Climate scientists described the shocking images of gas spewing to the surface of the Baltic Sea this week as a “reckless release” of greenhouse gas emissions that, if deliberate, “amounts to an environmental crime.”

Researchers acknowledge that it is difficult to accurately quantify the size of the emissions and say the leaks are a “wee bubble in the ocean” compared to the massive amounts of methane emitted around the world every day.

Nonetheless, environmental campaigners argue that the incident shows the risk of sabotage or an accident makes fossil infrastructure a “ticking time bomb.”

Here’s the story.

— Sam Meredith

Russia is not seeking the return of the Soviet Union, Vladimir Putin said during his speech to Russian lawmakers announcing the annexation of four of Ukraine’s territories.

“People born after the tragedy of the end of the Soviet Union, they wanted unity in 1991,” Putin said. “There was a decision by representatives of the leading party to dissolve the USSR. And this has destroyed the connections between different parts of our country.”

Putin has long held that the dissolution of the USSR was a mistake and the most catastrophic event in history.

“The Soviet Union is no longer there, and cannot return to the past,” he said.

“For Russia we don’t need this anymore, we are not aiming for that. But there is nothing stronger than the will of mission of people who decided they want to be part of Russia. For generations they lived in a single country and there is nothing stronger than the will of these people to return to their historic roots.”

— Natasha Turak

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of four regions of Ukraine under its occupation during a speech in front of lawmakers in Moscow.

“People have made a definitive choice, today we are signing a decree on Luhansk People’s Republic, Donetsk People’s Republic, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson,” Putin said. “I am sure the Federal Assembly will support the laws of creating four new subjects of the Russian Federation because this is the will of millions of people.” 

“It is the self determination of people, the right that is based on the historical unity which was defended by generations of our people, people who for generations protected Russia,” he said.

The speech follows a widely-criticized sham referendum held by Russia in the occupied territories, which make up roughly 18% of Ukraine’s land, that resulted in what Moscow said were overwhelming votes to join the Russian Federation.

— Natasha Turak

Attacks on any part of Ukraine that Russia is about to annex will be considered an attack on Russia itself, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is slated to officially declare the annexations of four Ukrainian regions during a ceremony today, for which celebrations at Red Square are planned.

The classification raises the stakes for the conflict as Putin has threatened the use of nuclear weapons in the event of any attacks on Russian territory. And just as the annexations are to be announced, Ukrainian forces have surrounded thousands of Russian troops in the strategic town of Lyman in northern Donetsk, one of the territories set for annexation.

The situation raises the question of exactly what parts of these territories — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — Russia can actually annex and control. Altogether, they constitute roughly 18% of Ukraine’s land.

Peskov said that all of Donetsk would be under Ukrainian control, but did not specify whether all of Kherson of Zaporizhzhia would be.

“We will clarify everything today,” he said.

— Natasha Turak

Ukrainian forces have almost fully surrounded Russian troops occupying Lyman, a town in the north of Ukraine’s Donetsk province, raising the possibility of another Russian loss just as President Vladimir Putin is set to announce the province’s annexation.

“Ukrainian troops have likely nearly completed the encirclement of the Russian grouping in Lyman and cut critical ground lines of communication (GLOCS) that support Russian troops in the Drobysheve-Lyman area,” a tweet from the Institute for the Study of War read. Roughly 5,500 Russian troops are reported to be in the town, which has been occupied since May.

The town is home to a strategic railway junction. Ukrainian forces have made rapid advances in the area in recent days and are now positioned to fire on the only route out of Lyman.

This is part of the enormous swathe of eastern and southern Ukrainian territory, encompassing four regions, that Putin is set to annex after holding a sham referendum entirely controlled by Russia that concluded in majority votes to join the Russian Federation.

Putin has warned that any threats to the territory of Russia would justify its use of nuclear weapons.

— Natasha Turak

Russian strikes hit a civilian convoy multiple times outside the city of Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian officials said.

The strikes, which hit a convoy of people who were heading to Russian-occupied territory to pick up their relatives, killed at least 23 people and wounded at least 28, Zaporizhzhia Regional Governor Oleksandr Starukh said in a post on Telegram.

“There are dead and wounded. Rescuers, medics, and all relevant services are currently working at the site,” Starukh wrote.

Ukraine’s Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai wrote on Telegram, “Near Zaporizhzhia, the Russians fired rockets at a convoy heading to the occupied territory. It should be noted that the departure of 34 vehicles with residents of Luhansk region was planned. More detailed information about the victims is being clarified.”

CNBC has not been able to independently verify the details. Images posted by Starukh and others on social media show disturbing scenes of burnt cars and bodies on the road.

A Russian-appointed leader of occupied Zaporizhzhia, Volodymyr Rogov, was quoted by Russian state news agency RIA as blaming Ukrainian forces for the attack, saying “Ukrainian militants hit a convoy with dozens of civilian cars queuing.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to hold a ceremony today officially declaring the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, where sham referendums were held by Russian-appointed authorities over the last week.

The referendum’s results, which have been rejected by much of the international community, showed large majorities of each territory — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — voting to join the Russian Federation. The regions, making up the country’s eastern and southern flanks, form roughly 18% of Ukraine’s territory.

Numerous reports have surfaced of votes being forced at gunpoint, and of votes being staged.

Government spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said that Putin will sign accession documents at the Kremlin and then deliver a speech. A music concert is also set to take place at Moscow’s Red Square.

Analysts and world leaders worry that Putin’s annexation will make him feel justified in using nuclear weapons to defend the territories from anyone attempting to take them back, as he hinted as much in his speech last week if the “territory of Russia” came under threat.

— Natasha Turak

Secretary of State Antony Blinken slammed Russia’s “attempt at a land grab in Ukraine” and said that the U.S. will never recognize the results of the Kremlin’s “sham referenda.”

“The results were orchestrated in Moscow and do not reflect the will of the people of Ukraine. The United States does not, and will never, recognize the legitimacy or outcome of these sham referenda or Russia’s purported annexation of Ukrainian territory,” Blinken wrote in a statement.

“This spectacle conducted by Russia’s proxies is illegitimate and violates international law,” he added.

Biden’s top diplomat said that the U.S. will continue to “support Ukraine for as long as it takes.”

The Kremlin has previously said that the results of the referendums held in four regions of Ukraine are legitimate.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy slammed Russia’s attempt to annex additional swaths of his country.

“Russia will not get new territory in Ukraine,” Zelenskyy said in Russian in a nightly address on the Telegram messaging app. “It can still be stopped,” he added.

“The price of one person in Russia wanting to continue this war will be that the entire Russian society will be left without a normal economy, without a decent life, and without respect for any human values,” Zelenskyy said, according to an NBC News translation.

“In order to stop this, you have to stop the one in Russia who wants war more than life. Your life, citizens of Russia,” Zelenskyy said without naming Russian President Vladimir Putin.

— Amanda Macias