The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has asked the international community to adopt a five-point formula to achieve peace and security in Ukraine, in a wide and passionate televised speech this Wednesday before the UN General Assembly . Points include punishment for crimes of aggression, protection of life, restoration of security and territorial integrity, security guarantees and Ukraine’s determination to continue to defend itself.
More than 1,300 protesters have been arrested in anti-mobilization rallies taking place across Russia. According to OVD-Info, more than 1,311 people have been arrested in 38 cities across Russia, with most of those detained in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
North Korea has said it has never supplied arms or ammunition to Russia and has no plans to do so in the future, according to a statement released by state media service KCNA.
Russia has freed 215 Ukrainians it took prisoner after a long battle for the port city of Mariupol earlier this year, including top military leaders, a senior Kyiv official said. The freed Ukrainians included the commander and deputy commander of the Azov battalion that did much of the fighting, said Andriy Yermak, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s chief of staff.
Ivan Fedorov, the mayor of Russian-occupied Melitipol in Ukraine, has urged local men to evacuate the city amid mobilization orders from Russia, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Finland said it was working on a federal strategy to “limit or completely prevent” tourism from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine. “This national solution can include new legislation, which would be adopted very quickly,” Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told a news conference on Wednesday.
Five British citizens detained by pro-Russian forces in eastern Ukraine have been returned safely, British Prime Minister Liz Truss said. Among those released was Aiden Aslin, a British-Ukrainian former care worker from Nottinghamshire.
The Saudi foreign ministry said Russia had released 10 foreign prisoners of war captured in Ukraine following mediation by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. US citizens Alexander Drueke and Andy Tai Ngoc Huynh were among those released.
Joe Biden has denounced Vladimir Putin’s threats to use nuclear weapons as “reckless” and “irresponsible” and has called Russia’s planned annexation of more regions of Ukraine “an extremely significant violation” of the charter of the UN The US president was speaking at the UN general assembly, where he sought to galvanize outrage among UN member states at the threat that Putin’s actions and “imperial ambitions” posed to the founding values of the UN
Earlier Wednesday, Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization in Russia in a significant escalation that puts the country’s population and economy on a war footing and sent shockwaves across Russia. The Russian president said in a televised speech that the “partial mobilization” was a direct response to the dangers posed by the West. According to the decree, the contracts of soldiers fighting in Ukraine will also be extended until the end of the period of partial mobilization.
Liz Truss and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Putin’s speech on Wednesday was “a statement of weakness”. They said in a joint statement after a meeting between the pair in New York that Putin’s calls for partial mobilization were “a sign that Russia’s invasion is failing.”
Russia fired a series of long-range missiles early Wednesday at Ukraine’s second city, Kharkiv, hours after the Kremlin announced plans to annex Ukrainian territory and carry out partial mobilization. The explosions were heard throughout Kharkiv around 2 am. At least one missile hit a high-rise apartment in the western district of Zalutino. Ten residents were injured.
Ukraine’s security service has released a recording of a call intercepted by a Russian soldier in which he appears to complain about setbacks suffered by Russian troops in recent months. “The locals hate us here. Ours are raping local women,” the soldier appeared to say on the phone, adding that there was little or no chance of him returning home any time soon.