September 29, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

By Tara Subramaniam, Andrew Raine, Melissa Macaya and Matt Meyer, CNN

Updated 0158 GMT (0958 HKT) September 30, 2022
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2:25 p.m. ET, September 29, 2022

Biden declines to say whether he blames Russia for Nord Stream gas leaks

From CNN's Sam Fossum

US President Joe Biden delivers remarks inside Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters, where he received a briefing on the impact of Hurricane Ian, in Washington DC, on Thursday.
US President Joe Biden delivers remarks inside Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) headquarters, where he received a briefing on the impact of Hurricane Ian, in Washington DC, on Thursday. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

Asked directly if he blames Russia for this week's Nord Stream pipeline gas leaks, US President Joe Biden declined to comment Thursday.

Biden was speaking at FEMA headquarters in Washington, DC about the federal response to Tropical Storm Ian.

"Let's stick with this, okay?" Biden said when asked by a reporter if he held Russia responsible for the damage.

Pressed by reporters on the matter, Biden continued: "There's a lot of important international issues, but we're here to talk about America. Thank you."

Officials are still investigating the leaks: US officials say they do not have a thorough explanation yet for what happened, days after the explosions appeared to cause three separate and simultaneous leaks in the two pipelines Monday.

The leaks have been described by NATO's chief and several European leaders as "acts of sabotage."

The Kremlin has said any claims it targeted the pipelines are "absurd" and spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the "unprecedented nature" of the leaks suggests they may have been the result of a possible "terrorist attack."

1:12 p.m. ET, September 29, 2022

Putin calls on former Soviet states to consolidate against the West

From CNN's Uliana Pavlova

At a meeting of former Soviet states Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin called on leaders to help him create a “more just world order” and claimed the West was inciting conflicts on their territory.

Putin directed his comments to the heads of intelligence agencies for what's known as the Commonwealth of Independent States, which comprises nine former Soviet republics.

“We are witnessing a difficult process of forming a more just world order,” Putin said.

“We also know that the West is working out scenarios for inciting new conflicts in the CIS space. But we already have enough of them. It is enough to look at what is happening now between Russia and Ukraine, what is happening on the borders of some other CIS countries."

Putin urged other member states to cooperate with Russian intelligence services and security agencies.

Nine countries make up the Commonwealth of Independent States – Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

More background: Putin and other prominent Russian leaders have repeatedly framed the invasion of Ukraine as part of a broader struggle to maintain freedom from Western power and resist "Russophobic" foes.

Western leaders, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, forcefully refute that narrative, saying Russia is making a violent land-grab aimed at annexing Ukrainian territory.

In four occupied regions of Ukraine, analysts believe Putin will use Russia-backed referendums — held in violation of international law — to frame the fighting as the defense of his nation's own territory, rather than an invasion.

2:26 p.m. ET, September 29, 2022

Experts may have recorded a third blast connected to the Nord Stream gas leaks, geological agency says

From CNN’s Arnaud Siad and Chris Liakos

Seismologists with a Danish geological agency may have recorded a third explosion connected to the Nord Stream gas pipeline leaks this week, officials said.

The blast may have occurred at the same time as the second explosion recorded Monday, the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) said in a statement Thursday.

GEUS cautioned its seismologists had “reservations” about the analysis, “because the signals from the potential third blast may also be reflections from the second blast that occurred at 07.03 PM on 26 September.”

The agency said further study could produce more knowledge.

Earlier this week, GEUS announced that it recorded “shaking” twice Monday in the Baltic Sea. Experts said the signals recorded “do not resemble signals from earthquakes” but “resemble the signals typically recorded from blasts.”

The Swedish National Seismic Network also said it detected two explosions near the area of the Nord Stream pipelines during that timeframe.

Some context: NATO's chief and several European leaders have described the leaks as "acts of sabotage," but Western officials have stopped short of attributing the attack to Russia or any nation.

European security officials observed Russian navy ships in the vicinity of leaks Monday and Tuesday, according to Western intelligence officials and one other source.

The Kremlin has said any claims it targeted the pipelines are "absurd" and spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Thursday the "unprecedented nature" of the leaks suggests they may have been the result of a possible "terrorist attack."

3:28 p.m. ET, September 29, 2022

More than 200,000 people have left Russia since Putin's mobilization announcement, collective data shows

From CNN's Sharon Braithwaite, Anna Chernova, Eve Brennan and Radina Gigova

Russian citizens entering Georgia at the Kazbegi border, on Wednesday.
Russian citizens entering Georgia at the Kazbegi border, on Wednesday. (Davit Kachkachishvili/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

More than 200,000 people have traveled from Russia into Georgia, Kazakhstan and the EU since Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens on Sept. 21, collective data from various countries shows.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers:

  • Approximately 100,000 Russians have crossed into Kazakhstan in the last week, Marat Kozheyev, Kazakh deputy minister of internal affairs, said Wednesday, according to Kazinform, a state-owned news agency.
  • At least 53,136 people have crossed the Georgian-Russian border between Sept. 21-26, data released by Georgia's Ministry of Internal Affairs Tuesday shows.
  • Nearly 66,000 Russian citizens have entered the European Union over the past week (Sept. 19-25) — a more than 30% increase in comparison to the past week, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex said Tuesday.

This information does not include data from Mongolia and Armenia, where Russian citizens have also traveled in the past days. Official data from Russia has not been publicly available on how many Russian citizens have left the country since Sept. 21.

More on Putin's order: Russia’s mobilization announcement for its war in Ukraine sparked protests and an exodus of Russian citizens from the country, as the Kremlin tightened rules around evading military orders. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu announced on Sept. 21 that up to 300,000 men with previous military experience will be drafted. 

The number of Russians fleeing country to avoid call-up “likely exceeds” the number of troops that invaded Ukraine in February, the UK Ministry of Defense said Thursday.

Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday he does not know the number of people who have left the country since the announcement. Independent Russian media outlet Novaya Gazeta Europe on Tuesday cited a source in the Russian presidential administration as saying the FSB (Federal Security Service of Russia) reported 261,000 men fled Russia since the announcement of the mobilization on Sept. 21.

11:28 a.m. ET, September 29, 2022

Analysis: Why Putin wants to annex Ukrainian territory

Analysis by CNN's Tim Lister

Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual press conference on December 23, in Moscow, Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during his annual press conference on December 23, in Moscow, Russia (Natalya Zamboska/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images)

President Vladimir Putin is set to sign agreements Friday that will absorb into Russia thousands of square miles of Ukrainian territory in what will be the largest forcible annexation of land in Europe since 1945.

The agreements will be signed at a ceremony at the Kremlin, three days after hastily-conducted referendums concluded in the four areas of Ukraine that Moscow will now consider Russian territory.

Putin will deliver a speech and meet with Russian-backed leaders of the four occupied regions, according to the Kremlin.

Ukraine and its western allies have categorically rejected the planned annexation of the four regions – Donetsk, Luhansk and much of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, a swathe of Ukrainian land that contains heavy industry, rich farmland and a critical freshwater conduit for Crimea.

Donetsk and Luhansk are home to two breakaway republics that Moscow has backed since 2014, while Kherson and parts of Zaporizhzhia have been controlled by Russian forces since shortly after the invasion began in late February.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asserted that if the Kremlin presses ahead with annexation, any negotiation with Putin will be impossible.

In all, Russia plans to raise its flag over some 100,000 square kilometers (38,600 square miles) of Ukrainian territory in what is a flagrant breach of international law and after votes dismissed by the great majority of countries, including some friends of Russia like Serbia, as null and void.

While the international community will reject Russia’s plan almost in unison (expect a few outliers like Syria and North Korea), annexation does change the “facts on the ground” and diminishes the prospects for any negotiated settlement.

There’s a huge difference between withdrawing from occupied land (as the Russians did in April when they pulled back from much of northern Ukraine) and giving up areas that has been formally and ceremonially absorbed into the motherland – especially for a leader like Putin who is fixated with a “greater Russia.”

Keep reading here.

10:48 a.m. ET, September 29, 2022

Ukrainian forces are closing in on an occupied railroad hub in Donetsk, Russian-backed official says

From CNN's Tim Lister and Olga Voitovych

Rail infrastructure on fire after a shelling near the Lyman station in Lyman, eastern Ukraine, on April 28.
Rail infrastructure on fire after a shelling near the Lyman station in Lyman, eastern Ukraine, on April 28. (Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty Images)

Ukrainian forces continue to press closer to the occupied town of Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region, according to a Russian-backed leader there.

The railroad hub fell to Russian forces and their allied militia at the end of May, but the situation has grown "difficult" for the forces trying to hold the territory, said Alexander Petrikin, the pro-Russian head of the city administration.

"Today, September 29. The situation in the city is difficult. Ukrainian militants keep shelling Krasny Liman [Lyman in Ukrainian] and Krasny Liman district," Petrikin said in a short video on the vk.com social network.

Ukrainian forces have made gains to the south, west and north of Lyman — with just one road to the east still under control of the pro-Russian groups.

9:56 a.m. ET, September 29, 2022

EU readies new sanctions as Russia’s parliament plans to consider annexation of occupied Ukrainian regions

From CNN’s Jo Shelley in London and Anna Chernova

Russia’s two houses of parliament — the State Duma and Federation Council — will consider the annexation of occupied Ukrainian territories next week, as EU readies additional sanctions in retaliation for the plan.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend a ceremony on Friday where agreements for Russia to take over four Ukrainian territories will be signed, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalists on Thursday. The ceremony will start a legislative process in Moscow to annex Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson - a move that would be illegal under international law.

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, will meet on Oct. 3 and Oct. 4, its chairman, Vyacheslav Volodin, said according to RIA Novosti. The state news agency cited Volodin as saying that the State Duma’s schedule had been adjusted so the deputies could make legislative decisions based on the supposed results of the polls.

The Federation Council, Russia’s upper house, will consider the annexation of the occupied Ukrainian territories on Oct. 4, Andrey Klishas, chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation, said in a Telegram post on Thursday.

“The Federation Council can consider all issues related to the entry of new regions into Russia only after the signing of the relevant Treaties, and that is exactly what will be done at the next meeting of the Chamber on October 4,” he wrote.

Remember: The declared annexation comes after so-called referendums on Ukrainian territory on joining Russia — votes that were not observed by independent monitors and have been widely condemned by western governments as a “sham.”

The EU proposed a new package of sanctions against Russia on Wednesday, targeting "those involved in Russia occupation and illegal annexation of areas of Ukraine,” including “the proxy Russian authorities in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia and other Russian individuals who organized and facilitated the sham referenda in these four occupied territories of Ukraine."

9:23 a.m. ET, September 29, 2022

"Nobody knows what’s coming next": CNN speaks with Russians trying to cross the border amid draft fears

From CNN's Vasco Cotovio, Melissa Bell, Mark Esplin and Ekaterine Kadagishvili

Travellers walking on the road from Verkhni Lars customs checkpoint between Georgia and Russia on September 28, in Zemo Larsi, Georgia.
Travellers walking on the road from Verkhni Lars customs checkpoint between Georgia and Russia on September 28, in Zemo Larsi, Georgia. (Daro Sulakauri/Getty Images)

With one bag in each hand and another on his back, Denis made his way up a hill on foot after crossing the border from Russia into Georgia.

“I’m just tired. That’s the only thing I feel,” the 27-year-old said as he tried to catch his breath.

Denis had just spent six days on the road, most of them just waiting in line to cross the border. He is one of the hundreds of thousands of Russians enduring a grueling marathon journey to leave their country. 

Though women and children are among those crossing, most are fighting-age men who fear the possibility that they will be drafted to fight the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine. According to the Georgian Interior Ministry, at least 10,000 have been coming through the Lars border crossing daily. 

Denis, who did not want to reveal his last name, said he chose to leave because of the uncertainty following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement last week of a “partial mobilization” of citizens – despite his earlier emphasis that the military assault would only be fought by military professionals. Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said the military will conscript around 300,000 men with previous military experience, to go and fight in Ukraine.

Though the current draft should not apply to him, Denis fears that could change.

“How do I know what will happen in three years’ time? How do I know how long this will take?” he said.

“It is uncertain, and nobody knows what’s coming next," he told CNN.

His feeling is shared by many crossing the border into Georgia. They are teachers, doctors, taxi drivers, lawyers and builders – ordinary Russians who have no appetite for war. And although they say they don’t agree with the government, they believe there’s nothing they can do to force Putin to change course. 

They’ve chosen instead to leave their homeland, despite the perilous journey. Denis said he spent days in his car without sufficient access to food and restrooms.

“When you’re there waiting, there is no toilet. You can’t get much to eat because everything is instantly sold out and nobody packed much food either because nobody expected it to take this long,” he said.

Another man CNN spoke to walked for 20 kilometers (12 miles) to get to Georgia, also fueled by concern that the draft might expand.

“It doesn’t apply to me today, but it may apply tomorrow,” the man said, speaking to CNN on the condition that he remain anonymous, because he fears Moscow’s far-reaching hand.

8:34 a.m. ET, September 29, 2022

If Western nations are dismissing the referendums, why is Russia annexing occupied Ukrainian territories?

From CNN's Nic Robertson and Jack Bantock

Russia's President Vladimir Putin reviews naval troops as he attends the main naval parade marking the Russian Navy Day, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 31.
Russia's President Vladimir Putin reviews naval troops as he attends the main naval parade marking the Russian Navy Day, in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 31. (Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images)

They've been dismissed as a "sham" by Western nations and leaders, but Russia is pressing ahead with its referendum votes by annexing four occupied Ukrainian territories at a ceremony Friday.

Illegal "votes" mean the polls are contrary to international law, yet there are concerns that Russian President Vladimir Putin will use the annexation as a way to frame the ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive as an attack on Russia itself and escalate the war.

According to former US ambassador Kurt Volker, Putin will use the annexation to maneuver Russia's future, more aggressive, strategy as one of self-defense.

"He's [Putin's] trying to create a situation in which he claims that now that they are an integral part of Russian territory, he's engaging in self defense by defending these territories, and therefore also implying that maybe he'll use nuclear weapons in self defense, which is part of their doctrine," Volker told CNN.
"I think this is a stretch, after stretch, after stretch, and even his own military and own elites probably don't believe it, but it is what he's trying to orchestrate."

Though US officials have not seen indications Russia is planning to use nuclear weapons in the near term, they are more concerned about the possibility now than they were six or seven months ago, one official confirmed to CNN this week.

Volker himself is skeptical nuclear weapons would ever be used, given the "devastating" consequences the Russian military would face in response.

Russia never expected the occupied territories referendum to be accepted by the global community, according to the director general of the Russian International Affairs Council.

Andrey Kortunov believes that, given the similar international response to the Crimea referendum in 2014, Moscow is instead looking inwards to generate a positive response from the Russian population and validate their continuation of the conflict.

"Even closest partners and allies of Russia were hesitant to recognize the change of the legal status of Crimea," Kortunov told CNN.

"I suspect that his [Putin's] major goal would be to get some kind of recognition from his domestic audience. It's not clear whether the Russians are that eager to see the territory of the country expanded under the circumstances, because of course, the price they have to pay for that is pretty high.

"But I can imagine that in the Kremlin, they count on the patriotic feelings of the Russian population, and they believe that this acceptance of new regions into the Russian Federation would help the leadership to maintain a high approval rating, and also to make the society accept the costs associated with the special military operation."