Zelensky says the Russians will be sieged by Ukraine if they stay in Kherson

The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog announced this week that it will look for any signs of “dirty bomb” production in Ukraine — and it’s doing so at Kyiv’s request.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi outlined the plans in a letter Thursday. He said the decision was prompted by a written request from the Ukrainian government, which is responding to unproven claims from Russia that it is developing the weapons.

Inspectors will look for any possible undeclared nuclear activities and materials related to the development of dirty bombs at two locations, according to the statement from Grossi.

The results would be released to the agency’s board of directors and the public as soon as possible, he added.

What is a dirty bomb? The weapons in question combine conventional explosives like dynamite with radioactive material like uranium. They are often referred to as weapons for terrorists, not countries, as they’re designed to spread fear and panic more than eliminate any military target.

What does Russia claim? Without providing any evidence, Moscow claims there are scientific institutions in Ukraine housing the technology needed to create a dirty bomb – and that Kyiv plans to use it.

The international community rejects this narrative: 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, which would provide motivation or justification for its own attacks.

CNN’s Brad Lendon contributed to this report.

The US State Department detailed efforts underway to prevent United States weaponry in Ukraine from falling into the hands of criminal and non-state actors, a move that comes as Washington braces for congress to scrutinize Ukraine assistance next year.

State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that while Ukraine has “has committed to appropriately safeguarding and accounting for transferred defense equipment” the US “remains vigilant” about the possibility of the weapons falling into the wrong hands.

The action plan that is in place to prevent that from happening has a few parts, according to the department:

• Bolstering the ability of Ukrainian security forces and its neighbors to safeguard the weaponry
• Strengthening border management and security in Ukraine
• Building the capacity of Ukraine and its neighbors to “to deter, detect, and interdict illicit trafficking”

“Wars can provide opportunities for weapons to fall into private hands via theft or illicit sales, sometimes creating black markets for arms that endure for decades. A variety of criminal and non-state actors may attempt to acquire weapons from sources in Ukraine during or following the conflict, as occurred after the Balkans Wars in the 1990s,” the State Department said in a fact sheet.

Some context: Some incoming House Republicans are expected to call for cutting the assistance or putting greater oversight into place. Yet so far the vital need for the weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine “is assessed to be impeding black-market proliferation of small arms and guided infantry weapons,” the department explained.

A building during a blackout in Kyiv on October 26.

Thursday was a difficult day for Ukrainians after more Russian attacks left hundreds of thousands of homes without power, the CEO of Ukraine’s Yasno Energy Company said.

The power supply was slashed by 40% in some areas, Serhiy Kovalenko said in a statement. The new power cuts applied to Kyiv, Kyiv region, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and the Zhytomyr region, the CEO said.

At one point, more than 320,000 homes in the capital were without power. By the evening, that number had fallen to 159,000 homes, he said.

In the wider Kyiv region, at least 258,000 homes were without power and more than 500,000 homes were disconnected throughout the day.

Kovalenko added:

“But we are standing. Energy workers are working hard to overcome the consequences of the attacks. Unfortunately, there are no dates for the restoration of normal supply yet. If there is no decrease in consumption overnight, the blackouts will continue,” he added.

Infrastructure facilities were attacked with Iranian-made drones in the Kyiv region Thursday, according to the Emergency Services of Kyiv region.

There were no injuries or deaths, but 48 emergency service workers responded to put out the fires.

Putin speaks during the annual meeting with participants of the Valdai International Discussion Club, on October 27 in Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin took some familiar swipes at the US and its allies during a speech on Thursday, accusing “Western elites” of playing a “dangerous, bloody and dirty game” and seeking to blame them for much of the world’s problems, including his own invasion of Ukraine.

Speaking at the Valdai Club discussion forum in Moscow, he also blamed Western governments, many of which have offered support to Kyiv in the face of Moscow’s illegal invasion, of seeking global domination and attempting to control the world’s natural resources.

“Power over the world is what the so-called West is banking on in its own game. But this is a dangerous game. It’s a bloody game and it’s a dirty game. It denies all the sovereignties of countries, and their uniqueness, it doesn’t take into consideration the interests of other countries,” Putin said.

Putin went on to accuse the West of “staging … color revolutions” in other countries, “such as the one in Ukraine in 2014,” and claimed Western nations that were backing were “losing the upper hand” in global affairs.

The Russian president also said that no one could tell Russia how to build its society: “The West can do whatever they want with gay parades but they shouldn’t dictate the same rules for Russia.” Putin has repeatedly cracked down on same-sex relationships in an effort to uphold what his regime considers traditional family values.

His speech in Moscow came hours after Russian lawmakers agreed to toughen the country’s discriminatory law against so-called same-sex “propaganda,” moving to ban all Russians from promoting or “praising” homosexual relationships or publicly suggesting that they are “normal.”

The original version of the law adopted in 2013 banned “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations” among minors.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed Thursday that Moscow had never “intentionally said anything” about using nuclear weapons, but said that as long as the weapons existed, there was always the danger of their use.

And he denied that Russia was planning to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine.

“We never intentionally said anything about the possibility of using nuclear weapons by Russia. We only responded with hints to (nuclear threats from) from Western leaders,”

Putin said, accusing Western governments, including former British Prime Minister Liz Truss, of engaging in “nuclear blackmail” against Russia.

He also accused the West of “forcing the thesis that Russia will use nuclear weapons” to influence neutral countries against Moscow. He stressed that Russia’s military doctrine only allows the use of nuclear weapons for “defense” purposes.

Putin also reiterated Russia’s baseless claims that Ukraine was building a dirty bomb to use on its own territory and blame Moscow for it.

Russia has been accusing Ukraine of planning to use a so-called dirty bomb, which combines conventional explosives like dynamite and radioactive material such as uranium. Kyiv and its Western allies say there is no truth to the accusation and that Moscow could be mounting a false-flag operation.

Ukraine has invited experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to visit two facilities the Russian government says – without evidence – are involved in a plan to create a dirty bomb.

More background: US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday that the consequences for Russia if it uses a nuclear weapon in its war on Ukraine have been conveyed to Putin.

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

Despite Putin’s rhetoric, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin told CNN Wednesday that Russia will not use nuclear weapons in its war against Ukraine.

However, actions taken by Moscow in recent weeks – the “dirty bomb” allegations, attacks on civilian infrastructure, looming defeats on the battlefield, and its annual military exercise – have increased concerns, a senior administration official said.

This official told CNN that the potential collapse of parts of Russia’s military in Ukraine could be the factor that could cause Putin to turn to nuclear weapon use. As such, the US is keeping a close eye on the developments in the Kherson region, where it’s not easy for Russian soldiers to retreat.

Russia informed the US of its annual GROM exercise, which includes its strategic nuclear forces, the Pentagon said. The Kremlin said in a statement Wednesday that Putin was leading military training drills involving practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles.

Despite increased concerns, US officials have not seen evidence of Russian actions that would indicate Moscow is preparing to use nuclear weapons.

CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Kylie Atwood contributed reporting to this post.

Ukrainian soldiers drive a captured Russian tank after re-fitting it for use in battle, in Kharkiv Oblast on October 15.

The US is “certainly concerned” about escalation in Ukraine, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said during a news conference at the Pentagon.

“As long as we have the channels of communication open and we’re able to communicate, you know, what’s important to us, then I think we have an opportunity to manage escalation,” Austin said.

Austin also said that Russia’s use of a nuclear weapon in Ukraine would result in “a very significant response from the international community.”

“We’re going to continue to communicate that any type of use of a weapon of that sort or even the talk of the use of a weapon of that sort is dangerous and irresponsible,” Austin, said, who added that if Russia used one, it “has a potential of changing things in the international community.”

“Russia has been indiscriminately using thousands of offensive missiles in Ukraine,” a senior defense official said. “Their use of missiles in Ukraine shows we should expect these weapons to become a common feature of 21st century conflict.”

So far, Russia has been “absolutely deterred from attacking NATO,” a second defense official said with a level of confidence rarely heard from the US, especially amid escalating rhetoric from Russia and its state-run media outlets.  

“President Biden has stated unequivocally that we will defend every inch of NATO territory, and it’s very clear to us here in the Pentagon that Russia has received that message,” the official said. 

US President Joe Biden does not intend to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin when he attends the G20 summit in Bali next month.

“The President said he has no intention sit down with Vladimir Putin, and that’s where we are today,” John Kirby, US National Security Council coordinator for strategic communications, told reporters in an off-camera briefing Thursday. 

Biden previously told CNN’s Jake Tapper earlier this month he didn’t plan to meet with Putin, but there was one circumstance under which he could consider it.

“Look, I have no intention of meeting with him, but look, if he came to me at the G20 and said, ‘I want to talk about the release of Griner,’ I would meet with him, but that would depend,” he said.

Biden, Kirby said, will be focused on alliances and partnerships during the trip, which comes days after the midterm elections.

“The President is proud of the work that we have done around the world to shore up alliances and partnerships … and I think you’re going to see President Biden focus on that,” Kirby said.

Putin addresses a session of the Valdai Discussion Club forum in Moscow on October 27.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that the world faces the “most dangerous decade” since the end of World War II.

“The unipolar world is a thing of the past. We are at a historical frontier. Ahead is the most dangerous, unpredictable and at the same time important decade since the end of World War II,” Putin said, speaking to the Valdai Discussion Club in Moscow.

He also spoke about the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and said what’s happening was unavoidable and blamed the West for creating the crisis — a claim he has made repeatedly since the invasion began. Western nations have denounced Putin’s invasion and vowed not to recognize the region Moscow is claiming to annex, in violation of international law.

“Changes in Ukraine did not begin with the start of a special military operation. These changes have been going on for many years. The tectonic change in the world order has been going on for many years,” Putin said.

“NATO enlargement with the Ukraine, which was totally unacceptable to us, and everybody knew that, and they ignored. They totally ignored interest in the security area, and a certain try just failed,” the Russian leader added.

“Russians and Ukrainians are one people historically. It’s almost like civil war happening right now,” he continued.

He ended his speech saying that the current situation around the world has the “prerequisites for a revolution.”  

Earlier in his speech he stressed on the need to mend relations with Western countries, adding that Moscow “has never considered and does not consider itself an enemy of the West.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky speaks in a video address on October 26.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera that “of course” they’ll be able to defeat the Russians in the southern region of Kherson, one of the territories Moscow claims to have annexed.

Speaking in an on-camera interview Thursday Zelensky explained it’s difficult because of the “price of people.” He said for Russia “it doesn’t matter how many people will be dead tomorrow … For us it’s very important, we can’t just push people, go there and die.”

When asked when he thinks Ukraine may be able to enter Russian-occupied Kherson, Zelensky said, “I don’t see that they are running out of the Kherson … I think that is an informational attack. For us, I don’t want to say all the secrets, for us to come there, to take more people from some dangerous places and to go there. I think it was their information attack. So, they are not ready to go out of Kherson. But they know that if we will have success, they will not have possibility to exit.”

He added the Russians will be sieged if they stay because “they know this problem and dangerous situation. But we’ll work on it.”

When asked about Russian-installed leaders of the occupied Kherson region evacuating civilians, Zelensky called it “theatre,” adding that “their most tough soldiers, they are on the places. All of them. Nobody gets away. We see it and don’t believe them.”

Meanwhile, Russian state media reports the “situation in Kherson area is stabilizing, artillery bombardments are less frequent, and the Ukrainian forces make no attempts to counter-attack,” TASS says, according to the Kherson region’s Russian-appointed Gov. Vladimir Saldo, speaking Thursday on Russia-24 television.

“For now, there are no serious changes, or counterattacks, or anything else on the line of engagement. There are far fewer shellings than usual or than ten days ago. In general, the situation looks stable,” Saldo added.

Russia has not decided whether to extend its participation in a United Nations-backed deal that allows the export of Ukrainian grain, foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova told reporters in a daily briefing on Thursday.

The agreement has allowed Ukraine – one of the world’s largest wheat producers – to export more than 8 million tons of grain and fertilizers, according to UN data. Ships had been prevented from leaving the country’s Black Sea ports after Russia launched a full-scale assault on it in February.

The grain deal was agreed by Russia, Turkey and the UN in July and implemented at the beginning of August. It is due to expire in mid-November.

Zakharova said the Kremlin may not extend the agreement because Russia faced its own problems exporting fertilizers and other agricultural products, despite a memorandum it negotiated with the UN in parallel to facilitate this. “They [the exports] are blocked due to Western sanctions,” she said.

“The UN secretary general said that we were talking about a package agreement. It was his idea, about the equality of the two parts,” Zakharova said. “As far as the memorandum is concerned, we are not seeing any results.” 

“We cannot accept such a situation,” she added. “This is a package deal, and all its parts must be complied with.”

Martin Griffiths, the UN under-secretary general for humanitarian affairs, told reporters in a news briefing in New York Wednesday he was “relatively optimistic” the deal would be renewed.

“I think we all understand the issues,” he said, adding that the UN was committed to “removing those impediments to Russian grain and fertilizer exports.”

“A lot of work has been done to remove those impediments. It’s very important for the global south. It’s also important for us. We want those two agreements that were signed on July 22 to continue to operate,” Griffiths said. 

CNN’s Nic Robertson has exclusive reporting from a power station incapacitated by Russian forces.

Workers are facing a “very steep hill to climb” as the power stations are becoming one of the main targets of attacks by the Russians against Ukraine.

As Roberston and his team visited the plant, which CNN is not identifying for safety purposes, there were air raid sirens, which are now a daily occurrence. The CNN team went into the bunker with the workers and remained there for “quite a period of time.” 

When they came out, they witnessed “quite extensive destruction” of the equipment from previous strikes. There was damage to switching equipment and high voltage cabling which is particularly vulnerable to missile strikes. 

Some of the equipment is no longer manufactured which means it needs to be ordered and can take a long time to arrive or it may need to be scavenged from other power plants across Ukraine or requested from international partners.

There is increasing concern about the vulnerability of power plants in Ukraine as the cold winter months approach.

Power outages are seen in the city center on October 25, in Kyiv, Ukraine. 

Ukraine’s energy agency will implement “severe” and “unprecedented” emergency power cuts in the capital Kyiv to avoid a “complete blackout,” the city administration said in a Telegram post on Thursday.

The announcement came after Russian strikes on Ukrainian energy facilities overnight, which left Kyiv and the surrounding region with ”a power shortage of 30% of consumption,” it said. 

“In order to prevent a complete blackout of the capital and central regions of Ukraine, the state energy company Ukrenergo is introducing unprecedented emergency restrictions. The schedule of outages announced yesterday is no longer relevant. Unfortunately, more severe and longer blackouts will be implemented in the coming days,” it continued. 

The post urged residents to use electricity “sparingly,” especially in the morning and at night, while businesses were asked to turn off the lights outside offices, restaurants and shopping centers. 

Ukraine’s state emergency service said the strikes were by Iranian-made drones on “infrastructure facilities” in the region. 

The government in Kyiv has said Russia is damaging critical infrastructure to make life more difficult as temperatures drop as the country heads into winter. 

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is seen during the Warsaw Security Forum on October 4 in Warsaw, Poland.

An opposition leader in exile from Belarus has demanded that President Alexsandr Lukashenko be held to account for his regime’s complicity in the Ukraine war and for Russian soldiers to withdraw from Belarusian soil, after a CNN investigation revealed new evidence that the country provided medical assistance to injured Russian troops.

Russia used Belarus as a staging ground for its invasion of Ukraine in February, deploying troops and weaponry to its territory. A CNN report published Wednesday found that Belarus’ authoritarian government also provided medical aid to Russian military personnel, who were secretly ferried to several civilian hospitals in the southern Gomel region and treated by Belarusian doctors operating under harsh surveillance.

Opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, who has lived in exile in Lithuania since 2020, said that Lukashenko’s regime had helped facilitate Russia’s aggression against Ukraine – in violation of international law – and that CNN’s investigation was further evidence of his complicity.

“This is important evidence of Lukashenka’s crimes and complicity in the war. These testimonies, collected by CNN journalists, will help in the future investigation and bring Lukashenka to the tribunal,” she said in a statement. “This is proof that the regime participated in and facilitated Russian aggression.”

“But this is also a testament to the courage of those Belarusian doctors. They, despite threats and terror, recorded the truth so that Belarusians and the world would learn what Putin and Lukashenka are actually doing in Ukraine,” she added.

Read more here.

The Russian-backed authorities in control of occupied parts of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region have announced plans to check residents’ phones for what they call “propaganda.” 

“Starting today, law enforcement officers in the Zaporozhye region have begun selective preventive checks of citizens’ mobile phones,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-installed regional council, said in a Telegram post on Thursday.

“Subscriptions to the propaganda resources of the terrorist Kyiv regime are of interest. If a person is subscribed to propaganda resources, he will receive a warning the first time. In the future, violators will be fined,” he said.  

Anyone found to be a “foreign agent” would be subject to possible criminal prosecution, he added. 

Rogov said the checks were allowed under martial law, which Moscow introduced in occupied Zaporizhzhia and three other regions on Oct. 19.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to make a “very important” speech at an event in Moscow on Thursday, as Russian forces hit Kyiv region, Zaporizhzhia and Bakhmut, as well as targeting the Ukrainian energy grid yet again. Attacks on energy infrastructure could cause “deep suffering” this winter, according to the United Nations, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has accelerated the energy transition as Moscow’s fossil fuel exports decline, the International Energy Agency reports.

Here are the latest headlines:

• Putin to make extensive speech: Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver a speech followed by a discussion at the Valdai Club forum in Moscow on Thursday. The event promises to be “very important,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told TASS, without saying which topics specifically Putin will address.
• Kyiv region hit by airstrikes: The region suffered several airstrikes on Thursday morning local time, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional military administration. The strikes caused a fire, which was extinguished, and the local air defense forces have taken out some “enemy objects” from the sky, he said. No casualties have been reported.
• Russian shelling causes fire in Zaporizhzhia: An infrastructure facility on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine was hit in Russian attacks on Thursday morning, a Ukrainian military official said. The attack caused a fire but no casualties, according to the head of the region’s military administration, Oleksandr Starukh. 
• Three killed in Bakhmut shelling: Russian strikes killed three civilians in Bakhmut on Wednesday as Russian troops continue a months-long attempt to seize the strategically important city in Ukraine’s east. Late Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian troops in eastern Ukraine of “craziness” in their repeated efforts to take Bakhmut.
• Crimea power station hit: A thermal power station in Russian-annexed Crimea was targeted early Thursday by a drone attack, according to a Russia-appointed official. There were no casualties and minimal damage to the transformer said Mikhail Razvozhaev, adding that the supply of power to the main city of Sevastopol and the broader Crimean Peninsula had not been affected.
• Russia targets power grid again: Russia’s assault on the Ukrainian power grid continued with further damage overnight, the national energy agency Ukrenergo said Thursday. There could be electricity restrictions in the capital Kyiv and the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr as a result of the strike, in order to avoid overloading the power grid, it added.
• “Deep suffering” after attacks on infrastructure: A wave of Russian attacks on critical energy infrastructure has left some Ukrainian communities without access to heat, water and electricity. Now the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are worried about its impact as cold weather begins to set in. 
• Energy transition accelerates after Russian invasion: Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could accelerate the world’s transition to a more “sustainable and secure energy system” as Moscow’s fossil fuel exports continue to decline, said the International Energy Agency (IEA). 

Three civilians were killed in Bakhmut on Wednesday as Russian troops continue a months-long attempt to seize the strategically important city in Ukraine’s east.

The Russians shelled residential buildings and infrastructure facilities, the Donetsk regional police said in a Telegram post Thursday. In total, 15 Russian shells hit eight locations in the Donetsk region, including Bakhmut, the post said.

Late Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russian troops in eastern Ukraine of “craziness” in their repeated efforts to take Bakhmut.

“The fiercest battles are in Donetsk region: Bakhmut direction, Avdiivka,” he said in his nightly video address.

“The craziness of the Russian command is now most visible there: day after day for months, they drive people there to death, concentrate the maximum power of artillery strikes there,” said Zelensky.

“All our soldiers who hold positions in these directions in Donetsk region are simply heroes.”

Russian forces have made small, steady gains in Bakhmut, which lies on a road leading to the towns of Kostiantynivka to the southwest, and Kramatorsk and Sloviansk to the northwest.

Much of the city’s pre-war population of 70,000 have fled since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February.

On Thursday, the Ukrainian Armed Forces said in a Facebook post that Russian troops were “not stopping [their] offensive operations in the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions.” 

Due to Russian massive missile attacks on Ukrainian energy infrastructure facilities, rolling blackouts were introduced in the cities to stabilize the power system.

A wave of Russian attacks on critical energy infrastructure has left some Ukrainian communities without access to heat, water and electricity.

Now the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UN OCHA) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are worried about its impact as cold weather begins to set in.

“We are extremely worried about the humanitarian impact of continued attacks on energy infrastructure as they deprive communities of heat and water just as the temperatures are dropping,” UN OCHA spokesperson Anna Jefferys told CNN in an email.

Russian missile and drone attacks have targeted Ukraine’s power plants and electrical grid in recent weeks, leading to rolling blackouts and disrupting water supplies.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has said more than a third of the country’s energy sector has been destroyed.

Jefferys said the UN was especially worried about those who had stayed in their homes near Ukraine’s frontline, many of whom are old, disabled or chronically ill.

“We are particularly concerned about people in eastern and southern oblasts who have suffered relentless shelling for months and have been left utterly traumatized,” she said. “Their ability to cope is wearing thin.”

The ICRC echoed the UN’s concerns, telling CNN that attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure had led to “deep suffering” that could worsen as temperatures drop.

“Across Ukraine, electricity grids are tied directly to water systems, meaning that when the electricity is knocked out, residents also do not have access to water in their homes and places of business,” Achille Després, the ICRC’s spokesperson in Ukraine, said in an email.

“This is already causing deep suffering for civilians as temperatures started to drop significantly.

“As winter closes in, people across the country are going to struggle to meet their basic needs like having clean drinking water, staying warm, using electricity or cooking,” Després warned, adding that “the needs are massive.” 

Russian President Vladimir Putin is seen during the plenary session of the Commonwealth of the Independent States Summit, on October 14, in Astana, Kazakhstan. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver an extensive speech followed by a discussion at the think tank and discussion forum, the Valdai Club, in Moscow on Thursday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told state news agency TASS. 

The event promises to be “very important,” Peskov told TASS, without saying which topics specifically Putin will address. 

However the forum has announced that the title of the meeting is “A Post-Hegemonic World: Justice and Security for Everyone.”  

The “voluminous” speech Putin will deliver at the meeting “is the main event of the day, which, for sure, will have to be analyzed, studied, read and re-read for many days later,” Peskov said Thursday during a regular call with journalists. 

This year’s meeting will be attended by 111 experts, politicians, diplomats and economists from 41 countries, according to a statement from the Kremlin.

“The new geopolitical situation and changes in Russia’s partnership system have affected the geographical representation of the invitees to the 2022 edition of the event,” the Kremlin said in the statement. 

The Middle East and North Africa, Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) are “much more widely represented this year,” the Kremlin said, adding that “representatives of several Western countries are also taking part in the meeting.”

Natalia Zemko (L), 81, talks with her daughter Lesya Zemko at their home on October 22, in Kyiv, Ukraine. Restricted power supplies and limited electricity started so that energy companies could repair power facilities hit by a wave of recent Russian air strikes.

Russia’s assault on the Ukrainian power grid continued with further damage overnight, the national energy agency Ukrenergo said Thursday.

“The main network of the Ukrainian power grid in the central regions was damaged,” Ukrenergo said in a statement posted to Facebook.

Ukrenergo said there could be electricity restrictions in the capital Kyiv and the regions of Kyiv, Chernihiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr as a result of the strike, in order to avoid overloading the power grid.

Ukrainians have endured rolling power cuts in recent weeks as Moscow has targeted energy infrastructure.

Officials have urged citizens to reduce energy use, and even asked refugees that fled the country not to return home this winter to reduce pressure on the electricity grid.

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

The attacks were aimed at making “it harder for us to endure this winter,” Zelensky told an international conference on Ukraine reconstruction.

Concerns over the use of nuclear weapons in the war in Ukraine continue to rumble on as Moscow sends out mixed messages.

Russia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin told CNN on Wednesday that Moscow will not use nuclear weapons in Ukraine, but on the same day President Vladimir Putin led a training exercise practicing the delivery of a massive nuclear strike.

“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.”

However on the same day Russia’s Strategic Deterrence Forces conducted a training exercise in delivering “a massive nuclear strike in response to an enemy nuclear attack,” according to a Kremlin statement.

The drills involved practice launches of ballistic and cruise missiles, it added.

“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 the Supreme Commander-in-Chief of the Russian army, also heard a report from Shoigu during the training exercises. 

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

IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol speaks during the 15th Singapore International Energy Week, in Singapore on October 25.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine could accelerate the world’s transition to a more “sustainable and secure energy system” as Moscow’s fossil fuel exports continue to decline, the International Energy Agency (IEA) said in a report Thursday. 

In its annual World Energy Outlook, the IEA found that international energy markets are in the midst of a “profound reorientation” as “countries adjust to the rupture of Russia-Europe flows,” predicting that global emissions could now peak in 2025. 

“Energy markets and policies have changed as a result of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, not just for the time being, but for decades to come,” said IEA Executive Director Fatih Birol. 

“Alongside short-term measures to try to shield consumers from the impacts of the crisis, many governments are now taking longer-term steps. Some are seeking to increase or diversify oil and gas supplies, and many are looking to accelerate structural changes,” the report continued. 

According to the IEA forecast, global clean energy investment could be “set to rise to more than $2 trillion a year by 2030” representing “a rise of more than 50% from today.”

Russia – which is the world’s largest exporter of fossil fuels – will never regain the foothold it had in the international energy supply mix, the IEA found, warning that its invasion of Ukraine had left the Kremlin in a “much-diminished position” due to its ruptured relations with Europe.  

The agency also found – for the first time in the history of its modelling – that global demand for every type of fossil fuel is “set to peak or plateau” before levelling off in the mid-2030s. 

A thermal power station in Russian-annexed Crimea was targeted early Thursday by a drone attack, according to a Russia-appointed official.

“A UAV attacked the Balaklavskaya TPP tonight,” Mikhail Razvozhaev, the Moscow-backed governor of Sevastopol said in a Telegram post.  

“One of the transformers caught fire, which was on maintenance and did not operate. By the time the Ministry of Emergency Situations team arrived at the station, there was no more burning. The thermal power plant staff quickly coped with the fire.”

There were no casualties and minimal damage to the transformer he said, adding that the supply of power to the main city of Sevastopol and the broader Crimean Peninsula had not been affected. 

CNN cannot independently confirm Razvozhaev’s claims. 

An infrastructure facility on the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine was hit in Russian attacks on Thursday morning, a Ukrainian military official said.

The attack caused a fire but no casualties, according to the head of the region’s military administration, Oleksandr Starukh. 

“The enemy attacked the outskirts of Zaporizhzhia overnight. According to preliminary information, these were three shells of the MLRS ‘Smerch’. There are no casualties. The infrastructure facility was hit. A fire broke out, which was extinguished in time by the State Emergency Service,” Starukh said on Telegram. 

“Windows in 10 apartment buildings and educational institutions were damaged. Roofs, doors, and windows were destroyed in more than 10 private houses. The entire street was left without electricity.”

Some context: Ukrainian officials believe Russia’s countrywide drone and cruise missile attacks are being carefully orchestrated to target important infrastructure as Ukraine heads into winter. By hitting thermal power stations, electricity sub-stations, transformers and pipelines, Russian forces have been directly impacting Ukrainians’ ability to access power, water and the internet. On Tuesday, the EU Commission President condemned Russia’s attacks as “pure acts of terror.”

Several airstrikes hit Kyiv on Thursday morning local time, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, head of the Kyiv regional military administration. 

The strikes hit a community in the region, Kuleba said. The fire was extinguished, and the local air defense forces have taken out some “enemy objects” from the sky, he said.

No casualties have been reported.

A drone is seen seconds before striking a building in Kyiv, Ukraine on Oct. 17.

Russia tried again at the UN Security Council on Wednesday to shift the focus on the use of Iranian-made drones in Ukraine.

Russia claimed the senior UN leadership was stepping outside its responsibilities by planning to send experts to Ukraine to examine drones the US insists were made and shipped by Iran.

Russia believes that Article 100 of the UN Charter prohibits the UN Secretary-General and his staff from receiving or seeking instructions from a member state.

However, the UN legal office disagreed and provided past examples of countries asking the Secretary-General for assistance, including Russia. 

Wednesday’s discussions came after British, French and German diplomats wrote to the Secretary-General last Friday urging the UN to investigate Iran’s transfer of drones to Russia, saying it violated UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which restricts certain arms transfers to or from Iran.

US Ambassador Robert Wood said Moscow was again wasting time to deflect attention from its egregious wrongdoing while UK Ambassador James Kariuki said Russia and Iran had been “caught red-handed violating resolution 2231.”

Some context: The resolution was linked to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, and elements of that resolution, including a ban on the transfer of conventional weapons, were phased out in 2020. But the Western countries said that both Iranian drone models were manufactured after the resolution entered into force and that the transfer “has not been permitted in advance by the Security Council.”

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during an event at the State Department on Wednesday, Oct. 26.

The consequences for Russia if it uses a nuclear weapon in its war on Ukraine have been conveyed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Wednesday.

“We’ve also communicated directly and very clearly to the Russians, President Putin about the consequences,” the top US diplomat said at a Bloomberg event. Blinken did not indicate how it was communicated to Putin or by whom, and principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel later suggested that US officials had not communicated directly with him.

“You have seen members of this administration dialogue directly with their counterparts in Russia and express these concerns and the potential for dire consequences,” which “no doubt have likely made its way to President Putin,” Patel said at a State Department briefing.

Biden administration officials have said that Moscow has been warned at the highest levels of the consequences for use of nuclear weapon in the war, but Blinken’s remark is the first explicit mention that the message has been communicated to Putin himself.

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

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

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.”

Read the full story here.

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy speaks during a ceremony at the US Capitol on July 27.

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.

Read more here.

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.

White House officials said that the United States is seeing signs Russia may be advising Iran on how to crack down on public demonstrations, after clashes broke out across Iran during demonstrations marking 40 days since the death of Mahsa Amini.

“We are concerned that Moscow may be advising Tehran on best practices, drawing on Russia’s extensive experience of suppressing open demonstrations,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press briefing on Wednesday.

“The evidence that Iran is helping Russia rage its war against Ukraine is clear and it is public. And Iran and Russia are growing closer the more isolated they become. Our message to Iran is very, very clear — stop killing your people and stop sending weapons to Russia to help kill Ukrainians.”

Jean-Pierre and John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the National Security Council who spoke later in the briefing, did not provide evidence for the accusation.

Read more here.