Russia-Ukraine war live: Kremlin-backed officials ask Putin to annex regions; Americans urged to leave Russia | Ukraine

The Moscow Times is reporting that authorities in the Russian region of North Ossetia, which borders Georgia, is putting in place travel restrictions to prevent people fleeing to Georgia to avoid conscription.

It cites a Telegram message from head of the region, Sergey Menyaylo. The message says:

Today I signed a decree on the introduction of a high alert regime on the territory of North Ossetia. The decree restricts the entry of passenger vehicles into the territory of the republic. The decision to introduce a high alert regime is a forced temporary measure: the situation cannot be left to chance.

A huge number of transit vehicles, many kilometres of queues at the Verkhnii Lars checkpoint. In the last two days alone, more than 20,000 people have entered Georgia through our section of the border. We will not be physically able to ensure order and security if this flow continues to grow.

At the entrances to the republic and at the checkpoint, mobile task forces are organised – they will check those entering the republic. If a citizen is subject to conscription, in accordance with the federal list, he will be handed a summons on the spot. This will apply to citizens who are registered with the military not only in North Ossetia, but also in other regions of the country.

Persons subject to mobilisation will be explained what consequences, in accordance with the law of the Russian Federation, await them in case of evasion from military service. This work will be carried out in strict accordance with the criteria prescribed in the decree of the president of the country.

Bethan McKernan

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 and that it “recognises the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine”.

Israel, which relies on Moscow to facilitate its operations against Iranian-linked actors in Syria, has refrained from providing military assistance to Kyiv. It has instead focused on providing humanitarian aid and absorbing the thousands of Ukrainian and Russian citizens with Jewish ancestry who have emigrated to Israel since the war broke out in February.

Tuesday night’s statement from the Israeli foreign ministry has been received as an unprecedented show of support for Ukraine, and a rare Israeli rebuke to Moscow.

Israel is also thought to be displeased by Russia’s new deployment of Iranian armed drones.

Some Iranian-made drones were on Tuesday fired towards the central Ukrainian city of Uman, one of the most important pilgrimage centres in Hasidic Judaism.

Despite pleas from officials to stay away from the conflict zone, this week thousands of Israeli citizens travelled to Uman for the town’s Rosh Hashanah celebrations, which are often described as an all-male, Ultra Orthodox version of Nevada’s Burning Man festival.

Alex Lawson

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 Kremlin-controlled gas company Gazprom said it could impose sanctions on Ukraine’s Naftogaz due to ongoing arbitration.

The statement came after the discovery of leaks on the two Nord Stream gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea near the Danish island of Bornholm in a suspected act of sabotage, although exactly by whom or why remains unconfirmed.

Gazprom said it had rejected all claims from Naftogaz in arbitration proceedings over Russian gas transit, and had notified the arbitration court. It also said Russia could introduce sanctions against the Ukrainian energy company, which would prohibit Gazprom from paying Kyiv the transit fees if it further pursues an arbitration case over gas transit.

Russian gas travels into Europe via Ukraine via several key routes, including the Brotherhood, Soyuz and Yamal-Europe pipelines. Transgas, which starts in the west of Ukraine and flows into Germany, could also be affected.

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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 US embassy warned that dual Russian-US nationals may be called up as part of the Russian government’s mobilisation in support of its invasion of Ukraine.

It said:

Russia may refuse to acknowledge dual nationals’ U.S. citizenship, deny their access to U.S. consular assistance, prevent their departure from Russia, and conscript dual nationals for military service.

The embassy warned that its 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”.

Commercial flight options from Russia are “extremely limited at present” and often unavailable on short notice, it warned.

It added:

If you wish to depart Russia, you should make independent arrangements as soon as possible.

The Russian-installed leaders of Ukraine’s Luhansk and Kherson regions have formally asked President Vladimir Putin to annex the occupied territories into Russia.

The appeals came following hastily organised “referendums” in occupied Ukraine that Kyiv and the west have denounced as illegitimate.

The Kremlin-backed leader of the breakaway Luhansk region, Leonid Pasechnik, made the appeal to Putin claiming residents there had been under attack for eight years by Ukraine’s army.

In a statement, Pasechnik said:

Taking into account the decision of the republic’s population at the referendum, I am asking you to consider making the Luhansk People’s Republic a subject of the Russian Federation.

His announcement was followed soon after by a similar appeal from the Moscow-installed leader of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, Vladimir Saldo.

In a letter published on his Telegram account, Saldo claimed residents in Kherson had made “a historic choice” in favour of Russia.

Claims that Russia was behind the attack on the Nord Stream gas pipeline were “predictably stupid”, the Kremlin has said.

European leaders have said sabotage is the most likely cause of leaks in the two Nord Stream gas pipelines between Russia and Europe, after seismologists reported explosions around the Baltic Sea lines.

In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was asked about the claims. He replied:

That’s quite predictable and also predictably stupid.

He added:

This is a big problem for us because, firstly, both lines of Nord Stream 2 are filled with gas – the entire system is ready to pump gas and the gas is very expensive … Now the gas is flying off into the air.

He said the incident needed to be investigated and that the timings for the repair of the damaged pipelines were not clear.

Information on the incident could be expected from Denmark and Sweden, he added.

Peskov also told reporters that the military campaign in Ukraine would continue “at a minimum” until the “liberation” of the “Donetsk People’s Republic”.

Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest developments from the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.

• Ukraine’s foreign ministry has said the “propaganda show called ‘referendums’ in the temporarily occupied territories” are “yet another Russian crime” and that it considers them “null and worthless”.

• It said: “Forcing people in these territories to fill out some papers at the barrel of a gun is yet another Russian crime in the course of its aggression against Ukraine. The Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions, like the Ukrainian Crimea, remain the sovereign territories of Ukraine. Ukraine has every right to restore its territorial integrity by military and diplomatic means, and will continue to liberate the temporarily occupied territories. Ukraine will never agree to any Russian ultimatums.”

• President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine will defend its citizens in Moscow-held regions that authorities have claimed voted in favour of merging with Russia. Zelenskiy said in a video on Telegram: “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.”

• The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the west would never recognise Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory, which he called part of a “diabolical scheme” by Moscow. Nato denounced the referendums as a “sham” and “violation of international law”.

• As expected, the official figures given by Russian proxy authorities in occupied Ukraine for the outcome of the votes show support for annexation. Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik, the pro-Russian leaders of the chiefly unrecognised self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR), have headed to Moscow where they are expected to start the procedure to have the areas of Ukrainian territory that they occupy annexed by the Russian Federation.

• It is anticipated that the next planned session of Russia’s Federation Council will take place on 4 October, and could see the legislative moves from Moscow to absorb the four areas of Ukraine that its forces at least partially occupy. Vyacheslav Volodin, the chair of Russia’s state Duma, has hailed the “results”, saying they will “save millions of people from genocide”.

• Josep Borrell, the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy, has condemned both the “illegal ‘referenda’ and their falsified outcome”, and the suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines, promising “a robust and united response” from the EU over attacks on energy infrastructure.

• 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.

• Norway’s foreign minister Anniken Huitfeldt has said “the explosions and gas leakage in the Baltic Sea are a matter of deep concern to the Norwegian government” and confirmed that she has spoken to her counterparts from Sweden and Denmark.

• Denmark’s defence minister Morten Bodskov has said there is reason to be concerned about the security situation in the Baltic Sea region, noting “Russia has a significant military presence in the Baltic Sea region and we expect them to continue their sabre-rattling”.

• The UK Ministry of Defence says in its daily intelligence briefing that “Russia is mounting a more substantive defence than previously” as Ukraine attempts to press forward “on at least two axes east”.

• The governments of 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 of the country close, and more people flee forced mobilisation in Russia.

• The US said overnight it will introduce a resolution at the UN security council calling on member states not to recognise any change to Ukraine and obliging Russia to withdraw its troops, US ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield said. Russia holds a permanent seat on the security council that comes with a veto.

That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. Léonie Chao-Fong will be here shortly to continue our coverage.