Russia-Ukraine latest updates: Hundreds arrested across Russia

More than 1,300 people have been arrested at demonstrations across Russia against Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilisation of civilians to fight in Ukraine, a police monitoring group has said.

The OVD-Info monitoring group counted at least 1,332 people detained at rallies in 38 different cities across the country after Putin’s morning address to the nation.

The cables providing essential electricity to one of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s reactors was damaged by shelling, temporarily forcing the unit to run on emergency diesel generators before external power was restored, the UN nuclear watchdog has said.

The plant’s five other reactors were not affected, the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

While the government in Russia promised that only those with military experience would be called up to fight in Ukraine, in practice nothing legally prevents those without it from also being enlisted.

In response, the Spring youth democratic movement called for renewed demonstrations against mobilisation in the centres of Moscow, St Petersburg and all Russian cities.

Read more here.

Turkey has condemned Russia’s “illegitimate” plans to hold annexation referendums in four Moscow-controlled regions of Ukraine.

“Such illegitimate fait accomplis will not be recognised by the international community,” the Turkish foreign ministry said in a statement.

The commander of Ukraine’s army said his forces would “destroy” invading Russian troops whether they had been deployed voluntarily or as part of a new mobilisation announced by Russia.

“There are no statements from the military and political leadership of the aggressor country that can affect our willingness to fight for our freedom. We will destroy everyone who comes to our land with weapons – whether voluntarily or by mobilisation,” Ukrainian armed forces commander-in-chief Valeriy Zaluzhnyi wrote on Facebook.

European Union foreign ministers will hold an emergency meeting in New York later on Wednesday, diplomats said, after Putin ordered the mobilisation of hundreds of thousands of Russians to fight in Ukraine.

The foreign ministers are in New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations.

The UK’s Prime Minister Liz Truss has welcomed the release of five British nationals captured in Ukraine, following mediation by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

“Hugely welcome news that five British nationals held by Russian-backed proxies in eastern Ukraine are being safely returned, ending months of uncertainty and suffering for them and their families,” she said on Twitter.

“Russia must end the ruthless exploitation of prisoners of war and civilian detainees for political ends.”

Any threat from Putin to use nuclear weapons is “unacceptable” but Germany will continue to support Ukraine and try to prevent an escalation in the war between Russia and Ukraine, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz told ARD television.

“We are sticking to our balanced, decisive course in supporting Ukraine and preventing an escalation of the war beyond that between Russia and Ukraine. We will continue to do that,” Scholz was quoted as saying in an excerpt of the interview to be broadcast later.

Russia has released US citizens Alexander Drueke, 39, and Andy Huynh, 27, in a prisoner exchange deal brokered by Saudi Arabia, a family representative told the Reuters news agency.

The pair, both from Alabama, were captured in June while fighting in eastern Ukraine where they went to support Ukrainian troops resisting Russia’s invasion.

More than 200 people have been arrested at demonstrations across Russia against Putin’s announcement of a partial mobilisation of civilians to fight in Ukraine, a police monitoring group has said.

The OVD-Info monitoring group said at least 260 people were detained at rallies in 20 different cities, while the AFP news agency reported that police wearing anti-riot gear were detaining protesters.

Russia released 10 prisoners of war captured in Ukraine following mediation by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a Saudi official has said.

The list includes American, British, Swedish, Croatian and Moroccan nationals, the official said, adding that a plane carrying the prisoners landed in the kingdom.

US President Joe Biden has accused Russia of “shamelessly” violating the core tenets of the United Nations charter with its “brutal, needless war” in Ukraine.

Delivering a forceful condemnation of Russia’s invasion to the UN General Assembly, Biden said reports of Russian abuses against civilians in Ukraine “should make your blood run cold”.

He also said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s new thinly veiled nuclear threats showed “reckless disregard” for his nation’s responsibilities as a signatory of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.

“We will stand in solidarity against Russia’s aggression. Period,” he added.

More than 120 people have been detained across Russia for taking part in protests against Moscow’s move to mobilise hundreds of thousands of reserve forces, according to an independent monitoring group.

The OVD-Info group said it was aware of police having detained demonstrators in at least 15 different cities. Unsanctioned rallies are illegal under Russia’s anti-protest laws.

Russia’s Vesna anti-war movement had earlier called for protests against the Kremlin’s mobilisation move, urging Russians to gather at 7pm (16:00 GMT) for rallies in cities across the country.

Ukrainians who spoke to Al Jazeera say Moscow’s move to deploy more troops in their country does not fill them with fear.

Read more here.

French President Emmanuel Macron has described Putin’s move to declare a partial military mobilisation as a “mistake”, warning it will further isolate Russia.

“His decision is bad news for Russian people, young people and will increase isolation of his county”, Macron said in New York, where the United Nations General Assembly is meeting.

Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Kyiv, says Ukrainian forces feel that the 300,000 reservists being called up by Russia “won’t be necessarily well prepared or … a very good fighting force”.

“They [Ukrainian forces] say that it doesn’t matter how many troops Russia sends to Ukraine if they don’t have tanks to drive and missiles to fire, they’ll be rendered almost useless,” Elizondo said.

“The bottom line from Kyiv is they feel that this is in some ways a victory because they view it as Putin admitting to some degree that this war has not gone as planned for him and that, to some degree, the Ukrainian defence and now counteroffensive are working,” he added.

The president of the European Council says the European Union will remain “steadfast” in its support for Ukraine amid Russia’s move to mobilise hundreds of thousands of reserve troops and oversee annexation votes in occupied territories.

“In this war, there is only one aggressor, Russia, and one aggressed country, Ukraine,” Charles Michel tweeted.

“[The] EU’s support to Ukraine will remain steadfast,” he added.

Ukraine’s president has said there is a shrinking likelihood of him holding talks with Putin about ending the war, adding such discussions could only take place if the Russian leader withdrew his forces from Ukrainian territory.

Speaking via a translator in an interview with Germany’s Bild newspaper, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine wanted to hold any potential talks with Moscow from a position of strength.

He also repeated calls for Germany to supply weapons and air defence systems to Ukraine, saying they were needed to save lives.

Alexander Titov, a lecturer at Queen’s University Belfast who specialises in Russian foreign policy, says that Moscow’s mobilisation plans must be seen in tandem with the referendums announced by Kremlin-backed separatists in Ukraine.

“I think once those referendums are held, regardless of their legitimacy, Russia will formally annex those territories and after that, the room for negotiation [between Moscow and Kyiv] will be extremely limited,” Titov told Al Jazeera.

“Russia is mobilising, Ukraine is mobilising. They both have supplies of weapons and so forth. So, it really is turning into a war of attrition which can go on for years rather than [the] one decisive quick victory which was hoped [for] by the Russians in the beginning,” he added.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has denounced Putin’s “dangerous” rhetoric after Russia’s leader hinted at a possible use of nuclear weapons over the war in Ukraine.

“This is dangerous and reckless nuclear rhetoric. It’s not new as he has done it many times before. He knows very well that a nuclear war should never be fought and cannot be won, and it will have unprecedented consequences for Russia,” Stoltenberg said on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly.

His remarks came just hours after Putin said Moscow would use “all available means” to protect Russia’s “territorial integrity”.

“This is not a bluff,” the Russian leader warned.

Mostly small-scale anti-war protests have reportedly taken place in several Russian cities after Putin announced plans to call up 300,000 of his country’s reserve forces to fight in Ukraine.

Matthew Luxmoore, a Wall Street Journal journalist currently based in Ukraine, tweeted pictures of one such rally. Among them was a picture of a woman seen holding up a sign that read “No to Mobilisation.”

There were also reports from Cold, a Russian media outlet, that 20 people had been arrested for staging a demonstration in Irkutsk, one of the largest cities in Siberia.

“The police detain young people on the streets of the city, presumably for participating in protests against the announced mobilisation. However, the police themselves do not explain anything to the detainees,” Cold tweeted.

Ukraine’s president has accused Putin of wanting to “drown Ukraine in blood”, including that of his own soldiers, after the Russian leader ordered a partial mobilisation of his country’s reserve forces.

Speaking to German newspaper Bild, Zelenskyy also promised that Ukrainian efforts to recapture territory seized by Moscow’s troops would continue.

“We will act according to our plans step by step. I am sure we will liberate our territory,” he said.

Zelenskyy added he did not believe the world would allow Putin to use nuclear weapons in the war. The Russian president had earlier warned that Moscow would use all of the means at its disposal to protect Russia’s “territorial independence and freedom”.

Putin will only give up his “imperial ambitions” that risk destroying Ukraine and Russia if he recognises he cannot win the war, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has said.

“This is why we will not accept any peace dictated by Russia and this is why Ukraine must be able to fend off Russia’s attack,” Scholz said in his first address to the United Nations General Assembly.

The return of imperialism, with Putin’s war on Ukraine, was not just a disaster for Europe but for the global, rules-based peace order, the chancellor said.

He also called on the UN to defend this from those who would prefer a world where the “strong rule the weak”.

A large-calibre shell fired by Ukrainian forces has damaged a technical water pipe at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency has quoted the country’s defence ministry as saying.

The ministry said Ukrainian troops had fired at the facility from positions in the nearby town of Marhanets, RIA reported. It added that Russian forces had “suppressed” the Ukrainian artillery units with return fire.

There was no immediate response from Kyiv to the claims. Al Jazeera was unable to independently verify the ministry’s report.

The Zaporizhzhia plant was captured by Russian forces in March. It has come under fire repeatedly in recent months, raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the facility.

Russia’s president has ordered a partial mobilisation of the country’s vast reserve forces.

The move marks Russia’s first such mobilisation since World War II and signifies the biggest escalation of the war in Ukraine since Moscow launched its invasion in late February.

It follows a string of battlefield setbacks for Russian forces, who have been driven away from areas they had captured in northeastern Ukraine by a sweeping counteroffensive conducted by Kyiv’s troops.

Click here to read more on Putin’s move.

Ukraine is beginning work to demine 12,000 square km (4,633 square miles) of territory wrested back from Russian control in the country’s northeastern Kharkiv region, an emergency service official has said.

Roman Prymush told a news briefing that it could take several years to fully rid the area, which is bigger than the state of Qatar, of the explosive munitions.

He added that the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada would help with the work.

Hanna Shelest, the director of Ukrainian think-tank Prism’s security studies programme, says Kyiv’s forces are pushing to retake as much territory as possible before winter sets in, potentially ushering in a new phase in the conflict.

“Ukraine doesn’t have any interest in prolonging this war for longer than necessary,” Shelest told Al Jazeera from Stockholm, Sweden.

“As for now, Ukrainian armed forces are starting preparation for winter … but at the same time you see the intensification of fighting … so the military is trying to gain back as much [territory] as possible before the real cold period comes.”

Independent Russian news hosts from Politica Media have told their viewers to “go out and protest” over Moscow’s offensive.

“Our team will support absolutely any form of protest, and provide help and assistance,” they said.

Poltica Media live streams its news show on YouTube. Unlike pro-Kremlin media outlets, Politica Media says its channel is dedicated to “telling the truth about the war unleashed by Putin against Ukraine”.

The EU’s executive arm says the bloc’s member states have been discussing a joint response to the latest developments in Ukraine, warning Moscow there will “be consequences” for its actions.

“The EU member states have already held a coordination meeting where discussions have been held in terms of an EU response to the continuation of the war of aggression against Ukraine,” European Commission spokesman Peter Stano said.

“This includes all aspects of the aggression, the crimes that have been committed, the referenda, the discoveries of mass burial sites,” he told a news briefing.

Stano said there were no announcements to be made at this stage on further sanctions against Russia, however, as discussions on the sixth round of measures by the bloc were confidential.

Finland is closely monitoring the situation in neighbouring Russia following Putin’s mobilisation order, the Nordic country’s defence minister has said.

“Regarding Finland’s surroundings, I can say that the military situation is stable and calm,” Antti Kaikkonen said. “Our defence forces are well prepared and the situation is closely monitored.”

The Kremlin has said Russia’s government will announce “very soon” which categories of citizens will be exempted from its mobilisation of reservists to serve in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov’s remarks to reporters came after Russia’s defence minister insisted that students would not be called up as part of the move to strengthen Moscow’s forces.

Peskov declined to comment on the possibility of border closures to prevent citizens from evading the mobilisation.

Lithuania has raised the readiness level of its army’s rapid response force “to prevent any provocations from the Russian side”, according to the country’s defence minister.

“Since Russia’s military mobilisation will also be carried out in the Kaliningrad region, in our neighborhood, Lithuania cannot just watch,” Arvydas Anusauskas said in a Facebook post.

Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based independent defence and military analyst, says Russia’s partial mobilisation of reserve troops will “not have much of an effect before winter”.

“The summer campaign is basically over, the autumn rains have come and will turn the terrain into a sea of mud … which means that manoeuvrable warfare becomes very tricky … so there will be a pause on the ground,” Felgenhauer said.

“And that will give Russia time to gather reserves for the winter when the frost comes and the dirt turns into concrete, and troops can move through fields and dirt roads with tanks and other equipment,” he added.

“That is when the real big fight is going to happen, and when these reserves are really intended to be used … [Moscow] will be hoping this can bring a decisive change on the battlefield.”

While Moscow-backed separatists in Ukraine vote on whether or not to join Russia later this week, Russian state media has already declared a result.

TV presenter Olga Skabeyeva said this morning: “Next week four regions will join Russia”, according to Francis Scarr, a BBC journalist who monitors Russian state media.

In recent weeks, observers had noted a shift of narratives on official, state-run media in Russia, which dominates the country. As Ukraine enjoyed some battlefield successes during its counteroffensive, there had been a few more dissenting voices.

The Moscow-installed administration in Ukraine’s occupied southern Kherson province has said parts of the neighbouring Mykolaiv region that are under the control of Russian forces will be incorporated into Kherson province, according to a report by Russia’s state-owned TASS news agency.

The decision would mean the incorporated region would take part in a planned referendum this weekend on Kherson becoming part of Russia.

Samuel Ramani, a geopolitical analyst from the Royal United Services Institute, has told Al Jazeera that Russian officials hope that even if partial mobilisation does not turn the tide of the war, it will help to “avoid defeats like the withdrawal we saw in Kharkiv a few weeks back.”

“[The] assessment from the Russian military and Russian lawmakers is that a general mobilisation is not necessary. A general mobilisation would also be much more controversial politically,” he said.

“Students and conscripts under the age of 27 are not going to be brought into the war – this will only be a mobilisation for reservists. That’s a very strategic decision because the popularity of this war among those between the ages of 18 and 30 is significantly less than those in their 40s and 50s.”

Poland’s prime minister has warned that Russia will attempt to destroy Ukraine and change its borders following Moscow’s push to stage annexation votes in the territory it occupies and mobilise hundreds of thousands of reserve forces.

“We will do all we can with our allies so that NATO supports Ukraine even more so that it can defend itself,” Mateusz Morawiecki said in eastern Poland, where he was observing military drills.

The exercises, which are scheduled to conclude on Friday, involve thousands of Polish soldiers, as well as troops from the US and the UK.

Jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny has warned Russia’s partial mobilisation of reserve troops will lead to a “massive tragedy”.

“This will result in a massive tragedy, in a massive amount of deaths … in order to keep his personal power, Putin went into a neighbouring country, killed people there and is now sending a huge quantity of Russian citizens into this war,” Navalny said while appearing in court via video link.

“It is already clear that the criminal war that is going on, it is getting worse, deepening, and Putin is trying to involve as many people as possible in all this. He wants to smear hundreds of thousands of people in this blood,” he added.

Navalny’s appearance was linked to a petition he has registered against the prison where he is being held after the facility refused to let the 46-year-old opposition leader set up a trade union and disclose information on buyers of the textiles he produces.

Putin has announced a “partial mobilisation”, a move that will see 300,000 Russian citizens in the military reserves called up to serve in Ukraine.

The development marked a significant escalation in the war and came just a day after a series of coordinated moves towards annexation referendums in Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

During a televised address, Putin said:

“In such a situation, I consider it necessary to make the following decision, which is fully appropriate to threats we face.

Namely, in order to protect our motherland, its sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to ensure the safety of our people and people in the liberated territories, I consider it necessary to support the proposal of the defence ministry and the General Staff to conduct a partial mobilisation in the Russian Federation.”

Read more here.

European Union member state Latvia, which borders Russia, has said it will not offer refuge to any Russians fleeing Moscow’s mobilisation move to call up reservists.

“Due to security reasons, Latvia will not issue humanitarian or other types of visas to those Russian citizens who avoid mobilisation,” Edgars Rinkevics, the country’s foreign minister, tweeted.

Rinkevics said that Latvia would also maintain border crossing restrictions for Russian citizens with Schengen visas, which have been in effect since Monday.

The entry ban – also imposed by Poland, Estonia and Lithuania – is aimed at tourists and excludes Russian dissidents seeking refuge in the EU along with truck drivers, refugees and permanent residents of EU countries as well as those visiting family members.

Pope Francis has lamented the war in Ukraine, saying Ukrainians are being subjected to savageness, monstrosities and torture.

Speaking at the end of his general audience in St Peter’s Square, the Pope, who did not name Russia, said Ukrainians were a “noble” people being martyred.

He also told the crowd of a conversation he had on Tuesday with Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, his charity chief who is delivering aid in Ukraine.

“He [Krajewski] told me about the pain of these people, the savagery, the monstrosities, the tortured corpses they find. Let us join these people who are so noble and martyred,” Francis said.

Russian-backed separatists in occupied regions in Ukraine say they plan to hold “referendums’” on becoming part of Russia between September 23-27.

Ukraine and its Western allies have condemned the move, which could set the stage for Moscow to escalate its seven-month-old war.

Read more here.

Inna Sovsun, a member of Ukraine’s parliament, says Russians are “buying all available flights out of the country” following Putin’s mobilisation order.

“That shows how much they really support the war,” Sovsun tweeted.

Her remarks came as Google Trends data showed a spike in searches for Aviasales, which is Russia’s most popular website for purchasing flights.

Direct flights from Moscow to Istanbul in Turkey and Yerevan in Armenia, destinations that allow Russians to enter without a visa, were sold out on Wednesday, according to Aviasales data.

Some routes with stopovers, including those from Moscow to Tbilisi, were also unavailable, while the cheapest flights from the capital to Dubai were costing more than 300,000 Russian roubles ($5,000) – about five times the average monthly wage.

Russia’s Vesna anti-war movement has called for protests against the Kremlin’s partial mobilisation of reserve forces, urging Russians to gather at 7pm (16:00 GMT) for rallies in cities across the country.

“No graves!” the organisation tweeted, before listing the locations of the planned protests.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte has said Russia’s mobilisation order and push to stage sham referendums in occupied eastern Ukraine is a sign of panic within the Kremlin.

“The mobilisation, calling for referenda in the Donetsk, it is all a sign of panic. His rhetoric on nuclear weapons is something we have heard many times before, and it leaves us cold,” Rutte told Dutch broadcaster NOS.

“It is all part of the rhetoric we know. I would advise to remain calm.”

Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Kyiv, says Russia’s partial mobilisation, which goes into effect immediately, will probably see reservists “getting a notice within the next 24 hours about them needing to report to military bases to begin training to then go fight in Ukraine”.

The move is “somewhat an acknowledgment” by the Kremlin that its self-described “special military operation” has not gone as expected, Elizondo said.

He added that Ukrainian forces were “highly-motivated … because they feel as though they are defending their country, their land, their sisters, brothers and family members from, in their view, an illegal Russian full-scale invasion”.

Click here for a rundown of the key events from day 210 of the war in Ukraine.

KEEP READING

• US, Russia to resume space missions despite Ukraine war tensions
• Russia’s Putin signs decree on partial mobilisation for citizens
• At UN General Assembly, leaders condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine
• Understanding Russia’s planned referendums in Ukraine

The UK’s defence secretary says Putin’s mobilisation of reserve troops signals an admission that “his invasion is failing”.

“[Putin] and his Defence Minister have sent tens of thousands of their own citizens to their deaths, ill equipped and badly led,” Ben Wallace said in a statement.

“No amount of threats and propaganda can hide the fact that Ukraine is winning this war, the international community are united and Russia is becoming a global pariah,” he added.

The US ambassador to Ukraine says Russia has shown weakness by announcing a mobilisation of its military reserves and pressing ahead with plans to stage “sham referenda” in occupied parts of Ukraine.

“Sham referenda and mobilisation are signs of weakness, of Russian failure,” Bridget Brink tweeted. “The United States will never recognize Russia’s claim to purportedly annexed Ukrainian territory.”

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak has described Putin’s announcement of partial mobilisation as an “absolutely predictable appeal”.

“The war is clearly not going according to Russia’s scenario and therefore required Putin to make extremely unpopular decisions to mobilise and severely restrict the rights of people,” Podolyak told the Reuters news agency.

China’s foreign ministry urged all parties to the conflict to engage in dialogue and find a way to address their individual security concerns after Putin warned the West over what he described as “nuclear blackmail”.

China’s position on Ukraine is consistent and clear, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said at a media briefing.

Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Kyiv, says Putin’s partial mobilisation marks a “definite escalation” in the war.

“Clearly it is an indication that Putin wants to ramp up the amount of military forces he can call on to fight this war in Ukraine,” Elizondo said.

“No matter how you look at it, it’s definitely an escalation, if you will, and a realisation that perhaps Moscow needs more troops in Ukraine to achieve its military goals,” he added.

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said Putin’s decree on partial mobilisation will see 300,000 additional personnel called up to serve in the country’s armed forces.

In an interview with Russian state television, Shoigu said that only those with relevant combat and service experience will be mobilised. He inisted students would not be called up.

Russia has a vast reserve force totalling around 25 million people.

Putin’s speech on Wednesday morning marked a worrying escalation of the war in Ukraine and his threats must be taken seriously, British foreign office minister Gillian Keegan has said.

“Clearly it’s something that we should take very seriously because, you know, we’re not in control – I’m not sure he’s in control either, really. This is obviously an escalation,” Keegan told Sky News.

Russia’s president has ordered the country’s first mobilisation since World War II, warning the West that if it continues what he called its “nuclear blackmail” Moscow will respond with the might of all its vast arsenal.

“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we use all available means to protect our people – this is not a bluff,” Putin said in a televised address to the nation, adding Russia had “lots of weapons to reply”.

Russia’s defence minister said the partial mobilisation will see 300,000 reservists called and up would apply to those with previous military experience.

The move significantly escalates the conflict over Ukraine and comes as Russia battles a Ukrainian counteroffensive that has forced its troops to retreat and surrender some occupied territory.