October 2, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news | CNN (2024)

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Russian forces retreated from Lyman, a strategic city in Donetsk for its operations in the east, the Russian defense ministry said Saturday, just a day after Moscow’sannexation of four regions — including Donetsk —that’s been declared illegal by the West.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the key city was “completely liberated.”

The retreat marks Ukraine’s most significant gain since its successful counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

Here are more of the latest headlines from Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces said Sunday he discussed military needs with the US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi, commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said via Telegram that he had a phone conversation with General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and “discussed the provision issues of the needs of the Defense Forces of Ukraine in repelling Russian armed aggression.”

The Ukrainian military leader also said he is “sincerely grateful to the entire American people and its leaders for the consistent and unwavering support of Ukraine in this hard time.”

The phone call came a couple of days after the US House of Representatives voted to providearound $12 billion for Ukraine. The House also requires the Pentagon to report on how US dollars have been spent there.

The $12 billion in additional funding for Ukraine provides money for the US to continue sending weapons to replenish US stocks that have been sent to the country over the past seven months during the ongoing conflict.

In order to continue providing Ukraine with weapons to counter Russia’s offensive, the bill allocates an additional $3 billion for the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative. This pot of money allows the US to procure and purchase weapons from industry and send them to the country, instead of drawing directly from US stockpiles of weapons.

The bill also authorizes an additional $3.7 billion in presidential drawdown authority funding, which allows the US to send weapons directly from US stockpiles, and $1.5 billion is included to “replenish US stocks of equipment” provided to Ukraine, a fact sheet from Senate Democrats about the bill states.

A Ukrainian soldier with the Dnipro 1 brigade walks past a damaged building in central Lyman, Ukraine, on Sunday, October 3, 2022.

The ghostly emptiness of the streets of Lyman in eastern Ukraine belies this city’s strategic significance.

There is no sign of Russian troops at all – few damaged Russian tanks, or Russian dead, or Russian prisoners. Members of the Ukrainian National Guard from the Dnipro-1 unit hover in small numbers on some streets.

The occasional rattle of gunfire, or thud of artillery, pierces the silence. A few locals emerge, riding bicycles, searching for food, bewildered about what is happening.

“One day I wear one cap, another day a different cap”, said one woman in tears, pretending to take off a hat.

“How can we live like this”, she said, referring to the changing control of the town.

CNNwere likely the first media into the recently liberated city, arriving thirty minutes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky declared the town completely cleared of Russians troops.

Ukrainian officials and troops had spoken repeatedly of large numbers of Moscow’s better units being trapped there. Yet on Sunday there were few signs of encirclement to be seen.

Some officials said Russian corpses had already been cleared away, and prisoners removed. But locals offered another explanation: that Russian forces had left the city on Friday in an orderly fashion.

“They got on their tanks, and drove out”, said Tanya, riding her bicycle back to the bomb shelter, where she still spends the nights with 15 others.

Read more here.

“Stable pressure” appears to have been achieved on the Nord Stream pipelines, indicating the gas outflow from the leaks has now stopped, the Danish Energy Agency said Sunday.

The Danish agency on Saturday had already said on Twitter that “stable pressure” had also appeared to have been achieved on Nord Stream 2.

Earlier this week, four leaks were discovered on the Nord Stream pipelines near the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea. The cause of the incident is not yet confirmed but western officials have called this a deliberate act.

French President Emmanuel Macron speaks at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) at U.N. headquarters on September 20, 2022 in New York City.

French President Emmanuel Macron condemned Russia’s “illegal referendums” on a phone call with Ukrainian PresidentVolodymyr Zelensky, Sunday.

The presidents agreed on “the need for a tough, consolidated response by the world community to this latest crime by the Russian Federation, in particular via boosting sanctions pressure.”

Zelensky emphasized the importance of enhancing defense support forUkraine and discussedthe situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant,emphasizingthe need for its immediate demilitarization.

Thepresidents alsocalled for the release ofIhor Murashov, thedirector general of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant,who was detainedbya Russian patrol on Saturday.

IbrahimKalin, Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan's spokesman and chief foreign policy adviser, speaks during an interview with Reuters in Istanbul, Turkey May 14, 2022.

US National security adviser Jake Sullivan met with Dr. Ibrahim Kalin, the spokesperson and chief advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in Istanbul Sunday, National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said.

They discussed their continued support for Ukraine in the face of Russia’s aggression, including their condemnation of Russia’s attempted, illegal annexation of Ukrainian territory,” Watson said, adding that Sullivan thanked Turkey for efforts toward food security.

Sullivan also thanked Turkey for its diplomatic work to secure the release of Ukrainian prisoners of war, as well as two American citizens, held by Russia,” referring to Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg gives a press conference on Russia's annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine, on September 30, 2022.

The presidents of nine NATO countries from Central and Eastern Europe issued a joint statement on Sunday condemning Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territories and calling on NATO to significantly increase military assistance to Ukraine.

The statement notes that the leaders of these countries “visited Kyiv during the war and witnessed with their own eyes the effects of Russian aggression.”

The presidents of the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Poland, Slovakia and Romania expressed their firm support for “the decision of the 2008 Bucharest NATO Summit regarding the future membership of Ukraine in the Alliance.”

“We support Ukraine in its defence against Russia’s invasion, demand Russia to immediately withdraw from all the occupied territories and encourage all Allies to substantially increase their military aid to Ukraine,” the statement continued.

The statement also called on “all those who commit crimes of aggression” to be held accountable and brought to justice.

Russian President VladimirPutinattends a ceremony in Moscow, Russia, on September 30, 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has submitted treaties on the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions to the State Duma. The document was published in the Duma electronic database on Sunday.

Putin also submitted bills on the accession of these regions, Russian state media TASS reported on Sunday, citing the press service of the State Duma Committee on State Construction and Legislation.

According to TASS, the head of the committee, Pavel Krasheninnikov, whose words are quoted by the press service, said the State Duma will consider the bills on Monday, Oct. 3, and the Federation Council is scheduled to hold a meeting the next day.

The State Duma and Federation Council are Russia’s two houses of parliament. They are due to formally meet this week to discuss the annexation.

TASS reported that Krasheninnikov said that authorities in the annexed regions will be formed by June 1, 2023. The Russian ruble will become the only monetary unit and that until then the Ukrainian hryvnia will be allowed to circulate there. The armed forces of those regions are proposed to be included in the Russian Armed Forces.

A decision about Ukraine’s application for accelerated NATO membership must be agreed upon by all NATO allies, Jens Stoltenberg, NATO secretary general, said Sunday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Friday that Ukraine was applying “under an accelerated procedure” to become a member of the security alliance.

But, he added, “At the same time, any decision on membership has to be taken by consensus, all 30 allies have to agree.”

The secretary general went on to affirm that the “top priority” among NATO allies was “to support Ukraine.”

The liberation of the city of Lyman in eastern Ukraine shows “Ukrainians are making progress,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Sunday.

This gain by Ukraine “demonstrates that the Ukrainians are making progress, are able to push back the Russian forces,” Stoltenberg told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview.

His comments follow the retreat of the Russian forces from the eastern Ukrainian city of Lyman, which marks Ukraine’s most significant gain since its successful counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

Stoltenberg added this was a result of “their courage, because of their bravery, their skills, but also because of the advanced weapons that the United States and other allies are providing.”

Russian state media Russia-24 reported Saturday that the reason for Russia’s withdrawal was because “the enemy used both Western-made artillery and intelligence from North Atlantic alliance countries.”

There are technical possibilities to restore the infrastructure of the Nord Stream pipelines, a Russian official said Sunday.

“Of course, there are technical possibilities to restore the infrastructure, it takes time and appropriate funds. I am sure that appropriate opportunities will be found,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said during an interview on Russian state media Russia 1 TV on Sunday.

His comments follow the discovery of four leaks in the Nord Stream pipelines earlier this week, near the Danish island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea.

Western leaders have called the incident a deliberate act and have vowed a strong response. The cause of the incident is still not confirmed.

According to Novak, the countries that took a negative position in relation to the Nord Stream project, the United States, Ukraine, and Poland, are interested in decommissioning the pipelines.

Novak said that “it is necessary first of all to figure out who did this, and we are sure that certain countries that previously expressed their positions are interested in this”.

On Friday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin claimed “Anglo-Saxons” were to blame for the explosions that damaged the Nord Stream pipelines.

Florida GOP Sen. Marco Rubio also expressed concern about the possibility of a strike in NATO territory by Russian President Vladimir Putin during an interview Sunday with CNN’s Dana Bash.

Asked whether NATO would have to respond, he said it would “depend” on the nature, scale, and scope of an attack. Rubio suggested the risk of a nuclear attack from Putin is “higher today than a month ago” but that he is more concerned about “intermediate” steps Putin could take.

Rubio also suggested that Russia was responsible for attacks on the Nord Stream gas pipelines last week.

“I think it’s pretty clear — someone did this, and the only people in that region who have both the motive and the capability to have done it, are Russia or Russian forces. So I think for me, it’s not an intelligence matter at this point. It’s a common sense matter,” he said.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said he believes Ukraine is “making progress,” in the Kherson region of the country as they continue to counter Russia’s invasion, adding there has been a “kind of change in the battlefield dynamics.”

Austin attributed the change to the skill of Ukrainian soldiers and their strategic use of weapons supplied by US and NATO allies, specifically their use of the high mobility air rocket systems, or HIMARS. He made the comments in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Fareed Zakaria that aired Sunday on “Fareed Zakaria GPS.”

Austin said Ukrainian forces have used “technology like HIMARS” and employed it in the “right way” to “conduct attacks on things like logistical stores and command and control, that’s taking away — taken away significant capability from the Russians.”

In doing so, Ukrainians have “changed the dynamics, and it’s created an opportunity for the Ukrainians to maneuver,” he added.

When asked why the US has not supplied longer-range weapons that Ukrainians have asked for, Austin said he communicates with his Ukrainian counterpart, Minister of Defense Oleksii Reznikov, “routinely,” and believes the US has been “very effective in providing them those things that are very, very effective on a battlefield.”

While the US has provided Ukraine with HIMARS and guided multiple launch rocket systems, or GMLRS, to be used with the HIMAR systems, Ukraine has asked for Army Tactical Missile Systems, or ATACMS, which have a longer-range than the GLMR systems the US has provided so far.

ATACMS have a range of about 185 miles. The maximum range of US-provided weapons to Ukraine is around 49 miles.

Austin praised the successes Ukrainians have had on the battlefield and noted they are using the weapons and technology given to them by the US in the “right way.”

“It’s not just about the equipment that you have. It’s about how you employ that equipment, how you synchronize things together to create battlefield effects that then can create opportunities,” he said.

Austin said what will happen in Ukraine is “hard to predict,” but he said the US will “continue to provide security assistance to the Ukrainians for as long as it takes.”

“The Ukrainians have amazed the world in terms of their ability to fight back, their ability to exercise initiative, their commitment to the defense of their democracy,” he said. “And that willingness to fight has rallied the international community in an effort to help provide them the security assistance so that they can continue to fight.”

Ukraine is ready to facilitate therotation of experts from the UNnuclear watchdog agency,at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Sunday.

Kuleba tweeted that he spoke to the International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi and “stressed Russia must withdraw troops and military equipment from the station.”

The minister added that Grossi assured that the IAEA “spares no effort to ensure the release oftheZNPP director abducted by Russia.”

Grossi said Saturday that theIAEA received information about the detention of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant Director General Ihor Murashov, and that it“has been in contact with the relevant authorities and has been informed that Mr. Murashov is in temporary detention,” according to an IAEA statement.

“Such a detention of any member of the plant staff would be a source of grave concern in itself, but also for its psychological impact and pressure on the rest of the staff — which is detrimental to nuclear safety and security,” Grossi added.

The IAEA chief added that his agency “has been actively seeking clarifications and hopes for a prompt and satisfactory resolution of this matter.”

“He reiterated that this detention has a very significant impact on at least two of the seven indispensable nuclear safety and security pillars that he outlined at the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine,” the IAEA said.

Zaporizhzhia, the largest nuclear complex of its kind in Europe, was seized by Russian forces at the start of the war.

The plant and the area around it, including the nearby city of Enerhodar, have endured persistent shelling that has raised fears of a nuclear accident through the interruption of the power supply to the plant. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of acts of nuclear terrorism.

View Kuleba’s tweet here:

Russian officials have criticized Russia’s military leadership following the retreat of Russian forces from the strategic eastern city of Lyman, in the Donetsk region.

Russian lawmaker and former army commander, Andrei Gurulev, said he could not explain this “surrender” from a military point of view, speaking on air onSoloviev Live, a pro-Kremlin channel on Saturday.

“It is not clear to mewhy they didn’t correctly assess the situation at that time, didn’t strengthen the group of troops,”Russian State Duma deputy and former commander of the 58th Army, Lieutenant General Andrei Gurulev said.

His comments follow the Russian defense ministry saying Saturday that Russian forces had retreated from Lyman, a city which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday has been “completely liberated.”

Russian state media Russia-24 reported Saturday that the reason for Russia’s withdrawal was because “the enemy used both Western-made artillery and intelligence from North Atlantic alliance countries.”

On Saturday, the leader of Chechnya, Ramzan Kadyrov, also criticized the withdrawal.

He wrote on Telegram that the troops “were not provided withthe necessary communication, interaction and the supply of ammunition,” and blamedthe commander of the Central Military District Alexander Lapin, accusing him of moving his headquarters to Starobilsk, “a hundred kilometers away from his subordinates,” and that he “was holed up in Luhansk.”

“It’s not a shame that Lapin is mediocre, but the fact that he is covered at the top by the leaders in the General Staff,” said Kadyrov in his post on Saturday, adding that “there is no place for nepotism in the army, especially in difficult times.”

The Ukrainian capture of the city of Lyman is “significant” and the US is “very encouraged” by what it’s seeing from the Ukrainian military right now, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Saturday.

Russian forces retreated from Lyman, a strategic city for its operations in the east, the Russian defense ministry said Saturday, just a day after Moscow’s annexation of the region that’s been declared illegal by the West.

“Lyman sits astride the supply lines of the Russians. And they’ve used those routes to push men and material down to the south and to the west. And without those routes it will be more difficult. So this presents a sort of a dilemma for the Russians going forward,” Austin told reporters during a news conference at the US Indo-Pacific Command in Honolulu, Hawaii.

But Ukrainian progress on the battlefield has led to concern about a potential escalation in the war, including the potential use of nuclear weapons.

Austin told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria on Friday that while Putin could turn to nuclear weapons, there is no indication he is heading in that direction at this time.

“There are no checks on Mr. Putin. Just as he made the irresponsible decision to invade Ukraine, you know, he could make another decision. But I don’t see anything right now that would lead me to believe that he has made such a decision,” Austin said.

CNN’s Duarte Mendonca contributed to this report.

Pope Francis leads the Angelus prayer from his window at the Vatican, on October 2.

Pope Francis has renewed his appeal for an immediate ceasefire to the ongoing war in Ukraine, citing fears of escalation and nuclear threats, during his weekly Sunday mass.

“My appeal is directed mainly at the President of the Russian Federation, begging him to stop for the love of his people”, the Pope said, also appealing to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to be “open to serious peace proposals.”

Pope Francis said the war in Ukraine has turned into a devastating, dangerous and concerning conflict — a humanity “wound that keeps on bleeding” and risks expanding.

“Certain actions cannot be justified, ever… What to say about the fact that humanity is once again facing a nuclear threat? It’s absurd,” the Pope said.

The Pope also urged the international community to do “whatever they can” to promote dialogue to end “this inhumane tragedy”.

“The war is an error and a horror,” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday that the eastern city of Lyman in the Donetsk region has been “completely liberated”

In a short video post on his official Telegram channel, Zelensky said “As of 12:30 p.m. [local time, 5:30 a.m. ET], Lyman was completely liberated. Thanks to our military! Glory to Ukraine!”

On Saturday, the Russian defense ministry said that Russian forces had retreated from the strategic city, which is located in the Kramatorsk district of Donetsk region.

Russian state media Russia-24 reported Saturday that the reason for Russia’s withdrawal was because “the enemy used both Western-made artillery and intelligence from North Atlantic alliance countries.”

The retreat marks Ukraine’s most significant gain since its successful counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region last month.

Russia hit the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia with four S300 missiles overnight Saturday, according to the head of the regional administration Oleksandr Starukh.

No casualties were reported while some industrial infrastructure was destroyed, according to Starukh’s statement released on Telegram.

The missiles hit the regional center and suburban areas. Russia occupies much of the Zaporizhzhia region but not the city itself. Despite that, Moscow claims to have annexed the entire region on the back of referendums widely denounced as a sham.

“The occupier continues to suffer losses at the front, so their only recourse is to destroy civilian structures. The enemy is doomed. We observe all safety rules and place our faith in the Armed Forces of Ukraine!” the Starukh statement reads.