September 20, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

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A senior State Department official on Tuesday called the planned referendums in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine an “incredibly crass and desperate move” by President Vladimir Putin, but declined to go into details about how the US will respond if they move forward.

Russian-backed officials in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson announced they will hold votes this week on joining Russia. The US has warned for months of “sham” referendums that Putin would use to justify seizing Ukrainian territory.

If they go ahead, the US has made clear there will be “increased consequences,” the official said.?

The official reiterated that the referendums won’t change the status of Ukraine and recognition of its territorial and sovereign boundaries.?

Rockets hit multi-story residential buildings in the Kholodnogorsk district of Kharkiv overnight on 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 heard several loud explosions at around 1:52 a.m. local time.

The US has been in conversation with India about the country moving away from its reliance on Russia for weaponry and energy, a US senior State Department official said Tuesday.

And the sense is that Indian officials are “coming to understand that there could be real benefits for them,” the official said.

The official noted that Russia was no longer a reliable weapons supplier.?

“On the energy side, as you know, we want to keep Russian oil on the market, but we want everybody whether they join the price cap idea formally, or whether they’re just in their own negotiations with Russia, to pay … a price that does not fuel or overly fuel Putin’s war machine,” the official said.

The US diplomatic push follows remarks last week by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who in a striking rebuke told Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war.”

The senior State Department official suggested that atrocities like those uncovered in Izium were driving countries away from tacitly supporting Russia.

Russia is not expected to attend the UN Security Council meeting on Ukrainian sovereignty that is scheduled for Thursday, according to a senior State Department official.

?“It does not seem that the Russian Foreign Minister will be there,” the official said. “My understanding is that Russia will not be represented.”

?As of last week, US officials had said they thought Russia would attend.?

The meeting was expected to be the single event where US and Russian diplomats were going to be in the same room.?

“We understand that foreign ministers from all P5 countries are likely to attend as well as the Foreign Minister of Ukraine,” said Assistant Secretary Michele Sison when previewing the security council meeting as part of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s schedule.

The senior State Department official declined to say if Russia was boycotting the meeting, referring questions to the Russian delegation. But the official said “that’s right” when asked if Russia won’t be present because they do not want to be there.

CNN has reached out to the Russian UN Mission for comment.

?It is also unclear if China is going to attend the meeting.?

“We will have more on that over the next couple of days,” the official said.?

There were several large explosions in the city of Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine early Wednesday.

As air raid sirens wailed, CNN’s team on the ground heard 6-7 “large explosions.”

It’s been just over two weeks since Ukraine launched a counter-offensive in the northeast Kharkiv region that allowed Kyiv to recapture thousands of square miles of territory that had been occupied by Russia for months.

The explosions happened at about 1:52 a.m. local time.

Referendums in Russian-occupied territories will have no effect on the actions of the Ukrainian army, and its counteroffensive and the liberation of the occupied territories will continue,?Mykhailo Podolyak, Ukrainian presidential adviser, told CNN on Tuesday.?

According to Podolyak, any Russian-organized referendums on Ukrainian territory would be “absolutely meaningless.”

The proposed referendums are a reaction to defeats of the Russian army and the loss of Putin’s influence, Podolyak said, adding that “active hostilities are taking place in these territories” and that “there is no possibility for any other actions except for the blockade to be lifted by military means.”

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned planned referendums by Russian-backed authorities in Ukraine, calling them a “violation of international law” and a further escalation of the war.

Trudeau’s comments come as Russia and multiple Kremlin-backed authorities in eastern and southern Ukraine?have?announced that referendums?on joining Russia would be held this week. Ukraine has?dismissed?the moves as a “sham” stemming from the “fear of defeat.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Tuesday called for an extension of the deal to allow Ukrainian grain to transit through the Black Sea, which is due to expire in mid-November.

Blinken noted that the agreement between Ukraine and Russia, brokered by the UN and Turkey, “should never have been necessary in the first place,” but was required after Russia’s war blocked thousands of tons of grain at Ukrainian ports. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently suggested he could pull out of the agreement.

“As you heard from some of my colleagues, despite some of the misinformation that continues to come from Moscow, that grain and other food products are getting where they need to go, to the countries most in need, predominantly in the Global South,” Blinken said.

The top US diplomat called on countries to do more to respond to the food insecurity crisis, noting that “action is crucial.”?

“Some countries with the capacity to do more are among those doing the least. That needs to change,” Blinken said, without naming names. “And no matter what countries have done so far, every country is called upon to do more.”

He said President Joe Biden would be announcing new assistance from the US on Wednesday.?

Blinken also called for a strengthening of global food systems to increase the ability of countries to respond to shocks and the effects of the climate crisis. He said the US government will work with Congress over the next five years to invest over $11 billion toward this aim.

An undated US State Department photo of Ambassador Lynne Tracy.

The White House announced Lynne Tracy as President Joe Biden’s nominee for US ambassador to Russia on Tuesday, as?first reported last week by CNN’s Kylie Atwood.?

In a release Tuesday, the White House also announced the nominee for US ambassador to Barbados, the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Antigua and Barbuda, the Commonwealth of Dominica, Grenada, and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, along with two members of the board for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation.?

Some context: The Biden administration hopes to get Tracy in place swiftly to?replace John Sullivan?who stepped down earlier this month.

The timing of her arrival will depend on Russia agreeing to accept her as ambassador at a time of huge tension between Washington and Moscow as the war in Ukraine continues.

The nomination of Tracy will mark a complete overhaul of leadership at the embassy in Moscow. Sullivan had not been present in Russia for most of the summer because he had been in the US with his wife who had been seriously ill and died last week.

Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman said Tuesday that Russian troops “appear on the ropes” in Ukraine and that the Kremlin’s actions, including supporting what she described as “sham referenda” in some Ukrainian regions, were a desperate move by President Vladimir Putin.

In an interview on MSNBC, Sherman said there are concerns that Putin “will use kinds of weapons of war that he should not,” noting he had already weaponized food.

Some context: Multiple Kremlin-backed authorities in eastern and southern Ukraine announced referendums on joining Russia will be held this week. Ukraine has dismissed the move as stemming from “fear of defeat.”

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

If you’re just joining us here’s what you need to know about Tuesday’s developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.

While previous plans for such a vote have been delayed, there was a flurry of announcements from different 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.

Dontesk 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 referendums 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 Ukrainian flag has been raised on the border between the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, according to a Telegram post from Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of the Donetsk region military administration on Tuesday.

Fierce battles were being fought in the area until recently, but now only abandoned equipment and minefields remain, Kyrylenko said.

“Together with the First Deputy Head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Yevhen Yenin and the Head of the State Emergency Service Serhi? Kruk, we went to the site to assess the scale of work to be done on demining,” Kyrylenko said.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield met with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba Tuesday, and they both condemned the announcement of referendums announced by Russian-backed officials within Ukraine’s internationally recognized borders, according to Nate Evans, a spokesperson for the United States Mission to the United Nations [USUN].

Thomas-Greenfield “reiterated that the United States will not recognize any attempt by Russia to claim annexation of Ukraine’s sovereign territory,” Evans said in a readout.

The referendums “are an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that are at heart of the UN Charter,” the readout added.

The two “assessed the progress made under the Black Sea Grain Initiative in getting Ukrainian agricultural products to market” and reiterated the importance for all member states to defend the UN Charter and to “work together to address the crises Russia’s war against Ukraine has exacerbated, including global food insecurity.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an addresses the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an on Tuesday called for an end to the “Russian-Ukrainian crisis”?saying?the seven-month war had sent a “wave of shock” around the globe.

In his speech at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, Erdo?an said, “war will never have a triumph, and a fair peace process will not have a loser.”?

Erdo?an?called on the world to “support the peaceful initiatives of Turkey to settle this dispute once and for all. We need a dignified way out of this crisis. And that can only be possible through a diplomatic solution which is rational, which is fair, and which is applicable.”?

Some background: The president has played the role of a key party in a UN-brokered deal between Moscow and Kyiv to allow a resumption of grain shipments from the Black sea ports in Ukraine.

Erdo?an called this agreement “one of the greatest accomplishments of the United Nations in the recent decades.”

He said Turkey is investing in efforts to bring the war to an end and urged international organizations and other countries to its efforts.

“We are investing tremendous efforts in order to ensure that the war will be finalized by protecting the territorial integrity and the sovereignty of Ukraine once and for all,”?Erdo?an said, adding, “we would like to launch an appeal to all the international organizations and countries of the world to to support peaceful initiatives of Turkey to settle this dispute.”

Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder speaks during a news briefing on September 6.

The Pentagon said that declarations from leaders of the self-declared Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics to hold referendums on joining the Russian Federation are serving as a distraction after Ukraine’s successful counteroffensive.

“This is simply an information operation that’s meant to distract from the difficult state that the Russian military currently finds itself in,” Pentagon press secretary Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder said during a briefing at the Pentagon Tuesday.

Ryder called the call for referendums part of the Russian “playbook.”

Ryder said the referendums will have no credibility and won’t impact US support to Ukraine.?

“No one will view such sham referenda with any credibility and the US certainly will not recognize the outcome of any sham elections,” Ryder said. “We will continue to work with Ukraine and our international partners to provide them with the support they need.”

Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, made amendments to the law on military service on Tuesday, toughening the punishment for violation of military service duties — such as desertion and evasion from service — according to state news agency TASS.

The bill sets a jail term of up to 15 years for resistance related to military service or coercion to violate an official military order, involving violence or the threat of its use, during the period of mobilization or martial law.

Separately, State Duma deputies and senators have prepared amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, proposing to introduce liability of up to five years of jail time for the destruction or negligent damage of weapons and military equipment during wartime, state news agency RIA Novosti reported.

The deputies have also introduced concepts of “mobilization,” “martial law,” “wartime,” and “armed conflict” into the Criminal Code of Russia, which will now be regarded as aggravating factors in criminal sentencing.

Remember: Politicians and political commentators in Russia have started debating mobilization, even as the Kremlin denied any discussions about a nationwide mobilization of troops. It could mean extending conscription for soldiers currently in the armed forces, calling on reservists or bringing in men of fighting age who have had military training.

The measures in the State Duma came before the referendum announcements in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine on Tuesday.?

Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba talks with the US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield before the start of their meeting in New York on Tuesday.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is focusing on?the global spillover?effects on the energy and food crises?of the Ukraine war?during his meetings with counterparts on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, according to UN diplomats familiar with the matter.?

Kuleba is doing this with a specific goal in mind: To try and?maintain solidarity among the nations who support Ukraine by recognizing the impacts that the war is having on their country, the diplomats said.

While the devastation in Ukraine is immense, Ukrainian government officials believe that highlighting how the war’s impact outside the borders of Ukraine is most likely to drive continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russian aggression.?

The food crisis is a central spillover effect that is being felt globally, and the Ukrainians are pushing for the current grain deal to be maintained and extended, diplomats said.?

Meanwhile, US and European officials feel confident that this week will fuel continued support for Ukraine, US and European officials said.

There are a few factors contributing to that expectation. First, Ukraine’s gains on the battlefield have put the wind at their back because it wouldn’t be a good look for countries to back away from supporting Ukraine while they are having success. Second, the comments by Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian President Narendra Modi last week give further momentum to holding the line in terms of support for Ukraine, officials explained.?

Some background: Last week,?Modi?told Putin that “today’s era is not of war” – a significant rebuke from a leader who has stayed largely silent on the conflict throughout its more than six months duration.

On Thursday, during a meeting with the Chinese leader, Putin acknowledged Xi’s “questions and concerns” about the war.

The UEFA Euro 2024 trophy is pictured in Berlin in 2021.

UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, confirmed on Tuesday that Russia would not be included in the draw for Euro 2024 men’s qualifying after a meeting of their executive committee.

?A?UEFA press release?said, “all Russian teams are currently suspended following the decision of the UEFA Executive Committee of 28 February 2022 which has further been confirmed by the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 15 July 2022.

The executive committee met in Hvar, Croatia, to approve the procedure for the upcoming Euro 2024 qualifying draw.

The draw takes place on Oct. 9 in Frankfurt and will include 53 national associations.

Euro 2024 is set to take place in Germany from June 14 to July 14, 2024.

Head of the Office of the President Andriy Yermak attends a joint briefing in Kyiv on September 13.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office has responded to the sudden announcements of referendums on joining Russia in occupied parts of Ukraine.

“Naive blackmail with threats and horror stories of ‘referendums’, ‘mobilizations’ from those who know how to fight only with children and peaceful people …?This is what the fear of defeat looks like. The enemy is afraid, primitively manipulates,” said Andriy Yermak, head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, on his Telegram channel.

An adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Mykhailo Podolyak, said Russians decided to “respond asymmetrically” to the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

“Thinking that illegal ‘referendum’ will stop HIMARS and the Armed Forces from destroying occupiers on our land. Do you really want to spend the time needed to escape for a new show? Try…It will be interesting…,” he?tweeted?on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba also dismissed the announcements in a tweet, calling the referendums a “sham.”

In addition, Ukraine’s foreign ministry also said, “such fake plebiscites” will have “no legal consequences.”

The vote will not change the “administrative-territorial structure and internationally recognized borders of Ukraine,” it said in a statement, adding that “neither Ukraine nor the international community will recognize their worthless results.”

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.”

Remember: Multiple Kremlin-backed authorities in eastern and southern Ukraine announced referendums on joining Russia will be held this week. Senior Russian officials have welcomed the moves.?

The so-called National Congress of Citizens of the Zaporizhzhia Region has a referendum on unification with Russia, said Vladimir Rogov, a senior pro-Russian official in occupied Zaporizhzhia.

Representatives of the public of the Zaporizhzhia region gathered in Melitopol addressed the military-civilian administration, Rogov said.

The infrastructure for this endeavor is also ready, according to Yevgeniy Balitskiy, the Russian-appointed head of the Zaporizhzhia regional administration.

“Technically, we are ready. Security of polling stations is ensured. Our borders are reliably protected by the Russian military,” he said.

Meanwhile, as fighting continues in the area, he said the region will recruit “volunteers” in the “near future” to fight against Ukraine, adding that he has signed a decree on the “formation of volunteer battalions of Zaporizhzhia region.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Russian weapons and equipment used against Ukrainian forces while speaking in a meeting with the heads of enterprises of the military-industrial complex on Tuesday.

“First of all, this concerns aviation, high-precision long-range missiles, aviation weapons, rocket-artillery, armored weapons and others. They allow to destroy military infrastructure, command posts, enemy equipment, hit the locations of nationalist formations, while minimizing losses among personnel,” he added.

Putin claimed that Russia’s equipment “effectively resists” Western models of weapons and called on further increasing and modernizing production capacities.

“Organizations of the defense industrial complex need to ensure the delivery of the required weapons and equipment to the troops, weapons of destruction as soon as possible,” he said.

A World Food Programme staff stands near the?MV?Brave?Commander?carrying?wheat?grain?from?Yuzhny?Port?in Ukraine to the Horn of Africa docks in Djibouti on August 30.

In remarks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York, UN chief António Guterres used the description of a ship that transported Ukrainian grain to Africa as a “symbol of what the world can accomplish when we act together.”

“It navigated through a war zone — guided by the very parties to the conflict — as part of an unprecedented comprehensive initiative to get more food and fertilizer out of Ukraine and Russia,” he said.

At the end of August, after 14 days at sea, a shipment of 23,000 metric tons of wheat arrived on the MV Brave Commander in the Horn of Africa to support the United Nations World Food Programme. After Russia blocked Ukrainian Black Sea ports, the UN and Turkey helped broker a deal to get grain out of Ukraine.

“The Black Sea Grain Initiative has opened the pathway for the safe navigation of dozens of ships filled with much needed food supplies. But each ship is also carrying one of today’s rarest commodities: Hope,” he said.

But besides hope, action is needed is stabilize the world’s fertilizer market, Guterres said.

“It is essential to continue removing all remaining obstacles to the export of Russian fertilizers and their ingredients, including ammonia. These products are not subject to sanctions – and we are making progress in eliminating indirect effects,” he said.

“Without action now, the global fertilizer shortage will quickly morph into a global food shortage,” he warned.

Czech Finance Minister Zbynek?Stanjura?takes part in a meeting in Brussels on July 12.

The EU Council on Tuesday cemented an additional?5 billion euros (nearly $5 billion)?in macro-financial assistance for Ukraine by formally adopting the move agreed by the bloc’s finance ministers earlier this month, according to the Council’s website.

This marks the second stage of the EU’s mobilization of up to 9 billion euros (nearly $9 billion)?to support Ukraine’s macro-financial stabilization, “strengthen the immediate resilience of the country and sustain its capacity towards recovery,” the statement reads.

It follows the 1 billion euros (about $1 billion) package adopted by the EU Council in July.

While the total macro-financial assistance package is made up of both loans and grants, the latest?5 billion euros is purely in loans, to be repaid by Ukraine within 25 years with guarantees,?an EU spokesperson told CNN.

The “new loan of €5 billion will be used for the day-to-day running of the state and to ensure the operation of the country’s critical infrastructure, such as offices, schools and hospitals,” according to?Zbyněk Stanjura, the finance minister of the Czech Republic,?which currently holds the EU Council presidency.

Some background: EU finance ministers had agreed on a statement on Sept. 9 in support of the additional 5 billion euros in assistance for Ukraine. Today, this additional assistance was?formally adopted, according to the press release.

The Russian-backed head of the Kherson regional administration, Vladimir Saldo, has announced that a referendum on the region joining Russia will be held between Sept. 23 and 27, Russian state news agency RIA Novosti reports.

Those are the same dates as announced by the self-declared republics of Luhansk and Donetsk.

“As head of the Administration of the Kherson region, I signed a decree on the referendum on the entry of the Kherson region into the Russian Federation as a full subject of the unified state,” Saldo wrote on his Telegram channel.?

Parts of Kherson are on the front lines between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

“Considering the difficult situation in Kherson region and understanding its responsibility for life and peace of mind of the region’s residents, the Administration of Kherson region will do everything necessary to ensure safety for all residents of the region,” Saldo said.

Earlier: One week into Ukraine’s?counteroffensive in September, senior US officials and Ukrainian officials told CNN that Ukrainian forces were making gains in the south, with the ambitious goal of taking back most of the Russian-occupied region of Kherson by the end of the year.

Saldo said the referendum will “secure” the territory in the backdrop of this counteroffensive.

“I am sure that the incorporation of Kherson region into the Russian Federation will secure our territory and restore historical justice. This is a necessary decision in the context of constant acts of terror on the part of armed formations of Ukraine and NATO member countries, which supply weapons to kill civilians on our land,” he said.

Denis Pushilin, Head of the Donetsk People's Republic speaks to the media in Olenivka on August 10.(Photo by Maksim Konstantinov/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

The leader of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, has written to Russian President Vladimir Putin asking for the rapid accession of the republic to the Russian federation once a referendum is held.

Here’s his letter to Putin, as released on his Telegram channel:?

US officials have?warned that Moscow officials might use such strategies to “falsely claim that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia.”

The self-declared republic has not?been recognized?by any governments, other than?Russia?and its close ally?Syria.

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei?Lavrov?delivers his speech in Moscow on September 19.

In comments shortly after both the self-declared Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics announced they would hold referendums on joining the Russian Federation, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov claimed “it is the people of those territories who should decide their fate.”

According to Lavrov, the current situation shows that citizens of Donbas want to be “masters of their own destiny.”

“From the very beginning of the special military operation and in the period preceding it, we have been saying that it is the people of those territories who should decide their fate,” Lavrov is quoted as saying by state news agency RIA Novosti. “And the whole current situation confirms that they want to be masters of their own destiny.”

Russian officials continue to call the invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation.”

Russian news agency TASS reported that the People’s Council in the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic has agreed to hold a “referendum on the entry of the DPR into the Russian Federation” starting later this week.?

The leader of the DPR, Denis Pushilin, said that the voting will be in “a mixed format - face-to-face and remote - taking into account security issues. One day will be allotted for in-person voting,” he said, according to TASS.

The council is an unelected body.?

The leader of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic, Leonid Pasechnik, also signed a law on a referendum “on the entry of the Republic into the Russian Federation,” according to the Luhansk Media Center.

Pasechnik’s move was announced by the chair of the People’s Council of the LPR, Denis Miroshnichenko, soon after the council unanimously proposed the referendum.?

Miroshnichenko said the referendum would be held from Sept. 23 to Sept. 27, according to the local media portal Lug-Info. It quoted him as saying the question on the ballot would be: “Are you in favor of the LPR joining the Russian Federation as a constituent entity of the Russian Federation?”

Lug-Info said that according to the text of the law, “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.”

This week has seen sudden moves in Donetsk, Luhansk and occupied parts of Kherson to hold referendums on joining Russia. Those moves have received swift support from Russian politicians.?

The People’s Council of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic has unanimously supported a proposal for a referendum on joining Russia.

According to the Telegram account of the LPR, members of the People’s Council passed the law approving “the referendum of the Luhansk People’s Republic on the issue of joining the Russian Federation as a subject of the Russian Federation.”?

Forty-two deputies participating in the meeting supported the law unanimously, it said.

The council is an unelected body.?

It’s unclear when the vote might take place. Ukraine holds a small part of Luhansk region, and fighting continues around the city of Lysychansk.?

Several Kremlin-backed authorities in Ukraine have requested referenda on joining Russia, weeks after top US officials?warned of such strategies?by Moscow officials to “falsely claim that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia.”

The Ukrainian military confirmed strikes on Russian positions in the eastern Luhansk region, amid Kyiv’s rolling offensive to recapture occupied territories.

Here are the latest developments:

Black smoke is seen over the city of Lyman on June 14.

Ukrainian forces have suffered “substantial losses” in their attempt to advance on a pocket of Russian-held territory in Donetsk, according to the leader of the self-declared?Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR).

The area surrounding the town of Lyman has become nearly encircled by Ukrainian forces since their rapid progress through the northeastern Kharkiv region earlier this month.

The territory is now surrounded on three sides, while its defenders are mainly from the so-called Donetsk People’s Militia.

The Ukrainian military tried to move toward Lyman from the north “with the help of two assault battalions from the 95th Brigade,” although “the attack was beaten back, leaving the enemy with quite substantial losses,” Denis Pushilin said.

He told Russian television that Kyiv’s efforts to advance on Lyman from the south had also been repelled.

Ukrainian forces have been trying to?mop up continuing resistance?in the area as they try to consolidate their hold on areas along the borders of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

The Kremlin-backed administration in Kherson is scheduled to hold a referendum on joining the southern region to the Russian Federation, according to a top official.

Saldo gave no details on when such a vote might take place, but said it was also necessary for Kherson to form volunteer battalions to support Russian forces.

Saldo’s announcement came after?the Public Council in?Kherson?urged?local authorities to hold a referendum “immediately,” in another sign that local Kremlin-backed officials in occupied Ukraine are trying to push integration with Russia.

The council said in a statement quoted by the Russian news agency TASS that it was “sure that the residents of the Kherson region will fully support the initiative to join Russia.”

“We consider it more timely than ever to make a strong-willed decision on the immediate holding of a referendum on joining of the Kherson region the Russian Federation,” the council’s chairman, Vladimir Ovcharenko, said in the statement.

“We are sure that the initiative will be fully supported by the residents of the Kherson region, and joining Russia will not only be a triumph of historical justice, but will also secure the territory of the region, open new opportunities on the way to the revival and restoration of the power of our land and the return to a full-fledged peaceful life.”

Some context:?Previous plans for such a vote have been delayed. Ukrainian forces have retaken some parts of Kherson in their current offensive, but the major population centers are still under Russian control. The council’s statement follows?similar moves?by the leadership of the self-declared republics in the eastern Donbas region.

Last month, top US officials cited such strategies by Russian officials as?“sham referenda.”

“We expect Russia to manipulate the results of these referenda in order to falsely claim that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia,” US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said at the time.

Robert Habeck, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, speaks at a press conference on September 19.

Gas reserves in?Germany?are replenished at 90.07% capacity, the European Storage provider GIE AGSI+ said on its website.

Europe’s biggest economy?is particularly reliant on Russia’s gas exports to power its homes and heavy industry.

In an effort to wean itself off Russian energy supplies, the country is currently receiving gas from pipelines from the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway.

Robert Habeck, Germany’s minister for economic affairs and climate action, said that the country could “get through winter well” without Russian gas, but voiced concern about supply levels in the time period after winter.

Habeck’s warning that gas reserves would be “really empty” after the cold season because the economy would “have used the gas” was quoted on German public radio Deutschlandfunk.

Some background: Earlier this year,?Germany’s regulatory office for gas and electricity?said it was unlikely the country would reach a storage level of 95% by November?“without additional measures.”

The comments in July came after Russian state-owned energy company Gazprom announced further reductions to gas flow through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, a?vital artery linking Russia’s vast gas reserves to Europe via Germany.

Former Russian President Dmitry?Medvedev during a meeting in Moscow, Russia, on September 11.

Former Russian President Dmitry?Medvedev has publicly endorsed referenda in the self-declared?Donbas?republics on joining?Russia.

He added 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.”

Medvedev’s comments came after the leader of the self-declared DPR?called on his fellow separatist leader of?the Luhansk region?to integrate efforts aimed at preparing a referendum on joining Russia.

“(Let us) join our forces, the administrations of the heads of the republics, the parliaments, so that they can develop some kind of algorithm of action that will allow us to move forward with the referendum,” Denis Pushilin told the head of the self-declared LPR Leonid Pasechnik during a phone call.

“What matters is that our actions be synchronized,” Pushilin told Pasechnik, as shown in a video posted on social media on Monday.

Some context:?Pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions declared two independent states from Ukraine in 2014, which no country accepted until February 21, 2022, when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees recognizing them and guaranteeing their security with Russian troops.

The Ukrainian military says it is striking areas of Luhansk region where Russian forces are redeploying after their recent retreat from neighboring Kharkiv.

Commenting on two recent strikes, the military’s General Staff said it had confirmed Russian losses in a strike on the town of Novoaidar in Luhansk, claiming “about 50 units of military equipment were destroyed and damaged, and ammunition was destroyed.”

“In addition, near ??the settlement of Svatove, units of the Defense Forces hit the area where the enemy’s manpower was concentrated. It is known that 70% of the personnel who were at the specified facility died.”

The General Staff also claimed that Russian manpower issues were a growing problem.?

It said that “previously issued documents postponing the mobilization for about 500 employees of the Yenakiieve Metallurgical Plant have been cancelled. In addition, a ban was introduced on the departure of men from the territory of the temporarily occupied Crimea without the permission of the military commissariats.”

CNN is unable to verify the claims.

The General Staff also said that Russian forces were trying to reorganize after recent losses. It claimed that new battalions were being formed by Russia’s 29th Combined Arms Army in the Eastern Military District (Siberia), using teachers from the district’s Military Command School.?

On the battlefield, the General Staff confirmed fresh shelling by Russian forces in Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia.

Drone footage shows heavy shelling from the Russian army in?Bakhmut. In recent weeks, Russian forces have advanced to the outskirts of?Bakhmut?from both the east and the south.

Intense fighting continues around the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, which Russian forces have been trying to capture for three months.

Pavlo Kyrylenko, head of Donetsk region military administration, said that Russian forces carried out an airstrike on Bakhmut overnight and hit a high-rise building.

Despite the fighting, some civilians have remained in Bakhmut.

Kyrylenko said there had also been shelling in other parts of Donetsk in Siversk, Vuhledar and Avdiivka.

While Ukrainian forces are on the offensive in parts of Donetsk?—?especially to the east of Sloviansk?—? Russian shelling and airstrikes continue in other areas in the region.

Republican senators signaled tentative support for?additional Ukraine aid?that the Biden administration has requested following a classified briefing on Monday night, though senators are expected to nix other top White House priorities from the upcoming stop-gap bill to keep the government open.

The Biden administration has asked for $12 billion in aid to Ukraine to be added to the continuing resolution that’s needed to keep the government open past September 30.?

Cross-party support is essential because at least 10 Republican votes would be needed to break a filibuster attempt.?

Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn said Monday evening that negotiators are still discussing the makeup of a package for Ukraine, but that it would be about $11 billion which could include humanitarian, economic and military assistance.?

The deliberations come at a critical time in Russia’s war in Ukraine. US officials broadly view?Ukraine’s recent momentum?as evidence that the types of weapons and intelligence that the West has been providing to Ukraine in recent months have been effective.?

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday that he expects Congress to approve Ukraine military aid in the continuing resolution but is worried GOP support for Ukraine could corrode in the future.?

Some context: Since the beginning of the conflict in February, the Biden administration has taken an incremental approach to providing arms to Ukraine – in some cases, later agreeing to send weapons that earlier in the conflict would have been deemed far too escalatory.?

Its calculus has largely been based on avoiding systems that might be seen by Russian President Vladimir Putin as too provocative, although those lines have moved over time and been criticized by some former officials as arbitrary.

The US Capitol.

Related article Republicans signal early support for $12 billion in Ukraine aid while other Biden priorities expected to drop from funding bill

A hose pumps water out from a house in the town of Kryvyi Rih on Friday, where dozens of homes were flooded after a Russian attack damaged a dam upstream.

Russian forces are continuing to conduct airstrikes that are impacting civilian infrastructure, a senior US military official said Monday.

Most recently, Russian forces struck a “dam near Kryvyi Rih,” and they conducted an airstrike “near a power plant in Mykolaiv,” the official said.

“This disturbing pattern which includes strikes that hit power stations last week continues to show Russian forces’ disregard for civilian life,” the official added.?

Ukrainians “continue to make efforts to consolidate their gains” on the battlefield, “holding the border to the southeast,” the official said.

In the Donbas region, “Ukrainians have continued to effectively defend against continued Russian attacks, although” the US has seen Russian forces “make some minor gains in terms of territory.”?

The official specified the Russian gains here were only a “few hundred meters.”

Forensic technicians at the site of a mass grave on the outskirts of Izium on Sunday.

More bodies of mostly civilians, including two children, were found in the city of Izium in eastern Ukraine, officials said Monday.?

Separately, two more bodies were discovered in?Bucha, the town on the outskirts of Kyiv that was the scene of mass atrocities at the start of the war, authorities said.

In Izium, 146 bodies of mostly civilians were exhumed from a mass burial site, according to Oleh Synehubov, head of the Kharkiv region civil-military administration.

On Sunday, Izium Mayor Valerii Marchenko said the exhumation of bodies would continue for another two weeks.?

Ukraine’s Defense Ministry said at least 440 “unmarked” graves were found in the city in recent days and on Friday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that some of the bodies showed “signs of torture,” blaming Russia for what he called “cruelty and terrorism.” Russia has dismissed Ukraine’s accusations of war crimes as?a?“lie.”

In Bucha, volunteers found two more “victims of Russian aggression” in civilian clothing, according to a Facebook post on Monday from the Bucha City Council. The bodies were discovered while volunteers were patrolling the forest around the Warsaw Highway near the Vorzel settlement.?

Some background:?Bucha’s name became a byword for?war crimes?after accounts of summary executions, brutality and indiscriminate shelling emerged in the wake of Russia’s hasty retreat on March 31.

The village of Bilohorivka in the Luhansk region is now entirely under Ukrainian control according to a Telegram post from Sehiy Haidai, head of the Luhansk regional military administration on Monday.

Haydai asked Ukrainians to be patient with their operation to free towns and villages in the Luhansk region, saying it is proving to be a “much more difficult” operation than the liberation of Kharkiv.?

Some context: Ukrainian forces stopped Russian advances in Bilohorivka earlier this year. In May, the Ukrainian military blew up two pontoon bridges near Bilohorivka, stopping Russian efforts to cross the Siverskyi Donets River in the Luhansk region.?

In July, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said Ukrainian soldiers “competently repelled another combat reconnaissance attempt near Berestove and Bilohorivka” and that Russian soldiers suffered losses and withdrew.

A CNN team that travelled to Bilohorivka saw destroyed Russian tanks and armed personnel carriers, shattered Russian armor.?

Russian troops carried out a missile attack on the industrial site of the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant in the southern Mykolaiv region, but all three power units are operating normally, nuclear operator Energoatom said on Monday.

A “powerful explosion” occurred just 300 meters (984 feet) from the reactors, and the shock wave damaged the power plant buildings, Energoatom said in a statement.

The attack shut down one of the hydropower units of the Oleksandrivska hydroelectric power station, which is part of the South Ukrainian power complex, according to Energoatom. Three high-voltage power lines were down as well.

Some background: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenky said last week that large swathes of eastern Ukraine, including the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions,?were without electricity?following “deliberate and cynical missile strikes” from Moscow.

There is little respite in victory for Ukrainian forces in the recently liberated?Kupiansk. Russian shells still hit its pockmarked streets, marring the skyline with plumes of black smoke.

Intense damage is visible on nearly every building. A huge billboard with an image of a waving Russian flag stands next to the bridge that crosses the Oskil River in the city center, bearing the words, “We are one people with Russia!”

For now, the?Ukrainian army?has chased Russian forces over the bridge and appears to be building some momentum pushing across the eastern banks of the river towards Luhansk, a key separatist territory controlled by Moscow. CNN witnessed Ukrainian infantry returning from the eastern side on foot.?

Yet inside this city, one of several in the eastern region of Kharkiv that have been liberated, are the telltale signs of a hellish occupation. A former police building was used as a vast detention center by the Russians, where at one point up to 400 prisoners were held in its cramped and dark cells, with eight or nine prisoners per room, Ukrainian authorities told CNN. A brightly painted mural of a Russian soldier with a “Z” on his armband standing next to an elderly woman waving the flag of the former Soviet empire is still visible on one wall.

As authorities continue investigating and clearing liberated towns in the Kharkiv region, they’re finding more and more evidence of detention centers and cells used for torture.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Saturday that “more than 10 torture rooms” used by occupying forces have so far been found in the area. “As the occupiers fled, they also dropped the torture devices,” he said.?

CNN has reached out to the Russian government for comment but has not received a response.

Kupiansk might be recently liberated but the city is a ghost town, punctuated by destruction and debris.

The very few locals that remain huddle in its empty husk.

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Russian singer Alla Pugacheva during a casting session for "the Factor A" a musical television show in Moscow, Russia on March 22, 2011.

Beloved Soviet-era Russian pop star Alla Pugacheva has criticized the “illusory aims” of Russia’s faltering invasion of Ukraine, becoming the latest high-profile celebrity to voice opposition to the war.

Writing on Instagram Sunday, Pugacheva, 73, expressed her support for her outspoken comedian husband, Maxim?Galkin,?who was recently designated a “foreign agent” by Russia’s Justice Ministry.

Pugacheva said her husband wished for an end to the death of Russian soldiers, who were “dying for illusory aims that make our country a pariah.”

She said Galkin was a “good real and incorruptible patriot of Russia” who wished for “prosperity” and “freedom of speech,” while she appealed to the ministry to label her a foreign agent as well.

Commenting on his designation on Saturday, Galkin said in a separate Instagram post: “The rationale for this decision was that I allegedly received funds from Ukraine, funds for which I carried out political activities. Well, first of all, I’m not involved in politics. From the stage at my concerts, I am engaged in a humorous genre, political satire, and I have been doing this for 28 years.”

Galkin and Pugacheva, who have two children, left Russia for Israel in March of this year, according to multiple Russian and Israeli media reports. A social media post from a Russian fashion designer said Pugacheva returned to Russia in August. But It is not clear where she is now or where their family permanently resides.