Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war live blog today.
Here’s where we stand:
Russian forces may face “imminent defeat” in the key north-eastern city of Lyman as Ukrainian soldiers continue their counteroffensive in the east of the country, according to a US thinktank. The Institute for the Study of War, citing Russian reports, said the defeat would allow Ukrainian troops to “threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk” region. Alexander Petrikin, the pro-Russian head of the city administration, admitted the situation has grown “difficult” for Russian forces trying to hold the territory.
Ukrainian forces have secured all of Kupiansk and driven Russian troops from their remaining positions on the east bank of the river that divides the north-eastern Ukrainian city. Most of Kupiansk, a strategic railway junction, was recaptured earlier this month as part of a stunning counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops in the north-east of the country. AFP reports that those Russian troops who held out on the east bank of the Oskil river have been driven out.
Vladimir Putin will sign treaties on Friday annexing territories in occupied Ukraine, the Kremlin has said. The Russian president is expected to sign into law the annexations of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, where Russia held fake referendums over the last week in order to claim a mandate for the territorial claims, in a major escalation of Russia’s seven-month-old war.
The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has warned Russia that annexing Ukrainian regions would mark a “dangerous escalation” that would jeopardise the prospects for peace in the region. Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine “would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned”, Guterres told reporters.
There are indications that Russia might limit the movement of Ukrainians living in the occupied territories after it announces their annexation. Ukrainians have been told that from Saturday they will need to apply for a pass from the occupying authorities. This comes as the exiled Luhansk regional governor, Serhiy Haidai, said Russia had prevented about 1,000 Ukrainians from crossing the border into Latvia.
Finland is closing its border to Russian tourists after Vladimir Putin’s partial mobilisation order prompted large numbers of people to flee the country. From midnight Finnish time (9pm GMT), Russian tourists holding an EU Schengen visa will be turned away unless they have a family tie or a compelling reason to travel.
More than half of Russians felt fearful or anxious after President Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation announcement, according to a new poll. The poll by the independent Levada Centre showed 47% of respondents said they had felt anxiety, fear or dread after hearing that hundreds of thousands of soldiers would be drafted to fight in Ukraine.
Sabotage is the most likely cause of leaks in two Baltic Sea gas pipelines between Russia and Europe, European leaders have said, after seismologists reported explosions around the Nord Stream pipelines. Suspicion immediately turned to potential culprits – with fingers pointed at Russia, whose pipelines were hit, suggesting a further weaponisation of energy supplies to Europe in the midst of the conflict in Ukraine. Nato vowed a “united and determined response” to what it described as “deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage”.
Swedish authorities have reported a fourth leak on one of the two Nord Stream pipelines that EU leaders believe became the subject of sabotage at the start of the week. The two leaks in Swedish waters were close to each other, with one rupture, on Nord Stream 2, causing a circle of bubbles at the surface of about 900 metres in diameter, and the other, coming from a leak in Nord Stream 1, a circle of about 200 metres.
Gas is likely to stop leaking from the damaged Nord Stream 1 pipeline on Monday, according to the pipeline’s operator. A spokesperson for Nord Stream AG said it was not possible to provide any forecasts for the pipeline’s future operation until the damage had been assessed.
The Kremlin has said incidents on the Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea look like an “act of terrorism”. The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said a foreign state was probably responsible for the incident, which resulted in leaks at the pipelines linking Russia to Europe. Russia’s foreign ministry claimed the “incident on the Nord Stream occurred in a zone controlled by American intelligence”.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, announced an eighth package of sanctions, including a draft sanctions law seen by the Guardian designed to “make the Kremlin pay” for the escalation of the war against Ukraine. Hungary “cannot and will not support” energy sanctions in the package, said Gergely Gulyas, the chief of staff to the prime minister, Viktor Orbán. An EU official said an agreement on the next sanctions package is expected before next week’s EU summit, or at least major parts of the package.
Russia is escalating its use of Iranian-supplied “kamikaze” drones in southern Ukraine, including against the southern port of Odesa and the nearby city of Mykolaiv. It is estimated that hundreds of weapons may now have been deployed by the Kremlin in Crimea and other occupied areas of the south.
Thank you for following along. I’ll be back tomorrow.
Updated
Ukrainian forces recapture frontline city of Kupiansk
Ukrainian forces have secured all of Kupiansk and driven Russian troops from their remaining positions on the east bank of the river that divides the north-eastern Ukrainian city, AFP reports.
Most of Kupiansk, a strategic railway junction, was recaptured earlier this month as part of a stunning counteroffensive by Ukrainian troops in the north-east of the country.
Some Russian troops had held out on the east bank of the Oskil River, across a smashed road bridge. Civilians fled into Ukrainian territory as heavy day and night shelling continued.
Updated
