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Ukraine formally applies for Nato membership
Ukraine has formally submitted its utility to hitch the Nato alliance, its president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has introduced.
In a video replace, Zelenskiy mentioned Ukraine was “taking a decisive step for whole safety of free nations”.
Zelenskiy says:
We see who threatens us. Who is able to kill and maim. Who in an effort to increase their zone of management doesn’t cease at any savagery.
Throughout his tackle, which was revealed after Vladimir Putin signed decrees formalising Russia’s unlawful annexation of 4 occupied areas in Ukraine, Zelenskiy vows to liberate the “whole territory” of his nation.
Key occasions
Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday accused the West of organising blasts that led to quite a few fuel leaks on the Nord Stream fuel pipelines from Russia to Europe.
“Sanctions will not be sufficient for the West. They’ve switched to sabotage. Unbelievable, however it’s a reality!” Putin mentioned throughout a televised speech at a Kremlin ceremony to annex 4 Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, Agence France-Presse reviews.
“By organising explosions on the Nord Stream worldwide fuel pipelines that run alongside the underside of the Baltic Sea, they really began destroying European power infrastructure,” Putin mentioned.
“It’s clear to everybody who advantages from this,” Putin added, with out offering additional particulars.
Nonetheless, Russia’s Safety Council chief, Nikolai Patrushev, advised state TV in a while Friday that Russia “doesn’t have such knowledge” in regards to the alleged involvement of Western secret providers within the Nord Stream blasts.
Unexplained fuel leaks, preceded by two explosions, occurred on the Nord Stream 1 and a couple of pipelines on Monday. Each Moscow and Washington denied involvement.
Congress approves $12.3 billion in support to Ukraine
Congress has permitted $12.3 billion in support on Friday to Ukraine as a part of a stopgap spending invoice that seeks to preven a chaotic authorities shutdown forward of a midnight deadline.
The package deal, which was permitted simply hours after Russian president Vladimir Putin annexed 4 Russian-occupied Ukrainian areas, contains $3 billion for arms, provides and salaries for Ukraine’s army and authorizes president Joe Biden to direct the Pentagon to switch $3.7 billion in weapons and different {hardware} to Ukraine.
The so-called “persevering with decision” – handed by 230 votes to 201, with 10 Republicans becoming a member of the Democrats – additionally offers $4.5 billion for Kyiv to maintain the nation’s funds secure and hold the federal government operating.
The allocation brings the overall quantity of US contribution to $65 billion.
“This new grant help is an additional demonstration of US confidence in Ukraine and can assist vital authorities operations and supply aid to Ukrainian folks struggling beneath Russia’s brutal struggle,” Treasury secretary Janet Yellen mentioned in an announcement.
“Critically, this funding can even assist bolster Ukraine’s valiant resistance to Putin’s unlawful struggle of aggression. We name on fellow donors to not solely velocity up their present disbursements to Ukraine, but in addition to extend their scale of help.”
Air alarms have sounded almost all throughout Ukraine following Russia’s unlawful annexation of Ukrainian territories and after scores of individuals have been killed on Friday morning after Russian forces attacked a civilian convoy close to the town of Zaporizhzhia.
“Putin’s actions are an indication he’s struggling” – Biden
Joanna Walters
US president Joe Biden described as a “sham routine” Russian president Vladimir Putin’s signing earlier today of “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s unlawful annexation of 4 occupied areas in Ukraine, marking the most important forcible takeover of territory in Europe because the second world struggle.
He additionally mentioned, throughout remarks on the White Home, that “Putin’s actions are an indication he’s struggling.”
Biden mentioned the US won’t ever recognise the annexed territories as being a part of Russia.
Following Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s announcement in a video tackle in Kyiv in the present day that his nation was formally making use of for fast-track membership of the Nato alliance, Biden additionally mentioned the US “is ready to defend each inch of Nato territory. Mr Putin, don’t misunderstand what I’m saying. Each inch.”
Biden held the occasion on the White Home to make remarks in regards to the devastating hurricane that has hit Florida, after earlier hitting Cuba and knocking out its electrical energy, and is now heading straight for South Carolina.
He began by saying: “America and its allies will not be going to be intimidated by Putin and his reckless phrases and threats. He’s not going to scare us or intimidate us. Putin’s actions are an indication he’s struggling, the sham referenda that he carried out and this routine he placed on, the sham routine he placed on this morning, exhibiting the unity and folks holding arms collectively, properly america is rarely going to recognise this and fairly frankly the world just isn’t going to recognise it both.
“He can’t seize his neighbour’s territory and get away with it, easy as that. And we’re going to remain the course, proceed to supply army gear in order that Ukraine can defend itself and its territory and its freedom.”
He didn’t take questions from the press, however as an alternative added particularly on the finish of his remarks about Hurricane Ian that he needed to handle the newest flip of occasions in Ukraine.
Abstract of the day up to now
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Right here’s the place we stand:
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Vladimir Putin has signed “accession treaties” formalising Russia’s unlawful annexation of 4 occupied areas in Ukraine – Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk – marking the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war. After signing the treaties, the Russian-installed heads of the 4 areas gathered around Putin, linking hands and joining chants of “Russia! Russia!” with the applauding viewers.
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Putin later addressed crowds in Moscow’s Crimson Sq., the place he vowed to “do all the things” to “increase the extent of safety” in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk. Talking at a televised patriotic pop live performance, the Russian chief said people in the regions had made a choice to rejoin their “historic motherland”. “Welcome home!” he said, prompting chants of “Russia! Russia!” from the flag-waving crowd.
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The Kremlin mentioned once more on Friday that it will take into account assaults towards any a part of the areas of Ukraine that it’s about to annex – Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson – as acts of aggression towards Russia itself. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov advised reporters Russia would “de jure” incorporate components of Ukraine which aren’t beneath the management of Russian forces. Of the 4 areas, Luhansk and Kherson are the one territories that Russia is near having complete management over.
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Nato secretary basic, Jens Stoltenberg, accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of upsetting “probably the most severe escalation” of the struggle in Ukraine because it started together with his newest actions. Russia’s transfer was “the most important tried annexation of European territory by power because the second world struggle”, Stoltenberg mentioned, including that Nato reaffirmed its “unwavering support” for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.
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In a agency rebuttal to Putin’s ceremony in Moscow, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, introduced in a video tackle in Kyiv that his nation was formally making use of for fast-track membership of the Nato alliance. Zelenskiy accused Russia of brazenly rewriting history and redrawing borders “utilizing homicide, blackmail, mistreatment and lies”, including that Ukraine wouldn’t maintain any peace talks with Russia as long as Putin was president.
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Dozens of individuals have been killed after Russian forces launched a missile assault on a civilian convoy close to the town of Zaporizhzhia, hours earlier than Putin’s signing ceremony. The assault on Friday morning hit folks ready in automobiles in Zaporizhzhia metropolis to cross into Russian-occupied territory so they may carry members of the family again throughout the frontlines.
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Numerous Russian forces within the strategic Donbas city of Lyman have been reported to have been encircled within the newest setback for Putin. Ukrainian and Russian army bloggers mentioned that Russian forces along with native “Luhansk Folks’s Republic” fighters were encircled in the city of Lyman. The city – a strategic railway junction – has been beneath Moscow’s management since Might. The give up of Russia’s garrison in Lyman would be a humiliation for the Kremlin, at a time when it’s claiming that all the Donetsk area together with areas beneath Ukrainian authorities management is part of Russia “perpetually”.
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In response to Putin’s annexation of Ukrainian territories, the US introduced recent Russia-related sanctions on lots of of people and firms. Greater than 1,000 folks and companies linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine are included in the new sanctions package, together with its Central Financial institution governor and households of Nationwide Safety Council members.
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The US has to not date seen Russia take any motion that implies it’s considering the usage of nuclear weapons, in accordance with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. He reiterated that the US takes Vladimir Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling “very seriously” and mentioned the US plans for “each attainable situation, together with this one”.
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The UK can also be stepping up sanctions towards Russia following the “unlawful” annexation of 4 areas of Ukraine, international secretary James Cleverly introduced. The measures will prohibit Russia’s entry to key British industrial and transactional providers, in addition to ban the export to Russia of just about 700 items which might be vital to manufacturing manufacturing, the Overseas Workplace mentioned.
The Guardian’s Shaun Walker describes Vladimir Putin’s speech earlier in the present day the place he introduced the annexation of 4 extra Ukrainian areas as an “angry, rambling” address.
The BBC’s Steve Rosenberg notes Putin’s comment that the US had created a “precedent” by utilizing nuclear weapons towards Japan on the finish of the second world struggle.
Andrew Roth
A tide of Russians flowed towards Crimson Sq. as Vladimir Putin declared his annexation of Ukrainian territory that may herald a shining new period of perpetual struggle with Ukraine and the west.
“Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Russia! Collectively for ever!” learn the banner hanging on Manezh Sq. by the Kremlin.
There have been busloads of robust males from a manufacturing unit close to Moscow alighting by the statue of Karl Marx to have fun, college academics passing out invites to a pop live performance to their college students, employees lugging armfuls of Russian flags to distribute. A number of the tricolours bore the picture of Putin.
That is the Russia that Putin envisions after 22 years in energy: united, easy, cynical and slavish. However actual life just isn’t a staged rally. And as Putin gathered his lackeys and satraps within the gilded Grand Kremlin Palace, throughout the nation, from the minority ethnic republics of Dagestan and Buryatia to the hinterlands of Pskov and Penza, to cosmopolitan Moscow, communities are in turmoil.
Lots of of hundreds of males are leaving their houses, some contracted and mobilised into combating in Ukraine, and nonetheless extra fleeing for the borders to dodge the draft. In each instances, they have no idea when they may come residence.
Tensions haven’t been as excessive as they’re now in Russia for many years, in accordance with a brand new ballot from the state-run Public Opinion Basis. Of these surveyed by the centre this week, 69% mentioned that they had felt “stress”, almost double the 35% who advised the pollster they felt tense earlier than Putin introduced his mobilisation.
“I really feel we’re going into the unknown, going into nowhere,” mentioned Anton, a Moscow resident who had handed into Georgia after ready greater than three days on the border. He described males determined to succeed in the border earlier than Putin spoke on Friday, with fears that the annexations would set off a tit-for-tat response with the west resulting in a possible border closure.
Germany has skilled a surge in visa enquiries from Russian residents since Vladimir Putin’s mobilisation order, in accordance with a supply from the German international ministry.
German embassies in nations neighbouring Russia have seen a “sharp improve” in visa enquiries, the supply advised Reuters.
Der Spiegel beforehand reported that German missions in Yerevan, Astana, Tbilisi, Baku and Minsk had registered hundreds of requests for entry permits to Germany since partial mobilisation for the struggle in Ukraine started.
Within the Georgian capital Tbilisi, greater than 300 visa functions have been registered from Russian residents within the German embassy since partial mobilisation started in the midst of this week, it mentioned.
This compares with between 10 and 20 such requests a month over the previous few months, it added.
A televised pop live performance is going down on Moscow’s Crimson Sq. to have fun the Russian annexation of 4 areas of Ukraine.
The live performance, held within the shadow of the Kremlin partitions with the multicoloured spires of the Sixteenth-century St Basil’s Cathedral because the backdrop, is going down after President Vladimir Putin signed “accession treaties” formalising the unlawful annexation.
The Wall Avenue Journal’s Matthew Luxmoore writes that the Russian actor, Ivan Okhlobystin, apparently channelled Hitler and referred to as for a “holy struggle” whereas on stage.
Anton Gerashchenko, an adviser to Kyiv’s ministry of inner affairs, shared a video of individuals singing “We gained’t care in regards to the worth” on the live performance.
The US has to not date seen Russia take any motion that implies it’s considering the usage of nuclear weapons, in accordance with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
However he reiterated that the US takes Vladimir Putin’s nuclear sabre-rattling “very critically”.
Talking at a press convention in Washington, Blinken mentioned:
We’re wanting very fastidiously to see if Russia is definitely doing something that implies that they’re considering the usage of nuclear weapons. Up to now, we’ve not seen them take these actions.
He continued:
However we additionally know that Russia is engaged in horrific, horrific brutalisation of Ukraine, and so the threats that they make, we take very critically.
Blinken mentioned he wouldn’t speculate on what was Putin’s intent however mentioned the US plans for “each attainable situation, together with this one”.
Russia’s newest actions ‘most severe escalation’ since starting of struggle, says Nato chief
Nato secretary basic, Jens Stoltenberg, mentioned accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of upsetting “probably the most severe escalation” of the struggle in Ukraine because it started together with his newest actions.
Talking at a information convention, Stoltenberg mentioned:
Putin has mobilised lots of of hundreds of extra troops, engaged in irresponsible nuclear sabre-rattling and now illegally annexed extra Ukrainian territory. Collectively, this represents probably the most severe escalation because the begin of the struggle.
Russia’s transfer was “the most important tried annexation of European territory by power because the second world struggle”, Stoltenberg mentioned, including that an space roughly the dimensions of Portugal had been “illegally seized by Russia at gunpoint”.
The sham referendums have been engineered in Moscow and imposed on Ukraine in complete violation of worldwide regulation. This land seize is prohibited and illegitimate.
Nato allies don’t and won’t recognise any of this territory as a part of Russia.
Nato was not a celebration to the battle however reaffirmed its “unwavering assist” for Ukraine’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity, he mentioned.
We name on all states to reject Russia’s blatant makes an attempt at territorial conquest These lands are Ukraine.
Ukraine is going through important dangers to power provides this winter, the director of the EU power watchdog has warned.
Ukraine’s present energy manufacturing seems to be enough to cowl its wants after a drop in industrial exercise minimize consumption by 30%, Artur Lorkowski, director of the Vitality Neighborhood Secretariat, mentioned.
Lorkowski advised Reuters:
However I count on the state of affairs might change dramatically, as a result of as soon as the heating season begins consumption will develop.
The state of affairs regarding energy era was unclear, he added. Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is at present held by Russia, was minimize off from the grid, whereas some thermal energy crops have been situated in fight areas.
If the Zaporizhzhia plant stays offline for longer and different coal-fired energy crops are down, Ukraine may have as much as two billion bcm of additional fuel, he mentioned.
Almost 1.4 million Ukrainians at present wouldn’t have entry both to electrical energy or fuel, largely in war-impacted areas within the jap and southeastern components of the nation, Lorkowski mentioned.
A defiant Volodymyr Zelenskiy has introduced that Ukraine is formally making use of for membership of Nato, hours after Vladimir Putin mentioned in a Kremlin ceremony that he was annexing 4 Ukrainian provinces.
In a speech filmed outdoors his presidential workplace in Kyiv, Zelenskiy mentioned he was taking this “decisive step” in an effort to defend “all the group” of Ukrainians. He promised the applying would occur in an “expedited method”.
“De facto, now we have already made our option to Nato. De facto, now we have already confirmed compatibility with alliance requirements. They’re actual for Ukraine – actual on the battlefield and in all elements of our interplay,” he mentioned.
We belief one another, we assist one another, and we defend one another. That is the alliance. De facto. At this time, Ukraine is making use of to make it de jure.
The president signed the applying kind, as did the speaker of parliament, Ruslan Stefanchuk, and the prime minister, Denys Shmyhal.
The alliance is unlikely to just accept Ukraine’s imminent Nato entry whereas it’s in a state of struggle. As a Nato member, fellow members can be compelled to actively defend it towards Russia – a dedication that goes properly past the provision of weapons.
Zelenskiy acknowledged this quickly after Russia’s full-scale invasion. “It’s clear that Ukraine just isn’t a member of Nato, we perceive this,” he mentioned in March. “For years we heard in regards to the apparently open door, however have already additionally heard that we’ll not enter there, and these are truths and should be acknowledged.”
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