Russia on Friday will formally annex parts of Ukraine where separation B次元官网网址渞eferendumsB次元官网网址� received approval, the KremlinB次元官网网址檚 spokesman said, confirming the expectations of Ukrainian and Western officials who have denounced the Moscow-managed votes as illegal, forced and rigged.
B次元官网网址� Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia B次元官网网址� will be folded into Russia during a Kremlin ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Thursday.
Peskov said the pro-Moscow administrators of those regions would sign treaties to join Russia during the ceremony at the KremlinB次元官网网址檚 St. GeorgeB次元官网网址檚 Hall. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting of the National Security and Defense Council for Friday, apparently in response to the Russian move.
The official annexation was widely expected following the votes that wrapped up Tuesday in the areas under Russian occupation and the administration of Moscow-installed officials. UkraineB次元官网网址檚 supporters in the West have described the stage-managed referendums on living under Russian rule as a bald-faced land grab based on lies.
B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 absolutely unacceptable,B次元官网网址� said Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky, whose country currently holds the European Union presidency. B次元官网网址淲e reject such one-sided annexation based on a fully falsified process with no legitimacy.B次元官网网址�
Lipavsky described the pro-Russia referendums as B次元官网网址渢heater playB次元官网网址� and insisted the regions remain B次元官网网址淯krainian territory.B次元官网网址�
Armed Russian troops at went door-to-door with election officials to collect ballots in five days of voting that produced suspiciously high margins in favor of joining Russia. Ukrainian officials said the military escorts also took down the names of residents who voted against annexation.
Moscow-installed administrations in the four regions of southern and eastern Ukraine claimed Tuesday night that 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87% in Kherson, 98% in Luhansk and 99% in Donetsk.
B次元官网网址淯nder threats and sometimes even (at) gunpoint, people are being taken out of their homes or workplaces to vote in glass ballot boxes,B次元官网网址� German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said at a conference in Berlin.
B次元官网网址淭his is the opposite of free and fair elections,B次元官网网址� Baerbock said. B次元官网网址淎nd this is the opposite of peace. ItB次元官网网址檚 dictated peace. As long as this Russian diktat prevails in the occupied territories of Ukraine, no citizen is safe. No citizen is free.B次元官网网址�
The votes and the KremlinB次元官网网址檚 quick move to incorporate territory seized during RussiaB次元官网网址檚 war in Ukraine came after a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month dealt MoscowB次元官网网址檚 forces heavy battlefield setbacks.
Putin last week ordered a troop mobilization that the Russian defense minister said would put 300,000 reservists into active military duty. In response, tens of thousands of Russian men have left the country. Putin and other Russian officials also have threatened to to protect Russian territory, including any annexed land.
Thursday, Ukrainian authorities said Russian shelling killed at least eight civilians in the past 24 hours, including a child, and wounded scores of others. A 12-year-old girl was pulled alive out of rubble after an attack on Dnipro, officials said.
B次元官网网址淭he rescuers have taken her from under the rubble, she was asleep when the Russian missile hit,B次元官网网址� said local administrator Valentyn Reznichenko.
A Russian rocket attack on Kramatorsk, a city in the eastern Donetsk region still held by Ukraine, wounded 11 people and inflicted damage on the city, Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko said.
More fighting near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant - EuropeB次元官网网址檚 biggest - was another source of concern. Russian forces occupy the plant, which is EuropeB次元官网网址檚 biggest nuclear power station, but Ukrainian technicians still are running it.
A suspected landmine explosion on the perimeter fence Thursday that was likely triggered by wild animals damaged electrical lines, according to UkraineB次元官网网址檚 national atomic power agency, Energoatom.
Reports of new shelling came as Russia appeared to lose more ground around the northeastern city of Lyman. The Russian military is struggling with and trying to prevent fighting-age men from leaving the country, according to a Washington-based think-tank and the British intelligence reports.
The Institute for the Study of War, citing Russian reports, said Ukrainian forces have taken more villages around Lyman, a city 160 kilometers (100 miles) southeast of Kharkiv, UkraineB次元官网网址檚 second-largest city. The report said Ukrainian forces may soon encircle Lyman entirely, in what would be a major blow to MoscowB次元官网网址檚 war effort.
B次元官网网址淭he collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping in northern Donetsk and western Luhansk oblasts and may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western LuhanskB次元官网网址� region, the institute said.
British military intelligence claimed the number of Russian military-age men fleeing the country likely exceeds the number of forces that Moscow used to initially invade Ukraine in February.
B次元官网网址淭he better off and well educated are over-represented amongst those attempting to leave Russia,B次元官网网址� the British said. B次元官网网址淲hen combined with those reservists who are being mobilized, the domestic economic impact of reduced availability of labor and the acceleration of B次元官网网址榖rain drainB次元官网网址� is likely to become increasingly significant.B次元官网网址�
RussiaB次元官网网址檚 partial mobilization has been deeply unpopular in some areas, however, triggering protests and scattered violence. Russian men have formed miles-long lines trying to leave at some borders and Moscow also reportedly has set up draft offices at its borders to intercept some of those fleeing.
On the subject of sabotage that has hit this week, Peskov, the Kremlin spokesman, claimed Thursday that the Nord Stream pipeline accidents would have been impossible without a governmentB次元官网网址檚 involvement.
B次元官网网址淚t looks like a terror attack, probably conducted on a state level,B次元官网网址� Peskov told reporters. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 a very dangerous situation that requires a quick investigation.B次元官网网址�
He dismissed media reports about Russian warships spotted in the area as B次元官网网址渟tupid and biased,B次元官网网址� claiming that many more NATO aircraft and ships B次元官网网址渉ave been spotted in the area.B次元官网网址�
European officials have noted that Russia benefits from higher gas prices when supplies to Europe are disrupted.
B次元官网网址擩on Gambrell And Adam Schreck, The Associated Press
