Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

Sweden’s national security service on Thursday said a crime scene investigation into the gas leaks from two underwater pipelines connecting Russia to Germany “strengthened the suspicions of gross sabotage.”

Sweden’s Security Police said the investigation found there had been detonations at the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines in the Swedish exclusive economic zone, which caused “extensive damage” to the pipelines.  

It added that “certain seizures have been made,” without offering further details, adding that these would now be reviewed and analyzed.

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— Sam Meredith

Ukraine’s armed forces have liberated more than 400 square kilometers (154 square miles) of territory in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, and “are advancing further,” according to a military spokeswoman.

“Our successes are quite convincing. We do not name the directions, but more than 400 square kilometers of Kherson region have already been liberated from the occupiers. And we are moving forward,” Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern command unit said on Thursday, according to comments reported by news agency Ukrinform.

Humeniuk’s comments come after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other Ukrainian officials have hailed Ukraine’s advances in Kherson, one of four regions that Russia claimed to have “annexed” last week.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia said it has been informed that there are no plans to invite it to join an investigation into the recent Nord Stream gas leaks, Reuters reported Thursday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Russia considers it impossible to conduct an investigation without Moscow’s participation.

Russia and Europe’s energy ties have deteriorated over the summer, with gas supplies via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline (the only one in use) stopping and starting over the summer. The pipelines were physically damaged last month, with leaks at both the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines occurring under suspicious circumstances.

The damage prompted an international outcry with the EU vowing a “robust” response to attacks on its energy infrastructure.

Russia denied it had sabotaged the pipelines.

On Thursday, Sweden’s Security Police said its own preliminary investigation had “strengthened the suspicions of gross sabotage” to the pipelines, which they said showed “extensive damage.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian forces have shelled the southern city of Zaporizhzhia several times today with residential buildings being hit in the early hours of the morning.

Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, said on Telegram this morning that residential buildings had been struck with two people killed in the attacks and others wounded and trapped under the rubble.

Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, slammed the attacks, calling the Russian forces “crazy cowards” for launching rocket attacks on apartment buildings. “Russian terrorists are able to fight only with civilians,” he wrote on Telegram.

Both officials posted footage and images of the destruction following the rocket attacks showing the same buildings as the Getty images above.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia has “few additional, high quality rapidly deployable forces available” to stabilize the front in Kherson in southern Ukraine, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defense, and Moscow likely aims to deploy mobilized reservists to the sector.

Reflecting on Ukraine’s push to reclaim territory in Kherson, the ministry said that Ukrainian units have advanced southward, pushing the front line forward by up to an additional 12.5 miles and “primarily making gains along the east bank of the Inhulets [river] and west bank of the Dnipro [river], but not yet threatening the main Russian defensive positions.”

Russian forces have typically broken contact and withdrawn, the ministry noted, adding that Russian commanders are likely to see the growing threat to the Nova Kakhovka area (a town on the south bank of the Dnipro river) as “one of their most pressing concerns” given that the damaged river crossing there remains one of the few routes available for them to resupply forces in Kherson.

The U.K. ministry said Russia faces a dilemma given the fact that the “withdrawal of combat forces across the Dnipro makes defence of the rest of Kherson Oblast more tenable; but the political imperative will be to remain and defend.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s armed forces are making progress in liberating settlements in Luhansk, an eastern region that Russia claims to have “annexed.”

After announcing that the “de-occupation of Luhansk” had begun Wednesday, the Ukrainian head of the Luhansk regional military administration Serhiy Haidai said Wednesday evening on Telegram that Ukrainian troops had “begun to liberate the occupied settlements of Luhansk region: six small settlements have been liberated as of now, but there may be more by the morning.”

Haidai refrained from naming the settlements that had been liberated.

“We are not naming the villages yet, because the Russians then out of malice start shelling them powerfully,” he noted, adding: “the de-occupation continues … there should be good news every day.”

Ukrainian forces have made swift and significant progress after recapturing the strategically important town of Lyman, which was used by occupying Russian forces as a logistics hub, in Donetsk before pushing toward neighboring Luhansk.

Ukraine’s gains in both eastern regions which make up the larger Donbas (which contains two pro-Russian, separatist “people’s republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk), come after Russia announced last week that it had “annexed” Luhansk and Donetsk, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.

There has been renewed vigor in Ukraine’s counteroffensives in the east and south since the “annexations,” which Ukraine and its allies call illegal and illegitimate, and its forces have made gains around Kherson too. Kyiv has vowed to fight until it reclaims all its lost territory.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told Russia’s leadership that it cannot win the war.

“You’ve already lost. Lost because even now, on the 224th day of the full-scale war, you are forced to explain to your people the purpose of all this — this war, deceitful mobilization, self-destruction of your nation’s every prospect,” he said in Russian in his nightly address.

Zelenskyy thanked Ukrainian troops for their successes in reclaiming dozens of settlements in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine and said “there will be more” gains to come.

“Ukrainians know what they fight for. And more and more Russian citizens realize that they must die simply because one single man does not want to stop the war.”

Zelenskyy gave more detail on Ukraine’s successes on the battlefield Wednesday, stating on Telegram that the settlements of Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka in Kherson had been “liberated … and stabilized.”

Ukraine’s latest advances in regions like Kherson and Donetsk come after Russia announced last week that it was “annexing” such regions, a move signed into law by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday.

Ukraine has said it will never recognize the results of sham referendums in occupied parts of Ukraine and its counteroffensives are proving that Russia’s hold on occupied territory is shaky.

— Holly Ellyatt

A Russian-installed official conceded that Kyiv’s forces were making gains around Kherson, one of four regions that Moscow “annexed” last week.

“It’s tense, let’s put it that way,” Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s Kherson region, said on state television, according to a Reuters report.

Last week that Moscow was “annexing” four regions in Ukraine: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk “republics” in eastern Ukraine. Kyiv and its allies condemned the move, calling it illegitimate and illegal.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov shared a video on Twitter of Ukrainian advances on the battlefield against Russian troops.

“While the Russian parliament is intoxicated from the futile attempts at annexation, our soldiers continue moving forward,” Reznikov wrote on Twitter.

“This is the best answer to any and all referenda, decrees, treaties and pathetic speeches,” he added.

In the past few weeks, Ukrainian forces have reclaimed more occupied land from Russia, despite the Kremlin’s announcement that it was annexing four regions in Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Moscow is ready to begin supplying gas via the Nord Stream 2 line if Europe removes restrictions.

“The infrastructure is ready,” Novak told reporters. “If the necessary legal decisions are made by European colleagues regarding its certification and removal of restrictions, I think Russia could ensure supplies through this line of the gas pipeline in a short time,” Novak said referring to the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

Earlier this month, the Nord Stream pipelines that run under the Baltic Sea began leaking. Novak said that Russia was investigating those leaks and described the damage to the pipeline as “sabotage.”

Russia has accused the U.S. and its allies of damaging the pipeline. The Biden administration said Russia’s accusations are “absurd.”

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he spoke with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg about Kyiv’s admittance into the NATO alliance.

“I’m in constant contact with our strategic partners. Had a phone call with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. Coordinated further steps on the path of Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.

Last week, Zelenskyy submitted an “accelerated” application for his country to join the 30-member defensive alliance.

— Amanda Macias

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said it continues to hold positions in the regions of Kherson in southern Ukraine despite advances from Ukrainian forces.

The MOD acknowledged that its units have been able to maintain their positions toward the south of the country despite “repelling superior enemy forces’ attacks.” 

In its latest update on Telegram, Russia’s MOD said its forces had conducted attacks on Ukrainian units in Kharkiv, Donetsk (in the east) and Zaporizhzhia and Kherson in the south, claiming to have killed several hundred Ukrainian troops and destroyed a variety of weaponry in its various attacks.

Nonetheless, it acknowledged that in the Kherson region, where Ukraine has reported a number of significant advances in recent days, it was under pressure with Russian units maintaining their positions in the Andriivka-Kyrvyi-Rih direction (in the south) despite attacks from “superior” Ukrainian forces. It’s unclear whether the ministry was referring to the quality or size of the Ukrainian units it described.

CNBC was unable to verify the details in the report.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s forces are making gains in the Luhansk region in the east of the country, according to a prominent Ukrainian official.

If verified, the advances will mark further progress for Ukraine as it fights to reclaim territory that Russia claims to have annexed.

“Well, now it’s official. The de-occupation of Luhansk region has begun,” Luhansk Regional Military Administration Head Serhiy Haidai said on Telegram Wednesday in comments translated by news agency Ukrinform.

“Several settlements have already been liberated from the Russian army, and there the Armed Forces of Ukraine are already raising the Ukrainian flag there,” Haidai said without specifying where.

Haidai said that the de-occupation of the region would continue, saying: “I thank our Armed Forces for wonderful news. Let’s help them, don’t get tired, we believe in our victory. Luhansk region is Ukraine, it has been and will be so. Carry on.”

Ukraine’s counteroffensives in southern and eastern parts of the country have made headlines with the country’s armed forces making rapid advances and reclaiming dozens of settlements around Kherson in the south and Donetsk and Kharkiv in the east and northeast.

If Haidai’s comments are verified it will confirm that Ukraine is now pushing into Luhansk from Donetsk, both of which are regions where Russia was seen to have a strong foothold and where two pro-Russian, self-proclaimed “republics” have now been incorporated into the Russian Federation (as have Kherson and Zaporizhzhia).

Ukraine and its allies completely reject the annexation of Ukrainian territory, saying they will never recognize the illegal seizure of Ukrainian territory.

— Holly Ellyatt