September 28, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukrainian forces have made further gains in the eastern Donetsk region, according to geolocated social media video and reports by a Russian military blogger in the area.

Social media videos showed a contingent of Ukrainian troops raising the national flag in the town of Novoselivka, and geolocated video shows Ukrainian military vehicles moving through the nearby district of Zelena Dolnya.

In Novoselivka, one of the soldiers says, "Today, the Armed Forces of Ukraine — the 81st brigade, together with the National Guard of Ukraine, liberated the settlement of Novoselivka."

These gains indicate that a pocket of territory still held by pro-Russian forces in and around the town of Lyman is at greater risk of being surrounded. The Ukrainians already control territory to the west and south of the town and are now advancing north of it.  

A military blogger, Semyon Pegov, with Russian forces to the east of Lyman, reported from the village of Torske Wednesday that the situation was becoming more tense every day. Pegov, who goes by the name WarGonzo, said in a video report that on Tuesday night groups of Ukrainian troops had carried out probing attacks in the area.  

Were Ukrainian units to take Torske, an unknown number of pro-Russian units —mainly from the Donetsk People's Militia — would effectively be cut off in Lyman.

What Russia is saying: The Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted the Russian Defense Ministry as saying Wednesday that Ukrainian troops had suffered losses in an unsuccessful attempt to attack Lyman. It claimed that "the losses of the 66th and 93rd mechanized brigades [were] more than 70 people killed, four tanks, six infantry fighting vehicles and three armored vehicles."

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said repeatedly that taking all of Donetsk region is one of the main goals of the special military operation begun in February, but so far this month the Russians and their allies have lost more ground in the region than they have gained.

Pro-Russian authorities have held so-called referendums in four regions of Ukraine over recent days and, while the votes are illegal and have been universally dismissed as “a sham” by Ukraine and Western nations, there are fears that they could create a pretext for a new, dangerous stage in the war.

They come with the seven-month conflict at a tipping point. Rapid counterrattacks by Ukraine have dramatically swung momentum on the battlefield away from Russian leader Vladimir Putin, who is expected to escalate his country’s invasion in response.

That means the “votes” – and the bogus results that Russia and its local allies have claimed – are an important step in Russia’s faltering effort to seize control in Ukraine.

What comes next for these regions? In terms of international law, the referendums will achieve nothing because the global community is steadfastly refusing to accept them.

But back home, Russian President Vladimir Putin will be able to claim that the will of occupied Ukrainians is to belong to Russia – thereby giving some false pretext to his efforts to claim that territory as Moscow’s.

The Kremlin will likely immediately treat the territories as though they are parts of Russia now that vote tallies have been claimed. “The entire state territory of Russia that has already been or can additionally be formalized in the constitution of our country will certainly benefit from full protection,” Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a New York news conference on Saturday. “How can it be otherwise? All the laws, doctrines, concepts, and strategies of the Russian Federation are applicable throughout its territory.”

There are concerns that Ukrainians in parts of the country controlled by Russia will be conscripted by their occupiers.

Ukrainian officials say Russia is using the votes as a pretext to draft Ukrainians into the Russian military. “The main purpose of the fake referendum is to mobilize our residents and use them as cannon fodder,” Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor-in-exile of Russian-occupied Melitopol, said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s National Resistance Center said last week in a statement: “It is clear that after the referendum the enemy will announce mobilization on the occupied lands as well because it needs human resources.”

The Ukrainian government says the Russian occupying administrations, together with Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), are drawing up lists of thousands of people to be mobilized in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

In Luhansk region, which is almost entirely occupied by Russia and Russian-backed forces, Ukrainian officials say the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic is already implementing widespread conscription.

Read more about Russia's staged referendums here.

The US Embassy in Moscow has warned its citizens not to travel to Russia and advised those residing or traveling there to “depart Russia immediately while limited commercial travel options remain.”

A security alert on the Embassy’s website, dated Tuesday, noted that dual nationals may be drafted “for military service” following Russia’s “mobilization of its citizens to the armed forces in support of its invasion of Ukraine.”

The alert also says “Russian authorities have arrested U.S. citizens who have participated in demonstrations."

The embassy alert urged US citizens to “avoid all political or social protests and do not photograph security personnel at these events,” noting that “the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression are not guaranteed in Russia.”

The alert said that the embassy “has severe limitations on its ability to assist U.S. citizens, and conditions, including transportation options, may suddenly become even more limited.”

“If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements as soon as possible,” it said.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has warned that the US is getting increasingly close to "becoming a party to the conflict" in Ukraine.

“More and more, the American side is getting into this conflict, getting closer to becoming a party to the conflict, which is extremely dangerous,” Peskov told reporters on Wednesday.

He was responding to US Secretary of State Antony Blinken's comments on Tuesday that Ukrainians would be able to use weapons provided by the US to regain its territory, including in the regions that are expected to be annexed by Russia after multiple referendums.

“Ukraine has the absolute right to defend itself throughout its territory, including to take back the territory that has been illegally seized in one way or another by Russia," Blinken said.

The referendums -- announced at short notice by Russian-backed authorities in four occupied regions of Ukraine -- are illegal under international law. They have been widely condemned by Western governments as a sham and were not observed by independent monitors.

More than 50,000 Russians have crossed into Finland via the land border within the last week, according to the country's border guard, following President Vladimir Putin announcement of the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens.

The Finnish border guard told CNN that 50,659 Russians entered the country over the past week. Earlier, it tweeted that 7,052 Russians entered the country on Tuesday alone.

The Kremlin has announced it will call up 300,000 reservists to serve in its ongoing war against Ukraine. Since that time, hundreds of thousands have fled to neighboring countries in a desperate bid to avoid military conscription.

Last weekend saw a record number of Russians entering neighboring Finland via its land border since the Kremlin’s announcement, with 16,886 Russians arriving in total over Saturday and Sunday, according to the border guard’s head of international affairs, Matti Pitkaniitty. Of that number, many were “in transit to other countries,” he added.

Finland and Russia share a 1,340-km (830-mile) land border, with several border crossings.

The so-called referendums in four occupied Ukrainian regions will not be the end of Moscow’s “special military operation” in the country, according to the Kremlin.

“The special military operation” -- Moscow’s official euphemism for Russia's invasion of Ukraine -- “continues and it will continue,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.

Four occupied regions of Ukraine have held so-called referendums on joining Russia. The referendums are illegal under international law and have been dismissed by Ukraine and Western leaders as a “sham.”

The leaders of two of the four occupied regions in Ukraine are traveling to the Russian capital following the voting, according to local media reports. Peskov was addressing reporters in response to questions about what will happen after the four regions have signed to become part of Russia and if the border troops will be sent to protect the new borders there.

Peskov would not be drawn on when agreements on joining Russia may be signed, telling reporters the Kremlin “will inform in a timely manner.”

Pressed further on whether Russia will consider the goals of the special military operation goals to be achieved when the regions become part of Russia, Peskov said that "not all the territory of the Donetsk People’s Republic has been liberated yet.”

“At the very least, all the territory of the DPR needs to be liberated,” Peskov added.

CNN’s Olga Voitovych in Kyiv and Jo Shelley in London contributed reporting.

The leaders of two of the four occupied regions in Ukraine holding so-called referendums on joining Russia are traveling to Moscow, after claiming huge majorities in favor in the polls, dismissed by Ukraine and Western leaders as a "sham."

The head of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), Leonid Pasechnik, and leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, are traveling to the Russian capital, according to local media reports.

Pasechnik is journeying to Moscow “to complete the legal part of joining the LPR to Russia,” according to a post on the official LPR Telegram channel.

Meanwhile his DPR counterpart is also heading to the Russian capital where he says he will “sign an agreement with the President of the Russian Federation,” the separatist-run Donetsk News Agency (DNA) reported.

Meanwhile, Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Russian-backed administration in Kherson, has called on Putin to annex the region, following a so-called referendum there.

“I appeal to the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin with a proposal to accept the Kherson region into the Russian Federation as a new subject,” he wrote in a Telegram post on Wednesday.

Remember: The referendums are illegal under international law. Earlier this week Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced fresh sanctions to be imposed on “persons and entities” involved in such referendums, while European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell decried them as “another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

President Vladimir Putin is set to address both houses of the Russian Parliament on Friday, the UK Ministry of Defence tweeted on Tuesday.

It claimed there was “a realistic possibility” Putin would use the speech “to formally announce the accession of the occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

CNN’s Hannah Ritchie and Allegra Goodwin contributed reporting.

Any allegations that Russia may have been involved in sabotaging the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines are “predictably stupid and absurd,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has claimed.

“It's pretty predictable and predictably stupid to express such versions. Predictably stupid and absurd,” Peskov said on Wednesday when asked about allegations Russia might be involved in damaging the pipelines.

“This is a big problem for us, since both pipelines are filled with gas, and this gas is very expensive,” he added during a call with journalists.

“We do not understand what happened there...There are a lot of questions,” Peskov said when asked to assess if Russia would carry out the repair works. “Of course, this situation requires dialogue, prompt cooperation of all parties to find out what happened, to assess the damage.”

Multiple European leaders have referred to the leaks in the Russian pipelines -- which run under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark -- as acts of sabotage. Nord Stream AG, in safety documents published before any news emerged of the leaks, had said that the probability of a pipeline failure or leakage is “as low as one damage event every 100,000 years.”

The Swedish national police force has opened an investigation into leaks from the Nord Stream pipelines, and the case is currently being reviewed by the Public Prosecutor's Office.

On the basis of the report filed by the Swedish Police Authority, the prosecutor will determine the next steps, Karl Jigland from the press service of the Swedish Prosecutor's Office told CNN over the phone on Wednesday.

Separately, the Swedish police force told CNN earlier on Wednesday that a police report about an offense had been filed.

"The legal qualification is currently gross sabotage, but this could be subject to change," the police said in an email to CNN.

Swedish authorities on Tuesday warned of leaks in the Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2 pipelines -- both of which run under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark, and have been major flashpoints in the energy war between Europe and Russia.

Several European leaders have cited concerns over the cause of the leaks, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen referring to the pipeline leaks as "sabotage action" in a tweet on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Tuesday the incident is “likely a deliberate action.”