The amount of people crossing the Finland-Russia border has increased, Finnish border guard says
From CNN's Allegra Goodwin
Traffic across the Finland-Russia border intensified overnight, according to Finnish officials, following the Kremlin's announcement of a partial mobilization on Wednesday.
Some 4,824 Russians arrived in Finland via the country's eastern border on Wednesday, the Finnish border guard's head of international affairs Matti Pitkaniitty said in a tweet, an increase of 1,691 compared to the same day last week.
However, Pitkaniitty continued that the number of people crossing the border Wednesday was lower than on a normal weekend.
Border traffic on Thursday morning has remained busy, the Border Guard of Southeast Finland added in a tweet Thursday.
On Wednesday, Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen said Finland is closely monitoring the situation in Russia
5:08 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Senior international officials express "grave concern" over Ukrainian nuclear facilities
From CNN's Pierre Bairin and Lauren Kent
A Russian serviceman guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in territory under Russian military control in southeast Ukraine, on May 1. (AP)
Foreign ministers and senior officials from Europe, North America and South Korea have expressed their "grave concern" regarding threats posed to the safety of nuclear facilities in Ukraine.
The officials -- who include the foreign Ministers of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Ukraine, as well as senior officials from the Republic of Korea, Switzerland, the United States and the European Union -- released a joint statement released following a high-level meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday.
The statement detailed their "grave concern regarding the threats posed to the safety and security of nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes in Ukraine and their personnel, significantly raising the risk of a nuclear accident."
Continuing, the statement voiced support for the International Atomic Energy Agency's mission to Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), before criticizing Russia's occupation and "sham referenda."
"We emphasize that Russia’s seizure and militarization of the ZNPP is the root cause of the current threats in the field of nuclear safety and security," the statement added.
"We recall that the heightened risks of a nuclear incident will remain dangerously high as long as Russia remains present on the site of ZNPP. The Russian Federation must immediately withdraw its troops from within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders and respect Ukraine’s territorial integrity and sovereignty."
"Should the Russian Federation conduct any sham referenda within occupied territories of Ukraine, we reiterate that these would have no legal and political effect, including on the status of the ZNPP," the statement continued.
The officials also highlighted the importance of uploading the UN nuclear watchdog's resolutions regarding "armed attacks or threats against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes" and the agency's pillars of nuclear safety. The statement also highlighted the importance of complying with international humanitarian law.
3:48 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
EU ministers agree to prepare ‘new restrictive measures’ against Russia
From CNN’s Mick Krever
Press briefing Josep Borrell, Vice-President of the European Commission, on the situation in Ukraine at the UN Headquarters in New York on September 21. (Lev Radin/Sipa USA/Reuters)
European Union foreign ministers agreed in New York to push forward with a new round of sanctions against Russia, EU Foreign Policy Chief Josep Borrell told reporters late Wednesday night.
“We will continue and increase our military support, continue providing arms to Ukraine, and we will study, we will adopt, new restrictive measures – both personal and sectorial,” Borrell said.
The exact details on those new sanctions must still be determined, he said. The agreement reached in New York, which he said was unanimous, was a “political” one.
“Some hours after Putin’s speech, it was a matter of sending a powerful political message,” he said. “They will not shake our determination. They will not shake our resolve, our unity, to stand by Ukraine.”
He said that he was confident that “unanimous agreement” would be possible for the new sanctions package.
“It’s clear that Putin is trying to destroy Ukraine,” he said.
“In line with the United Nations charter, and international law, Ukraine is exercising its legitimate right to defend itself against Russian aggression, to regain full control of its territory, and has the right to liberate occupied territories within its internationally recognized borders. And for that, we will continue supporting Ukraine’s efforts, the provision of military equipment, as long as it takes.”
3:57 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Chinese and Russian Foreign Ministers meet on sidelines of United Nations General Assembly
From CNN's Simone McCarthy and Wayne Chang
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov delivers a speech as he meets with heads of diplomatic missions in Moscow, Russia, on September 19. (Alexander Zemlianichenko/Reuters)
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi met Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Wednesday, according to statements from both sides.
On the issue of Ukraine, Wang stressed that China would continue to “maintain its objective and impartial position” and “push for peace negotiations,” according to a readout from the Chinese Foreign Ministry released Thursday.
It is hoped that all parties will not give up on dialogue and commit to resolving security concerns through peace negotiations,” Wang said.
A summary of the meeting from Russian state media agency TASS noted that the two sides discussed subjects including Ukraine, but did not provide details on what was said about the issue, which looms large at the opening of this year's assembly.
It was unclear whether the two discussed the “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens announced by Russian leader Vladimir Putin in an address Wednesday morning Moscow time, or his endorsement of referendums on joining Russia that Russian-appointed leaders in four occupied regions of Ukraine announced they would hold this week. Both actions were decried by Ukraine and its allies.
When asked about the referendums in a regular scheduled press briefing on Wednesday, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry in Beijing said China’s position on Ukraine had been “consistent and clear.”
“We believe that all countries deserve respect for their sovereignty and territorial integrity, that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter should be observed, that the legitimate security concerns of any country should be taken seriously,” said spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
“China stands ready to work with members of the international community to continue to play a constructive part in de-escalation efforts,” he said, before declining to respond further when asked specifically about the mobilization.
Some context: China has refused to condemn Russia’s attack on Ukraine and has decried Western sanctions on Moscow, while boosting its own purchases of Russian energy. During a face-to-face meeting between Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Uzbekistan last week, Putin praised China’s “balanced position” on the Ukraine war, though conceded Beijing had “questions and concerns” over the invasion.
4:01 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Russia’s partial mobilization unlikely to ‘dramatically shift tide of the war,’ says Institute for the Study of War
From CNN's Mick Krever
A billboard promoting contract army service with an image of a serviceman and the slogan reading "Serving Russia is a real job" sits in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on September 20. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)
An analysis by researchers from the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) concludes that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilization is unlikely to “dramatically shift the tide of the war.”
The analysis says that it will take weeks or months to bring reservists up to combat readiness, that Russian reservists are “poorly trained to begin with,” and that the “deliberate phases” of deployment outlined by Russia’s Defense Minister are likely to preclude “any sudden influx of Russian forces that could dramatically shift the tide of the war.”
“Putin’s order to mobilize part of Russia’s ‘trained’ reserve, that is, individuals who have completed their mandatory conscript service, will not generate significant usable Russian combat power for months,” the analysis reads. “It may suffice to sustain the current levels of Russian military manpower in 2023 by offsetting Russian casualties, although even that is not yet clear.”
“Russian mandatory military service is only one year, which gives conscripts little time to learn how to be soldiers, to begin with. The absence of refresher training after that initial period accelerates the degradation of learned soldier skills over time.”
The analysis downplays any “explicit threat” of the use of nuclear weapons by President Putin.
“Putin emphatically did not say that the Russian nuclear umbrella would cover annexed areas of Ukraine nor did he tie mobilization to the annexation,” the analysis reads.
“He addressed partial mobilization, annexation referenda in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, and the possibility of nuclear war in his speech – but as separate topics rather than a coherent whole. The fact that he mentioned all three topics in a single speech was clearly meant to suggest a linkage, but he went out of his way to avoid making any such linkage explicit.”
The ISW researchers say that they do not believe that the speech should be read “as an explicit threat that Russia would use nuclear weapons against Ukraine if Ukraine continues counter-offensives against occupied territories after annexation.”
2:21 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Zaporizhzhia shelled early Thursday, city official says
From CNN's Josh Pennington and Irene Nasser
The Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia was shelled early Thursday, a city council official has reported.
Zaporizhzhia City Council Secretary Anatoliy Kurtiev said on his Telegram Channel that "civil infrastructure has been destroyed" and that "there are casualties."
There have been claims of five explosions from both pro-Russian and pro-Ukrainian media, but CNN cannot independently verify the claims.
The shelling comes on the heels of a turbulent 24 hours for the region, after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would back a referendum for Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia to join the Russian Federation.
1:28 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
More than 1,300 people detained across Russia in crackdown on anti-war protests: monitoring group
From CNN's Clare Sebastian and Idris Muktar
Police officers detain a person in Moscow on Wednesday, September 21. (Alexander Nemenov/AFP/Getty Images)
More than 1,300 people have been detained in dozens of cities across Russia in a crackdown on anti-war protests, according to the independent protest monitoring group OVD-Info.
The group said the figure includes at least 502 people in Moscow and 524 people in St Petersburg.
1:18 a.m. ET, September 22, 2022
Analysis: Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia can't train or support them
From CNN's Brad Lendon
Russian servicemen take part in a rehearsal for the Victory Day parade in downtown Saint Petersburg on June 20, 2020. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)
Vladimir Putin can call up all the troops he wants, but Russia has no way of getting those new troops the training and weapons they need to fight in Ukraine any time soon.
With his invasion of Ukraine faltering badly, the Russian President on Wednesday announced the immediate "partial mobilization" of Russian citizens. Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Russian television that the country will call up 300,000 reservists.
If they end up facing Ukrainian guns on the front lines, they are likely to become the newest casualties in the invasion Putin started more than seven months ago and that has seen the Russian military fail at almost every aspect of modern war.
"The Russian military is not currently equipped to rapidly and effectively deploy 300,000 reservists," said Alex Lord, Europe and Eurasia specialist at the Sibylline strategic analysis firm in London.
"Russia is already struggling to effectively equip its professional forces in Ukraine, following significant equipment losses during the war," Lord said.
The Institute for the Study of War earlier this week said analysis from Western experts and Ukrainian intelligence found Russia had lost 50% to 90% of its strength in some units due to that offensive, and vast amounts of armor.
And that comes on top of staggering equipment losses over the course of the war.
The open source intelligence website Oryx, using only losses confirmed by photographic or video evidence, has found Russian forces have lost more than 6,300 vehicles, including 1,168 tanks, since the fighting began.
In practice, they don't have enough modern equipment ... for that many new troops," said Jakub Janovsky, a military analyst who contributes to the Oryx blog.
But even if they did have all the equipment, weapons and motivation they need, getting 300,000 troops quickly trained for battle would be impossible, experts said.
Reforms in 2008, aimed at modernizing and professionalizing the Russian military, removed many of the logistical and command and control structures that had once enabled the forces of the old Soviet Union to rapidly train and equip vast numbers of mobilized conscripts.
Two Britons sentenced to death among those released in prisoner exchange
From CNN’s Mohammed Tawfeeq and Jen Deaton
Released British PoWs Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin on home-bound airplane on September 22 (Джонни Johnny/Instagram)
Shaun Pinner is among five British nationals to be released in a Ukraine-Russia prisoner exchange on Wednesday, after being held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine for months, according to Ukraine’s Coordinating Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War.
Fellow Briton Aiden Aslin was also released as part of a prison swap deal, said the Ukrainian government institution.
Both men were sentenced to death by courts in the pro-Russian, self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in June.
in what appears to be a cell-phone video, the pair are seen seated side-by-side in an airplane, discussing their release and thanking “everyone that’s been supporting us.”
"We want to let everyone know we’re now out of the danger zone and we’re on our way home to our families,” Aslin said. “By the skin of our teeth,” Pinner then interjected.
