President Volodymyr Zelenskiy demanded a special United Nations tribunal impose “just punishment” on Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Moscow’s first wartime mobilisation since World War Two.
Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now
Diplomacy/politics
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Russia and Ukraine carried out an unexpected prisoner swap, the largest since the war began and involving almost 300 people, including 10 foreigners.
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Putin’s thinly veiled threat to use nuclear weapons was “dangerous and reckless rhetoric”, NATO’s secretary general Jens Stoltenberg said.
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Security forces detained nearly 1,400 people in 38 Russian cities at protests denouncing mobilisation by Wednesday evening, a rights group said.
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One-way flights out of Russia were selling out fast after the mobilisation order.
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US President Joe Biden said Moscow was making “irresponsible” threats to use nuclear weapons, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned Putin’s mobilisation order.
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Western allies said threats to use nuclear weapons show Russia’s Ukraine campaign was failing.
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European Union foreign ministers agreed to prepare new sanctions on Russia and increase weapons’ deliveries to Kyiv.
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Foreign ministers from the G7 economies confirmed in a meeting in New York their cooperation in supporting Ukraine, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said.
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China’s position on Ukraine will continue to be “objective” and “fair”, foreign minister Wang Yi told his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov on the sidelines of a UN General Assembly in New York.
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Uzbekistan’s state prosecutors warned citizens against joining foreign armies after Russia offered fast-track citizenship to those who sign up.
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In Moscow’s first update on casualty numbers in almost six months, Russia’s Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed since the start of the conflict.
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Pro-Russian figures announced referendums for Sept. 23-27 in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, representing around 15% of Ukrainian territory.
Nuclear plant
- The head of the UN atomic agency said he would not abandon a plan to create a protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant despite Russian mobilisation plans and moves to hold a referendum in the region.
Economy
- Germany nationalised gas importer Uniper and Britain capped wholesale electricity and gas costs for businesses.
Quotes
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“If the territorial integrity of our country is threatened, we will without doubt use all available means to protect Russia and our people - this is not a bluff,” Putin said in his televised address.
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