CIA director traveled to Ukraine earlier this month

Ukraine’s President Zelensky said Wednesday that the toughest battles are taking place in the Donetsk region, specifically toward the city of Bakhmut and Avdiivka. 

“The situation on the frontline has not changed significantly,” Zelensky said during his daily address when talking about the frontline situation in the eastern region. 

After House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy suggested last week that Republicans might pull back funding for Ukraine next year if they take the majority, the GOP leader has worked behind the scenes to reassure national security leaders in his conference that he wasn’t planning to abandon Ukraine aid and was just calling for greater oversight of any federal dollars, sources told CNN.

McCarthy told key Republican national security committee members – some of whom reached out to McCarthy – that his comments that Ukraine wouldn’t get a “blank check” in a Republican majority were being taken out of context, the sources said. Rather, McCarthy told his members he was simply saying that a GOP-led House would not automatically rubber-stamp a request from the administration for additional Ukraine aid.

“McCarthy was not saying, ‘We wouldn’t spend money.’ McCarthy was saying, ‘We’re gonna be accountable to the taxpayer for every dollar we spend,’” one GOP lawmaker familiar with McCarthy’s thinking told CNN. “A ‘blank check’ means that people get whatever they ask for. What we’re saying is there’s going to be some thought, there’s going to be accountability, and taxpayer dollars are going to be used appropriately.”

McCarthy’s effort to soothe the House’s senior defense hawks, which has not been previously reported, underscores the fine line the aspiring speaker is walking on foreign policy as the war in Ukraine appears poised to grind into a second year. But it also offers a preview of the types of policy and political battles to come between the establishment and pro-Trump wings of the GOP, presenting a tricky balancing act — and potential headaches — for Republican leaders in a House majority.

To read more, click here.

Vladimir Putin in Sochi on September 29, 2021.

For months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has waited and watched, hoping for a fracturing of the remarkable Washington consensus built by President Joe Biden on the need to do everything it takes to defend democracy in Ukraine.

Now, at last, the first cracks may be appearing.

There is no sign that the $18 billion US pipeline of military aid that has helped Ukraine drive back Russia’s onslaught is immediately in danger. But the stirrings of political opposition to an endless US role in the war are growing on both sides of the aisle just two weeks before the November midterms.

Even the slightest hint of a softening of American resolve could comfort Putin as the Kremlin strongman prepares to inflict a painful winter on Ukrainian civilians and Europeans reliant on Russian gas.

In what can only be described as a political debacle on Tuesday, progressive Democrats published, then withdrew, a letter initially signed in June that called on the White House to match its effort to arm Ukraine with a strong diplomatic effort to engage Russia and seek a ceasefire. This came days after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the possible next speaker, warned that Kyiv could not expect a “blank check” on aid if the GOP is in charge next year.

Seeking to highlight US and Western commitment to Ukraine amid the political chatter, Biden delivered a fresh warning on Tuesday against the use of smaller-yield nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine.

The President’s comments were a reminder that the maneuvering in Washington over Ukraine aid is taking place in a critical context, with anxiety still acute over a possible escalation of the war that could spill over into direct US-Russia hostilities and put the world on a disastrous path toward a full-on nuclear escalation.

This is why signs of fraying political resolve in the United States, and in some allied nations, are so significant. They could convince Putin that a war of attrition over the winter could sooner or later cause fatigue in the West and therefore weaken Ukraine’s ability to fight.

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CIA Director Bill Burns testifies during a Senate Select Intelligence Committee hearing on March 10.

CIA director Bill Burns traveled to Ukraine earlier this month to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials as the war appears poised to grind into its second year, according to two sources familiar with the trip.

“While there, he reinforced the US commitment to provide support to Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression, including continued intelligence sharing,” a US official told CNN.

The sources declined to provide further details about the trip.  

Some more context: Burns’ trip comes as the US has grown increasingly concerned that Russia may turn to a nuclear weapon in its struggling war. Burns and other US officials have said publicly that they see no evidence that Moscow is actively preparing to take such a step, but officials familiar with the intelligence warn that the risk is perhaps the highest it has been since Russia invaded in February.

Ukraine’s military intelligence says Russia continues to remove its “occupation administration” from the southern Kherson region but is reinforcing the city with recently mobilized recruits and suggests they are being used as “cannon fodder.”

The head of Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence Agency, Major Gen. Kyrylo Budanov told CNN on Wednesday, “the Russians are trying to remove and take with them all the remains of their so-called ‘occupation administration’ from Kherson city and surrounding areas.”

But at the same time, Budanov said, Russia is “bringing into Kherson some new ‘cannon fodder’ from the newly mobilized Russian soldiers, getting ready for the street fighting.”

Russia, he said, “realizes and understands the whole difficulty of their situation and they don’t want to be totally encircled.”

Budanov said the Russian withdrawal will accelerate when Ukraine “takes the Nova Kakhovka dam under our artillery fire control.”

“That’s why all our fighting units are moving towards both Kherson and Nova Kakhovka,” he added. 

European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday that she had a “very good phone call” with new British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.   

Von der Leyen said in a tweet that she is looking forward to working with the UK on issues such as Russia’s war on Ukraine and climate change. 

“(UK and EU) are strategic partners. Looking forward to working on crucial issues such as Russia’s war on Ukraine and climate change. And on finding joint solutions under the Protocol on IE/NI that will provide stability and predictability,” the European Commission president wrote.  

Antony Blinken during an interview in Washington, DC on October 26 2022.

The consequences for any use of a nuclear weapon have been conveyed directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

Blinken did not indicate who or how it was communicated to Putin.

Officials in US President Joe Biden’s administration have said that Moscow has been warned at the highest levels about use of nuclear weapons in Russia’s war against Ukraine, but Blinken’s remark is the first explicit acknowledgement that the message has been communicated to Putin himself. 

Blinken reiterated that the US is tracking the Kremlin’s nuclear saber-rattling “very carefully” but hasn’t “seen any reason to change our nuclear posture.”

He said Russia’s latest claim that Ukraine is considering the use of a dirty bomb is “another fabrication and something that is also the height of irresponsibility coming from a nuclear power.”

“The reason this particular allegation gives us some concern is because Russia has a track record of projecting, which is to say, accusing others of doing something that they themselves have done or are thinking about doing,” Blinken said.

He said the US has also communicated directly with the Russians “about trying to use this false allegation as a pretext for any kind of escalation.”

The US State Department expressed condolences to the family of an American man killed in August while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military in a statement.

Joshua Jones’ remains will soon be released to his family, spokesperson Ned Price said in a statement.

“The United States is appreciative of Ukraine for including recovery of this individual’s remains in its negotiations with Russia. Out of respect for the privacy of the family, we will not release further details,” he said.

A CNN team witnessed the transfer from the Russian military to Ukrainian custody in the southeast Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday.

Price reiterated that United States citizens should not travel to Ukraine at this time.

“US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options. US citizens who travel to Ukraine, including to participate in the fighting there, face significant risks and the United States cannot guarantee their safety,” Price added in the statement.

Russia has so far used around 400 Iranian-made drones to attack Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure since the invasion started, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky alleged on Wednesday.  

Moscow’s “dialogue” involves “400 missiles instead of words,” Zelensky said in a press conference with Guinea-Bissau’s President Umaro Sissoco Embaló.  

Zelensky said “60-70% of those deadly (drones) were downed” by Ukraine’s military.

While Iran denies providing drones to Russia used against Ukraine, top British, French and German diplomats wrote to the UN secretary general on Friday urging investigation into Iran’s transfer of drones to Russia, according to a letter reviewed by CNN.  

These diplomats cited “significant open source evidence” of the Iranian drones in Ukraine.  

The British Ministry of Defence also said that “Russia is likely expending a high number of Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs in order to penetrate increasingly effective Ukrainian air defences,” in its latest assessment Monday.  

Iran’s Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian denied the Western allegations on Saturday, according to Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency.   

“We condemn the allegations of giving drones to Russia in the Ukraine war. We are against war anywhere in the world,” Amir-Abdollahian said.

CNN’s Kylie Atwood, Radina Gigova and Aliza Kassim contributed reporting to this post.

Civilians evacuated from the Russian-controlled city of Kherson walk from a ferry to board a bus heading to Crimea, in the town of Oleshky, Kherson Oblast, on October 23.

More than 70,000 people have left the right bank of the Dnieper river in the southern Kherson region in recent days, the region’s Russian-appointed governor, Vladimir Saldo, said on Wednesday. 

Saldo said in an interview with the Crimea 24 channel that Russian-backed authorities of the region had organized the evacuation of residents away from the frontline in light of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive. 

Saldo said that there is a threat of Ukrainians “blowing up” the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant and it shouldn’t be ignored.

He added that preventive measures of discharging water from the Kakhovka reservoir are now being taken in case of action from Ukraine.

“The North Crimean and main canals will be additionally opened for water discharge. Water is being discharged,” the official said, adding that “some missiles reach the area of the station, but most of them are shot down by our air defense.”  

Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, attends a press conference in Kyiv on September 22.

Ukraine is not developing a so-called dirty bomb — as Russia has alleged without evidence — Gen. Kyrylo Budanov, chief of the Defense Intelligence of Ukraine, told CNN.

“This is a question that became something of a joke. And my answer is direct: We’re not getting prepared. We are not working on a dirty bomb,” Budanov told CNN’s Nic Robertson.

A dirty bomb is a weapon that combines conventional explosives like dynamite and radioactive material like uranium.

Ukraine has invited the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to visit the facilities where Russia alleges the bombs are being developed.

“We’re absolutely supporting the visit of IAEA mission, and we are waiting for them. We’re waiting for them to visit all nuclear facilities,” Budanov said, adding that the sooner they arrive, the quicker Ukraine can clear Russia’s allegations.

Earlier on Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated Moscow’s claim that Ukraine was planning to use the bomb for “provocations.”

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has called the claims “transparently false” and said that they must not be used by the Kremlin as a pretext to escalate the war.

Russia’s ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin also repeated the unsubstantiated claims to CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.

Kelin claimed without evidence that Kyiv is building the weapon as Ukraine’s counteroffensive on the battlefield has stalled.

“We have a feeling that at this moment that authorities in Kyiv need to attract attention by something because the offensive attack on different fronts, the counterattack as they are calling it, has stopped. They are losing resources. The frontline has stabilized… there is no movement. At the moment, it [Ukraine] needs something,” he said.

CNN’s Katharina Krebs contributed reporting for this post.

The Biden administration announced sanctions on nine people and 12 entities to counter Russia’s malign influence campaigns and corruption in Moldova, the US Treasury Department announced on Wednesday.

The sanctions come as Russia “faces military setbacks and global outrage over its brutal actions in Ukraine,” which has prompted Russian operatives to consider “increasingly desperate measures to prevent further erosion of its influence,” the US Treasury department said.

“The sanctions imposed today expose not only Russia’s covert strategy in Moldova, but also demonstrate how corruption undermines the rule of law,” said Brian E. Nelson, US under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence. “Russian influence operations attempt to exploit weaknesses in target countries in order to destabilize them from within. The United States continues to support Moldovan efforts to combat corruption and counter Russian influence.” 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US is “committed to supporting Moldova’s efforts to counter corruption, reform the justice sector, strengthen the independence and transparency of its democratic institutions, and promote accountability for those seeking to undermine its democracy.” Blinken said that in addition to the sanctions today the US “will continue to hold accountable those threatening democracy abroad.”

Among the sanctioned individuals is a former Moldovan government official who served as the elected chair of the Democratic Party of Moldova: Vladimir Plahotniuc. Plahotniuc maintained control over the country’s law enforcement apparatus to target political and business rivals, the Treasury epartment said. 

lan Shor, leader of the Shor Party in Moldova, is also among those being sanctioned “for being responsible for or complicit in, or having directly or indirectly engaged or attempted to engage in interference in a foreign government election, for or on behalf of, or for the direct or indirect benefit of the Government of the Russian Federation,” Blinken said. 

Explosion causes fire at the Kerch bridge in the Kerch Strait, Crimea on October 8.

Russia’s Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin has claimed that Ukrainians have crossed a “red line” and said Moscow has launched drone strikes across Ukraine in retaliation for the Crimean bridge explosion earlier this month.

“The issue is Crimean bridge. Crimean bridge is essential for our infrastructure. Ukrainians are aware that this is a red line that they should not attack it. They have severely damaged it and it should not be a surprise that there is a serious response to that,” Kelin told CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones have “destroyed more than a third” of Ukraine’s energy sector, at an international conference on Tuesday.

When pressed on drones, the ambassador admitted that “drones are being used in this area for many years starting in 2014.”

Kelin denied attacks on Ukrainian civilians in the strikes.

US, EU and Ukrainian officials have all said Moscow has deliberately targeted civilians and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen condemned Russia’s attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure as “pure acts of terror” on Tuesday.

Joshua Jones was killed in Ukraine this summer.

The body of an American man killed in August while fighting alongside the Ukrainian military has been returned to Ukrainian custody by the Russian military. A CNN team witnessed the transfer in the Zaporizhzhia region on Wednesday.

The American is 24-year-old Joshua Jones, who was killed in August. The US State Department has informed Jones’ family about the body’s return, Jones’ father told CNN Wednesday.

The transfer took place just north of Vasylivka. The two sides had agreed to a two-hour ceasefire in no-man’s land between Russian- and Ukrainian-held Ukraine.

A Ukrainian ambulance was on site to transport Jones’ body. The Ukrainians said that they were able to identify the body by Jones’ tattoos and other identifying characteristics. The Russians had also sent photos of the body in advance.

In a tearful phone call, the man’s father, Jeff Jones, told CNN, “We got him back!”

Jones said he got a message from the Ukrainian military’s International Legion Wednesday morning at 6:30 a.m. ET via the Signal app, but he missed the call. At 7 a.m. ET, he got a call from his son’s fiancée with the news. The US Embassy in Ukraine informed him shortly thereafter.

Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin during an interview with PA at the official residence of the Russian Ambassador in London on February 21.

Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin told CNN on Wednesday that Russia will not use nuclear weapons in the country’s war against Ukraine.

“Russia is not going to use nukes. It is out of the question,” Kelin told CNN’s chief international anchor Christiane Amanpour in a sit-down interview in London.

“Defense Minister [Sergei] Shoigu assured every minister that we are not going to use nuclear weapons. … This is what has been said by the defense minister and our president,” he said.

The ambassador’s comments come as Russian President Vladimir Putin leads military training drills on Wednesday, which involved practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, according to a Kremlin statement.

Watch some of the interview here:

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg holds a press conference in Madrid, Spain on June 29.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday that Russia’s armed forces were failing in Ukraine, while Kyiv’s troops were getting stronger. 

“President Putin is failing on the battlefield. He is responding with more indiscriminate attacks on Ukrainian cities against civilians and against critical infrastructure and with dangerous nuclear rhetoric,” Stoltenberg said at a press conference with Romanian Prime Minister Nicolae Ciuca at NATO’s headquarters in Brussels.

Stoltenberg said Ukrainian success on the battlefield could give Kyiv a stronger hand in any future negotiations. 

“Most wars end at the negotiating table. And at the same time, we know that what Ukraine can achieve at the negotiating table is totally dependent on the strength on the battlefield. So we need to strengthen their hand at the negotiating table by providing military support, ” he said. “The stronger Ukraine is on the battlefield, the more likely it is that we have a political solution that ensures Ukraine prevails as a sovereign independent nation in Europe.” 

Stoltenberg once again rejected the Kremlin’s claim that Ukraine is planning to use a so-called “dirty bomb” on its own territory, saying it could be a pretext for escalation.

“This [idea] is absurd,” he said. “Allies reject this blatantly false accusation and Russia must not use false pretexts to escalate the war further. NATO will not be intimidated or deterred from supporting Ukraine’s right to self-defense for as long as it takes.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is leading military training drills on Wednesday, which involved practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, according to a Kremlin statement.

“At the Kura range in Kamchatka, the Yars intercontinental ballistic missile was launched from the Plesetsk cosmodrome and the Sineva ballistic missile was launched from the Barents Sea,” the statement said.

Russian military jets Tu-95MS were used for the practice launches of the air-based cruise missiles, according to the statement.

Putin, who is supreme commander-in-chief of the Russian army, heard a report from Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during the training exercises. 

According to Shoigu, the strategic deterrence forces are conducting a training exercise under Putin’s leadership on “a massive nuclear strike in response to an enemy nuclear attack.”

The Kremlin statement said that checks were also carried out regarding the military command’s level of preparedness and the skills of leadership and operational staff in organizing Russia’s troops.

The Kremlin admitted on Wednesday that the Russian army is experiencing issues with equipment, echoing comments from Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier in the week. 

“You have all heard the president’s remarks [at the meeting of the Coordination Council]. Indeed, there were issues with the equipment,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters. According to Peskov, some of the problems remain, although measures are being taken to alleviate any issues.

“Measures are being taken to eliminate these problems,” he said.

Putin said on Tuesday that the equipment of Russian soldiers needs to be “efficient and modern” to meet the needs of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine. He also called on his government to “speed up” decision-making and manufacturing of military equipment.

US basketball player Brittney Griner is seen on a screen during a court hearing to consider an appeal against her sentence at the Moscow regional court on October 25.

The Kremlin said Wednesday that any discussions on a potential prisoner exchange involving US basketball star Brittney Griner can only be negotiated quietly.

Speaking on a daily briefing with journalists, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov refused to comment on the Moscow Regional Court’s decision Tuesday to uphold Griner’s drug smuggling conviction. 

Asked about a potential prisoner swap deal, Peskov said all conversations regarding possible exchanges could only be carried out in conditions of “complete impermeability and silence.”

US officials have previously tried to secure the release of Griner and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia, by proposing a prisoner swap with Russia. Those efforts have continued in recent weeks, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday in a statement that called the latest hearing a “sham,” adding that “President Biden has been very clear that Brittney should be released immediately.”

CNN’s Dakin Andone and Zahra Ullah contributed reporting to this post.

India’s Defense Minister Rajnath Singh speaks during a joint statement with U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin (not pictured) following their meeting in New Delhi, India, on March 20, 2021.

India’s defense minister told his Russian counterpart on Wednesday that “the nuclear option should not be resorted to” during a phone call between the two about the “deteriorating situation in Ukraine,” according to a press release from his ministry.

Rajnath Singh “reiterated India’s position on the need to pursue the path of dialogue and diplomacy for an early resolution of the conflict. He pointed out that the nuclear option should not be resorted to by any side as the prospect of the usage of nuclear or radiological weapons goes against the basic tenets of humanity,” according to the statement. 

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu mentioned “concerns about possible provocations through use of ‘dirty bomb,’” the statement said. 

A so-called dirty bomb is a weapon that combines conventional explosives like dynamite and radioactive material like uranium. Russia has accused Ukraine of planning to use one, an allegation dismissed by Kyiv and its Western allies as a false-flag operation that Moscow could use as a pretext to escalate the Kremlin’s war.

Some background: India’s leader previously cautioned Russian President Vladimir Putin that “today’s era is not of war.” In September, Modi told Putin that “we have talked to you many times over the phone on the subject that democracy and diplomacy and dialogue are all these things that touch the world,” according to India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

However, rather than cutting economic ties with the Kremlin, India has increased its purchases of Russian oil, coal and fertilizer – giving Putin a vital financial lifeline. And New Delhi has repeatedly abstained from votes condemning Russia at the United Nations.  

Russia is reportedly preparing its armed forces for a rumored Ukrainian counteroffensive in the occupied city of Kherson, as well as allegedly pressuring civilians to leave for Russian-occupied territory. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has called Moscow’s claims of a “dirty bomb” plot by Ukraine “reckless and irresponsible,” while Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk has called on refugees not to return home this winter due to concerns over the electricity grid.

Here are the latest headlines:

• Russia preparing for Kherson battle: “The heaviest of battles for Kherson is ahead… It is still difficult to talk about the prospects for its liberation, because they [the Russians] are doing everything to strengthen their grouping,” said Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office. “They have put an inhuman effort to make it happen.” 
• Civilians under pressure to leave Kherson: The Moscow-installed local authorities have warned of an impending Ukrainian attempt to retake the regional capital and ordered civilians to leave. Authorities are making life increasingly difficult for those that remain, according to a pro-Ukrainian former local official. Kyiv has dismissed the so-called “organized relocation” as a “propaganda show” and accused Moscow of trying to “intimidate” residents.
• Two dead in Dnipro strike: At least two people were killed and another four injured in a Russian missile attack on Dnipro in central Ukraine overnight Tuesday. On Wednesday, air raid sirens were activated across most of Ukraine, apart from its western regions and Russian-annexed Crimea, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation. 
• Moscow’s “dirty bomb” claims “reckless and irresponsible”: Russia’s unevidenced claim that Ukraine plans to use a “dirty bomb” on its own territory is “transparently false” and must not be used by the Kremlin as a pretext to escalate the war, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a news conference on Tuesday. “NATO allies reject this transparently false allegation. Russia often accuses others of what they intend to do themselves,” he said. “We have seen this pattern before from Syria to Ukraine.”
• Don’t come home yet, Ukraine tells refugees: Ukraine is asking its citizens who fled the country following Russia’s invasion not to return home this winter due to ongoing blackouts caused by Russian drone and missile strikes on the power grid. Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Tuesday asked Ukrainians “not to come back just yet.” “We need to survive this winter. [If people come back] the electrical grid might fail,” she said.

A view of damage at Velyka Oleksandrivka town in the Kherson region, Ukraine on October 24.

The “heaviest of battles” lies ahead in the strategically important city of Kherson, according to an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office.

“The heaviest of battles for Kherson is ahead… It is still difficult to talk about the prospects for its liberation, because they [the Russians] are doing everything to strengthen their grouping,” said Oleksiy Arestovych in an interview on the Feygin Live show on YouTube.

“They have put an inhuman effort to make it happen.”

Kherson was the first city to fall to Russia and is the largest under its control.

The Moscow-installed local authorities have warned of an impending Ukrainian attempt to retake the regional capital and ordered civilians to leave.

Kyiv says administrative services and financial institutions are being moved out of the city, while Russian troops dig in.

“With Kherson everything is clear. They are replenishing, strengthening the grouping there,” Arestovych said.

“Nobody is going to withdraw. They are moving their troops in with the full intention to defeat us,” he added.

The southern Kherson region is a crucial front in the war and in recent weeks, a Ukrainian counteroffensive has made inroads west of the Dnipro river.

On Wednesday, the Ukrainian government said its forces were holding their defensive line in the south, although “some offensive actions are being carried out” in the Kherson direction.

Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar told Ukrainian TV that “there are battles going on” in the area.

“The General Staff positions it as defensive actions, within which some offensive actions are carried out,” said Maliar. “But you can see from the news that, in the last week, the intensity of events at the front has slightly decreased, and we are actually in active defense.”

Russia’s unevidenced claim that Ukraine plans to use a “dirty bomb” on its own territory is “transparently false” and must not be used by the Kremlin as a pretext to escalate the war, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said in a news conference on Tuesday.

“Russia now falsely claims Ukraine is preparing to use a radiological dirty bomb on its own territory,” he said. “NATO allies reject this transparently false allegation. Russia often accuses others of what they intend to do themselves. We have seen this pattern before from Syria to Ukraine. Russia must not use false pretext for further escalation.”

Stoltenberg described the claims as “reckless and irresponsible.”

A dirty bomb is a weapon that combines conventional explosives like dynamite and radioactive material like uranium.

It is often referred to as a weapon for terrorists, not countries, as it is designed to spread fear and panic more than to eliminate any military target.

“Any use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine will monumentally change the nature of the conflict,” said Stoltenberg.

“President Putin of Russia knows that a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought. And they also know that there will be severe consequences,” he added.

“So far, we have not seen any changes in Russia’s nuclear posture, but of course we monitor very closely, and we are vigilant and ready to act if necessary. The most important thing now is to convey a message to Russia that they of course should not use a nuclear weapon in Ukraine.”

Russia made allegations to the UN Security Council about Ukraine’s supposed “dirty bomb” capabilities on Tuesday while Western countries scoffed at the claims.

Moscow’s claims that Ukraine is conspiring to use such a weapon have been rejected by the United States, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.

Russian-installed authorities in occupied Kherson are making life increasingly difficult for residents as they pressure them to leave, according to Yurii Sobolevskyi, a member of the ousted pro-Ukrainian regional council.

“The occupiers are increasing the pressure on the local population of the Kherson region. Filtration measures and searches of cars and buildings have intensified, and public transport is limited,” said Sobolevskyi on Telegram on Tuesday.

“And of course, the campaign for ‘evacuation’ continues, so that our people agree to deportation to the Russian Federation,” he added.

The leaders Moscow has installed in Kherson have ferried thousands of residents across the Dnipro River, away from the frontline and further into Russian-held territory, as the occupying forces prepare to defend the regional capital from an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive.

Kyiv has dismissed the so-called “organized relocation” as a “propaganda show” and accused Moscow of trying to “intimidate” residents.

So far, more than 22,000 people have crossed to the east bank of the Dnipro, said Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-appointed regional military administration, on Telegram on Tuesday.

Ukraine is asking its citizens who fled the country following Russia’s invasion not to return home this winter due to ongoing blackouts caused by Russian drone and missile strikes on the power grid.

Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk on Tuesday asked Ukrainians “not to come back just yet.” 

“We need to survive this winter. [If people come back] the electrical grid might fail,” she said.

“You see what Russia is doing. Everybody sees that. Coming back now means exposing yourself, your children, vulnerable relatives to this,” added Vereshchuk.

“In spring I would really like for us to work together to rebuild our Kharkiv region, Kherson region and the rest of our cities and settlements here in Ukraine.”

Vereshchuk said she understood that the situation could get worse, but whatever happens, “we survive this winter and then we think of everything else.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told an international conference in Berlin Tuesday that Russian missiles and Iranian-made drones have “destroyed more than a third” of Ukraine’s energy sector.

Zelensky said the attacks were aimed at making “it harder for us to endure this winter.”

Poland is considering building “fortifications” along its border with the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, Krzysztof Sobolewski, general secretary of Poland’s ruling Law and Justice party (PiS), said during a radio interview Tuesday. 

“We will have to strengthen our forces on this section of the border [with Kaliningrad]. Also, we will think about perhaps building additional border fortifications similar to those currently in place along the Polish-Belarusian section of the border,” Sobolewski told public-service broadcaster Polskie Radio, when asked about the possibility of Russia sending “refugees from Asia and Africa” to Poland via Kaliningrad. 

Sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania, Kaliningrad is a Russian exclave that was captured by Soviet troops from Nazi Germany in 1945 and become Soviet territory as a result of the Potsdam Agreement. 

It is Russia’s westernmost territory, and the only part of the country surrounded by EU states. 

In September, Russian state media TASS reported that Kaliningrad was adopting an “open skies” policy, to “expand the geography of flights from the region and attract new air carriers” from the Middle East and Asia, prompting PiS politicians to revert to nationalist talking points about Moscow potentially using migrants as a tool for “hybrid warfare.” 

Poland’s previous migrant crises: In 2021, Warsaw declared a state of emergency after tens of thousands of migrants tried to use the Bruzgi-Kuznica border crossing to travel from Belarus into Poland. 

The migrants – most of whom were from the Middle East and Asia – were stranded on the Belarusian side of the border for weeks, where they endured bitter weather and a lack of food and medical attention.

Western leaders accused President Alexander Lukashenko’s regime of manufacturing the migrant crisis on the EU’s eastern frontier as retribution for sanctions over human rights abuses. 

Minsk repeatedly denied the claims, instead blaming the West for the crossings and accusing it of poor treatment of migrants. Russia – which is Belarus’ largest political and economic partner – defended President Lukashenko’s handling of the border crisis at the time, while also denying any involvement.

Laura Smith Spark, Antonia Mortensen and Anna Chernova contributed reporting.

A damaged gas station is seen following a missile strike in Dnipro on October 25.

At least two people were killed and another four injured in a Russian missile attack on Dnipro in central Ukraine overnight Tuesday, according to Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional military administration. 

A man and a woman died when a gas station caught fire after the attack, according to the Ukraine State Emergency Services (SES). They were a car wash operator at the gas station and a pregnant woman who was burnt alive in her car, the SES said in a post on Facebook. 

On Wednesday, air raid sirens were activated across most of Ukraine, apart from its western regions and Russian-annexed Crimea, according to Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation. 

For months, Russian President Vladimir Putin has waited and watched, hoping for a fracturing of the remarkable Washington consensus built by President Joe Biden on the need to do everything it takes to defend democracy in Ukraine.

Now, at last, the first cracks may be appearing.

There is no sign that the $18 billion US pipeline of military aid that has helped Ukraine drive back Russia’s onslaught is immediately in danger. But the stirrings of political opposition to an endless US role in the war are growing on both sides of the aisle just two weeks before the November midterms.

Even the slightest hint of a softening of American resolve could comfort Putin as the Kremlin strongman prepares to inflict a painful winter on Ukrainian civilians and Europeans reliant on Russian gas.

In what can only be described as a political debacle on Tuesday, progressive Democrats published, then withdrew, a letter initially signed in June that called on the White House to match its effort to arm Ukraine with a strong diplomatic effort to engage Russia and seek a ceasefire. This came days after House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, the possible next speaker, warned that Kyiv could not expect a “blank check” on aid if the GOP is in charge next year.

Ex-President Donald Trump, a possible future Republican candidate, has, meanwhile, been complaining about the cost of supporting a government locked in a struggle with his hero, Putin, and that he dragged into his first impeachment by using military aid in a coercion scheme.

It’s clear that a bipartisan consensus for aiding Ukraine still exists in Washington. But the rumblings that Biden’s hardline on Russia may not always enjoy near unanimous support came at an especially sensitive time as the West seeks to discredit Russia’s latest round of nuclear rhetoric — a warning that Kyiv could use a dirty bomb.

The claims have led to high-level talks between US and Russian military chiefs and are widely being interpreted as either more scare tactics or perhaps an attempt by Moscow to create a false flag operation that could be used as a pretext for its own use of weapons of mass destruction.

Read the full analysis here.

WNBA star Brittney Griner, who lost an appeal against her nine-year jail term in Russia on Tuesday, is hoping for a prisoner exchange, according to her lawyer.

“Brittney had this hope from the very start when she was detained,” lawyer Maria Blagovolina told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Tuesday evening.

Griner wasn’t expecting much from the appeal hearing, but “she still had some hope,” she said. “She was very upset when the court hearing ended,” the lawyer added.

The judge upheld her conviction on drug smuggling charges and reduced only slightly her prison sentence.

Some background: US officials have tried to secure the release of Griner and Paul Whelan, another American imprisoned in Russia, by proposing a prisoner swap with Moscow. Those efforts have continued in recent weeks, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Tuesday in a statement that called the latest hearing a “sham,” adding, “President Biden has been very clear that Brittney should be released immediately.”

Police in Norway arrested an academic working at the University of Tromsø in the Arctic Circle on Monday, on suspicion of secretly spying for Russia, according to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK.

Norway’s police told NRK that the man, a researcher at the university, claims to be a Brazilian citizen but they suspect he could be using a false identity and could actually be a Russian citizen.

“We have asked that a Brazilian researcher at the University of Tromsø be expelled from Norway as we believe he represents a threat to fundamental national interests,” said Hedvig Moe, Assistant Head, Norwegian Police Security Service, speaking to NRK.

“PST (Norwegian Police Security Service) is worried that he may have acquired a network and information about Norwegian politics of the northern area. Even if this network or the information gathered bit by bit is not a threat to the security of the kingdom, we are worried that the information could be misused by Russia,” Moe added.

CNN has reached out to the police force for comment.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin called his government to “speed up” decision-making and manufacturing of military equipment as Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine goes into its ninth month.

“Now, we are also faced with the need to speed up resolution of the issues related to the provision of a special military operation and related to the fight against those restrictions in the economic sphere that we have encountered,” Putin said Tuesday, speaking to the first meeting of the newly formed Coordination Council.

Putin on October 20 created the Coordination Council headed by the country’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to meet the needs of the Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.

Russia’s goals cannot be met without “broad and deep coordination between all areas of activity, all structures, all ministries, departments, both the power bloc and the economic bloc, and the regions of the Russian Federation. It is precisely for this that the Coordination Council was created,” he added.

The Russian leader warned that if Moscow’s operation is carried out within the framework of “standard bureaucratic procedures” there will be “no result,” and stressed that Russian soldiers’ equipment should be “efficient and modern.”

His comments on Tuesday appeared to acknowledge the difficulties Russia has faced since it launched the invasion, failing in its attempt to capture the Ukrainian capital Kyiv.

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President Joe Biden said Russia would be making a “serious, serious mistake” should it deploy a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine, his latest warning to President Vladimir Putin against escalating the months-long conflict.

Top administration officials are working to decipher Moscow’s claims that Kyiv is preparing to use a dirty bomb on the ground in Ukraine, an allegation that Western leaders have called false.

The claims have nonetheless raised fears Russia could be laying the groundwork to launch such an attack as a pretext for escalating the war in Ukraine, a prospect Biden offered a sharp warning against in brief remarks Tuesday.

“I spent a lot of time today talking about that,” Biden said when questioned about Russia’s intentions.

Some context: The Russian Defense Ministry said in a briefing on Monday that it has information showing that Kyiv is planning a provocation related to the detonation of a dirty bomb.

Russia’s allegations have been strongly refuted by Ukraine, the United States, the United Kingdom, the European Union and NATO, which have in turn accused Moscow of trying to launch its own false-flag operation.

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Russia has notified the United States of an upcoming annual exercise that includes its strategic nuclear forces, the Pentagon said Tuesday. 

The GROM exercise involves live missile launches and the deployment of strategic assets. The Pentagon stressed that it is a routine annual exercise, and the US will keep an eye on it. 

The Pentagon said last week that it was expecting the exercise, but Moscow had not officially notified Washington at the time. 

Last week, the US and NATO began the annual nuclear exercise known as Steadfast Noon, which has been conducted each year for more than a decade. 

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A veil of uncertainty has descended over Ukraine’s southern front, as a counteroffensive raises hopes of further Ukrainian gains and speculation grows about what Russia’s next move might be.

There are mixed signals over Russia’s plans for the key city of Kherson, which it has occupied since the early days of the war. Some indications suggest Moscow is bracing for battle, while others point towards preparations for withdrawal.

Over the past two weeks, Kherson’s Kremlin-backed administration has broadcast dire messages about an impending Ukrainian attempt to retake the city, and ferried thousands of residents across the Dnipro River, deeper into Russian-held territory. Ukraine has accused Russia of generating “hysteria” to compel residents to leave.

Moscow has also begun to reduce the footprint of its occupation in Kherson. Ukrainian officials say the Russians are moving injured people, administrative services and financial institutions out of the city, while sending in more troops to fortify their positions.

One man still living in the city said Russia was withdrawing facilities for services like passports and pensions, and that he had seen fewer people and soldiers on the streets in recent days.

“There was a rotation and they brought in new soldiers,” the man, who asked to remain anonymous for security reasons, told CNN on Sunday. “Some of the soldiers who were here for a while, they left and the new [ones] came. Probably they are mobilized, conscripts. They don’t even know what city they’re in.”

Read more here.