Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

* Stocks fell, while safe havens such as government bonds and the dollar rose, as already anxious investors fled risk assets after Putin ordered a partial mobilisation and accused the West of "nuclear blackmail". * The rouble recovered from two months lows and Russian stocks pared losses on Wednesday after earlier plunges triggered by President Vladimir Putin's move to order Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two. QUOTES * "Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them," Putin said in the televised address.

President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered Russia's first mobilisation since World War Two and backed a plan to annex swathes of Ukraine, warning the West he was not bluffing when he said he would be ready to use nuclear weapons to defend Russia.

DIPLOMACY/POLITICS * "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 a televised address to the nation.

* Russia's mobilisation was a predictable step that will prove extremely unpopular and underscores that the war is not going according to Moscow's plan, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said. * Pro-Russian figures on Tuesday announced referendums for Sept. 23-27 in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia provinces, representing around 15% of Ukrainian territory, or an area about the size of Hungary.

* Speaking shortly after Putin, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said Russia would draft some 300,000 additional personnel out of some 25 million potential fighters at Moscow's disposal. * In Moscow's first update on casualty numbers in almost six months, Shoigu also said 5,937 Russian soldiers had been killed since the start of the conflict. Shoigu dismissed assertions by Kyiv and the West that Russia has suffered heavy losses, and said 90% of wounded Russian soldiers had returned to the frontline.

* U.S. President Joe Biden will try to rally the world against Russia's invasion of Ukraine in a speech to the United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday, saying Moscow's war against its neighbor violates the tenets of the U.N. charter. ECONOMY/MARKETS

* Germany nationalised gas importer Uniper on Wednesday and Britain capped the wholesale cost of electricity and gas for businesses, in Europe's latest moves to keep the lights on and heaters running this winter as the war in Ukraine escalates. * Stocks fell, while safe havens such as government bonds and the dollar rose, as already anxious investors fled risk assets after Putin ordered a partial mobilisation and accused the West of "nuclear blackmail".

* The rouble recovered from two months lows and Russian stocks pared losses on Wednesday after earlier plunges triggered by President Vladimir Putin's move to order Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two. QUOTES

* "Those who try to blackmail us with nuclear weapons should know that the weathervane can turn and point towards them," Putin said in the televised address. * "Sham referenda and mobilization are signs of weakness, of Russian failure," Bridget Brink, the U.S. ambassador to Ukraine said on Twitter.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)