Here is the situation as it stands on Wednesday, September 28.
Leaking gas pipeline
- Europe is investigating what Germany, Denmark and Sweden said were attacks that caused substantial leaks into the Baltic Sea from two Russian gas pipelines at the centre of an energy standoff. It remains unclear who might be responsible.
- The suspected sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines does not constitute an attack on Sweden, Foreign Minister Ann Linde told SVT public television.
- European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said the leaks of the Nord Stream pipelines were caused by sabotage and warned of the “strongest possible response” should active European energy infrastructure be attacked.
Referendums
- Final results of the referendums in four occupied regions of Ukraine showed huge majorities in favour of joining Russia, Russian-installed officials said.
- The head of the upper house of the Russian parliament said that if the vote results were favourable, it could consider the incorporation of the four regions on October 4, three days before Russian President Vladimir Putin’s 70th birthday.
- According to the UK defence ministry, Putin is scheduled to address both houses of the Russian parliament on Friday, during which the ministry said he may declare the Ukrainian regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia as parts of Russia.
- Ukraine will not be swayed by any nuclear threats from Moscow or annexation votes and will press ahead with its plan to wrest back all its occupied land from Russia, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said.
- Tuesday’s nuclear warning by Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, is one of several issued by Putin and his associates in recent weeks.
- The United States will introduce a resolution at the United Nations Security Council condemning the referendums, the US ambassador to the UN said.
Fighting
- Three explosions were heard, and then electricity was cut in Ukraine’s second-biggest city of Kharkiv, the Reuters news agency reported.
- The US is preparing a new $1.1bn weapons package for Ukraine that will be announced soon, officials said.
Russian mobilisation
- The number of Russians entering the European Union has jumped after a partial military mobilisation ordered by Moscow, and illegal crossings are likely to increase should Russia decide to close the border for potential conscripts, EU border agency Frontex said.
