SEPTEMBER 30, 2022:
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. has sanctioned more than 1,000 people and firms connected to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, including its Central Bank governor and families of Security Council members. Friday’s (Sept. 30, 2022) action follows President Vladimir Putin’s signing of treaties absorbing occupied regions of Ukraine into Russia, in defiance of international law. President Joe Biden said of Putin’s steps: “Make no mistake: These actions have no legitimacy.” The Treasury Department named hundreds of members of Russia’s legislature, leaders of the country’s financial and military infrastructure and suppliers for sanctions designations. The Commerce Department added 57 companies to its list of export control violators, and the State Department added more than 900 people to its visa restriction list.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2022:
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia is poised to formally annex parts of Ukraine after occupied areas held a Kremlin-orchestrated “referendum” — denounced as illegal and rigged by Kyiv and the West — to live under Moscow’s rule. Armed troops had gone door-to-door with election officials to collect ballots in five days of voting. The results were widely ridiculed as implausible and characterized as a land grab by an increasingly cornered Russian leadership following embarrassing military losses in Ukraine. Russia is calling up 300,000 reservists to fight in the war and warned it could resort to nuclear weapons. Pro-Russia officials in Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia regions said they would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate their provinces into Russia.
SEPTEMBER 27, 2022:
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The final day of voting is taking place in Russian-held regions of Ukraine in referendums that are expected to serve as a pretext for their annexation by Moscow. The preordained ballots are heightening tension between the Kremlin and the West, with Russia warning it could resort to nuclear weapons to defend its own territory. Formal annexation of captured chunks of eastern Ukraine, possibly as soon as Friday (Sept. 30, 2022), sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in the seven-month war. But the nuclear threats haven’t impressed Ukraine or its western allies. France’s foreign minister is the latest high-ranking foreign official to visit Kyiv in a show of support.
SEPTEMBER 26, 2022:
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A young man shot a Russian military commander at close range at an enlistment office Monday (Sept. 26, 2022). It was an unusually bold attack reflecting growing resistance to Russian President Vladimir Putin’s efforts to mobilize hundreds of thousands of more men to wage war on Ukraine. The shooting comes after scattered arson attacks on enlistment offices and protests in Russian cities that resulted in at least 2,000 arrests. Russia is seeking to bolster its military as its Ukraine offensive has bogged down. Concerns are growing that Russia may escalate the conflict — including potentially using nuclear weapons. Votes were being held, meanwhile, in four occupied Ukraine regions about joining up with Russia. Britain’s Foreign Secretary called the votes “sham referendums held at the barrel of a gun.”
FILE Russian recruits walk past a military recruitment center in Volgograd, Russia, Saturday, Sept. 24, 2022. Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered a partial mobilization of reservists to beef up his forces in Ukraine. (AP Photo, File)
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022:
BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Large numbers of Russians have rushed to book one-way tickets out of the country after Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of military reservists for the war in Ukraine. Flights filled up quickly and the prices of tickets for remaining connections sky-rocketed on Wednesday (Sept. 21, 2022), apparently driven by fears that Russia’s borders could soon close. Tickets for the Moscow-Belgrade flights operated by Air Serbia, the only European carrier besides Turkish Airlines to maintain flights to Russia despite a European Union flight embargo, sold out for the next several days. The price for flights from Moscow to Istanbul or Dubai kept increasing, reaching as high as 9,200 euros ($9,119) for a one-way economy class fare.
SEPTEMBER 21, 2022:
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a partial mobilization of reservists in Russia. He is risking a deeply unpopular step that follows a string of humiliating setbacks for his troops nearly seven months after invading Ukraine. It’s the first mobilization in Russia since World War II. It is also sure to further fuel tensions with the Western backers of Ukraine, who derided the move as an act of weakness. The Russian leader also warned the West on Wednesday (Sept. 21, 2022) he isn’t bluffing over using all the means at his disposal to protect Russia’s territory, in what appeared to be a veiled reference to Russia’s nuclear capability.
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