NATO allies on Thursday said damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines appear to be “the result of deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage.” On Thursday, the Swedish Coast Guard’s Command Center identified a new pipeline leak in the Baltic Sea.
(Bloomberg) — NATO allies on Thursday said damage to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 natural gas pipelines appear to be “the result of deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage.” On Thursday, the Swedish Coast Guard’s Command Center identified a new pipeline leak in the Baltic Sea.
The 18 High Mobility Artillery Systems that are part of the new $1.1 billion US assistance package to Ukraine have not yet been built and it will take a years before they’re delivered, a Defense Department official said Wednesday.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced an eighth package of sanctions to target Russia over its attempt to annex more territory in Ukraine.
The measures will include a price cap on Russian oil exports.
(See RSAN on the Bloomberg Terminal for the Russian Sanctions Dashboard.)
Key Developments
- More US Artillery Prized by Ukrainians Won’t Arrive for Years
- Putin Raises Gas Pressure as He Moves to Annex Ukraine Lands
- Nord Stream Gas Pipes Now Have Four Leaks With Another Found
- Germany’s Network Regulator Sounds Alarm on Gas Consumption
- Ukraine’s Plea for Tanks Bogs Down as US, Germany Confront Risks
- Russia Declares Victory in Sham Ukraine ‘Referendums’
On the Ground
Russia struck the city of Dnipro with missiles overnight, including residential areas, local authorities said on Telegram.
Three people, including a child, were killed. More than 60 private houses and several high-rise buildings were damaged. On Wednesday evening Russia launched five missiles towards Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, four of which were destroyed by air-defense forces, while one hit a grain-processing facility in Kryvorizka district, Ukrainian military’s southern command said on Facebook.
More than 28 settlements, including Mykolaiv, Kryvyi Rih and Siversk, incurred Russian strikes over the past day, Ukraine’s General Staff said. Russian forces shelled the Kryvorizka district Thursday morning, hitting industrial infrastructure and wounding 13 workers, according to regional authorities.
All times CET:
Regulator Says Germany Using Too Much Gas (11:43 a.m.)
Germany’s network regulator warned that households and companies used too much gas over the past week as temperatures dropped, and said savings of at least 20% are needed to avert a shortage of the fuel this winter.
Klaus Mueller, Bundesnetzagentur president, called the figures “sobering,” while cautioning that they provide only a “snapshot” and that the situation can quickly change.
Read more: Germany’s Network Regulator Sounds Alarm on Gas Consumption
Three Ships Leaves Ukraine’s Odesa-Area Ports (11:20 a.m.)
Three ships carrying Ukrainian agriculture products left the ports of Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi on the Black Sea on Thursday, the government said.
The ships are bound for Africa and Asia, with cargoes including 27,500 tons of wheat to Tunisia.
Ukraine has exported almost 5.5 million tons of agriculture products from three Black Sea ports since a safe-transit deal was reached with Russia in late July.
NATO Promises ‘Determined’ Response to Infrastructure Attacks (11:09 a.m.)
NATO allies warned that any deliberate attack against allies’ infrastructure would be met with a “united and determined response,” following gas pipeline leaks in the Baltic Sea discovered this week.
In a joint statement, the North Atlantic Council echoed other officials, saying information currently indicates the leaks are the result of “deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage.” They added they are committed to defending against any “coercive use of energy or hybrid tactics by state and non-state actors.”
Even as Poland has blamed Russia for the damage, the NATO statement refrained from naming any names as a joint investigation by Denmark, Sweden and Germany is under way.
Albania Says It Welcomes Russians, Lithuania Urges Citizens to Leave (11 a.m.)
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said Russians fleeing the country are “welcome” in Albania, according to Tirana-based portal Albanian Daily News.
When it comes to the Balkan region, the Russian exodus so far has been focused on Serbia.
In Lithuania, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas reiterated advise for the country’s citizens to leave Russia, saying it’s “becoming a state where foreign citizens can simply become hostages” to the Kremlin regime.
“No one can rule out that they won’t use foreign citizens as shields,” he said.
Finland Sees Russia Turning More to Cyber-Spying (10:14 a.m.)
The war in Ukraine and the expulsions of Russian diplomats that followed have hampered Moscow’s espionage operations, causing the country increasingly to turn to the cyber environment for intelligence gathering, the Finnish Security and Intelligence Service, Supo, said in a national security overview.
Russia’s traditional method of spying is to use human intelligence under diplomatic cover and that has now “become substantially more difficult,” SUPO said.
The security agency said authoritarian states “can secure access to or influence over critical infrastructure” via corporate acquisitions or investments.
It identified China as a potential perpetrator, alongside Russia.
Read more: Finland Sees Russia Moving Espionage to Cyber Environment
Russian Stocks Brush Off New Sanctions Threat (9:32 a.m.)
Russia’s equity benchmark gained for a third day, trimming this month’s losses, as investors disregarded the threat of additional international sanctions and took advantage of the cheapest valuations on record.
The MOEX Russia Index gained as much as 2.1% on Thursday; it traded up 0.7% as of 10:30am in Moscow.
Retailer H&M Takes Earnings Hit From Russian Exit (9:03 a.m.)
Retailer Hennes & Mauritz AB plans to cut costs by 2 billion Swedish kronor ($180 million) annually after its exit from Russia and higher garment and transport costs caused earnings to slump.
Operating profit dropped 86% in the three months through August.
The figure includes a previously communicated one-time charge of 2 billion kronor for winding down operations in Russia.
Fourth Nord Stream Leak Found by Sweden’s Coast Guard (8:30 a.m.)
A new leak has been discovered on the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, bringing the total number of ruptures to four, according to the Swedish Coast Guard’s Command Center.
Gas has been bubbling up from the pipelines since earlier this week, with Denmark estimating that the links would empty by Sunday.
Several governments have called the actions “deliberate” and “sabotage.”
Lithuania’s Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landesbergis said the news was more evidence that the leaks are deliberate and “fit to be called a terrorist act.”
Read more: Nord Stream Gas Pipes Now Have Four Leaks With Another Found
Finland Reports Clear Drop in Russian Arrivals (8:21 a.m.)
Finland’s Border Guard said about 4,700 Russians crossed the border into the Nordic country on Wednesday, a “clear drop” compared with Tuesday, when more than 7,000 entered.
Wednesday’s arrivals are comparable with the numbers from a week ago, when Vladimir Putin’s expanded military mobilization was announced.
The UK defence ministry said that the Russian exodus in the past week “likely exceeds the size of the total invasion force Russia field in February,” with the better-off and well educated over-represented.
Ukraine Infrastructure Minister on Time’s ‘Next 100’ List (8 a.m.)
Oleksandr Kubrakov was named this week to Time magazine’s “Next 100,” which recognizes “emerging leaders who are shaping the future.”
The infrastructure chief, appointed in 2021, was cited in part for spearheading Ukraine’s grain exports under the UN/Turkey-brokered safe transit agreement from three Black Sea ports.
The deal has seen more than 3 million tonnes of Ukraine’s agricultural products shipped after exports were halted after Russia’s invasion.
Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister for digital transformation, was recognized by Time for being “at the center of an effort to counteract Russian propaganda in real time.”
US Artillery Coveted by Ukraine Won’t Arrive for Years (10:59 p.m.)
The highly-prized HIMARS artillery system in the US’s latest $1.1 billion security assistance package for Ukraine will take a few years to be built and delivered, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
The US announced it would send 18 High Mobility Artillery Systems, made by Lockheed Martin Corp., as part of the new assistance package.
Unlike the 16 HIMARS already, the new ones will have to be produced under contract through the Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative, according to the official.
Although Ukraine’s president welcomed what he called the “critical equipment that’ll bring victory closer,” the latest security assistance package is meant to be the beginning of a contracting process for Ukraine’s mid-to-long-term defense, the US official said.
US Sending HIMARS Rockets, Armored Vehicles in $1.1 Billion Package (8:03 p.m.)
The Biden administration announced a $1.1 billion package of additional weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that it includes 18 new High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, beyond the 16 already committed.
She said “it also includes hundreds of armored vehicles, radars and counter drone systems.”
Jean-Pierre also said sham referendums conducted by Russia in occupied areas of Ukraine “were straight from the Kremlin playbook.
They were manufactured and manipulated. Ukrainian civilians were forced to cast ballots under the watch of armed guards.”
Putin’s Approval Rating Falls Amid Partial Mobilization (7:51 p.m.)
Approval ratings for Putin fell to 77% in September from 83% in August, according to the latest poll by the independent Levada Center.
The first drop in approval since April comes days after Putin ordered a partial mobilization last week. The poll found 21% of respondents don’t approve Putin’s actions as his nation’s leader, the highest since February, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
Finland Says Only State Actor Capable of Nord Stream Sabotage (7:45 p.m.)
The rupture of the Nord Stream natural-gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea can only have been carried out by a state actor, Finland’s Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said.
“We’ve known that sabotage against critical infrastructure has been a realistic threat,” Haavisto told reporters in Helsinki on Wednesday.
The acts appear to have been “deliberate” and “may have been intended to destabilize the Baltic Sea area,” Prime Minister Sanna Marin said at the same news conference.
Putin’s Draft Order Sparks Exodus of Russians (5:12 p.m.)
At least 200,000 Russians left the country after Putin’s mobilization order in a dash for safety that’s causing turmoil at the borders and stirring fears in neighboring states about potential instability.
While Russia hasn’t released official data, statistics from Georgia, Kazakhstan and the European Union showed the scale of the departures amid fears among conscription-age men that the Kremlin may close the border for them.
The total is likely an underestimate as other nearby countries popular with Russians including Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkey haven’t disclosed arrival figures.
EU Announces New Sanctions Package (4:16 p.m.)
The European Union proposed a new round of sanctions targeting Russia after Moscow announced a partial mobilization and staged widely condemned referendums on annexations in Ukrainian territory it’s occupying.
In addition to imposing a price cap on Russian oil, the measures will include an import ban on Russian products that will deprive Moscow of 7 billion euros ($6.7 billion) in revenue as well as export restrictions on aviation products, electronic components and chemical substances, von der Leyen told reporters in Brussels.
Sanctions need to be approved unanimously by the EU’s 27 member states before they can be imposed.
Read more: EU Plans New Russia Import Bans, Tech Curbs Over Putin Land Grab
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