October 7, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our coverage for the day has ended. Follow the latest Ukraine news here or read through the updates below.

St. Petersburg canceled its New Year’s Eve celebration and will donate the money to “purchase additional gear and equipment for volunteers and mobilized units,” the mayor announced on Thursday.?

The decision was made “after a meeting with members of the city government,” the mayor of Russia’s second-largest city said on social media.

Events for families with children and the traditional children’s Christmas tree?will take place as scheduled, the city said.

On Friday, Russia’s Defense Ministry urged cities not to cancel?their New Year’s festivities.

In a statement, Deputy Minister of Defense Col. Gen. Viktor Goremykin called the decision to cancel “premature and unnecessary.”

It looks inevitable that Russia’s war in Ukraine will continue for some time – and the question is how much damage will have occurred before negotiations resume, according to a spokesperson for Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Turkey, while critical of the Russian invasion and President Vladimir Putin’s recent move to annex territories in Ukraine, has maintained good relations with the Kremlin and brokered an agreement this summer to allow grain shipments from Ukrainian ports.

Earlier on Friday, Erdogan spoke with Putin about the “latest developments” in the war in Ukraine, according to a readout from the Turkish government.

His spokesperson, Ibrahim Kalin, told CNN that negotiations will likely resume at some point.

Negotiation ground to a halt after Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian regions last week, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky going so far as signing a decree declaring negotiations impossible.

The decree, published on the Ukrainian Presidency’s website, declared “the impossibility of holding negotiations with the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin.” It was dated Sept. 30, the day on which Putin announced that he would illegally annex four partially-occupied regions of Ukraine.?

Kalin said the halt in talks was to be expected, adding he had recently discussed the issue with US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.?

The Turkish official said there was also a larger point at play when it comes to Russian involvement in negotiations.?

Moscow feels that the agreements made at the end of the Cold War, under Presidents Mikhail Gorbachev and Boris Yeltsin, no longer reflect the Russia of today, he said. “There is a new Russia, there is a new world, there is a new reality, and they want to have a new bargain,” Kalin said.

As a result, the entire global liberal order is facing a big test, he said.

Rapper Oxxxymiron performs at a Moscow club on November 26, 2018.

The Russian Ministry of Justice on Friday added anti-war rapper Oxxxymiron, anti-war writer and journalist Dmitry Glukhovsky and women’s rights activist Alena Popova to its registry of “foreign agents.”

The ministry alleged Oxxxymiron had received funding from Ukraine.

Oxxxymiron — whose real name is Miron Fyodorov — has been the country’s most popular rapper for over a decade, with songs that are often political. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he has held a series of “Russians against war” concerts in Istanbul, Berlin and London. All the proceeds were directed to Polish organizations that help Ukrainian refugees.

Russia’s Investigative Committee is examining Oxxxymiron’s songs under the country’s anti-extremism laws.

Glukhovsky, who is most famous for his books “Metro 2033” and “Post,” is also facing criminal charges under the law for spreading fake information about the armed forces. Glukhovsky has been put on the country’s wanted list. He is not currently in Russia.?

In July, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law “on control over the activities of persons under foreign influence.”

A destroyed Russian command center is seen on September 29, in Izium, Ukraine. On September 9th, Ukranian armed forces hit the center that was known as a jail and torture chamber.

More than 20 suspected Russian “torture chambers” have been found in the northeast territory recently retaken from Russian forces, a top police official said.

“In almost all large cities and towns, where military units of the Russian army were based, they set up such places of detention of civilians and prisoners of war and tortured them,” said Serhii Bolvinov, head of the investigative department of the regional police, adding that one was in the town of Pisky-Radkivski.

The most common torture techniques were electric shocks and severe beatings with sticks and other objects, he said, adding that there were also cases of nails being pulled out and the use of gas masks to restrict breathing.

Bolvinov cited testimony from a 67-year-old man in Izium, who the Russians accused of assisting Ukrainian targeting.

According to Bolvinov:

CNN has not been able to verify the regional police chief’s account.

Bolvinov also said there were also criminal proceedings underway regarding allegations of rape.

“We understand that it is very difficult for victims to testify about such facts. However, there are proceedings that we have registered, there are appeals from women who were raped.?We have information about the alleged facts of rapes in torture chambers,” Bolvinov added.

A mass burial site after exhumation in Izum, Ukraine, on September 30.

The bodies of more than 500 civilians have been discovered in the territory in northeast Ukraine that has recently been retaken from Russian forces, according to Ukrainian police.

Most of the remains — 447, according to Ukrainian forces — were found at what was described as a mass burial site in the town of Izium, which Ukrainian forces liberated from Russian occupation in early September. Russian troops had been using Izium as a launchpad for attacks southward into the Donetsk region.?

As Ukrainian forces liberated more land in the northeast, new burial sites are being discovered.

They included 226 women and 19 children, Bolvinov added.

The day after US President Joe Biden warned of a potential of a nuclear “Armageddon,” the Pentagon said?“we don’t assess that President Putin has made a decision to use?nuclear?weapons at this time,” press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat?Ryder?said during a briefing Thursday.?

“Many people in our government and in the international community, to include [Defense Sec. Lloyd] Austin, have highlighted the fact that this?nuclear?saber-rattling is reckless and irresponsible,”?Ryder?said.

Right now, the US does not have any information to cause a change in “strategic deterrence posture,”?Ryder added.

The US continues to take the threats “very seriously,” and will continue to monitor the situation, he added.?

European Council President Charles Michel, center, speaks during a media conference at the European Union leaders' summit in Prague, Czech Republic, on Friday.

There is growing support among European Union member states for joint energy purchases, according to European Council President Charles Michel.?

Speaking during a news conference following an informal EU leaders’ summit in Prague on Friday, Michel said Russia has “fired an energetic missile at the European continent and the world,” highlighting the severity of the energy crisis Europe is facing.?

Under this model, energy stocks would be refilled as soon as it becomes necessary, Michel added.?

He was supported by his colleague, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who called it of “paramount importance” that the EU has?joint procurement of gas.?

A joint scheme would eradicate the need for member states to “outbid each other” for supplies while allowing the bloc to wield a “collective bargaining power,” according to von der Leyen.??

“We have to keep our single market together and we have to avoid fragmentation,” she added.?

The death toll after Russian missile strikes hit a city apartment building has risen to 14, according to Anatolii Kurtiev, secretary of the Zaporizhzhia city council.

“We continue to receive disheartening news from the dismantling of the rubble on the buildings damaged by yesterday’s attack. The death toll has now risen to fourteen,” Kurtiev said on Telegram.

Some background: Moscow launched a series of fatal missile attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia early Thursday, just hours after the Kremlin signed a decree to formally seize a massive nuclear power plant nearby.

The city of Zaporizhzhia is not far from the front lines of the conflict. Though the city is under Ukrainian control, about 75% of the greater Zaporizhzhia region is occupied by Russian forces.

That region is one of four Ukrainian territories Russia is claiming to annex in violation of international law.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its Director General Rafael Grossi has confirmed a rotation of its staff at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is located on Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine.

In a series of tweets, the IAEA said that “the first rotation of the IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to?#Zaporizhzhya?(ISAMZ) in?#Ukraine?is complete and now a new reinforced team of IAEA safety, security, and safeguards experts is at the plant.”

Grossi said he was “immensely grateful” to the two experts who’ve been at the plant over five weeks, and to the four members of the new team.

The IAEA also confirmed that shelling at an industrial area near the plant on Thursday had?damaged a power line providing electricity to reactor unit 6, forcing the unit to temporarily rely on its emergency diesel generators instead. It said that?five diesel generators supplied power to the reactor for about an hour and a half, while an alternative source of power from four of the other reactors was connected to the unit, “whose core cooling was maintained at all times.”

Grossi concluded a visit to Ukraine Thursday, saying that after his meeting with President Volodymyr Zelensky, he?had reiterated the IAEA will continue to be guided by international law, thereby not recognizing Russia’s annexation of the area where the nuclear power plant is located.

“We made progress towards a nuclear safety & security protection zone at?#Zaporizhzhya?NPP. I’ll return to Kyiv soon to continue this important exchange,” he tweeted.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks during a media conference at the European Union leaders' summit in Prague, Czech Republic, on Friday.

France has announced a $98 million (100 million euro) fund allowing Ukraine to directly purchase military aid from French manufacturers.?

Speaking during a news conference after an informal European Union leaders’ summit in Prague, French President Emmanuel Macron said the fund would “enable Ukraine to buy directly from our manufacturers the equipment it needs most to support its war effort and its resistance to Russian assaults.”

This follows remarks Macron made during a news conference on Thursday evening, which saw him pledge to send further French CAESAR howitzers to Ukraine.?

During his address on Friday, Macron also delivered a message of caution when it comes to threats from Russia of a potential nuclear conflict.?

When asked if he shared the view of US President Joe Biden, who warned of a nuclear “Armageddon” in response to Putin’s nuclear threats, Macron replied, “we all have to be very careful about this.”?

The French president called for the “quickest possible de-escalation” carried out in “terms that are acceptable to the Ukrainian leaders and the Ukrainian people.”??

Two burial sites have been located in the town of Lyman, which was recently liberated by Ukrainian forces after being occupied by the Russian military and its militia allies for several months, according to authorities in Donetsk region.

One of the sites had about 200 single graves where civilians had been buried, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration.

At the other site, there is a mass grave, which “may contain both military and civilians,” Kyrylenko said. “The exact number is yet to be established.”

Law enforcement officers are investigating these places and will soon begin the exhumation process, he added.

In Sviatohirsk, which was under Russian occupation for about three months, Kyrylenko claims 21 bodies were reburied. These were civilians who died during the occupation, he said.

All the bodies that had been reburied were identified and properly buried, he added.

Valentyn Reznichenko, head of Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration, said that Nikopol, the city across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, has come under fire again.?

A 37-year-old man was killed, he said, and a 42-year-old man was wounded.

There are also reports of shelling near Enerhodar, the city adjacent to the nuclear plant.?

Mayor Dmytro Orlov said Friday afternoon that “there are currently reports about heavy shelling that caused a sudden power outage. Along with the electricity, there is also no water supply. There is no internet in the city.”

The radiation background at the Zaporizhzhia plant industrial site and in the city itself was normal, he said.

Reznichenko said earlier that Nikopol “shuddered” overnight from about 40 Russian shells.

The Russian strikes in Zaporizhzhia?come after?Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree earlier this week federalizing the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is located about 120 kilometers (75 miles) from the city?and sits in Russian-occupied territory along the Dnipro River.

CNN’s Olga Voitovych and Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting to this post.?

If you’re just joining us, here’s the latest on Friday’s developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Ukrainian territories liberated in Kherson: The Ukrainian military has liberated 2,400 square kilometers (more than 926 square miles) of territory in the south “since the beginning of the full-scale war,” according to Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior Ukrainian official. Almost all of that land has been recovered in the past two weeks as Ukraine has stepped up its counteroffensive in Kherson, which is one of the regions Russia has claimed it is annexing. The recaptured areas includes six settlements that were liberated in the Kherson district and 61 settlements that were recaptured in the region’s district of Beryslav, according to Tymoshenko. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov released a video Friday in which he urges Russia’s frontline troops to lay down their arms and promised “life, safety and justice” to those that do.

Russian shelling hits the district of Nikopol: Almost 40 Russian shells hit Nikopol, Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said in a post on Telegram. No injuries were reported but several high-rise buildings, more than 10 private houses, a transport infrastructure enterprise, gas pipelines and electricity networks were damaged, he said.

Deadly missile strikes in the south: Rescue operations are underway in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia after Russian missile strikes killed 11 people on Thursday, according to Ukrainian authorities. The bodies of 11 people were retrieved from two destroyed residential buildings. Additionally, 21 people were rescued, 13 of whom were hospitalized.

Fleeing Russians arrive on American shores: Two Russians crossed the Bering Strait and landed in Gambell, Alaska, earlier this week. They said they were seeking asylum to avoid Russia’s draft in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.?Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said their arrival had been a surprise and that officials “don’t anticipate a continual stream of individuals.” The Russian Embassy in Washington has said its diplomats will hold a “telephone conversation” with two Russians, state media TASS reported.

Biden’s nuclear warning: US President Joe Biden’s stark?warning Thursday night?that?the world faces the highest prospect of nuclear war?in 60 years was not based on any new intelligence about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions or changes in Russia’s nuclear posture, multiple US officials told CNN. The US still has seen no evidence that Putin is moving toward using Russia’s nuclear capability, nor is there any intelligence showing he’s decided to do so. But Biden’s comments – laid out in starker terms than other US officials have used to date – reflected heightened concerns inside his administration about the risk of Russia carrying out a?nuclear strike in Ukraine.

The Ukrainian security service says that some Russian soldiers in one occupied village in the southern Kherson region moved into a pig shed because of a lack of alternative accommodation.

The Russians had occupied the village of Lyubymivka, the security service said, where about 70% of the buildings had been destroyed during shelling.

While Russian officers had taken over private houses, some of the soldiers had lived on a pig farm. Local people had led the security service to the farm. Video and images provided to CNN by the security service show that soldiers had slept and eaten in the pig shed.?

Lyubymivka was liberated earlier this week as Ukrainian forces pushed south through rural areas ok Kherson.

What CNN saw on the ground: CNN visited the village this week and found that a school house being used by the Russians had been hit. The CNN team also found that Russian soldiers had also been living in a children’s recreational center.

The security service said that there were about 200 civilians left in the village when it fell. During the occupation, locals had been banned from being outdoors after 6 p.m. local time. It said Russian soldiers had taken food and alcohol from local people and had hidden their weaponry in residential areas so that it would not be detected by Ukrainian drones.

The security service also said that it had found stolen washing machines at the pig farm.?

Ukrainian human rights lawyer?Oleksandra?Matviichuk in New York on Oct. 3.

The head of the Center for Civil Liberties, Oleksandra Matviichuk, whose organization jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, has called for an international tribunal to bring Russian President Vladimir Putin, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko and “other war criminals to justice.”

In a Facebook post on Friday, Matviichuk said she was glad that the center had received the prize, along with the human rights group Memorial and jailed Belarusian advocate Ales Bialiatski.

She called for Russia to be removed from the United Nations Security Council for what she called “systemic breaches of the UN Charter.”

She continued to say that her 20 years of experience in fighting for civil liberties and human rights “undoubtedly shows that everyday people have much more influence than they think.”

“Mass mobilization of everyday people in different countries of the world and their common voice can change world’s history quicker than the UN intervention,” she added.??

Ukrainian troops hoist a flag above a building in Vysokopillia, in southern Kherson region.

The Ukrainian military has liberated 2,400 square kilometers (more than 926 square miles) of territory in the south “since the beginning of the full-scale war,” a senior Ukrainian official said Friday.

Almost all of that land has been recovered in the past two weeks as Ukraine has stepped up its counteroffensive in Kherson.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president’s office, said the progress in Kherson includes:

Meanwhile, the evacuation of civilians continued amid massive destruction to critical infrastructure in towns like?Arkhanhelske, Vysokopillia and Osokorivka, all of which saw weeks of heavy fighting and indirect fire, Tymoshenko said, adding that de-mining was in progress.

Ukrainian forces have been making steady progress in Kherson since beginning an offensive at the end of last month. In his Thursday night evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv has retaken more than 500 square kilometers?(about 193 square miles) of territory in the southern Kherson region since Oct. 1.

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said during a Wednesday night news conference that the arrival of two Russian nationals seeking asylum in the US to avoid Moscow’s draft had been a surprise and that officials “don’t anticipate a continual stream of individuals.”

The Russians crossed the Bering Strait, landing on western Alaska’s St. Lawrence Island earlier this week.

The governor said “this is maybe a one-off” incident, warning of a storm hitting areas of northwest Alaska and adding that “any type of transiting the Bering Strait for the next couple days could be dangerous.”

The individuals were transported to Anchorage for inspection, which includes screening and vetting, and were then processed in accordance with US immigration laws, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told CNN.

The Russian Embassy in Washington said its diplomats will hold a “telephone conversation” with the two male citizens, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

More context: The pair’s arrival in Gambell, Alaska, follows Russian President Vladimir Putin’s?call last month for “partial mobilization”?of the country’s population, prompting an exodus of Russian men out of the country, with cars lining up to cross the border into neighboring Finland, Georgia and Mongolia.

Protests of the draft have erupted in ethnic minority regions, and some military enlistment offices have been set on fire. The mobilization announcement also prompted anti-war protests across Russia.

At its narrowest point, the distance between mainland Russia and Alaska is 55 miles (88 kilometers), according to Alaska Public Lands Information Centers.

CNN has reached out to the Alaska governor’s office.

Ukraine's Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov delivers a video message via social media.

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov released a video in which he urges Russia’s frontline troops to lay down their arms and promises “life, safety and justice” to those that do.

In the video posted on YouTube on Friday, Reznikov spoke in Russian and warned that “thousands of Russian lads will die” as Moscow’s forces continue to suffer losses.

As Ukrainian fighters advance in the southern region of Kherson,?Kyiv has claimed?that Russian units have suffered losses and?are trying to evacuate their wounded across the Dnipro River.

What Moscow is saying: Russian President Vladimir Putin?has falsely claimed?that one of the reasons Russia invaded Ukraine was to stop a genocide being committed against Russian speakers.

Reznikov compared Putin to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky — who has been?pictured with his country’s troops?on the frontline. “Our President is with his army. Where is yours?” he asked.??

The morning after US President Joe Biden warned that the world faces the highest prospect of nuclear war in 60 years, a senior administration official says there has been?no?shift in US nuclear posture.

While this official would?not go so far as Biden in saying that the world faces the prospect of nuclear crisis for the first time since the 1960s, the official said that “the stakes are clearly higher right?now” as a result of a string of military setbacks Russia is facing in Ukraine.

The official said Biden was speaking “frankly” based on Russian President?Vladimir Putin’s “irresponsible and reckless” rhetoric, but?not based on any new information about Russia’s nuclear posture.

What Biden said Thursday night: During a Democratic fundraiser in New York, Biden delivered a stark warning about the dangers behind Putin’s nuclear threats as Moscow continues to face military setbacks in Ukraine.

“First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use (of a) nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,” Biden warned. He added: “I don’t think there’s any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon.”

It was striking for the President to speak so candidly, particularly at a fundraiser, while his aides from the National Security Council to the State Department to the Pentagon have spoken in much more measured terms,?saying they take the threats seriously but don’t see movement on them from the Kremlin.

CNN’s Sam Fossum, Kaitlan Collins and Paul LeBlanc contributed reporting to this post.

The district of Nikopol “shuddered all night” under shelling from Russian forces, Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region, said in a post on Telegram.

“Almost 40 Russian shells hit Nikopol,” the post read. “Several high-rise buildings, more than 10 private houses, a transport infrastructure enterprise, gas pipelines and electricity networks were damaged in the city.”

No injuries were reported in the shelling, Reznichenko said.

The Nikopol district is in the Dnipropetrovsk region. It sits across the river from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and has frequently come under fire from Russian forces on the opposite bank of the river Dnipro, plant is situated.?

Turkey's President Tayyip Erdogan attends a news conference during the Informal EU 27 Summit and Meeting within the European Political Community at Prague Castle, Czech Republic, on October 6.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has spoken to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the situation in Ukraine, the presidential office in Ankara said Friday.

“The latest developments in the Russia-Ukraine war were discussed,” during a phone call between both leaders, according to a readout from Erdo?an’s office.

Turkey’s President “reiterated that readiness to do their part for a peaceful resolution of the Ukraine issue for the benefit of all,” the readout added.

Some background: Erdogan has played a delicate balancing act since the start of Russia’s invasion. He has refused to sign up to Western sanctions against Russia and sought to play something of a peacemaker role between Kyiv and Moscow.

The Turkish leader also helped broker a deal between Russia and Ukraine to allow the resumption of grain shipments from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

Erdo?an called this agreement “one of the greatest accomplishments of the United Nations in the recent decades.”

At the UN General Assembly last month, Erdogan called for an end to the “Russian-Ukrainian crisis,”?saying?the seven-month war had sent a “wave of shock” around the globe.

CNN’s Jonny Hallam contributed reporting.

The Russian Embassy in Washington has said its diplomats will hold a “telephone conversation” with two Russian men who fled to Alaska to avoid being drafted into the military, state media TASS reported.

“The embassy is aware of the situation with the detained Russian citizens in the state of Alaska. Today we received a notification about this from the Anchorage branch of the US Customs and Border Guard Service,” Nadezhda Shumova, the head of the consular department of the Russian embassy in Washington, said, according to TASS.

The two Russians who crossed the Bering Strait, landing in Gambell, Alaska earlier this week said they were seeking asylum to avoid Russia’s draft in the ongoing conflict with Ukraine.?

“The Russian nationals reported that they fled one of the coastal communities on the east coast of Russia to avoid compulsory military service,” said Karina Borger, a spokesperson for Sen. Lisa Murkowski.

Ukrainian firefighters looking for survivors in the rubble after a missile strike in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, on October 6.

Rescue operations are underway in the southern city of Zaporizhzhia after Russian missile strikes killed 11 people on Thursday, according to Ukrainian authorities.

“Emergency and rescue operations are ongoing at the site of destroyed residential buildings as a result of missile strikes on October 6,” the State Emergency Service of Ukraine said in a Telegram post.

The bodies of the 11 people who died in the strikes were retrieved from two residential buildings, the statement added. Twenty-one people were rescued from both apartment blocks, 13 of whom were hospitalized.

The post updated the death toll from the attack. Officials had previously reported that seven people had been killed.

Some background: Moscow launched a series of fatal missile attacks on the city of Zaporizhzhia early Thursday, just hours after the Kremlin signed a decree to formally seize a massive nuclear power plant nearby.

The city of Zaporizhzhia is not far from the front lines of the conflict. Though the city is under Ukrainian control, about 75% of the greater Zaporizhzhia region is occupied by Russian forces.

That region is one of four Ukrainian territories Russia is claiming to annex in violation of international law.

CNN’s Joshua Berlinger contributed reporting.

As Ukraine continues to press its offensives in the east and south and criticism of Putin’s war effort piles up in Russia, here are the latest developments:

Russian Patriarch Kirill celebrates a Christmas service at the Christ the Savior cathedral in Moscow, Russia, late on January 6.

The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church praised President Vladimir Putin on the occasion of his 70th?birthday Friday, claiming he was ordained by God to rule Russia.?

“The Lord placed you at the helm of power so that you could perform a service of special importance and great responsibility for the fate of the country and the people entrusted to your care,” Patriarch Kirill said in a letter to the Russian President.

Kirill called priests to pray for Putin’s health for two days,?Friday and Saturday.

Some context: Kirill has been a prominent public supporter Putin’s war in Ukraine, despite the fact that it’s killing many of the church’s civilian parishioners.

His firm endorsement of the Kremlin and the war has also led to isolation from the religious community, with Pope Francis earlier warning him not to become “Putin’s altar boy.”

The UK government sanctioned Kirill for his support of the war in June.

In September, Kirill was also notably absent from the VII Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions, a gathering of international religious leaders.

Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), another of Friday’s Nobel Peace Prize winners, was established in 2007 to promote human rights values in Ukraine and strengthen democracy in the country.

The committee commended its work on strengthening Ukrainian civil society and the pressure that it’s put on authorities to “make Ukraine a full-fledged democracy.”

“The center is playing a pioneering role in holding guilty parties accountable for their crimes,” it said.

CCL said they were proud to have won the accolade on Friday, Reuters reported.

“Morning with good news. We are proud,” they said.

Live updates: Read the latest on the Nobel Peace Prize here.

An employee inspects archive documents at the office of human rights group Memorial in Moscow, Russia on November 15, 2021.

Russian human rights organization Memorial, one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, was established in 1987 by human rights activists in the former Soviet Union to expose the abuses and atrocities of the Stalinist era.

The group “wanted to ensure that the victims of the communist regime’s oppression would never be forgotten,” according to the Nobel committee.

The Nobel committee highlighted the work of the group during the Chechen wars, during which they gathered and verified information on abuses and war crimes perpetrated on the population by Russian and pro-Russian forces.

The head of Memorial’s branch in Chechnya, Natalia Estemirova, was killed in 2009 as a result of this work, according to the Nobel committee.

Last December, Russia’s Supreme Court?ordered the closure?of Memorial International, ruling that the group had fallen afoul of Russia’s “foreign agent” law. But Memorial said the real reason for the shutdown was that authorities did not approve of its work.

The ruling was a huge blow to Russia’s hollowed-out civil society organizations, which have increasingly fallen victim to President Vladimir Putin’s authoritarian regime.

Live updates: Read the latest on the Nobel Peace Prize here.

Belarusian activist Ales Bialiatski, one of the winners of the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize, is the founder of?Viasna?(Spring), a human rights organization that has documented and protested the authorities’ use of torture against political prisoners.

As one of the initiators of the democracy movement that emerged in the mid-1980s in Belarus, he has “devoted his life to promoting democracy and peaceful development in his home country,” the Nobel committee said Friday.

Government authorities have long sought to silence him. He has been detained without trial since 2020.

Despite this “tremendous personal hardship, Bialiatski has not yielded an inch in his fight for human rights and democracy in Belarus,” the committee said.

Live updates: Read the latest on the Nobel Peace Prize here.

Human rights activist?Ales?Bialiatski, founder of the organisation Viasna (Belarus), receives the 2020 Right Livelihood Award at the digital award ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden, on December 3

The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to human rights campaigners in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus.

Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski and two organizations from Russia and Ukraine – Memorial and the Center for Civil Liberties, respectively – were announced as the winners of the 2022 award on Friday morning.

Left to right: Tanya Lokshina, Deputy Director for Europe and Central Asia of Human Rights Watch, Yelena Zhemkova, Executive Director of International Memorial, Alexander Cherkasov, Chairman of the Council of Memorial Human Rights Center, Tatiana Glushkova, member of the Council of Memorial Human Rights Center, and Tatiana Margolina, Member of the Board of Perm Memorial, hold a press conference in the office of the Memorial human rights group in Moscow, on November 18, 2021.

The winners were honored for “an outstanding effort to document war crimes, human right abuses and the abuse of power” in their respective countries.

“They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens,” the Norwegian Nobel Committee said.

Their win comes seven months after Russia launched a full-scale war on Ukraine, with the assistance of Belarus.

The three winners will share the prize money of 10,000,000 Swedish Krona ($900,000). The Nobel Prizes will be officially presented to the laureates at a ceremony on December 10, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death.??

Live updates: Read the latest on the Nobel Peace Prize here.

A Wagner recruitment billboard in Russia, part of the group's recent public recruitment.

The Ukrainians’ bodies lay side-by-side on the grass, the earth beside them splayed open by a crater. Dragged to the spot by Russian mercenaries, the victims’ arms pointed to where they had died.?

“Let’s plant a grenade on them,” a voice says in husky Russian, in what appears to be a plan to booby-trap the bodies.?

“There is no need for a grenade, we will just bash them in,” another says of the Ukrainian soldiers who will come to collect the bodies. The mercenaries then realize they have run out of ammunition.?

These events seen and heard on battlefield video, exclusive to CNN, along with access to Wagner recruits fighting in?Ukraine, and candid, rare interviews CNN has conducted with a former Wagner commander now seeking asylum in Europe, combine to give an unprecedented look at the state of Russia’s premier mercenary force.?

While problems of supply and morale, as well as allegations of war crimes have been well documented among regular Russian troops, the existence of similar crises among Wagner mercenaries, often described as?President Vladimir Putin’s off-the-books shock troops, is a dire omen for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Wagner forces have for several years enjoyed global notoriety. But as Putin’s “special military operation” in Ukraine comes apart at the seams, and the announcement of a “partial mobilization” for much-needed conscripts has prompted more than 200,000 Russian citizens to flee to neighboring countries, the cracks in this supposedly elite force are showing.

Limited official information about Wagner and long-standing Kremlin denials about its existence and ties to the Russian state have only added to its infamy and allure, while helping the group to cloud analysis of its exact capabilities and activities.?

In reality, though, Wagner – like Russia – is struggling in Ukraine, according to the video testimony of the group’s own mercenary fighters.

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A US official said Thursday evening that despite President Biden’s warning that the world is the closest it has been to a nuclear crisis since the 1960s, they have still seen no change to Russia’s nuclear posture as of now.?

Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre’s statement on Tuesday – that there has been no indication of a change in Russia’s posture and therefore no change in the U.S. posture – still stands, the official said.?

According to?a source familiar with his thinking,?Biden was speaking clearly about the threat officials believe Russia poses at a fundraiser in New York Thursday evening.

While there is no question Russia’s nuclear posture is being taken seriously, a senior US government official said the President’s language at the fundraiser caught other officials across the government off guard.

The official expressed surprise at the President’s remarks, saying there were no obvious signs of an escalating threat from Russia.

President Joe Biden delivers remarks at the IBM facility in Poughkeepsie, New York, on October 6.

During a fundraiser in New York Thursday night, Biden gave?a sober and stark warning about the dangers of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s threats about using nuclear weapons as his country’s military experiences set backs in Ukraine, according to notes from the print pool.?

“First time since the Cuban missile crisis, we have a direct threat of the use nuclear weapon if in fact things continue down the path they are going,”?Biden warned during the fundraiser, according to the pool.?

He added:?“I’m?trying to figure out what is Putin’s off ramp?… Where does he find a way out? Where does he find himself in a position that he does not not only lose face but lose significant power within Russia?”

“We’ve got a guy I know fairly well,” Biden said of Putin, according to the pool. “He’s not joking when he talks about potential use of tactical nuclear weapons or biological or chemical weapons because his military is you might say significantly underperforming.”

Ukrainian firefighters stand on rubble after a strike in Zaporizhzhia on October 6.

At least seven people were killed when?several missiles hit the city of Zaporizhzhia?in southern Ukraine on Thursday, according to a Ukrainian official.

Oleksandr Starukh, the head of?the?Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, shared the update in a post on Telegram.

Starukh warned the death toll could increase, as five people are still missing.?He also said at least 21 people have been rescued and that crews are still working to find others.

Ukrainian officials accused Russia of intentionally targeting civilians.

“There are neither military nor important objects near the hit site, only civilian buildings, and apartment buildings,” Starukh said.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said at least seven Russian missiles “hit people sleeping peacefully at their homes.”

“More have struck during the day. Russians keep deliberately striking civilians to sow fear. Russian terror must be stopped — by force of weapons, sanctions, and full isolation,” Kuleba continued.

Some context:?Zaporizhzhia is a major city in southern Ukraine, not far from the frontline, and the site of a nuclear power plant that the international community is?watching warily.

Part of the wider region is occupied by Russian forces.?

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed measures this week to?annex four Ukrainian regions, including Zaporizhzhia, in violation of international law.

A general view of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on September 11.

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

The annexation of Zaporizhzhia and three other regions is illegal under international law and has been widely condemned by the international community.

Despite international opposition to the move, Putin also instructed the cabinet to determine how to regulate and operate the Zaporizhzhia plant — which has been under forcible Russian military control since March?— through 2028.

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

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

He said the administration of the plant would be transferred directly to Kyiv following the detention by Russian officials of the plant’s general director, Ihor Murashov. On Tuesday, the IAEA said that?Murashov?will not continue his duties at the nuclear power plant following his release from Russian detention.

Kotin also noted that operational issues at the plant would be resolved by the technical staff by agreement with the central office of the company.

IAEA Intervention: The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, was in Kyiv on Thursday to discuss his calls to establish a nuclear safety zone around the plant “as soon as possible,” the IAEA said in a statement. Grossi will also visit Russia in the coming days.?

Grossi said at a news conference that it’s still unclear what the “practical consequences” were of Russia’s decision to seize the plant, but he would be discussing those matters in high-level meetings in Moscow. He also said that the IAEA considers the facility Ukrainian.

“We want this war to stop. The war should stop immediately. The position of the IAEA is that this facility is a Ukrainian facility, but I don’t get into comments about military developments,” Grossi said.?

“For us, it is obvious that since this is a Ukrainian facility, the ownership (sic) is on Energatom,” Grossi said, referring to the Ukrainian state nuclear agency. “We are an international agency, and we are guided by international law. And as you all know very well, annexations are not accepted under international law.”

Some context:?The Zaporizhzhia plant has been subject to intense scrutiny since its occupation shortly after Russia’s invasion in late February. Intense Russian shelling near the facility?this summer?sparked concerns of a nuclear accident, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency?to send a team there.

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

Rescuers work at a site of a residential building heavily damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid their attack on Ukraine, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine October 6, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer

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