September 21, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Flight sales websites in Russia indicate that all direct flights to countries that do not require Russian visas are sold out through Friday at least.

Direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul, Yerevan in Armenia and Baku in Azerbaijan are among those that are full, according to ticket aggregator sites.

The term “leaving Russia” saw a sharp spike in searches among Russians over the past 24 hours, according to Google Trends.

Google Trends also shows there has been a sharp rise in people searching “Aviasales,” which is a leading Russian flight sales engine. The number has quadrupled in the last 24 hours.

According to Aviasales, a ticket aggregator, one-way tickets on Friday out of Moscow to Istanbul are starting at $2,715 per ticket. Before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization announcement, the tickets cost about $350.

A survey of one-way fares in coming days to Belgrade, Tel Aviv and Istanbul shows a doubling and tripling of prices. 

Russian state carrier Aeroflot's website showed that only business-class tickets were available for flights to Armenia Wednesday. According to the Aviasales website late Wednesday, one-way tickets from Moscow to the Armenian capital of Yerevan were available Thursday for $4,241, with multiple stops. All economy-class tickets to Armenia are sold out until Sept. 28. 

"Due to inquiries from passengers and the media, we would like to inform you that Aeroflot Group airlines are operating as usual. There are no restrictions on ticket sales," Aeroflot said in a statement.

Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier announced the immediate partial mobilization of Russian citizens.

Foreign ministers of European Union member states, currently in New York attending the United Nations General Assembly, will hold an emergency meeting on Wednesday night to discuss the recent developments related to Russia's war in Ukraine, the EU's top diplomat announced at a press briefing. 

High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said the meeting was called after a speech from Russian President Vladimir Putin, which Borrell described as the Russian leader's implicit threat to use nuclear weapons. 

"Tonight, immediately after knowing the words of Mr. Putin, I am convening an extraordinary and ad hoc informal meting of the EU foreign ministers with the purpose to agree on a common line. And the common line I'm sure can be summarized as saying, 'We will not be intimidated and will continue full support for Ukraine’s sovereignty,'" he said.

Borrell said Putin looked "like he [was] speaking with ... panic and desperation" in his announcement of an immediate partial mobilization of Russian citizens.

"He is doubling [down] on a failing strategy. By the threat of using nuclear weapons, he is trying to intimidate Ukraine and all countries that support. But he will fail," Borrell said.

In response to a question about what will happen at tonight's emergency meeting, he said:

He also said that new EU sanctions against Russia would be "on the table." 

"I will start proposing what to do with sanctions. And we will reinforce our reach out to all states in the world in order to share with them our strong concern for this situation," Borrell said. 

Borrell said he does not have plans to meet Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who is also in New York to attend the UN meeting.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, the commander in chief of Ukraine's Armed Forces, said that Russia's partial mobilization won't frighten Ukraine.

In a Facebook post, Zaluzhnyi said that the military had been "deterring the armed aggression of the Russian Federation for 8 years and 7 months," since the spring of 2014, when pro-Russian militia appeared in eastern Ukraine.

"No statements of the military and political leadership of the aggressor country will affect our readiness to fight for our freedom. We will destroy everyone who comes to our land with weapons — whether voluntarily or under mobilization," Zaluzhnyi said.

Latvia's President Egils Levits said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a partial mobilization because Russia's "once-mighty army is overwhelmed" by the Ukrainian forces.

"The heroic defense mounted by the people of Ukraine is bringing success ... The blitzkrieg envisaged by President Putin has turned into a long nightmare," Levits told the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday. 

He also dismissed the recent announcement of "illegal referenda" on the annexation of the occupied territories in Ukraine to the Russian Federation as another sign of desperation.

"Latvia will not recognize the legitimacy of these referenda and their results. I call on the international community to do likewise," he added. 

Levits said despite the commencement of legal action against Russia by the International Criminal Court and International Court, a legal gap existed.

To rectify the problem, the Latvian leader called on the international community to form a special tribunal to investigate Russia's invasion.

Maia Sandu, the president of Moldova, spoke directly to families in her country during her speech at the United Nations General Assembly, thanking them for "opening their homes and hearts" to millions of Ukraine refugees.

In remarks at the UN in New York on Wednesday, Sandu said she represents a country that wants peace. She pointed out that Moldovan people speak a diverse range of languages — including Ukrainian and Russian — but “regardless of our ethnicity" or political preferences, “we all want peace.”

Sandu paid tribute to all Moldovan families who showed “unprecedented solidarity with refugees by opening their homes and hearts to those in need" during the war.

Moldova, which has about 2.6 million people, sheltered more than half a million refugees fleeing the war. At its peak, Moldova's population grew by 4% as Ukrainians crossed the border, the Moldovan president said. Sandu said about 800,000 refugees chose to stay in the country.

“It is our moral duty as an international community to continue supporting Ukraine," the president said.

Sandu's address comes as Moldova was granted European Union candidate status in June. During her remarks, she said is grateful for the support from member states and for the "recognition and vote of trust in our love for freedom” and democracy.

“By applying to join the European Union, we want the world to know we choose democracy over autocracy, liberty over oppression, peace over war, and prosperity over poverty," Sandu said.

French President Emmanuel Macron said Russian President Vladimir Putin was making a “new mistake” following his announcement of a partial mobilization of citizens to bolster the war in Ukraine on Wednesday.

“I think the decision taken during the last few hours by President Putin is a new mistake,” Macron said in English.

Macron, who is attending the United Nations General Assembly in New York, added that the decision of Putin “to increase the level of war … is bad news for Russian people, is bad news for young Russian people and is bad news for Russia because it will increase the isolation of his own country.”

The French president noted that China and India had both expressed concerns about the war. “Today, Russia is more and more isolated and is more and more committed to a war which only [Russia] wants, and which is illegal and illegitimate,” Macron said.

“Everybody is calling for peace. No one understands any longer the choices made by Russia,” he added.

Five British nationals held by Russian-backed authorities in eastern Ukraine have been released and are on their way back to Britain, the United Kingdom said Wednesday. 

“Hugely welcome news that five British nationals held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine are being safely returned, ending months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families," British Prime minister Liz Truss said in a tweet. 

She thanked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for "for his efforts to secure the release of detainees" and Saudi Arabia for their “assistance,” which saw 10 nationals from Morocco, US, UK, Sweden and Croatia released. 

Among them is British national Aiden Aslin, who in June was sentenced to death in a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and accused of being a mercenary for Ukraine.  

“Aiden’s return brings to an end months of agonizing uncertainty for Aiden’s loving family in Newark who suffered every day of Aiden’s sham trial but never lost hope,” he continued. 

“As they are united as a family once more, they can finally be at peace,” he said. 

More than 500 people have been detained across Russia in a crackdown on anti-war protests across two dozen cities in Russia, according to the independent monitoring group OVD-Info. 

About 100 arrests were made at protests in St. Petersburg after President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a partial mobilization to increase the availability of troops for the war in Ukraine.

Photos released on OVD-Info's Telegram channel showed police in Saint Petersburg using batons against protesters. Videos show police attempting to contain a crowd gathering at Isakiivskiy Cathedral behind barriers, amid chants of “no mobilization."

Social media video geolocated by CNN showed protests in several cities, each involving what appear to have been a few dozen people.

Videos from Moscow showed protestors being carried away by the police at a demonstration in the center of the city.

One video posted by a journalist from the Moscow web publication The Village includes dozens of people in Arbatskaya street chanting “let him go” as one man is carried away.

There was also video from the city of Yekaterinburg of a struggle between police officers and protesters.

As of 8 p.m. Moscow time, 535 people had been detained in 30 cities across Russia, according to OVD-Info.

Arrests took place in Irkutsk and Krasnoyarsk, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, Ulan-Ude, Tomsk, Ufa, Perm, Belgorod and Moscow, according to the OVD-info tally.

Moscow prosecutor's office published a statement Wednesday warning citizens against participation in protests, threatening those with up to 15 years in jail.

Two American veterans who have been held by Russian forces for months have been released as part of a prisoner swap between Russia and Ukraine, their family members confirmed to CNN. 

The men are Alexander John-Robert Drueke, 39, from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh, 27, from Hartselle, Alabama. They were captured while fighting for Ukraine north of Kharkiv in June.

The families did not know that the prisoner exchange was in the works. 

Earlier on Wednesday, the Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the release of 10 prisoners, who are Moroccan, US, UK, Swedish and Croatian nationals.

Joy Black got a call from Saudi Arabia this morning, less than an hour ago, to let her know that Drueke and Huynh were at the US embassy in Saudi Arabia and going to get medical checks. Then Huynh called her, she said.

Huynh never spoke with his family while he was being held as a prisoner of war. It was the first time his fiancée spoke to him in over 100 days. Drueke spoke with his family a handful of times. 

Darla Black said she also got a call from the State Department letting her know that Huynh was in Saudi Arabia. 

The families do now know many details about the trade or how they got to Saudi Arabia. 

The families also do not know exactly where the two Americans were being held, but the assumption was that they were in the Donetsk region.