no other way and there won’t be.”

He stressed that Belarus is not planning to announce any mobilization but that it intends to learn from Russia’s experience.?

Lukashenko has been a close ally of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, and Belarus was used as a launch point for Russian troops in February.

The Belarusian leader has previously said his country was “being dragged” into the war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the US is giving an additional?$625 million in security assistance to Ukraine.

He cited Ukrainian forces effectively?using US support to push ahead with their “successful counter-offensive?to take back?their lands?seized illegally by Russia.”?

Blinken committed the US to continuing support for Ukraine for as long as it takes, saying US President Joe Biden has already made that promise.

“At the UN General Assembly,?President Biden?made it clear yet again that?we will support the people of Ukraine for as long as it takes.?Recent developments from?Russia’s?sham?referenda and?attempted annexation?to new revelations of brutality against civilians?in?Ukrainian territory?formerly?controlled?by Russia?only strengthens our?resolve,” Blinken said.?

Earlier on Tuesday,?Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, and the leaders discussed the new assistance package.

US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Tuesday morning — days after Russian President Vladimir Putin declared Russia would annexed four Ukrainian territories following so-called referendums that were?universally dismissed as “a sham”?by Ukraine and Western nations.?

Biden reiterated his country’s commitment to supporting Ukraine and the leaders discussed a new $625 million security assistance package, which includes four more rocket systems, known as the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as well as additional howitzers and ammunition, as CNN reported previously.

They also discussed a grain export agreement and “ongoing efforts of the United States to rally the world behind Ukraine’s efforts to defend its freedom and democracy, as enshrined in the United Nations Charter,” the readout said.

A map used by the Russian Defense Ministry in its daily?briefing on Tuesday?confirmed significant Russian losses in Ukraine’s Kherson region, compared to a map of the same region used during its?briefing on Monday.

The map confirms reports from Ukrainian and pro-Russian officials, as well as pro-Russian military analysts, of significant Ukrainian advances towards the occupied city of Kherson, down the western bank of the Dnipro River.?

Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov, who spoke while the map was shown full-screen, did not mention the losses. But he did say that the Russian military destroyed Ukrainian armor and killed Kyiv’s forces in the area of several towns that are now understood to be under Ukrainian control – a tacit acknowledgement of Ukraine’s advance.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Tuesday with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Zelensky said in a statement on his official Telegram channel.

“We discussed the so-called referendums recently held by Russia on the temporarily occupied territories of our country with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi,” Zelensky said. “We also talked about food and nuclear security, interaction within international organizations, first of all in the UN. It is important to strengthen Ukrainian-Indian partnership against the background of Russian aggression against Ukraine.”

More on India-Russia relations: Modi has publicly clashed with Russian President Vladimir Putin over his war in Ukraine, telling Putin last month that “today’s era is not of war.” But the reality, analysts say, is less straightforward.

Rather than cutting economic ties with the Kremlin,?India?has undermined Western sanctions by?increasing its purchases of Russian oil, coal and fertilizer?– giving Putin a vital financial lifeline.

New Delhi has repeatedly abstained from votes condemning Russia at the United Nations – providing Moscow with a veneer of international legitimacy. And in August, India participated in Russia’s large-scale Vostok military exercises alongside China, Belarus, Mongolia and Tajikistan – where Moscow paraded its vast arsenal.

The apparent contradiction exemplifies India’s position on the war: verbally distancing itself from Russia while continuing to maintain pivotal ties with Moscow.

CNN’s Rhea Mogul contributed reporting in this post.

Correspondents for Russian media are defending their dispatches on the performance of Russia’s military in Ukraine as they report on Moscow’s losses in the war.

Ukraine “is introducing well-prepared reserves, realizing its advantage in both personnel and intelligence data,” he said Tuesday, adding that Russia’s so-called “special military operation,” meanwhile, is undergoing an “operational crisis.”

Kots, who was embedded with Russian troops in the Donetsk city of Lyman, wrote?in?the tabloid?earlier this week?that Russian forces suffered from?lack of manpower, bad communications, and “mistakes” by commanding officers.?Ukraine recaptured Lyman over the weekend.??

Kots reassured his followers that he saw neither “panic nor arrogance” among the Russian forces. Besides Kots, Russia 24’s Evgeniy Poddubnyy is also writing similar reports.

Poddubnyy?said Tuesday?that “we’re going through the hardest time on the frontline” and that “for the time being it will become even harder.”?

Ukraine’s forces have continued their eastern counteroffensive and pushed into the Luhansk region, pro-Russian officials said, after recapturing the key city of Lyman in the Donetsk region over the weekend.

Kyiv’s forces are also breaking through Moscow’s defenses in the southern Kherson region, with more areas liberated “every day,” a Ukrainian official said Tuesday.

Despite not being in full control of the areas, the three regions are territories Russia has claimed it is annexing in violation of international law.

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

Wreckage of vehicles at a Russian military base, which Ukrainian Forces destroyed by HIMARS during a counteroffensive in Kharkiv Oblast, on September 26, in Balakliia, Ukraine.

The US is set to announce another $625 million aid package to Ukraine, which will include four more High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) as well as more howitzers and ammunition, according to a senior defense official.

The package, which falls under a Presidential Drawdown Authority and will be pulled directly from US stocks, also includes 16 155mm howitzers and 16 105mm howitzers along with the associated ammunition, the official said.

This package will give Ukraine a total of 20 HIMARS systems, which the Ukrainian military has used to great effect against Russian forces. The Ukrainians have used the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) munition, fired from the HIMARS vehicle, to carry out precision strikes against Russian logistics hubs, command posts, ammunition depots and more.?

This aid package was first reported by Reuters.

More context: Last week, the US announced a $1.1 billion security package under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI), which included another 18 HIMARS. The tranche of HIMARS in this package will be contracted from weapons manufacturers and will take longer to produce and deliver, but it is intended for Ukraine’s defense in the medium- and long-term.?

With the latest $625 million package, the US will have committed more than $16.8 billion in aid to Ukraine since the beginning of Russia’s invasion on Feb. 24.

Ukrainian forces have recaptured two towns in the southern Kherson region — Davydiv Brid and Velyka Oleksandrivka, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry?confirmed on Tuesday.

“The Ukrainian marines are confidently advancing towards the Black Sea,” the defense ministry said on Twitter.

Yurii Sobolevskyi, the deputy head of Kherson regional council,?confirmed?the liberation of the town of Velyka Oleksandrivka on Telegram.

The announcements come as pro-Russian officials and analysts, as well as Ukrainian officials, say that Ukrainian forces are making significant advances towards the occupied city of Kherson, along the Western bank of the Dnipro river.

Kherson is one of the four partially-occupied territories that Russia claimed it is annexing in violation of international law.

A Ukrainian armored personnel carrier drives through the destroyed village of Shandryholove near Lyman, Ukraine, on October 3.

The Ukrainian Armed Forces?captured Lyman over the weekend?— one of its biggest achievements for weeks and a setback for Moscow. Lyman is in the Donetsk region, one of the four partially-occupied territories Russia declared on Friday it would annex.??

Russia’s troops had withdrawn from the city in the face of the “threat of encirclement,” the Russia’s Ministry of Defense in Moscow?confirmed on Telegram. By Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared Lyman was “completely liberated” of Russian troops.?

Lyman was a logistical hub for the Russian army, who had used it to funnel troops and supplies to the west and south.

The city’s capture would complicate Russia’s battlefield operation, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told reporters on Saturday.

Lyman could now become a staging post for the Ukrainian troops to push further east.

Since retaking the city, Ukrainian forces have moved into the neighboring Luhansk region, pro-Russian officials and propagandists?alleged on Monday. “The Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to cross the administrative border of the LPR and gain a foothold in the direction of the settlement of Lysychansk,” Andrey Marochko, a military leader in the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), wrote on Telegram.?

Kyiv’s?next target?may be the town of Kreminna, about 24 kilometers (15 miles) east of Lyman.

Yuriy Podolyaka, a pro-Russian journalist, military blogger and analyst,?wrote on Telegram?Monday that he expected “a new offensive” in that direction to “begin any day [now].”

Ukrainian forces are breaking through Russian defenses in the Kherson region as they plough on with the southern offensive, with more areas liberated “every day,” Yurii Sobolevskyi, the deputy head of the regional council, said on Ukrainian TV early Tuesday.

The Russian defense ministry confirmed Monday that “superior enemy tank units” had struck Russian defenses towards Zolota Balka, a town in Kherson that sits on the western bank of the Dnipro River, but claimed Russia was responding with “massive fire.”

CNN?reported Monday?that Ukrainian troops had captured Zolota Balka, citing a regional official and a pro-Russian military blogger.

Overnight, Ukrainian forces attempted to go even further, towards the village of Dudchany, some 30 kilometers (more than 18 miles) south of Zolota Balka, separatist leaders claimed on Tuesday.

The Russian-backed head of the Kherson regional administration, Vladimir Saldo, wrote on Telegram, “They managed to break through… Yesterday and this morning there were quite disturbing reports about what is happening there.” But his deputy, Kirill Stremousov, later said the advance “has now practically stopped, and now aviation and artillery are finishing off all those who broke into the sovereign territory of the Russian Federation in a fire bag,” according to Russian state news agency TASS, citing a video posted on his Telegram channel.?

Russian forces appear to have withdrawn to fallback positions on that southern front, according to Igor Girkin, a pro-Russian military analyst who served in the government of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic in 2014.

The successful push in the south comes as Ukrainians celebrate crucial victories on the frontline in the east after capturing the key Donetsk city of Lyman.

The UK government has added Sergei Vladimirovich Yeliseyev to?its?list of sanctioned individuals.

The 51-year-old is the deputy prime minister of the?Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, as well as “head of the Russia-backed government in the temporarily controlled territory of Kherson,” according to the entry added to the UK government’s sanctions list on Tuesday.

Yeliseyev is “involved in destabilizing Ukraine or undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine,” the UK government says.

Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, which Russia has claimed to annex, is only partially controlled by Russian forces. The Ukrainian military has been making significant advances in that region in recent days.

CIA Director Bill Burns talks to CBS in an interview aired on October 4.

Russian President Vladimir Putin can be “quite dangerous and reckless” if he is cornered, CIA Director Bill Burns told CBS in an interview.

He noted in particular that despite a pledge from China in February of a “friendship without limits,” Beijing has declined to offer military support that Putin has requested and “controlled their enthusiasm for Russia’s conduct of the war.”

Russia’s rising challenges have left Putin with fewer options,?making him potentially more dangerous, Burns suggested.

“Putin cornered, Putin who feels his back is against the wall, can be quite dangerous and reckless,” Burns said.

People walk next to their cars while queuing to cross the border into Kazakhstan at the Mariinsky border crossing, Russia, on September 27

More than 200,000 Russian citizens have arrived in Kazakhstan since Russian President Vladimir?Putin announced his partial mobilization order, according to Kazakh Interior Minister Marat Akhmetzhanov.??

Out of the 200,000 arrivals, more than 147,000 have already left since Sept. 21, Akhmetzhanov told Kazakh state?news agency?Kazinform.??

On Monday, Akhmetzhanov said over 7,000 arrived and 11,000 left, according to Kazinform.??

He also said that 68 Russians had applied for Kazakh citizenship.?

Russian and Kazakhstan are neighbors that share a 7000 kilometer-long (4,350 miles) border.?

A man casts his ballot for a referendum at a polling station in Mariupol on September 27. The placard reads "Referendum. We are returning home. Join! Vote!".

Residents of the Ukrainian regions illegally annexed by Russia have one month to change their citizenship, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yevgeny Ivanov told state news agency RIA Novosti on Tuesday.

“The same as it was with Crimea. Within a month they must decide, make a choice,” Ivanov said, adding that in the new territories, the issuance of documents will be accelerated.

According to the Kremlin, Russian President Vladimir Putin?is expected to sign into law on Tuesday?the documents on the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions —?the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.

The signing of the laws by Putin would complete the last step of the annexation process, based on the Russian legal system. The annexation is illegal under international law and Western governments have vowed to not recognize the regions as Russian territory.

Ukrainian forces have propelled through occupied territory in the country’s eastern and southern regions, putting pressure on Russian forces in Kherson and Luhansk.

Meanwhile, Russia’s parliament is formalizing the illegal annexation of four regions in Ukraine, which the Kremlin said President Vladimir Putin is likely to sign into law on Tuesday.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky address the nation on October 3.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed a decree formally ruling out the possibility of negotiations with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.

The decree confirms “the impossibility of holding negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin,” according the the Ukrainian Presidency’s website.

It is dated last Friday, the day that Putin announced he would illegally annex the four partially-occupied Ukrainian territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics.

The move came in response to Putin’s attempt at annexation, the post said.

“It takes two parties to negotiate,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday in response to Kyiv’s decree.

He claimed that Russia had wanted to resolve matters “by peaceful diplomatic means” since before Moscow’s attempt at a full-scale invasion in February.

“Now we will either wait for a change in the position of the current president, or we will wait for the future president of Ukraine, who will change his position in the interests of the Ukrainian people,” Peskov added.

It comes as Russia’s parliament formalizes the illegal annexation, in violation of international law. The move follows so-called referendums in the four Ukrainian regions held by Russian-backed leaders, which are illegal under international law and have been denounced by Ukraine and Western leaders as “sham.”

Russian?reservists?are registered at a gathering point in the course of partial mobilization of troops in the town of Volzhsky in the Volgograd region,?Russia, on?September 28.

More than 200,000 people have joined the Russian Armed Forces as part of the “partial mobilization” of citizens for Moscow’s war in Ukraine, according Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.

Shoigu said?the training of the new units will be conducted on special training grounds and training centers, Russian state outlet RIA Novosti reported Tuesday. Shoigu hasn’t provided additional details about the newly mobilized personnel.

Some context: In September, Shoigu said the country would summon 300,000 reservists, after President Vladimir Putin announced increased military conscription.

The move sparked heated protests and an exodus of military age men amid draft fears. Russia’s parliament also made amendments to the law on military service to toughen the punishment for violation of military service duties.

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during the signing ceremony with separatist leaders on the annexation of four Ukrainian regions at the Grand Kremlin Palace, on September 30, in Moscow, Russia.

The laws on the illegal annexation of four regions in Ukraine will?“most likely” be signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, according to the Kremlin’s spokesperson.?

Earlier Tuesday, Russia’s?upper house of parliament approved unanimously the illegal accession of?the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. Russia’s lower house of parliament also voted unanimously for the four laws?— one for each region?— on Monday, according to Russia’s state-run TASS news agency.

The procedure was expected to be a formality, as Putin and his allies effectively control both branches of the Russian legislature.

Some context: Putin said during a ceremony at the Kremlin on Friday that the millions of people living in the four territories would be Russian citizens “forever”, as he announced the illegal annexation process in defiance of international law.

In recent weeks, Moscow-backed leaders in the four Ukrainian regions held so-called referendums on joining Russia. The ballots are illegal under international law and were dismissed by Ukraine and Western leaders as “sham.”

Representative from the executive body of the government of the Republic of Tyva Lyudmila Narusova (center) during a meeting of the Federation Council on May 29, 2019, in Russia, Moscow.

Before Tuesday’s vote in Russia’s?upper house of parliament on the illegal annexation of four Ukrainian territories,?a Federation Council senator flagged that not all areas are fully under Moscow’s control.

The Constitutional Court, which ruled that the incorporation of the four regions was in compliance with the Russian constitution, does not assess political matters or the line of contact on the ground, Senator Andrey Klishas, chair of the Federation Council committee on constitutional legislation,?replied.

Klishas reiterated the Kremlin’s position that Russian authorities intervened to protect the “human rights” of the residents of the four regions.?

After the discussion at the Federation Council, Narusova still voted for the laws. The Federation Council unanimously approved the accession of the four Ukrainian regions.

In the?Federation Council,?Narusova represents the Russian republic of?Tuva, in southern Siberia. She is the mother of Ksenia Sobchak, a controversial public figure and a TV host, who ran for the presidency in 2018.

Some context: The formalization process of the illegal annexation is in violation of international law. It follows so-called referendums held by Russian-backed leaders across the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in recent weeks. The ballots are illegal under international law and were condemned by Kyiv and its Western allies as “sham.”

Lawmakers of Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation listen to the national anthem while attending a session in Moscow, Russia, on October 4.

Russia’s upper house of parliament unanimously sanctioned the?accession of four Ukrainian regions into Russia on Tuesday in violation of international law.?

The Federation Council passed?the constitutional laws on the illegal annexation of?the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions.?

The lower house, the State Duma, also voted unanimously to authorize the illegal annexation on Monday, Russia’s state-run TASS news agency reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his allies effectively control both branches of the Russian legislature, and the space for political dissent in Russia has?shrunk in recent years.

The four accession documents — one for each of the regions — will now head to Putin’s desk.

According to the laws, residents of the new entities were recognized as Russian citizens starting on September 30, when the formal agreements of accession between the Russian Federation and the four regions were signed in the Kremlin’s St George’s Hall.

Following the results of so-called referendums, Putin made a formal speech at the ceremony on Friday, declaring that the millions of people living in the four regions would be Russian citizens “forever.”

Russian-backed leaders held votes across the four regions in recent weeks. The ballots are illegal under international law and were dismissed by Kyiv and Western leaders as a “sham.”

The residents of the new regions can acquire Russian citizenship by submitting applications and being sworn in as Russian citizens, according to TASS.?

According to the laws, the DPR and the LPR will retain their status as republics after joining Russia and Russian will be their official language. The Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions will also join Russia as constituent entities and will continue to be called “regions,” TASS reported.

The borders of the republics and regions will be the same as those that existed on the day of their creation and accession into Russia, and their borders with other countries will be regarded as Russia’s state borders,?according to TASS.

The DPR and the LPR are joining Russia under the 2014 borders described in their “constitutions,” according to TASS.?

The movements in Russia’s parliament contradict the state of the war on the ground in Ukraine, where Kyiv has made sweeping gains in the east and the south of the country and forced Moscow to retreat from several positions in areas the Kremlin declared it is annexing.

Russian President Vladimir?Putin?and Indian Prime Minister?Narendra?Modi?shakes hands during a meeting in Samarkand, on September 16.

When Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Vladimir Putin “today’s era is not of war” last month, the West welcomed his comments as a sign the world’s largest democracy was finally coming off the fence about?Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

French President Emmanuel Macron praised Modi and the White House lauded what it called a “statement of principle.”

But the reality, analysts say, is less straightforward.

Rather than cutting economic ties with the Kremlin,?India?has undermined Western sanctions by?increasing its purchases of Russian oil, coal and fertilizer?– giving Putin a vital financial lifeline.

New Delhi has repeatedly abstained from votes condemning Russia at the United Nations – providing Moscow with a veneer of international legitimacy. And in August, India participated in Russia’s large-scale Vostok military exercises alongside China, Belarus, Mongolia and Tajikistan — where Moscow paraded its vast arsenal.

Last week, India abstained from another UN draft resolution condemning Russia over its?sham referendums in four regions of Ukraine, which have been used as a pretext by Moscow to illegally annex Ukrainian territory — significantly upping the stakes in the war.

India is “deeply disturbed” by the developments in Ukraine, said Ruchira Kamboj, New Delhi’s permanent representative to the UN, but stopped short of attributing blame and urged an “immediate ceasefire and resolution of the conflict.”

This apparent contradiction exemplifies India’s unique position on the war: verbally distancing itself from Russia, while continuing to maintain pivotal ties with Moscow.

Modi’s “stronger language to Putin” should be seen in the context of rising food, fuel and fertilizer prices, and the “hardships that was creating for other countries,” said Deepa Ollapally, research professor and director of the Rising Powers Initiative at the Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University.

Read the full analysis here.

Elon Musk drew backlash on Monday from Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelensky, for his unsolicited advice on how to bring about “peace” amid Russia’s ongoing invasion of the country.

In a Twitter poll, Musk suggested a path to “Ukraine-Russia Peace” that included re-doing elections “under UN supervision” in the regions of the country recently annexed illegally by Russia. The land grab, covering nearly a fifth of Ukraine, followed referendums that have been widely dismissed as “shams” by much of the world.

The billionaire Tesla CEO also suggested making Crimea, a region Russia invaded and annexed from Ukraine in 2014, “formally part of Russia.” He added in bullet points: “Water supply to Crimea assured” and “Ukraine remains neutral.”

Ukraine and most of the world reject any implication of Russian sovereignty over the regions it has invaded, and Ukraine has vowed to take back its land.

“It started in Crimea, and it will end in Crimea, and this will be an effective revival of the international legal order,” Zelensky?told?the Crimea Platform summit in August. Zelensky has consistently?maintained?that Ukraine will not cede any of its territory to Russia.

A majority of respondents on Twitter voted “No” in response to?Musk’s poll. In a follow-up?tweet, Musk appeared to blame these results on a “bot attack.”

Read more here.

Destroyed Russian armored vehicles left behind by the Russian forces in Izium, Kharkiv, Ukraine, on October 2.

Russian authorities have removed the commander of the country’s Western Military District (WMD), according to records from its Unified State Registry published Monday.

The Unified State Registry, which functions as a state record of all registered legal entitles, has listed Col. Gen. Roman Berdnikov as the new commander of the Western Military District. It comes as Russian forces have pulled out from many parts of eastern Ukraine.?

The WMD, based in western Russia, is one of five Russian military districts. It?played a significant role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.?

Berdnikov replaces?Col. Gen. Alexander Zhuravlyov, who has also been a commander in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region,?where Russian forces suffered heavy losses in past weeks. Bednikov’s appointment comes on the heels of the Russian retreat from the strategic eastern city of Lyman, in the Donetsk region.

More on the former commander: Zhuravlyov, known for overseeing one of the most brutal chapters of Syria’s war, also oversaw a?rocket artillery brigade, whom CNN identified launching cluster munitions attacks in residential districts of Kharkiv in late February, during the early days of the war.

Russian officials have criticized the country’s military leadership following the retreat in Lyman. Lawmaker and former army commander Andrei Gurulev said he could not explain this “surrender” from a military point of view, speaking on Soloviev Live, a pro-Kremlin TV channel on Saturday.

Berdnikov graduated from the Kyiv Suvorov Military School in 1991 and from the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School in 1995.

The Russian Ministry of Defense has yet to confirm the leadership change at the Western Military District.

The European Union has summoned in a “coordinated manner” the Russian ambassadors in EU member states following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision last week to annex Ukrainian regions, an EU spokesperson told CNN Monday.?

Stano said the move aims to “convey strong condemnation of these actions” and demand the “immediate halt to steps undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity and violating UN Charter and international law.”

The summoning started on Friday last week, according to Stano. The Russian ambassador to the EU was summoned in Brussels Monday afternoon, he added.

In an effort to overcome Biden administration resistance to providing it with a new set of powerful, long-range rocket systems, the Ukrainian government is now offering the US full and ongoing visibility into their list of intended Russian targets, multiple officials familiar with the discussions tell CNN.

Why this matters: The remarkable transparency essentially gives the US veto power over Ukrainian targeting of Russia and is meant to convince the administration that providing the critical weapons would not lead to strikes inside Russian territory, which the US fears would escalate the war and draw it directly into a conflict with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

At issue are the Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, surface-to-surface missiles that can fly around 200 miles (300 kilometers) — about four times the distance of the rockets used by the HIMARS mobile systems the?US began sending to Ukraine four months ago.

U.S. Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) fires a missile into the East Sea during a South Korea-U.S. joint missile drill on July 29, 2017 in East Coast, South Korea.

Despite Ukraine’s proposal, the Biden administration still has not approved the new long-range ATACMS weapons, and argues that Ukraine is doing well with the HIMARS systems it currently has. In fact on Wednesday the administration announced funding for 18 more HIMARS for Ukraine, bringing the total to over 30 US systems.

There are also concerns inside the administration that providing the longer-range ATACMS weapons would cross a red line in the eyes of Moscow, which would see the US becoming “a direct party to the conflict.”

But that red line is becoming murkier with?Friday’s annexation of four Ukrainian territories?by Russia. The US has stated that it will support the use of Western weapons inside those zones even if Russia now considers it part of its official territory.

Still, the idea of taking a more active role in discussions over Ukrainian targeting raises American fears of being seen as more involved than it would like.

After regaining the key eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman over the weekend, Ukrainian forces have continued their counteroffensive and pushed into the Luhansk region, according to pro-Russian officials and propagandists.

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

Ukrainian forces have continued their offensive toward the Russian-occupied towns of Svatove and Kreminna, in the Luhansk region, a pro-Russian journalist, military blogger and analyst said.

Kyiv is now advancing into the Luhansk region, according to military representative for the so-called People’s Militia of the Luhansk People’s Republic.

“Now the Ukrainian media have begun to very actively share information that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have crossed the administrative border of the LPR, and they are rejoicing,” Andrey Marochko said,?quoted by the Luhansk Media Center.

“But in fact, there are no administrative borders for the military now, in fact, Ukrainian troops entered ‘the fire bag’ and are being actively destroyed by our troops.”

Members of the Russian State?Duma, the lower house of parliament, attend a session to approve laws on annexing Ukraine's Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia, in Moscow, Russia, on October 3.

Russia’s legislature on Monday began the process of approving President Vladimir Putin’s?decision to annex four parts of Ukraine, despite the fact that the Kremlin is not in full control of those regions and has not settled upon the exact boundaries of the territories it is attempting to absorb.

Legislative approval of the annexation, which is illegal under international law, is expected to be a formality, although it will take a couple of days. Putin and his allies effectively control both branches of the Russian legislature, and the space for political dissent in Russia has?shrunk in recent years.

But the maneuverings inside the ornate halls of the Kremlin stand in stark contrast to the facts on the ground in the battlefields of eastern Ukraine.

Russian forces have suffered?a series of surprising defeats?in eastern Ukraine, forcing them to retreat and abandon several positions in areas the Kremlin declares it is annexing. Much of the territory Moscow claims as its own in Donetsk region is under the control of Ukrainian forces, and the Kremlin appears unsure of the exact borders of the regions it plans to annex. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow needed to “continue consulting” with the local populations before establishing its borders.

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With concerns growing that Vladimir Putin will escalate?Russia’s war in Ukraine, the US is considering how to respond to a range of potential scenarios, including fears that Russians could use tactical nuclear weapons, according to three sources briefed on the latest intelligence.

The US has since the start of the conflict been developing contingency plans to respond, including to the possibility?that Russia’s President could escalate?via a step just short of a nuclear attack on Ukraine, through what one source described as a “nuclear display,” such as a potential military strike on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, or the detonation of a nuclear device at high-altitude or away from populated areas.

Officials caution the US has not detected preparations for a nuclear strike. However, experts view them as potential options the US must prepare for as Russia’s invasion falters and as Moscow annexes more Ukrainian territory.

US officials have also taken somber note of the Russian President’s repeated public threats to use nuclear weapons. In a televised address late last month, Putin said, “If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people. This is not a bluff.”

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A member of Ukraine's National Guard stands at a bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river in the Donetsk region on October 1, 2022.

Related article US considering responses to possible Russian escalation in Ukraine, including its potential use of tactical nuclear weapons | CNN Politics

Ukrainian forces have made additional gains in the country’s south, pushing toward the occupied city of Kherson and capturing the town of?Zolota Balka on the western bank of the Dnipro river, according to a regional official and pro-Russian military blogger.

The head of the Russian-appointed administration in Kherson, for his part,?acknowledged?that Ukrainian forces were advancing along the Dnipro river.

“What can I say, my friends?,” Kirill Stremousov?said on Telegram. “The Nazi forces got through a little bit further but our defense is working.”

“We are repelling all the attacks and to be fair those who are panicking today on social media they have to take a pause. It’s not Kharkiv here, it’s not Lyman here. We are holding our defense lines.”?

Boris Rozhin, a Russian military blogger, said that Russian forces were trying to hold off?Ukraine’s offensive.

“Artillery duels are going on between Zolota Balka and Dudchan,”?said on Telegram. “Armed Forces of?Ukraine?are equipping strongholds in occupied positions.