Politicians across Europe have warned the suspected sabotaging of the two Nord Stream pipelines could herald a new stage of hybrid warfare targeting vulnerable energy infrastructure in order to undermine support of Ukraine. Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, said his country would step up its military presence at Norwegian installations after the country had become Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas.
Moscow is poised to formally annex Russian-occupied regions after so-called referendums that have been denounced by the west. The Russian-installed leaders of the Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine have formally asked President Vladimir Putin to annex the occupied territories into Russia. Russia’s foreign ministry said action will be taken soon to meet the “aspirations” of four occupied Ukrainian regions to become part of Russia. Once annexed, Russia’s leadership has said it will consider attacks on the Russian-controlled areas as a direct attack on Russia.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, says Ukraine will “defend” its citizens in Russian-occupied regions after what he described as “an imitation of referendums”. “We will act to protect our people: both in the Kherson region, in the Zaporizhzhia region, in the Donbas, in the currently occupied areas of the Kharkiv region and in the Crimea,” he said in a video posted on Telegram.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said the “propaganda show called ‘referendums’ in the temporarily occupied territories” is “yet another Russian crime”. Ukraine and its allies “condemn such actions of Russia and consider them null and worthless”, it said in a statement, which also called on the west to increase pressure on Russia, including by imposing new sanctions, and significantly increase military aid to Ukraine.
Britain’s prime minister, Liz Truss, told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call that the UK would never recognise Russian attempts to annex parts of Ukraine, Downing Street said. Zelenskiy also tweeted about the call and said he expected London’s leadership in response to what he called the “sham referenda” in occupied parts of Ukraine.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has announced a fresh round of proposed sanctions on Russia designed “to make the Kremlin pay” for escalating the conflict in Ukraine. The proposed eighth package of “biting” sanctions includes a cap on the price of Russian oil and further curbs on hi-tech trade.
TheEU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, also denounced the holding of “illegal referenda and their falsified outcome” in occupied parts of Ukraine. He also promised “a robust and united response” from the EU over attacks on energy infrastructure, describing damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 as “not a coincidence and affect us all”.
Israel has strengthened its hitherto cautious stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, saying it will “not accept the results of the referendum in the eastern districts” of the occupied country. Tuesday night’s statement from the Israeli foreign ministry, which also said it “recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”, has been received as an unprecedented show of support for Ukraine, and a rare Israeli rebuke to Moscow.
Gas prices have risen on fears that Russia could halt supplies to Europe through Ukraine, adding to turmoil caused by damage to the Nord Stream pipelines under the Baltic Sea. The statement came after the discovery of leaks on the two Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic near the Danish island of Bornholm in a suspected act of sabotage, although exactly by whom or why remains unconfirmed.
European leaders have said sabotage is the most likely cause of leaks in two Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Europe, after seismologists reported explosions around the Baltic Sea lines. German authorities reportedly fear the Nord Stream 1 could become “unusable forever” if leaks in the two lines are not repaired quickly. Sweden’s national police force has opened an investigation into leaks from the Nord Stream pipeline after authorities in Stockholm suggested the “blasts” were “probably a deliberate act”. Norway’s foreign minister, Anniken Huitfeldt, said the explosions and gas leakage in the Baltic Sea were of “deep concern” to the Norwegian government.
The Kremlin dismissed claims that Russiawas behind the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline, describing them as “quite predictable and also predictably stupid”. In a call with reporters, the Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said the incident needed to be investigated and that the timings for the repair of the damaged pipelines were not clear.
Authorities in the Russian region of North Ossetia, which borders Georgia, are reportedly putting in place travel restrictions to prevent people fleeing to Georgia to avoid conscription. The report by the Moscow Times cites the head of the region, Sergey Menyaylo, as saying that more than 20,000 people had entered Georgia through the section of the border in just the past two days.
The US embassy in Moscow has issued a security alert and urged American citizens to leave Russia immediately. In a statement on its website, the it warned that dual Russian-US nationals may be called up as part of the Russian government’s mobilisation. US citizens should not travel to Russia and that those residing or travelling in the country should depart Russia immediately while limited commercial travel options remain, it said.
The governments of Romania, Bulgaria and Poland are urging any citizens that remain in the Russian Federation to leave urgently. That may be in anticipation of border crossings becoming much more difficult as routes out close and more people flee forced mobilisation in Russia.
Russian authorities say they are establishing checkpoints at some of the country’s borders to forcibly mobilise Russian men who are seeking to avoid mobilisation by fleeing the country. Social media footage shows military vehicles moving toward the border, reportedly to establish the mobilisation checkpoint.
Russia is mounting a more substantive defence than previously as Ukraine attempts to press forward “on at least two axes east”, according to the UK’s Ministry of Defence. Heavy fighting continued in the Kherson region where the Russian force on the right bank of the Dnipro remained vulnerable, it said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukrainian authorities say they have identified five Russian soldiers who allegedly shot at civilian cars in the Kyiv region during the first days of the war. The Russian soldiers are charged with killing five people, and injuring a further six, who were trying to flee Hostomel on 25 February, a day after Russia invaded.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thank you for reading.
Russia says it will fulfil ‘aspirations’ to annex occupied regions
Russia’s foreign ministry has said action will be taken soon to meet the “aspirations” of four occupied Ukrainian regions to become part of Russia.
In a statement, the ministry claimed the votes in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine were held in compliance with international law.
It said:
In the nearest future, a crucial stage lies ahead in our joint actions to fulfil the aspirations of the residents (of the four regions) to be together with Russia.
Norway’s prime minister has said its military will be more visible at oil and gas installations as politicians across Europe warned the suspected sabotaging of the two Nord Stream pipelines could herald a new stage of hybrid warfare targeting vulnerable energy infrastructure in order to undermine support of Ukraine.
Jonas Gahr Støre told a news conference Norway would step up its military presence at Norwegian installations after the country had become Europe’s largest supplier of natural gas.
He added that any attack on the Nato member’s offshore installations would be handled jointly with its allies.
Large amounts of natural gas have been pouring into the Baltic Sea since Monday through three separate leaks on the two Nord Stream pipelines built to deliver Russian gas to Europe. Seismologists recorded explosions in the Swedish and Danish waters where the pipeline passes the island of Bornholm on Monday morning and evening, suggesting the leaks were deliberate.
More than half of the gas in the damaged Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic Sea has already leaked into the atmosphere, the head of the Danish Energy Agency has said.
A “clear majority” of the gas has come out of the pipelines, Kristoffer Böttzauw told a press conference, adding that the remaining volume was expected to be gone by Sunday.
Denmark’s defence minister, Morten Bødskov, said earlier today that it would take “one or two weeks” before inspections of the damaged structures could begin.
The EU executive has promised to cap the price of Russian oil and impose further curbs on hi-tech trade, as part of the latest round of sanctions to “make the Kremlin pay” for the escalation of the war against Ukraine.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said Russia had ramped up the invasion to “a new level”, listing the sham referendums in Russian-occupied territory, the partial mobilisation order and Vladimir Putin’s threat to use nuclear weapons. “We are determined to make the Kremlin pay for this further escalation,” she said.
She promised the EU would introduce a price cap on Russian oil to “help reduce Russian revenues and keep the global market stable”. The European Commission also wants to impose further restrictions on hi-tech goods the EU can sell to Russia such as certain chemicals and aviation components to further weaken the Kremlin’s ability to wage war.
Von der Leyen said anyone who helped Russia evade sanctions faced being added to the EU’s list of of restrictive measures. “This will have a major deterring effect,” she said.
Shortly before she spoke, Oleg Ustenko, an economic adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged the EU to introduce a price cap on Russian oil “as soon as possible”. Ustenko said Russia was earning hundreds of millions a day from selling oil, which was being channelled to fund the war against Ukraine.
“Of course the main goal is to cut off Putin’s regime from all possible sources of financing. No doubt that the main source of financing for them right now is everything related to fossil fuels,” he added.
The US is working with allies to quickly impose severe economic costs on Moscow over “sham” referendums held in occupied regions of Ukraine, according to a US official.
James O’Brien, the US state department’s head of sanctions coordination, said in prepared remarks for the senate’s foreign relations committee:
There will be more packages. We are working on more sanctions.
He said he expected the Biden administration’s pace of announcing sanctions on Russia on average every six weeks would continue.
Washington would look to the financial sector and high technology, especially for energy exploitation and human rights violators, he said.
Russian citizens who are called up for army service will not be given a passport that would allow them to leave the country, according to a government website.
Agence France-Presse has cited a government information portal as saying:
If a citizen is summoned for army service or received a summons (for mobilisation), he will be refused a passport.
Those who are not issued a passport will be notified how long the hold will be in place, it added.
Only a minority of Russians hold a passport that allows them to leave the country. It comes as fears of travel restrictions rise and tens of thousands of Russian men of military age flee the country, with reports that some have already been barred from leaving.
Truss tells Zelenskiy: UK will never recognise annexation of occupied regions
Britain’s prime minister, Liz Truss, told President Volodymyr Zelenskiy in a phone call that the UK would never recognise Russian attempts to annex parts of Ukraine, Downing Street has said.
In a statement, a No 10 spokesperson said:
The prime minister spoke to President Zelenskiy this afternoon to underline the UK’s steadfast support in light of Russia’s sham referendums in Ukraine.
The prime minister made clear that the UK would never recognise Russian attempts to annexe sovereign territory. She reiterated that Ukraine could depend on the UK’s support until President Putin was defeated.
President Zelensky updated the prime minister on the current military situation and welcomed her strong backing, including at the UN general assembly last week.
Truss also thanked the Ukrainian president for his work in securing the release of five British nationals held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine, the spokesperson continued.
They added:
The leaders also discussed how the UK and Ukraine could work together to secure Ukraine’s gas supplies in the long term. Both agreed to stay in close touch in the coming days and weeks.
Zelenskiy also tweeted about the call and said he expected London’s leadership in response to what he called the “sham referenda” in occupied parts of Ukraine.
Had a phone conversation with 🇬🇧 PM @trussliz. The UK has always been among the leaders in supporting Ukraine. We expect London’s leadership in reaction to Russian sham referenda as well. Defense and financial aid to Ukraine must be enhanced in response.
Serbia’s president, Aleksandar Vučić, has said he will not recognise the results of the so-called referendums held in four regions of Ukraine partly occupied by Russian forces.
Speaking to reporters, Vučić said:
Serbia ... will not recognise that (referendums) as it adheres to international law, the United Nations Charter and UN resolutions.
Belgrade normally has strong ties with Moscow; Serbia is solely reliant on Russia for its natural gas supplies and has refused to join western sanctions against Russia.
Vučić added:
We are protecting our own territorial integrity and it is in our best interest to protect the territorial integrity of other internationally recognised countries.
Ukrainian authorities say they have identified five Russian soldiers who allegedly shot at civilian cars in the Kyiv region during the first days of the war.
CCTV footage gathered by Ukrainian investigators shows Russian units shooting at civilian cars along roads just outside Hostomel, a town north-west of Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv.
In one of the clips, a car catches fire after being shot by troops stationed in the forest opposite. The driver of the car died, according to Ihor Klymenko, the head of Ukraine’s national police force.
A damaged car in Hostomel, Kyiv region, Ukraine, in April. Photograph: Future Publishing/Getty Images
Klymenko said the Russian soldiers shot as if they were on “safari”. One of the cars examined as part of the case had 178 bullet holes, he said.
The Russian soldiers are charged with killing five people, and injuring a further six, who were trying to flee Hostomel on 25 February, a day after Russia invaded. Eleven people were killed and 14 injured on the stretch of road in question, say Ukraine’s authorities.
Ukraine’s security services alleged that the charged Russian soldiers had shot at 12 cars over a period of six hours. According to security services, with three of the five men identified giving the orders to shoot at the vehicles.
