September 21, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Russia is launching a partial mobilization of its citizens, President Vladimir Putin announced during a highly anticipated speech to the nation on Wednesday morning.

Efforts to begin partial mobilization will begin today, on Wednesday, Putin announced. He said that a decree on partial mobilization has already been signed.

“After the Kyiv regime actually publicly refused a peaceful solution to the Donbas problem today and, moreover, announced its claim to nuclear weapons, it became absolutely clear that a new next large-scale offensive in the Donbas, as it had already happened twice before, was inevitable.”

It is unclear what Putin is referring to with his mention of nuclear weapons.

At the start of a highly anticipated speech to the nation, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday morning said that Western countries are seeking to destroy Russia.

Multiple Kremlin-backed authorities in occupied areas of eastern and southern Ukraine have announced they will hold referendums on formally joining Russia this week, in a move that threatens to redefine the parameters of the conflict.

The referendums could pave the way for Russian annexation of the areas, allowing Moscow to frame the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive there as an attack on Russia itself, thereby providing Moscow with a pretext to escalate its military response. 

The latest developments follow a significant shift in Russia's position after a sudden and successful Ukrainian offensive through most of occupied Kharkiv this month, which has galvanized Ukraine's Western backers and led to recriminations in Moscow. 

In what appeared to be a coordinated announcement, Russian-appointed leaders in the occupied regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic and Donetsk People's Republic all said they planned to hold "votes" beginning on September 23. 

Together the four regions that have announced their referendum plans make up around 18% of Ukraine's territory. Russia does not control any of the four in their entirety. 

US condemns: US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned the expected referendums during a meeting with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Tuesday, and reiterated the US would not recognize any attempt by Russia to "claim annexation of Ukraine's sovereign territory."

The Pentagon said on Tuesday that the referendums would have no credibility and would not impact US support for Ukraine.

Russians support: The potential referendums have not been fully endorsed by the Kremlin, but the announcements have received swift support from Russian politicians. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has publicly endorsed referendums in the self-declared Donbas republics, saying this would have "huge significance" for "systemic protection" of the residents.

Medvedev, who is vice-chairman of Russia's National Security Council, said on his Telegram channel that once the republics were integrated into the Russian Federation, "not one future leader of Russia, not one official will be able to reverse these decisions."

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Multiple Kremlin-backed authorities in eastern and southern Ukraine have announced referendums on joining Russia will be held this week.

While previous plans for such a vote have been delayed, there was a flurry of announcements Tuesday from Russian-backed officials in occupied regions in Ukraine — all set on voting from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27.

Kherson: Russian-backed head of the Kherson administration, Vladimir Saldo, said he "signed a decree" for the referendum, which also established the procedure for organizing voting and "measures of administrative and criminal liability for violation of these rules." Parts of Kherson are on the front lines between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Luhansk People's Republic: The leader of the self-declared Luhansk People's Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, also signed a law on a referendum. According to the text, "the Central Election Commission of the LPR will determine the results of the referendum on the Republic's entry into the LPR no later than five days after the last voting day," according to local media portal Lug-Info.

Donetsk People's Republic: The self-declared DPR agreed to hold a referendum and the head said he wrote a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking him for the rapid accession of the republic to the Russian Federation once a referendum is held.

Zaporizhzhia: The so-called National Congress of Citizens of the Zaporizhzhia Region has approved a referendum, said Vladimir Rogov, a senior pro-Russian official in occupied Zaporizhzhia. “Technically, we are ready. Security of polling stations is ensured. Our borders are reliably protected by the Russian military," said Yevgeniy Balitskiy, the Russian-appointed head of the Zaporizhzhia regional administration

Ukrainian response: Ukrainian officials condemned these announcements. The Foreign Ministry said the “fake plebiscites” will not change the “administrative-territorial structure and internationally recognized borders of Ukraine.” The ministry called the vote “forced citizenship” of residents and said it is “another attempt of Russia to legitimize the consequences of its aggressive war against Ukraine.” 

Russian response: The announcements have received swift support from Russian politicians. Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev has publicly endorsed referenda in the self-declared Donbas republics, saying it will have "huge significance" for "systemic protection" of the residents. "Not one future leader of Russia, not one official will be able to reverse these decisions," he added.

US response: The Pentagon said that announcements are "simply an information operation that’s meant to distract from the difficult state that the Russian military currently finds itself in.” US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield also condemned the moves on Tuesday.

The United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres met with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal and the First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska in New York Tuesday.

According to a readout of their meeting, the Secretary-General and the Prime Minister discussed the war in Ukraine and efforts to avoid a global food crisis, including the implementation of the Black Sea Grain initiative.

With Zelenska, they also discussed the importance of protecting Ukrainian women and children affected by the war.

According to the readout, the Secretary-General reiterated the UN’s full support for continuing to provide humanitarian assistance.

In the ruins of an apartment block tarred with soot and clouded in dust amid constant shelling, a small group of Ukrainian soldiers are face to face with a new type of Russian enemy: mercenaries, some of whom may be convicts sent to the front line.

The battle is as heated as it is crucial around the city of Bakhmut. Russian positions are within 200 meters of the Ukrainian military unit that CNN has joined. The unit is caught in a gruesome artillery duel, sheltering in basements, and using commercially purchased drones as the best line of defense and intelligence.

Through broken windows, from inside rooms littered with rubble, Ukrainian soldiers look across the neighboring field, pockmarked with countless blackened craters from artillery impacts.

This is a new type of fighter on the front line. Moscow's manpower has dwindled after as many as 80,000 casualties, according to US officials, leading Moscow to turn to the country's sprawling private sector of mercenaries, namely the Wagner group.

The Wagner group is allegedly run by the man known as "Putin's Chef", Yevgeny Prigozhin. A man matching Prigozhin's appearance recently appeared in a video in a Russian prison yard, extolling to prisoners the virtues of joining his Wagner group and fighting on the front line.

Here in Bakhmut is where that system is put into ruthless action. This city has been the focus of Russian forces in the past weeks, even as they abandon positions around Kharkiv and appear to struggle to hold ground elsewhere. Wagner mercenaries have been deployed to that fight, according to multiple reports from Russian media, and have been making gains around the eastern edges of the city. 

The mercenaries' attacks are often devastatingly callous: the Ukrainians tell CNN that the Wagner fighters rush at them with small arms attacks, causing the Ukrainians to fire at them to protect their positions. The gunfire then gives away where the Ukrainians are, allowing the Russian artillery to target with greater accuracy.

The attacks are regular, and the shelling is almost constant.

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Members of the United Nations must act over war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said in an address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday. 

Scholz urged UN member states not to concede to Russia in peace negotiations. 

The German leader also highlighted his country's support for Ukraine. 

“We’re supporting Ukraine with all our might – financially, economically, with humanitarian assistance, and also with weapons,” he said. 

“Together with our partners around the world, we have imposed tough economic sanctions on the Russian leadership and Russia’s economy,” Scholz added.

Scholz also denied that the sanctions had caused the delay of any grain shipments to Ukraine.

Scholz also addressed the issue of climate change, calling it the biggest challenge of his generation. 

“We, the industrialized countries and major emitters of greenhouse gases, have a very special responsibility here,” he said.

“We stand by our pledges to support emerging economies and developing countries in their efforts to reduce emissions and to adapt to climate change – with new, just energy transition partnerships, for example,” Scholz said. 

Russian and foreign press held their breath on Tuesday night as media reports circulated that Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu were to address the nation. 

The news came after Russian-appointed leaders in the occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics announced they would stage referendums on joining Russia in a matter of days. 

Russian media website RBK, a business daily with Kremlin connections, reported – citing three anonymous sources – that Putin was due to speak at 8 p.m. local time on Wednesday followed by an address from his Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu.

However, the Kremlin has not confirmed whether the addresses will take place.

After hours of anticipation that the address would take place on Tuesday evening, Russian Telegram channels citing a political analyst close to the Kremlin, Sergei Markov, said that Putin’s address had been delayed.

Margarita Simonyan, the chief editor of Russia Today and one of the Kremlin’s main mouthpieces, tweeted: “Go to bed.” 

Russian Forbes, citing two anonymous sources, reported that Putin’s pre-recorded address would air once the country’s “Far East wakes up.”

Rockets hit multi-story residential buildings in the Kholodnogorsk district of Kharkiv in the early hours of Wednesday, Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov said in a Telegram post.

Information on casualties is still being gathered, Terekhov said.

The mayor added that responders were working to rescue several people who were trapped at one location. 

CNN's team in Kharkiv reported hearing six to seven “large explosions” as air raid sirens wailed in the northeastern Ukrainian city around 1:52 a.m. local time.

This just over two weeks after Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in the Kharkiv region that allowed Kyiv to regain thousands of square miles of territory that had been occupied by Russia for months.