Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 216 of the invasion

Russia’s “referendums” in Ukraine, which could lead to Moscow annexing 15% of the country’s territory, are due to end on Tuesday. Voting in the eastern provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia began on Friday, Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said on Tuesday that Russia wants to “save people” in the four Moscow-controlled territories.

Russian media have announced early results, claiming that with approaching a quarter of the “votes” counted in each of the four referendums, all the regions have voted by at least 97% to be annexed by Russia. The process has been dismissed as a sham by western nations, and described as a “propaganda show” by Ukrainian authorities, which have pledged not to recognise the results.

Putin is scheduled to address both houses of Russian parliament on Friday 30 September, and may use the address to formally announce the accession of the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine into Russia, the British Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence update.

Denmark’s military has issued an image of gas bubbling at the surface of the Baltic Sea after “unprecedented” damage to the Nord Stream pipelines, which has seen three offshore lines of the system damaged in one day.

Seismologists in Sweden say on Monday they detected what they described as two explosions in the regions of the Baltic sea where the leaks have occurred.

Poland’s prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, has already called the leaks “an act of sabotage” which he said “related to the next step of escalation of the situation in Ukraine.”

The United Nations human rights office has said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had caused a dire human rights situation and led to a wide range of rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture, that could amount to war crimes. The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said in a report that it was particularly concerned about torture and ill treatment of detainees by Russian forces and affiliated armed groups, but said there had been rights violations by both sides.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called Russia’s mobilisation “a frank attempt to give commanders on the ground a constant stream of “cannon fodder”,” in the Ukrainian president’s nightly address on Monday evening.

Ukraine claims some Russian conscripts from the Kremlin’s mass mobilisation are being sent directly to the frontlines without training. Those included newly drafted personnel in Crimea as well as conscripts in the Luhansk region who have received draft summonses in recent days.

The Kremlin said it had made no decision on closing Russia’s borders as the first mobilisation since the second world war prompted some to flee.

Georgia and Kazakhstan said that tens of thousands of Russians had flooded into their countries from neighbouring Russia as military-aged men avoid military call-up

The Russian Orthodox Church head says Russian soldiers who die on the battlefield will have their sins absolved. Patriach Kirill, a close ally of President Vladimir Putin and a staunch supporter of the Ukraine invasion, said the “sacrifice washes away all sins”.

Dmitry Medvedev, the hawkish deputy chairman of the security council of Russia, has again threatened the west with the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine, and said “Imagine that Russia is forced to use the most formidable weapon against the Ukrainian regime, which has committed a large-scale act of aggression, which is dangerous for the very existence of our state. I believe that Nato will not directly intervene in the conflict even in this situation. After all, the security of Washington, London, and Brussels is much more important for the North Atlantic Alliance than the fate of Ukraine, which no one needs, even if it is abundantly supplied with various weapons.”

Germany’s economy minister expects to have to extend the lifespans of the country’s last two nuclear power plants to avoid possible outages and grid bottlenecks in Europe’s biggest economy this winter.

Refugees arriving from Ukraine have helped drive Germany’s population to its highest level, the Federal Statistical Office said, with more than 84 million people now living in the European Union’s most populous country. Germany’s female population grew by 1.2%, significantly more than its male population, which increased by 0.8%, reflecting the fact that mainly women and children fled the war in Ukraine.

Japan’s foreign minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, has commented on the detention of the country’s consul, telling reporters that he was subjected to a “coercive interrogation” during his detention by Russia’s FSB security service and that Japan has demanded an apology. Hayashi told reporters on Tuesday that consul Motoki Tatsunori had not engaged in any illegal activity and described his detention, which lasted several hours, as “totally unacceptable”.

The Philippines is in talks with Russia to buy fuel and other commodities, according to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, who said the country’s national interests had to take precedence over politics.

A Russian man on Monday shot the leader of the local military draft committee in a Siberian town after telling him he would refuse to fight in Ukraine. Video showed the gunman, dressed in camouflage, firing at the official from point-blank range as other potential draftees for the Russian invasion fled the room.

The US pledged to provide Ukraine with $457.5m in civilian security aid. The support was aimed at “saving lives” and “bolstering” Ukrainian law enforcement, said the secretary of state, Antony Blinken.

The UK announced 92 new sanctions on Monday in response to Russia’s “sham referendums” in Ukraine. The package of penalties target those behind the sham votes as well as oligarchs and board members.