Nord Stream gas 'sabotage': Who's being blamed and why? - Reuters

WARSAW, Sept 30 (Reuters) - Major leaks that suddenly erupted in the Nord Stream gas pipelines that run from Russia to Europe under the Baltic Sea have generated plenty of theories but few clear answers about who or what caused the damage.

Here is what we know and what has been said so far:

WHO IS BEING BLAMED?

So far, most governments and officials have avoided pointing a finger directly, although some have made stronger hints than others.

European Union states say they believe the damage was caused by sabotage but have stopped short of naming anyone. Fatih Birol, the head of the International Energy Agency, said it was "very obvious" who was behind it but did not say who that was.

The Kremlin said allegations of Russian responsibility were "stupid" and Russian officials have said Washington had a motive as it wants to sell more liquefied natural gas (LNG) to Europe.

President Vladimir Putin called the incident "unprecedented sabotage" and "an act of international terrorism", while the head of Russia's intelligence agency Sergei Naryshkin said the West was doing "everything it could" to cover up the perpetrators.

The White House has dismissed charges it was responsible.

U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said it was still too soon to point a finger and a full investigation was needed. "In terms of the attack - or the damage to the pipeline, at this point I think there's a lot of speculation," he said.

European leaders and Moscow say they can not rule out sabotage. Map of Nord Stream pipelines and locations of reported leaks

WHY SABOTAGE A PIPELINE?

German Navy Chief Jan Christian Kaack told German daily Die Welt in Monday's edition, the day leaks were found although he was apparently speaking before that: "Russia has also built up considerable capacity underwater. At the bottom of the Baltic Sea, but also in the Atlantic, there is quite a bit of critical infrastructure like pipelines or submarine cables for IT."

Alongside Nord Stream, a new pipeline has been built between gas producing Norway and Poland, which has been seeking to end its reliance on Russian energy, making the region highly sensitive for Europe's energy security.

"(Russia) can intimidate Europeans through an act of sabotage. Because if they're able to blow up these pipelines in the Baltic seabed, they could do that as well to the new pipeline," said Kristine Berzina, senior fellow for security and defence at the German Marshall Fund.

However, if it was an act of sabotage, it has damaged pipelines that were built by Kremlin-controlled Gazprom (GAZP.MM) and its European partners at a cost that ran into billions of dollars.

The damage also means Russia loses an element of leverage it still had over Europe, which has been racing to find other gas supplies for winter, even if the Nord Stream pipelines where not pumping gas when the leaks were discovered, analysts say.

Whoever or whatever is to blame, Ukraine may also be a beneficiary. Kyiv has long called for Europe to halt all purchases of Russian fuel - even though some gas still runs to Europe across its territory. Disrupting Nord Stream brings Kyiv's call for a full Russian fuel embargo closer to reality.

HOW COULD NORD STREAM HAVE BEEN DAMAGED?

Experts say the scale of the damage and the fact that the leaks are far from each other on two different pipelines indicate that the act was intentional and well-orchestrated.

Seismologists in Denmark and Sweden said they had registered two powerful blasts on Monday in the vicinity of the leaks and the explosions were in the water, not under the seabed.

A British defence source told Sky News the attack was probably premeditated and detonated from afar using underwater mines or other explosives.

"Something big caused those explosions which means ... Russia could do it. In theory, the United States could also do it but I don't really see the motivation there," Oliver Alexander, an open source intelligence analyst, told Reuters.

The United States had long called for Europe to end its reliance on Russian gas, he said, but Washington had little obvious motivation to act now because Nord Stream was no longer pumping gas to Europe at the time the leaks were found, although the pipelines had gas under pressure inside them.

"They already succeeded in stopping Nord Stream 2. It was already dead in the water, it wasn't going anywhere," he said.

Analysts say it is possible the damage was inflicted by devices that are available on the commercial market but that given the scale and precision, it was more likely carried out by an actor with access to more sophisticated technology.

Russia says it believes a state actor was involved.

"It is very difficult to imagine that such an act of a terrorism could have happened without the involvement of a state of some kind," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. "This is a very dangerous situation which requires an urgent investigation."

The U.S. news channel CNN, citing three sources, reported that European security officials had observed Russian navy support ships and submarines not far from the sites of the Nord Stream leaks. Asked about the report, Peskov said there had been a much larger NATO presence in the area.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?

At Russia's request, the U.N. Security Council meets on Friday to discuss the damage to the pipelines, while the Europeans are pressing on with their investigations.

For now, however, more direct fingerpointing between Russia and the West could worsen tensions that have already spiralled over the war in Ukraine, said Marek Swierczynski, a defence analyst for Polish think tank Polityka Insight.

Reporting by Reuters bureaus, with additional reporting by Sabine Seibold; Editing by Alexander Smith and Edmund Blair

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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2022-09-30 11:36:00Z
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Vladimir Putin annexes four Ukrainian regions - Financial Times

Vladimir Putin has annexed four regions in south-eastern Ukraine and vowed to use “all the means” at Russia’s disposal to defend the territory in a speech that marked a further escalation in his war against Kyiv and his resentment at its western allies.

In a ceremony marking the move on Friday, the Russian president called on Ukraine to negotiate an end to the war — but reserved his strongest ire for Kyiv’s “real masters” in the west, which he accused of trying to “destroy” Russia.

The annexations are a dramatic attempt to raise the stakes in the conflict by bringing them under Russia’s nuclear umbrella.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in response to Putin on Friday, announced that his country had formally applied for accelerated accession to the Nato military alliance.

“Today, here in Kyiv, in the heart of our country, we are taking a decisive step for the security of the entire community of free peoples,” Zelenskyy said in a video address outside his office. “We are taking our decisive step by signing Ukraine’s application for accelerated accession to Nato”.

In the 37-minute speech in the Kremlin’s ornate St George’s hall, Putin said an attack on the four regions, which he said he now considered to be part of his country’s territory, would be treated as an attack on Russia and met with full force.

“We will defend our lands with all the means at our disposal and do everything to protect our people. This is our great liberating mission,” he said.

Putin said Russia was willing to hold peace talks with Ukraine but declared the four regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — off limits in any future negotiations following hastily organised “referendums”.

“People made their choice, an unambiguous choice,” Putin said, describing the votes, which were met with international condemnation, as “the will of millions of people”.

“The people living in Luhansk and Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens. Forever,” Putin said. “Kyiv’s current government should treat the free expression of these people’s will with respect and nothing else. Only this way can there be a path to peace.”

As he spoke, Ukrainian troops pushed further east in north-east Donetsk, coming close to surrounding the town of Lyman, a key staging ground for Russian forces.

President Vladimir Putin, centre, at the Kremlin on Friday with the Russia-installed leaders in the four Ukrainian regions © Grigory Sysoyev/Sputnik/AP

Russia does not fully control any of the annexed four regions and has vowed to “liberate” at least two of them from Ukraine’s grasp as Kyiv presses on with its counter-offensive.

Kremlin officials have said Russia could treat further Ukrainian attempts to retake the regions as an attack on its sovereignty and respond by using tactical nuclear weapons.

Although Putin did not make any reference to Russia’s own nuclear arsenal, which he had threatened to use when he announced the annexations last week, he accused the US of setting a “precedent” in bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of the second world war.

But the bulk of the president’s speech was spent ranting against the west. It covered topics as varied as western sanctions, European imperial history, crude jokes about sex change operations and accusations that “Anglo-Saxons” had attacked two gas pipelines in the Baltic this week.

As he cited Russia’s imperial and Soviet past as justification for seizing the Ukrainian territories, Putin issued a stark rallying cry to end US hegemony through an “anti-colonial movement” led by Moscow.

“They are blatantly dividing the world into their vassals and everyone else,” Putin said, accusing the western elite of being “colonial” and “racist”.

“The west is looking for new ways to strike against our country, to weaken and destroy Russia,” he added. “They just can’t put up with there being such a big country with its territory, rich natural resources, and people who won’t live by anyone else’s rules.”

Putin claimed Russia had defeated a “sanctions blitzkrieg” and warned that other countries could face similar restrictions.

“They thought they could build the whole world again. But it turned out that not everyone is so excited about this rosy future. Only total masochists and fans of other non-traditional forms of international relations,” Putin said, making a homophobic quip.

“We have heard about the containment of Russia, China and Iran. We think Latin American and Middle Eastern countries will soon join this list,” he added. “Everyone is in their scope — including our neighbours” in the former USSR, several of whom have distanced themselves from Moscow over the war.

Putin offered hope the EU would drop its support for Ukraine as it steels itself for a difficult winter without Russian energy supplies.

“Politicians in Europe will have to convince their citizens to wash less and heat their homes themselves. And when asked why they point their fingers at Russia,” he said.

“You can’t feed people with paper dollars and euros,” Putin said. “You can’t warm people with puffed-up valuations — you need energy sources.”

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2022-09-30 14:52:01Z
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At least 23 dead after suicide bomb blast at educational center in Kabul - CNN

Kabul, Afghanistan CNN  — 

A suicide bomb attack on an education center in Kabul has killed at least 23 people, most of whom are believed to be young women, in the latest sign of the deteriorating security situation in the Afghan capital.

The explosion took place on Friday at the Kaaj education center, in a predominantly Hazara neighborhood – an ethnic minority group that has long faced oppression.

Students were taking a practice university entrance exam at 7:30 a.m., local time (11 p.m. ET) when the blast first took place, Kabul Police Spokesman Khalid Zadran told CNN.

Abdu Ghayas Momand, a doctor from Ali Jinah Hospital, where some of the victims have been taken, said 23 people had been killed and 36 more injured.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack.

Taiba Mehtarkhil, an eyewitness, told CNN many of the casualties were young women. She had gone to the center to look for her friend after she heard news of the attack and was confronted with scenes of chaos and despair, she said.

“I saw parents, other members of the families of the Kaaj students, screaming and running up and down,” she said. “Some were trying to get emergency medical attention to their loved ones and some others were looking for their sons and daughters. I saw around 20 killed and many more wounded with my own eyes.”

Mehtarkhil’s friend survived the attack as she was running late and hadn’t reached the classroom when the blast occurred, she said.

Another eyewitness, a 20-year-old who did not want to be named for security reasons, told CNN she was about 20 steps from the gate when the explosion threw her to the ground.

“When I got inside, I saw many of my classmates in blood. I found out that the explosion had happened inside my classroom,” she said, through tears.

“I was in a state of shock. I was just screaming my friends’ names and searching for them. I found some of them alive, but not my closest friend who was 19, and the most intelligent girl in our class,” she said.

Her classroom is the largest in the center and normally fits about 500 male and female students, she said.

“It is horrible, I am still in shock, it feels like a nightmare. It killed many of my dearest friends and classmates. I want the world not to treat this as another news piece. I want the world to know the pain we are going through right now. I am totally devastated,” she said.

A woman arrives on a motorbike to search for a relative at a hospital in Kabul after a blast at an education center in the Afghan capital on September 30.

AFP/Getty Images

Taliban spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid condemned the attack in a tweet Friday.

“The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan calls the attack on Kaj training center in the 13th district of Kabul a big crime, strongly condemns it, and expresses deepest sympathy to the families of the victims of this incident.”

“Serious measures will be taken to find and punish the perpetrators,” he added.

UNICEF said it was “appalled by the horrific attack” in a tweet Friday.

“This heinous act claimed the lives of dozens of adolescent girls and boys and severely injured many more,” it said. “Violence in or around education establishments is never acceptable. Such places must be havens of peace where children can learn, be with friends, and feel safe as they build skills for their futures.”

The United States said it “strongly condemned the attack” in a statement on Twitter.

“Targeting a room full of students taking exams is shameful; all students should be able to pursue an education in peace and without fear,” the Chargé d’Affaires of the US Mission to Afghanistan wrote.

Since the Taliban took control of Afghanistan in August 2021, there have been multiple attacks against the Hazara community.

The Islamic State of Khorasan Province has claimed responsibility for 13 attacks against the Hazaras and been linked to three more that have killed and injured at least 700 people, according to Human Rights Watch.

“The Taliban authorities have done little to protect these communities from suicide bombings and other unlawful attacks or to provide necessary medical care and other assistance to victims and their families,” the report added.

A string of attacks in Kabul have claimed dozens of lives in recent weeks.

Earlier this month, two Russian embassy employees were among six people killed in a suicide blast near the Russian embassy, and in August, an explosion at a mosque during evening prayers killed 21 people and injured 33 more.

This is a breaking news story. More to come.

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2022-09-30 07:29:00Z
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Hurricane Ian: Death toll rises as storm strengthens - BBC

Getty Images

A huge search and rescue effort is continuing in Florida in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, which cut a swathe of destruction across the US state.

At least 10 people have died in the state but officials fear the confirmed toll could rise considerably.

Joe Biden has warned the category one storm could be the deadliest hurricane in Florida's history, with a "substantial loss of life".

Ian is now moving inland and heading towards North and South Carolina.

A blackout is still affecting some 2.2 million Florida homes and businesses.

The flood waters have been so severe they have trapped some people in their homes, officials said, with the National Guard going door to door in the city of Orlando to rescue those stranded.

The 10 deaths that have have been confirmed were all in the south-west Charlotte County, which saw intense winds.

Joseph Tiseo, a local commissioner, told the BBC the area had a "tremendous wind event that lasted for 12 hours straight... it was brutal".

He said said it was not yet clear how many of the deaths were a direct result of the hurricane.

• Fort Myers devastation: 'Worst storm surge I've seen'
• In pictures: Floridians take in Hurricane Ian’s impact

A little further south, Lee County took the brunt of the storm surge.

The state's Governor Ron DeSantis told a news conference on Thursday evening that the damage in Fort Myers, a harbourside city there, was "almost indescribable".

"To see a house just sitting in the middle of Estero Bay, literally must have gotten picked up, flown because of the massive wind speed and the storm surge and deposited in a body of water," he said.

"I would say the most significant damage that I saw was on Ford Myers Beach, some of the homes were wiped out, some of its was just concrete slabs"

One woman who lost her home said the experience is "numbing" and has her feeling "overwhelmed".

"It's not my first hurricane but it's my first total loss," Karen, who lives on San Carlos Island in Fort Myers told Reuters.

Some residents had to swim out of their homes.

"You have to either swim or drown," an Orlando woman told CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US.

A woman in Fort Myers, who swam to safety when her ground floor apartment began to flood, said when she returned home she "had to wait about five minutes for all the floodwaters to come out".

And at the Sun Seekers mobile home park in North Fort Myers, residents recounted their terror as they tried to protect themselves with blankets.

"It was terrifying, because you're helpless", one of the residents, Kim said. "We had no [phone] service to call anyone, but no one would have come anyway."

Getty Images

At the governor's briefing, Kevin Guthrie, director at the Florida Division of Emergency Management warned about "indirect deaths" - the fatalities that can happen after a storm system has passed.

He warned homeowners to watch out for power lines mixed in trees and said no one should be tinkering with generators and chainsaws, or climbing ladders without proper training.

"People need to be extremely careful," Mr Guthrie said.

"If you do not know how to use a chainsaw. If you do not know how to climb a ladder. If you do not know the difference between a cable line and a power line, you should not be doing that."

Some parts of Naples, a seaside city south of Fort Myers, have been rendered a dark and deserted ghost town, and the city's iconic pier has been smashed in half.

The BBC's Bernd Debusmann, who is reporting from Naples, says a concession stand - which just days ago marked the halfway point on the pier - now stands precariously over the water, with splintered pieces of wood hanging off.

About a block from the beachfront, some roads remain impassable and underwater, while others have been left covered in mud as the water slowly recedes.

Hurricane Ian hit Cuba first, causing a total blackout in the country on Tuesday.

Meanwhile in Puerto Rico, the massive clean-up effort continues, after the hurricane hit the Caribbean island last week.

There was also a power blackout there, and ten days on, more than 269,000 households are still without electricity, according to poweroutage.us.

Puerto Rico was already reeling from Hurricane Fiona, a category one storm that hit just days earlier, on September 18.

As Hurricane Ian rolls on and attention moves to Florida, many on the island are worried about being forgotten.

"To the people of Puerto Rico, we have not gone away," President Biden said on Thursday, speaking at the headquarters of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) in Washington DC.

"I am committed to you and the recovery of the island, we will stand by you no matter how long it takes to get it done."

How have you been affected by Hurricane Ian? Share your story by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk if it is safe to do so.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also get in touch in the following ways:

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2022-09-30 05:19:06Z
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Russia to annex four Ukrainian regions - Financial Times

Vladimir Putin will annex four regions in south-eastern Ukraine — none of which Russia fully controls — on Friday, in a substantial escalation of the conflict with Kyiv.

Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president’s spokesman, said on Thursday that Putin would sign “treaties” with Russia-appointed occupation officials and make a “substantial speech” during the ceremony in the Kremlin, state newswire Ria Novosti reported.

Russia’s forces held highly stage-managed votes last weekend in parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions under its control, claiming locals had overwhelmingly voted to join Russia by margins of up to 99 per cent.

Ukraine and its western allies have refused to accept the “sham referendums”, which were in some cases run by armed “brigades” that brought ballot boxes to locals’ homes.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday pledged a “tough” military response from Kyiv to Russia’s annexation.

“The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. And our reaction to Russia’s recognition of their results will be very harsh,” said Zelenskyy in a telephone call with Italy’s outgoing prime minister, Mario Draghi.

In a video address later on Thursday, Zelenskyy said: “Everyone in the world understands very well what such an attempt at annexation would actually mean. It will not mean what the Kremlin hopes for.

“The price of the fact that one person in Russia wants to continue this war will mean that the entire Russian society will be left without a normal economy, without a decent life and without regard for any human values,” Zelenskyy added, referring to Putin.

He urged Russians, and in particular its ethnic minorities in the Caucasus region and Siberia who were protesting against forced mobilisation into Russia’s army, to resist and protest against Putin.

US president Joe Biden on Thursday called Russia’s efforts to annex occupied parts of Ukraine as “shameless and transparent”. “The United States . . . will never, never, never recognise Russia’s claim on Ukraine’s sovereign territory,” he said.

European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant said: “We will never accept any annexation of territory or any land-grabbing by Russia.” She added: “We are ready to make the Kremlin pay a hefty price for this new escalation in the conflict.”

Putin’s decision to annex the territories — the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war — is an attempt to raise the stakes seven months into his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A plan to topple Ukraine’s government in a matter of days failed spectacularly as Russia’s troops suffered substantial losses, while supplies of advanced western weaponry helped Ukraine mount a counteroffensive in the north-east in recent weeks.

In a fiery speech last week, Putin threw down a gauntlet to the west, vowing to use all weapons at his disposal — including nuclear — if Ukraine continued its offensive to reclaim what Putin now declares is part of Russia, and mobilised the army’s reserves to bolster the 1,000km front line.

That decision has sparked a domestic backlash, prompting hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.

In a sign that the Kremlin is concerned about the criticism, Putin acknowledged on Thursday that “mistakes” had been made in calling up people who did not have military experience or qualified for exemptions.

By laying claim to large parts of the region held by Ukraine, the annexation also commits Putin to continue fighting the war.

He has defined Russia’s goals for the invasion vaguely but insisted throughout that “liberating” the Donbas, the industrial heartland comprising Donetsk and Luhansk, was the minimum priority.

Russia’s forces are at risk of encirclement by Ukrainian troops in Lyman, a city in the Donetsk region, and face being cut off from their supply lines in Kherson as the Ukrainian counteroffensive continues. It is also struggling to capture big cities such as Slovyansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.

Western nations have vowed to continue providing military support to Ukraine as its army seeks to recapture the territories now under Russian control, despite Putin’s threats.

Privately, however, the US and its European allies are concerned that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine and have warned Moscow about the consequences of using them.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former stand-in president for Putin who is now deputy chair of Russia’s security council, wrote on Tuesday that Russia could probably get away with a nuclear strike against Ukraine because the west would be too scared of the potential consequences to retaliate.

“This puts us in a place where some wise decisions need to be made, and I don’t think just within the alliance but also in Moscow,” said a senior Nato official on Thursday. “It is probably time for people to think very carefully about what they are doing. And where the path goes.”

Nato has said all members of the 30-strong military alliance “remain resolute in providing political and practical support to Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russia’s aggression”.

“Nato allies will not recognise [this] illegal and illegitimate annexation,” it said in a statement. “These lands are Ukraine. We call on all states to reject Russia’s blatant attempts at territorial conquest.”

The move comes as Nato vowed a “united and determined” response to attacks on critical infrastructure used by the military alliance, such as the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to Germany. While no blame has been attributed to Tuesday’s attack, which blew four holes in the gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, it has sparked a war of words between Moscow and western capitals and a significant escalation in fears over Europe’s energy supplies.

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2022-09-29 19:37:42Z
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Russia to annex four Ukrainian regions - Financial Times

Vladimir Putin will annex four regions in south-eastern Ukraine — none of which Russia fully controls — on Friday, in a substantial escalation of the conflict with Kyiv.

Dmitry Peskov, the Russian president’s spokesman, said on Thursday that Putin would sign “treaties” with Russia-appointed occupation officials and make a “substantial speech” during the ceremony in the Kremlin, state newswire Ria Novosti reported.

Russia’s forces held highly stage-managed votes last weekend in parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions under its control, claiming locals had overwhelmingly voted to join Russia by margins of up to 99 per cent.

Ukraine and its western allies have refused to accept the “sham referendums”, which were in some cases run by armed “brigades” that brought ballot boxes to locals’ homes.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday pledged a “tough” military response from Kyiv to Russia’s annexation.

“The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. And our reaction to Russia’s recognition of their results will be very harsh,” said Zelenskyy in a telephone call with Italy’s outgoing prime minister, Mario Draghi.

US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Thursday that Russia’s sham referendums are “a futile effort to mask what amounts to a further attempt at a land grab” and the US will never recognise these areas.

European Commission spokeswoman Dana Spinant said: “We will never accept any annexation of territory or any land-grabbing by Russia.” She added: “We are ready to make the Kremlin pay a hefty price for this new escalation in the conflict.”

Putin’s decision to annex the territories — the largest forcible takeover of territory in Europe since the second world war — is an attempt to raise the stakes seven months into his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

A plan to topple Ukraine’s government in a matter of days failed spectacularly as Russia’s troops suffered substantial losses, while supplies of advanced western weaponry helped Ukraine mount a counteroffensive in the north-east in recent weeks.

In a fiery speech last week, Putin threw down a gauntlet to the west, vowing to use all weapons at his disposal — including nuclear — if Ukraine continued its offensive to reclaim what Putin now declares is part of Russia, and mobilised the army’s reserves to bolster the 1,000km front line.

That decision has sparked a domestic backlash, prompting hundreds of thousands of people to flee the country.

In a sign that the Kremlin is concerned about the criticism, Putin acknowledged on Thursday that “mistakes” had been made in calling up people who did not have military experience or qualified for exemptions.

By laying claim to large parts of the region held by Ukraine, the annexation also commits Putin to continue fighting the war.

He has defined Russia’s goals for the invasion vaguely but insisted throughout that “liberating” the Donbas, the industrial heartland comprising Donetsk and Luhansk, was the minimum priority.

Russia’s forces are at risk of encirclement by Ukrainian troops in Lyman, a city in the Donetsk region, and face being cut off from their supply lines in Kherson as the Ukrainian counteroffensive continues. It is also struggling to capture big cities such as Slovyansk and Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region.

Western nations have vowed to continue providing military support to Ukraine as its army seeks to recapture the territories now under Russian control, despite Putin’s threats.

Privately, however, the US and its European allies are concerned that Russia could use tactical nuclear weapons in Ukraine and have warned Moscow about the consequences of using them.

Dmitry Medvedev, a former stand-in president for Putin who is now deputy chair of Russia’s security council, wrote on Tuesday that Russia could probably get away with a nuclear strike against Ukraine because the west would be too scared of the potential consequences to retaliate.

“This puts us in a place where some wise decisions need to be made, and I don’t think just within the alliance but also in Moscow,” said a senior Nato official on Thursday. “It is probably time for people to think very carefully about what they are doing. And where the path goes.”

Nato has said all members of the 30-strong military alliance “remain resolute in providing political and practical support to Ukraine as it continues to defend itself against Russia’s aggression”.

“Nato allies will not recognise [this] illegal and illegitimate annexation,” it said in a statement. “These lands are Ukraine. We call on all states to reject Russia’s blatant attempts at territorial conquest.”

The move comes as Nato vowed a “united and determined” response to attacks on critical infrastructure used by the military alliance, such as the sabotage of the Nord Stream gas pipelines from Russia to Germany. While no blame has been attributed to Tuesday’s attack, which blew four holes in the gas pipelines under the Baltic Sea, it has sparked a war of words between Moscow and western capitals and a significant escalation in fears over Europe’s energy supplies.

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2022-09-29 18:41:28Z
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Hurricane Ian: Cities flooded and power cut as storm crosses Florida - BBC

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One of the most dangerous storms to hit the US in years has left 2.4 million homes and businesses in Florida without power and floodwaters surging inland.

Hurricane Ian made landfall at around 15:10 local time (19:10 GMT) on Wednesday, smashing into the coast with wind speeds of up to 241km/h (150mph).

Dramatic scenes saw a hospital roof blown off, cars submerged and trees ripped out of the ground.

The category four hurricane was later downgraded to a tropical storm.

However, Floridians were warned that the most dangerous 24 hours lay ahead. The mayor of Tampa urged people to shelter in place through the night into Thursday morning.

"We are going to get the majority of the rain and the higher winds starting about 20:00, and they are going to last throughout the night," Jane Castor said during a Wednesday evening briefing.

In a message posted on Facebook, the Weather Prediction Center told residents in the Central Florida Peninsula to expect "widespread life-threatening, catastrophic flash and urban flooding" continuing into Friday morning, with up to 76cm (30ins) of rain falling locally.

Residents were ordered to leave their homes, but many have decided to remain and seek shelter indoors.

• Live: Hurricane Ian leaves two million without power
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Mark Pritchett, who lives in the city of Venice, some 95km (60 miles) south of Tampa, described the "terrifying" moment he stepped outside his home as the hurricane made its way across the Gulf of Mexico.

"Rain shooting like needles. My street is a river," he said in a text message to the Associated Press news agency.

A little further south, in Port Charlotte, healthcare workers at HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital were forced to move their most vulnerable patients out of the intensive care unit after the roof was torn off .

In Lee County - the south-west region where Ian made landfall - police were prevented from responding to reports of looting at a petrol station because of the storm damage. As a result, a curfew has been declared "until further notice".

Lee County Manager Roger Desjarlais said that the Fort Myers community had "been - to some extent - decimated". According to news agency AFP, some neighbourhoods in the city of 80,000 had been left resembling lakes.

State Governor Ron DeSantis described Ian as the "biggest flood event" south-west Florida had ever seen, and announced that 7,000 National Guard troops are ready to lead rescue operations.

President Joe Biden will receive a briefing on Thursday from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Vice President Kamala Harris urged Americans to follow evacuation orders after seeing "devastating" images of the damage caused by Ian.

Harris issued her plea from South Korea, where she is on an official visit.

Reuters

Ian is now continuing to move north through Florida. Jacksonville International Airport, based in north-east Florida, cancelled all flights on Thursday.

The storm is forecast to emerge into the Atlantic by Thursday morning, local time.

It is expected to reach Georgia and South Carolina on Friday. Virginia has also joined Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Florida in declaring a state of emergency.

Cuba's western coast was hit by Hurricane Ian on Tuesday. Power has now been restored in some areas after the island was plunged into a total blackout.

Two people are understood to have been killed in Cuba and more than 20 Cuban migrants, heading to the US, are believed to be missing at sea.

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2022-09-29 14:34:05Z
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