September 28, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Follow the latest news on Russia’s war in Ukraine here and read more about today’s developments in the posts below.?

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin spoke with his Danish counterpart Wednesday and offered support following the leak at the Nord Stream pipeline, a senior defense official said.

“We’re, like a number of other countries out there, with capabilities that could certainly assist,” said a senior military official, “but we haven’t been asked to do so.”

Austin’s conversation with Danish Defense Minister Morten B?dskov occurred as the defense secretary was traveling to California and Hawaii.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin attends a press conferencein Helsinki?on September 28.

The government of Finland will “significantly” restrict the right of Russian citizens to enter the country as tourists or as transit when traveling to other parts of the Schengen area, the Finnish government said in a statement on Wednesday.

“In addition, the Government received a briefing on ways to enhance control at the border between Finland and Russia using a border fence,” it added.

More context: Last weekend saw a record number of Russians entering Finland via its land border since Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of “partial mobilization” of its citizens, with 16,886 Russians arriving in total over Saturday and Sunday, according to the border guard’s head of international affairs, Matti Pitkaniitty.

He added that of those, many were “in transit to other countries.”

Finland shares an 832-mile (1,340 kilometers) border with Russia.

Norway plans to ramp up security in order to protect its oil and gas facilities following the Nord Stream incident, Norwegian authorities said Wednesday.

“The incident in the Baltic Sea gives reason to maintain and strengthen these measures. However, we cannot comment upon the details of the individual measures,” it also said, adding that the situation is “grave” and will be closely monitored.

Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr St?re said Wednesday that “there will be increased military presence near the Norwegian oil and gas infrastructure, following the suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines in Swedish and Danish waters,” his office told CNN.

The United States is “sharing information that is in our possession regarding these apparent acts of sabotage” on the Nord Stream pipelines, US State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Wednesday.

Price said they “have more questions than answers at this point” about the leaks in the undersea pipelines, and noted that “an investigation like this, owing to the nature of the investigation underwater for one, could well take time.”

Price said the use of the phrase “apparent sabotage” is based on “what we know but primarily what we’re hearing from our European counterparts.”

He said the US has “offered assistance for any environmental response, but we haven’t yet received any such requests for assistance from our Danish partners.”

The US State Department called the announcements of pro-Russia forces in Ukraine of the referenda in favor of joining Russia “completely fabricated” and “concocted in Moscow.”

“This is the will of Moscow, not the free will of Ukraine or its people,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price at a briefing with reporters.

Price said that the US expects Russia to attempt to annex Ukrainian territory based on the “sham referenda.”

Price also said the State Department will be announcing “additional measures” in response.

“The United States will never recognize Russia’s attempts to annex parts of Ukraine,” Price said.

The?Pentagon?is seen from the air in Arlington, VA on March 3, 2022.

The US Department of Defense announced an additional $1.1 billion in security assistance for Ukraine under the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, meaning the money will be spent to manufacture and provide new weapons to Ukraine. These weapons will not come directly from pre-existing US stocks of weapons.

Eighteen High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems and “associated ammunitions,” are included in the package, the release states.

The package also includes 150 Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles, 40 trucks and 80 trailers to “transport heavy equipment,” additional radars for Unmanned Aerial Systems, among other items.

The US has committed “more than $16.2 billion in security assistance to Ukraine,” since the Russian invasion began in February, the release adds.

The Foreign Ministry of Poland said it “unequivocally and strongly condemns” the Russia-organized “illegal referenda,” in a statement Wednesday.

The ministry is urging members of the international community “not to recognize the legality of these pseudo-referenda and their “results,” which in no way reflect the will of the people of these regions, often forced to vote.”

“We call for the prosecution of all those involved in the holding of the fictitious referenda as well as of the Russian people and institutions operating in the illegally occupied territory of Ukraine,” the ministry added, saying that Poland is “determined” to continue cooperation with partners in this area.

“We will continue to support Ukraine’s efforts to liberate Russia’s temporarily occupied territories for as long as necessary,” the Polish Foreign Ministry also said.

Russian reservists drafted during the partial mobilization attend a departure ceremony in Sevastopol, Crimea, on September 27.

The Ukrainian military claims that in some parts of Russia, the entire male population within a certain age range is being included in the partial mobilization ordered by President Vladimir Putin last week.

The General Staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said Wednesday that the “so-called partial mobilization measures are ongoing in the Russian Federation and parts of the regions of Ukraine temporarily occupied by Russia.”

The General Staff claimed that there are some cases of parents with many children and men over age 60 being mobilized for military service.

CNN cannot verify the claims, but Russian commentators and some regional officials in Russia have complained that the mobilization is poorly organized and has included the drafting of men specifically exempted from the decree.

The General Staff also said that “the lack of readiness to implement mobilization measures was noted at assembly points in the Belgorod and Rostov regions,” both of which are close to the Ukrainian border.?

“Thus, newly arrived personnel must purchase winter uniforms and protective equipment at their own expense,” it claimed.

CNN has reviewed a number of videos in the past few days showing Russian soldiers complaining about their lack of equipment.

The new package of sanctions against Russia proposed Wednesday by the European Commission will target more than 1,300 people and entities, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

“This list targets key decision makers, oligarchs, senior military officials and propagandists, responsible for undermining Ukraine’s territorial integrity,” Borrell said during a news statement in Brussels.

According to Borell, the new sanctions will target “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.”?

Borrell also said sanctions would include high ranking officials in the Russian Ministry of Defense — including Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu — and those supporting the Russian Armed Forces by providing army equipment and weapons.

The EU foreign policy chief added that “a lot has been done already” in terms of economic actors but that other non-Russian entities that may be “participating in the circumvention of sanctions” might be targeted too.

Borrell finished by noting that the EU will “extend the geographical scope of the restrictions applying to Crimea, to the Donetsk and Luhansk, that were approved at the beginning of the year. And this will cover all non-governmental control areas of Ukraine, including the oblast of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson which are not part of Donbas and were not part of the previous decisions.”

US officials believe that the likelihood Russian President Vladimir Putin will use a tactical nuclear weapon in his struggling war in Ukraine is perhaps the highest it has been since Russia invaded in February — but is still not probable, multiple officials familiar with the latest intelligence tell CNN.

The intelligence community is closely watching for any signs that Putin’s calculus has changed after the Russian President was widely perceived last week to be escalating his past threats to use nuclear weapons.

The threat is certainly “elevated” compared to earlier in the year, according to multiple sources. The US in recent months has been privately warning Russia not to take such a catastrophic step.

But so far, there are no signs that Russia is imminently planning their use and the “general assessment hasn’t changed,” one source familiar with the intelligence said.

Several US defense officials, who also said they see no indication at this time of Russia moving nuclear weapons around, said they believe it’s likely the US could detect movement even of smaller tactical warheads.

More background: Officials have long believed that Putin would only turn to a nuclear weapon if there was a threat to his own position, or if he perceived an existential threat to Russia itself — which he may consider a loss in Ukraine to be.

Some Russian military analysts believe that Putin’s mobilization order may in fact decrease the short-term risk he will turn to a battlefield nuke because it will prolong his ability to sustain the conventional war.

The general sense inside the US government is that the threat is higher than before is based primarily on Putin’s rhetoric and analysis of his mindset amid Russian losses in Ukraine, rather than any hard intelligence that Russia is more seriously weighing the nuclear option, according to two sources familiar with the intelligence.

CNN’s Barbara Starr contributed reporting to this post.

Photographed here on January 25, 10 Downing Street.

The United Kingdom “would never recognize Russian attempts to annex sovereign territory,” British Prime Minister Liz Truss told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said Truss underlined the UK’s “steadfast support in light of Russia’s sham referendums in Ukraine.”

“[Truss] reiterated that Ukraine could depend on the UK’s support until President Putin was defeated,” they added.?

During the call, President Zelensky welcomed Truss’ “strong backing” while the Prime Minister thanked Zelensky for his work in securing the release of five British nationals held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine, the spokesperson also said.

Four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine staged votes on joining Russia, according to their separatist leaders from Friday to Tuesday. The polls, which are contrary to international law, could pave the way for Russian annexation of the areas.

The votes are illegal and have been?universally dismissed as “a sham”?by Ukraine and Western nations.

CNN’s Rob Picheta contributed reporting to this post.?

Sweden’s security service has opened a “gross sabotage” investigation regarding the incident at the Nord Stream pipelines, the agency said in a statement Wednesday, adding that it cannot be ruled out “that a foreign power is behind it.”

The unit has taken over the preliminary investigation from the Swedish Police Agency, according to the statement. “The crime classification is currently gross sabotage,” Sweden’s security service said.

More context: Leaders of several Western countries have said?leaks in two Russian gas pipelines?are likely the result of sabotage, vowing a strong response as investigations continue.

Swedish authorities sounded the alarm on Tuesday about 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.

Neither pipeline was in operation at the time the leaks were found, but both still contained gas under pressure.

CNN’s Jessie Yeung and Chris Liakos contributed reporting to this post.?

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and European Commission Vice-President, Josep Borrell speaks to the press at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium, on September 28.

EU member states condemn in the “strongest possible term” the “illegal referenda” organized by Russia in Ukraine, EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said Wednesday.

Borrell urged the international community not to recognize the “sham” referenda.

Speaking alongside EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels, Borrell said that with illegal referenda organized by Russia, the “Kremlin is following the same playbook that we have already seen in Georgia in 2008. And in Crimea in 2014.”

“We condemn in the strongest possible term, and I am sure I can speak on behalf of the member states of the European Union, that none of them will recognize this falsified outcome,” Borrell said, calling the international community to do the same.

A dispute over payments between Russian gas company Gazprom and Ukrainian pipeline operator Naftogaz has deepened, potentially putting at risk one of the few gas pipelines from Russia to Europe still in operation.

The dispute concerns transit fees for gas carried across Ukrainian territory to central Europe. In the wake of the latest exchanges between the two companies, wholesale gas prices in Europe rose Wednesday.?

In a statement Wednesday, Gazprom said it rejected all legal claims by Naftogaz, saying that “services that have not been provided by the Ukrainian party should not and will not be paid for.”?

Gazprom said Naftogaz had refused to fulfill its transit obligations.

It also said the agreement from 2019 stipulated that all disputes should be settled in Zurich, Switzerland — but because of anti-Russian sanctions, “Gazprom has been deprived of its fundamental right to a fair and impartial hearing.”

Gazprom said it considered the claims by Naftogaz as an “unfriendly step in continuation of the Ukrainian company’s bad faith behavior,” which may lead the Russian state to impose sanctions on Naftogaz. “In practice, this will mean a ban restricting Gazprom from fulfilling its obligations to the sanctioned entities.”

Yuriy Vitrenko, chief executive officer of NJSC Naftogaz Ukrainy, in his office in Kyiv, Ukraine, on July 14.

The CEO of Naftogaz, Yuriy Vitrenko, retorted on Twitter: “Gazprom’s statement is another example of Gazprom’s disregard for the rule of law and its association with the Russian Federation’s war of aggression against Ukraine.”

Vitrenko said?“Naftogaz has invoked Force Majeure in respect of transit through entry point Sokhanovka because it is controlled by Russian armed forces, and instead offered transit through entry point Sudzha at no additional cost.”

“Gazprom has accepted the right of Naftogaz to refer disputes to arbitration. When Naftogaz exercises this right, it is simply a regular exercise of a contractual right, and not an “unfriendly act.”

The new package of “biting sanctions” proposed by the European Commission against Russia would also “lay the legal basis” for an oil price cap, the EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said in a news statement in Brussels Wednesday.

She said that the oil price cap which was already agreed upon on a G7 country level, “will help reduce Russia’s revenues on one hand and it will keep the global market for energy stable on the other hand.”

The EU has already agreed to ban seaborne Russian crude oil starting Dec. 5.

More on the package: The new package also proposes a ban on providing European services to Russia and the prohibition of EU nationals to sit on governing bodies of Russian state-owned enterprises.

“Russia should not benefit from European knowledge and expertise,” von der Leyen said.

Finally, the package will propose ways to toughen the bloc’s crackdown on the circumvention of sanctions.

The EU Commission’s new sanctions package is a proposal at this stage and can only be officially adopted at an EU Council level with the approval of all the 27 member states.

European countries on Tuesday raced to investigate unexplained leaks in two?Russian gas pipelines?running under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark, infrastructure at the heart of?an energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Several European officials said sabotage appeared to be the likely cause, while Russia — which built the network — did not rule it out.

Norwegian Minister of Petroleum and Energy Terje Aasland said Tuesday that the initial information received about the leaks indicated “acts of sabotage.” Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson and her Danish counterpart, Mette Frederiksen, both said the incident was likely “deliberate” but played down the possibility of a military threat.

In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters,” “No option can be ruled out right now.”

Why this matters: Both pipelines have been flashpoints in an escalating energy war between European capitals and Moscow that has pummeled major Western economies, sent gas prices soaring and sparked a hunt for alternative energy supplies.

According to pipeline operator Nord Stream AG, it is not currently possible to estimate “a timeframe for restoring the gas transport infrastructure.”

In a statement on Tuesday evening, it added that pressure drops in the pipeline suggested there had been physical damage.

German, Danish and Scandinavian security authorities were closely looking at the leaks in the Baltic Sea and investigating their cause, according to German Economy Minister Robert Habeck, who also said German energy supply had not been affected.

Earlier in the day, Sweden’s Maritime Authority had issued a warning about two leaks in the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, shortly after a leak on the nearby Nord Stream 2 pipeline was discovered.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen holds a press conference at the EU headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, on September 28.

The European Commission is proposing a new package of “biting sanctions” against Russia, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Wednesday in a news statement in Brussels.?

“We do not accept the sham referenda and any kind of annexation in Ukraine and we’re determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation,” she added.

This eighth package would see new individuals and entities targeted by sanctions, and would further restrict trade, von der Leyen said.?

The new package also proposes sweeping new import bans on Russian products.

“This will keep Russian products out of the European market and deprive Russia of an additional 7 billion euros in revenues,” the European Commission chief said.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz talks to the media as he arrives at the EU Council headquarters on February 24, in Brussels, Belgium.

German chancellor Olaf Scholz told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that Germany would never recognize the “sham referenda” in four Ukrainian regions.

Germany is among several European nations that have dismissed Russia’s so-called referendum. US officials anticipate Russia could move quickly to annex the four areas, potentially within days of voting concluding.

If and when they do, it would prompt?a swift response from the United States, which has also pledged not to recognize the results, one official said.

CNN’s Rob Picheta contributed reporting to this post.

Apple has removed VKontakte, a top Russian social media platform, from its app store, according to the app’s developer.?

Apple’s decision also affects other iOS apps produced by VKontakte’s parent, the technology giant VK, according to a?blog post?Tuesday by the company.??

“Now some VK applications are blocked by Apple, so they are not available for download and update in the App Store,” VK wrote in the blog post. Existing installations of those apps should continue to function normally, VK added.?

VK apps provide a range of services including email, food delivery and digital payments. It is the fifth-largest website by traffic in Russia, by?some estimates. The company’s social network has?97 million monthly users?worldwide, while its email service, Mail.ru, has 46 million users within Russia.?

In a statement to?The Verge, which first reported the removals, Apple said the decision aims to comply with newly imposed UK sanctions against Russia. The UK government on Monday?had said?it was targeting dozens of Russian elites in response to Russia’s “illegal sham referendums in Ukraine” that claimed to show support for Ukraine’s integration with Russia.?

Earlier this year in response to the war in Ukraine, Apple?stopped selling?new products in Russia, clamped down on Apple Pay and removed state-backed media outlets RT and Sputnik from its app stores outside of Russia.

CNN has reached out to Apple for comment.?

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.

Members of a local electoral commission count ballots at a polling station following a?referendum?on the joining of Russian-controlled regions of?Ukraine?to Russia, in Sevastopol, Crimea, on September 27.

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.

US national and rainbow flags are pictured on the US embassy in Moscow, Russia, on June 30.

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.

US Secretary of State Antony?Blinken?speaks to the press at the State Department in Washington, DC, on September 27.

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.

Vehicles coming from Russia queue at the Vaalimaa check point, Finland, on the border with the Russian Federation on September 28.

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.

People walk past a billboard displaying a soldier and a Russian flag and reading 'We believe in our army and our victory' in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, on September 27.

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.

Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, raises a glass of champagne after a referendum in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, on September 27.

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.

Gas leak at?Nord?Stream?2 as seen from the Danish F-16 interceptor on Bornholm, Denmark, on September 27.

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.”

People walk next to their cars queuing to cross the border into Kazakhstan from Russia at the Mariinsky border crossing on September 27.

About 100,000 Russians have crossed into neighboring Kazakhstan in the last week, according to a senior government official in the country.

Out of the 100,000 Russians who have entered Kazakhstan, more than 64,000 have already left the country, Marat Kozheyev, Kazakh deputy minister of internal affairs, said on Wednesday.

He did not say where they were journeying to.

“No crime or criminal offence involving Russian citizens has been registered within this week,” he added, according to Kazinform, a state-owned news agency.

“They are mostly law-abiding citizens and they have enough money to live here. In case (if) they violate migration legislation, they will be deported. If they commit a criminal offence, they will be brought to justice,” he said.

The Kremlin has faced an exodus of citizens fleeing Russia in recent days, amid domestic backlash against President Vladimir Putin’s announcement of?military escalation?last week.

Moscow’s strategy to draft 300,000 reservists in the war in Ukraine has prompted?anti-mobilization protests?and growing resistance against the invasion – with military-age men?leaving the country?rather than risk being conscripted.

Russian citizens do not need a visa to enter Kazakhstan – with which Russia shares a 7,000-kilometer (4,350-mile) border in its south – and can stay visa-free for up to 30 days.

Four of the five EU countries bordering Russia have banned entry for Russians on tourist visas, while queues to cross land borders out of Russia to the former Soviet countries Kazakhstan, Georgia and Armenia were reportedly taking more than 24 hours.

CNN’s Josh Pennington, Jessie Yeung, Katharina Krebs, Radina Gigova, Simone McCarthy and Sana Noor Haq contributed reporting.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky makes a speech via video link to students at Harvard University.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has claimed that Moscow plans to annex four occupied regions in Ukraine and will force people to join the Russian military, saying “either you are killed, or you kill.”

The ballots held in the occupied parts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson are illegal under international law and have been widely condemned by Western countries as “sham” referendums.

Zelensky claimed the Kremlin planned to “force” people living in the occupied areas to fight in the Russian military. “The goal (of annexation) is obvious – the occupier wants to take the residents of the occupied territory into the army,” he said during a speech made via video link to students at Harvard University on Tuesday.

Any attempt to annex Ukrainian territory “will mean that there is nothing to talk about with this President of Russia,” Zelensky said in another speech to the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

The Nord Stream pipelines leaks are acts of “sabotage,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said after a meeting with Danish Defense Minister Morten Bodskov in Brussels.

“Discussed the sabotage on the #NorthStream pipelines with Defence Minister Morten Bodskov of our valued Ally Denmark. We addressed the protection of critical infrastructure in #NATO countries,” Stoltenberg said on his verified Twitter account.

Stoltenberg’s comments came after Swedish authorities?warned of multiple 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.

There is reason to be concerned about the security situation in the Baltic Sea region, following the unexplained leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines, Bodskov said after the meeting on Wednesday.

“Russia has a significant military presence in the Baltic Sea region and we expect them to continue their sabre-rattling,” Bodskov said, his press office told CNN.

The two discussed what Stoltenberg called “sabotage” on the Nord Stream pipelines and “addressed the protection of critical infrastructure in NATO countries,” Stoltenberg tweeted.

The Danish Defense Ministry said that a total of three leakages – which European leaders say cannot be ruled out as sabotage – have been discovered on the gas pipelines Nord Stream 1 and Nord Stream 2, respectively northeast and southeast of the Danish island of Bornholm.

There are two leakages from Nord Stream 1 and one leakage from Nord Stream 2, the press office told CNN.

The Danish Maritime Authority has issued a navigation warning and established a prohibited area to ensure that vessels do not enter the zones near the leakages.

Vessels can lose buoyant force if they enter the area and there can be an ignition hazard above the water and in the air, the press office said.

A prohibited area has subsequently been created with a radius of 5 nautical miles for ships and a prohibited area of 1 kilometer for aircrafts.

“It is too early to make any conclusions on the causes of the incidents. But at the same time it is hard to imagine this to be pure coincidence. At this point we can’t rule out that this is a deliberate action,” Bodskov said.”

“Obviously, this is a very serious matter. That is why we are now taking the precautions that we do, and increasing our presence in the area around Bornholm. Our authorities are doing everything they can to clarify the cause, in close cooperation with our partners,” he added.

It might take a week or two before the areas around damaged Nord Stream leaks are calm enough to be investigated, Bodskov’s office confirmed to CNN.

Numerous?other global 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.

Finland Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said the damage caused to the pipelines is “very concerning,” while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken?said?that if the leaks were the result of an attack, “that’s clearly in no one’s interest.”

This satellite photo from Planet Labs PBC shows a large disturbance in the sea off the Danish island of Bornholm, on September 26.

The leaks from the Nord Stream gas pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic sea pose “no health risk,” according to Denmark’s Energy Management Agency.

“The prognoses show that the concentration of gas that could potentially reach Bornholm are very small and far below the threshold to pose any health risk,” the agency said in a statement on Tuesday.

The agency assessed “no risk outside the safety zones established at sea,” the statement added.

In addition to running prognoses, the agency said it had sent specialized equipment and crew to Bornholm to measure concentrations in the air.

“The crew has been working since Tuesday morning and the measurements confirm that there is no health risk,” the statement said.

Some context:?Earlier this week, European countries raced to investigate unexplained leaks in two Russian gas pipelines running under the Baltic Sea near Sweden and Denmark, infrastructure at the heart of?an energy crisis since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The incident has scuppered expectations that Europe could receive gas via Nord Stream 1 before the winter, as gas prices soar and countries search for alternative energy supplies.

Russia ceased all gas supplies to Europe via Nord Stream 1 in August, condemning Western sanctions for causing technical difficulties – which European politicians say is a ploy to stop dispensing gas.

The new Nord Stream 2 pipeline had not yet entered commercial operation, and Germany abandoned the plan to use it to supply gas just days before Moscow?launched its invasion?in February.

CNN’s Jessie Yeung and Chris Liakos contributed reporting to this post.

Head of the separatist self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic Denis Pushilin, left, and Secretary of the United Russia Party's General Council Andrey Turchak attend a news conference on preliminary results of a referendum on the joining of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) to Russia, in Donetsk, Ukraine, on September 27.

Authorities in the Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine that held so-called referendums say that all votes have now been counted and each saw a huge majority in favor of joining Russia.

The head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, said on his Telegram channel that 99.23% of votes cast were for “joining the Donetsk People’s Republic to the Russian Federation.”

Elena Kravchenko, the head of the election commission of the self-declared Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), said 98.42% of voters cast their ballots in favor of the motion.

As CNN previously reported, in Kherson, the Telegram channel of the pro-Russian administration said that with all votes counted, 87.05% were in favor of joining Russia.

In Zaporizhzhia, the head of the election commission said the final tally was 93.11% in favor.

The referendums – announced at short notice by pro-Russian authorities in the four regions – were widely condemned by Western governments as a sham and against international law. They were not observed by independent monitors.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said the referendum process was a “sham” that showed Russia’s “contempt for all those who have been calling for diplomacy”.

Ukrainian officials say that turnout has been extremely low and claimed that people had been bussed in from Crimea to vote.??

Two covert “influence operations from China and Russia” spreading political narratives about the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine were removed from Facebook for violating the platform’s policy on “inauthentic behavior,” Meta said Tuesday.??

The Russian network was the “largest of its kind we’ve disrupted since the war in Ukraine began,” Meta said, targeting audiences in Germany, France, Italy and Ukraine with “narratives focused on the war and its impact through a sprawling network of over 60 websites impersonating legitimate news organizations.”?

Narratives pushed by the Russian network centered on the war in Ukraine, parroting Kremlin talking points about the impact of sanctions, and spreading stories critical of Ukrainian refugees.?

The sprawling network – which began in May of this year – comprised over 60 websites which carefully impersonated news organizations across Europe, including The Guardian, Bild and Der Spiegel. The disinformation effort revolved around fake news articles, original memes and YouTube videos which were shared across Facebook, Instagram, Telegram, Twitter, Change.org, Avaaz, and LiveJournal, according to Meta.?

The content was shared in English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Ukrainian, and in some cases amplified by the Facebook pages of Russian embassies in Europe and Asia.?

The network that originated in China was smaller in its scope and targeted people in the United States, Czech Republic and to a lesser extent Chinese and French speaking audiences globally in four “largely separate and short-lived efforts” between 2021 and mid-September 2022.??

In the US the operation focused on “domestic politics ahead of the midterm elections,” while in the Czech Republic the narratives concerned the country’s “foreign policy toward China and Ukraine,” Meta said.?

Signage in front of Meta Platforms headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S., on Monday Jan. 31, 2022. Meta Platforms Inc. is scheduled to release earnings figures on Feb. 2. Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Related article Meta shuts down covert influence campaigns it says were run from China and Russia | CNN Business

Gas bubbles from the Nord Stream 2 leak reach the surface of the?Baltic?Sea near Bornholm, Denmark, on September 27.

The European Union is “deeply concerned” about damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines that has resulted in leaks in the international waters of the Baltic Sea, calling it a “deliberate act.”

The bloc “will support any investigation aimed at getting full clarity on what happened and why and will take further steps to increase our resilience in energy security,” he said.?

Press briefing by Josep Borrell, on the situation in Ukraine at UN Headquarters, New York, on September 21.

The European Union “denounces” the holding of illegal referendums by pro-Russian forces in Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday.

The referendums – condemned by Western countries as a sham – have seen four Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine vote on whether to join Russia via polls which are contrary to international law.?

“We commend the courage of Ukrainians, who continue to oppose and resist Russian invasion,” he added.?

Untrained Russian forces are arriving in combat zones across Ukraine following the Kremlin’s mobilization effort, the Ukrainian military claimed Wednesday in its daily situational update.?

CNN is unable to verify the Ukrainian Armed Forces claims.

Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the immediate “partial mobilization” of Russian citizens, in an effort to bolster the Kremlin’s faltering invasion, following Ukraine’s gains in its ongoing counteroffensive.?

Experts have previously expressed concerns about the state of Russian forces in Ukraine and their ability to get new recruits sufficiently trained.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde, left, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson, center and Defense Minister Peter Hultqvist speak with the media about the Nord Stream gas leak in the Baltic Sea on September 27.

Several European leaders have suggested three leaks?in the Nord Stream pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm in the Baltic Sea were caused deliberately.

On Tuesday the Danish Prime Minister said she sees the leaks as “deliberate actions.”?

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson also said Tuesday that the incident is “likely a deliberate action.”

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen referred to the pipeline leaks as “sabotage action” in a tweet Tuesday. She added that, “Any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response.”

Finland Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said Tuesday that the damage caused to the pipelines is “very concerning,” following a call with his Swedish counterpart Ann Linde.

“There should be a full investigation into the incident. Sabotage to the pipelines cannot be excluded. (This poses) serious risks for the environment and shipping,” he added.

Even Russia, which built the network, said the possibility of sabotage could not be ruled out.

Nord Stream AG, the operator of the pipelines, 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”.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks with the media during the the 77th United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 21.?

Canada will impose fresh sanctions on “persons and entities” involved in carrying out “sham referendums” in Ukraine, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday.?

“Canada does not and will not ever recognize the results of these sham referendums or Russia’s attempted illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories,” Trudeau said.?

Some context: Pro-Russian authorities have held so-called referendums across Ukraine in the self-declared republics of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south.?

The votes - which are illegal under international law - have been dismissed as a “sham” by Ukraine and Western nations.??

An exclusive CNN poll of Ukrainians conducted in February, just before Russia’s invasion, found that no region of the country had more than one in five people backing Ukrainian “unification” with Russia.

United Kingdom's Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN James Kariuki?speaks at the UN Security Council's emergency meeting at the United Nations Headquarters on August 23.

A British ambassador has urged the United Nations to reject the results of illegal Russian-backed “sham” referendums in Ukraine.

During a United Nations Security Council meeting?to discuss the war, the United Kingdom’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN James Kariuki said the referendums were “an egregious violation” of the principles of the UN Charter.

“The very idea that a referendum on a fundamental question could be held at three days’ notice in the middle of a war zone is frankly farcical,” he added.

“We must all unequivocally reject these illegitimate actions and Russian attempts to illegally annex Ukrainian territory,” he said.

Workers hang Russian flags on an apartment building in Luhansk, Ukraine on Tuesday, Sept. 27.

Russian state media say election commissions in four occupied regions of Ukraine have returned majorities in favor of joining the Russian Federation, following referendums described as a “sham” by Western governments and Kyiv.

The so-called referendums — called at short notice by pro-Russian authorities in occupied areas of Ukraine — are against international law and have been widely condemned by Western governments. They were not observed by independent monitors.?

Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said that the commissions had published the results of referendums in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and the Luhansk and Donetsk People’s Republics. It did not say whether these were the final results.

The referendum plans were suddenly announced a week ago by Russian-backed local administrations and immediately welcomed in Moscow.?

Ukrainian officials say that turnout has been extremely low and that pro-Russian voters have been bused in from Crimea.?

Officials anticipate Russia could now move quickly to annex the four areas, potentially within days. Such a move could provide Moscow with a pretext to escalate its faltering war, which has seen Kyiv regain thousands of square miles of territory this month.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov previously indicated that if the regions announced majorities in favor of joining Russia, the ratification process would be fast and they could become part of the Russian Federation “quite soon.”?

Asked if that would mean any attempt by Ukraine to regain the territories would be regarded as an attack on Russian territory, Peskov said: “Of course.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to the press on Tuesday, September 27.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that if the leaks in the Nord Stream pipeline were caused by sabotage, “that’s clearly in no one’s interest.”

Speaking at a press conference at the State Department Tuesday, Blinken noted the cause of the leaks is being investigated.

The top US diplomat said it was his understanding that “the leaks will not have a significant impact on Europe’s energy resilience.”

“What’s critical is that we are working, day in, day out, both on a short term basis and a long term basis to address energy security for Europe and, for that matter, around the world,” he said.

In a readout of Blinken’s call, State Department spokesperson Ned Pride said the US was “united” with allies on promoting European energy security.?

Russian law enforcement officers detain a person during a rally in Moscow on September 24, after opposition activists called for street protests against the mobilization of reservists ordered by President Vladimir Putin.

The United Nations has expressed concern over the detention of thousands of demonstrators in Russia protesting against President Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilization order.

“We are deeply disturbed by the large number of people who have reportedly been arrested in the Russian Federation for protesting after the authorities announced a partial mobilization of troops in the context of the armed conflict in Ukraine,” Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said Tuesday.

At least 2,398 people have been detained in various cities across Russia from Sept. 21 to Sept. 26, the latest data on Tuesday by independent protest monitoring group OVD-Info shows.

A gas leak at Nord Stream 2 as seen from a Danish F-16 interceptor on September 27.

The Swedish National Seismic Network (SNSN) said Tuesday that it had detected two explosions on Monday near the Nord Stream pipelines.

The first explosion was recorded at 2:03 a.m. local time in the early hours of Monday and the second one 17 hours later, at 7:04 p.m. on Monday evening, according to SNSN.

SNSN said that one of the underwater explosions resulted in a tremor of 2.3 magnitude.

According to SNSN, the last time a similar seismological event was registered in the area was in 2016. It added that this area is not usually used for defense exercises.?

The German geological research centre, GFZ, told CNN that two tremors were registered at similar times at a seismic station on the Danish island of Bornholm, again close to the reported leaks on the pipelines.