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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.
11 p.m.: Russian-installed officials in four occupied regions of Ukraine reported huge majorities of votes in favor of joining Russia as the United States planned a U.N. resolution condemning the referendums as shams and Russia remained defiant, Reuters reported.
The United States was also preparing a new round of sanctions against Russia should it annex Ukrainian territory and a $1.1 billion arms package for Ukraine that will be announced soon, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said the United States and its allies remained committed to European energy security, after Germany, Sweden and Denmark said attacks caused major leaks from two Russian energy pipelines. It remained far from clear who might be behind the leaks.
10:15 p.m.: A total of 231 ships with 5.3 million tons of agricultural products on board have left Ukraine so far under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Ukrainian sea ports, Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Ukraine's grain exports slumped after Russia invaded the country on Feb. 24 and blockaded its Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.
Ukraine, a major global grain producer and exporter, shipped up to 6 million tons of grain per month before the war.
9:05 p.m.: Despite Russian threats to Ukraine and NATO about the use of nuclear weapons, the Pentagon has not seen any changes that would lead it to alter the posture of American nuclear forces, a spokesman said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
"We obviously take these threats seriously. But at this stage, we've not seen anything that would cause us to adjust our own nuclear posture at this time," Brigadier General Patrick Ryder told a news briefing.
Pressed on whether there had been any new Russian movements of its nuclear forces, Ryder declined to elaborate beyond saying the United States did not "have any reason to adjust our posture at this stage."
8:10 p.m.
6:55 p.m.: Slovakia's parliament on Tuesday ratified the entry of Finland and Sweden to NATO, becoming one of the last countries to back the military alliance's expansion.
Finland and Sweden sought to join NATO this year in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
NATO's 30 members have been ratifying their entry since accession protocols were signed in July. With Slovakia's vote, only Hungary and Turkey remain to approve the expansion.
Turkey had been opposed, accusing the Nordic countries of imposing arms embargoes on Ankara and supporting groups it deems terrorists. But the three signed an accord to lift Ankara's veto in exchange for counterterrorism promises.
Turkey has said it will block the membership bids if pledges are not kept.
6:05 p.m.: Russian poet and activist Artyom Kamardin, who was reportedly beaten and raped during his arrest, has been charged with inciting hatred over the presentation of his verses critical of the Kremlin's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.
5:16 p.m.: The 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will be staged in either Glasgow or Liverpool, the BBC said Tuesday, after Britain was asked to hold the event on behalf of designated host country Ukraine, The Associated Press reported.
Scotland’s biggest city and the birthplace of The Beatles were named the two finalists from seven U.K. cities that applied. The BBC, which will broadcast the contest, said a final decision will be made within weeks.
Ukraine won the right to host the glitzy pan-continental music competition when its entry, folk-rap ensemble Kalush Orchestra, won this year’s contest in May. Britain’s Sam Ryder was second.
Organizers concluded it was too risky to stage the event in Ukraine, so the 2023 contest went to Britain, which says the event will be a celebration of Ukrainian culture and creativity.
4:20 p.m.: The separatist leader of one of the occupied regions of Ukraine that held controversial referendums on joining Russia has announced his intention to go to Moscow “as soon as possible” with a formal plea for annexation, The Associated Press has reported.
Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, said on social media that he intended to visit the Russian capital to ask President Vladimir Putin to consider folding Ukraine's Luhansk province into Russia.
Pro-Russia separatists in Luhansk and neighboring Donetsk province declared independence from Ukraine more than eight years ago.
Kremlin-orchestrated referendums to make the provinces and the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine part of Russia ended Tuesday.
Western and Ukrainian officials have condemned the votes as illegitimate.
3:54 p.m.:
3:50 p.m.:
3:05 p.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that it would be "in no-one's interest" if attacks or acts of sabotage caused gas leaks detected in the Nord Stream gas pipelines amid an energy standoff between Europe and Russia over gas supplies, Reuters reported.
Both Moscow and Western European capitals have expressed concern over the multiple leaks spewing gas into the sea, which occurred as Russia has slashed gas deliveries to Europe after the West imposed sanctions over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
“There are initial reports indicating that this may be the result of an attack or some kind of sabotage, but these are initial reports and we haven’t confirmed that yet," Blinken said at a press conference alongside India's Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. "But if it is confirmed, that’s clearly in no one’s interest."
The White House said the United States was ready to provide support to European partners conducting an investigation.
2:30 p.m.:
2:05 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had discussed further support of Ukraine's armed forces by NATO member states, in a call with the bloc's Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
The phone call came in the wake of votes staged in four occupied regions of Ukraine on annexation by Russia. Zelenskyy thanked Stoltenberg for his condemnation of the votes, which Ukraine and its western allies call illegal shams.
"We discussed current battlefield developments and further support of the Alliance’s member states to the Ukrainian Armed Forces," Zelenskyy wrote.
1:40 p.m.:
1:10 p.m.: The number of Russians entering the European Union has jumped following a partial mobilization ordered by Moscow, and illegal crossings are likely to increase if Russia closes its border for potential conscripts, EU border agency Frontex said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
Following setbacks on the battlefield in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization on Sept 21, a move that sent thousands of Russians rushing to cross borders into neighboring countries.
"Over the past week, nearly 66,000 Russian citizens entered the EU, more than 30% compared to the preceding week. Most of them arrived in Finland and Estonia," Frontex said in a statement, referring to the week from Sept 19 to Sept 25.
Frontex said that over the last four days alone, 30,000 Russian citizens had arrived in Finland. The majority of Russians crossing into the EU hold residence permits, visas or have dual citizenship, it said.
12:45 p.m.:
12:15 p.m.: About 98,000 Russians have crossed into Kazakhstan in the week since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial mobilization of reservists to fight in Ukraine, Kazakh officials said Tuesday, as men seeking to avoid the call-up continued to flee by land and air into neighboring countries, The Associated Press reported.
Kazakhstan and Georgia, both part of the former Soviet Union, appeared to be the most popular destinations for those crossing by car, bicycle or on foot.
Those with visas for Finland or Norway also have been coming in by land. Plane tickets abroad had sold out quickly despite steep prices.
In announcing the number of Russians crossing the border, Kazakhstan Interior Minister Marat Akhmetzhanov said authorities will not send those who are avoiding the call-up back home, unless they are on an international wanted list for criminal charges.
11:55 a.m.:
11:40 a.m.: U.N. human rights investigators say Ukrainian prisoners of war appear to be facing “systematic” mistreatment — including torture — both when they are captured and when they are transferred into areas controlled by Russian forces or Russia itself, The Associated Press reported.
The head of a monitoring mission set up by the U.N. human rights office said Tuesday that Russia must address such mistreatment, which amounts a “grave violation” of international law. The team hopes to chronicle rights abuses and violations in detail, in hopes that perpetrators can be held to account one day.
In the cases it documented, the mission found that the “vast majority” of Ukrainian prisoners of war were subjected to “torture or cruel and degrading treatment by the detaining power,” a statement from the mission said.
Matilda Bogner, the mission’s chief, said such mistreatment of Ukrainian POWs “appears to be systematic, not only upon their capture, but also following their transfer to places of internment” both in areas of Russian-controlled Ukraine and Russia itself.
The team also found that some Russian POWs had been subjected to torture and ill-treatment, mostly during capture or during transit to places of internment.
11:15 a.m.: The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs on Tuesday said it is working with partners to determine priorities and to step up humanitarian response in the Kharkiv region. Aid workers began accessing the local population soon after Russian forces were defeated in mid-September, OCHA said.
10:50 a.m.: The head of the upper house of the Russian parliament said on Tuesday that it could consider the incorporation of Russia-controlled parts of four Ukrainian regions into Russia on October 4, the RIA news agency reported, according to Reuters.
10:35 a.m.: The Asian Development Bank said Tuesday it will devote at least $14 billion through 2025 to help ease a worsening food crisis in the Asia-Pacific, The Associated Press reported.
The development lender said it plans a comprehensive program of support to help the 1.1 billion people in the region who lack healthy diets due to poverty and soaring food prices. The Manila, Philippines-based ADB made the announcement during its annual meeting.
“This is a timely and urgently needed response to a crisis that is leaving too many poor families in Asia hungry and in deeper poverty,” ADB President Masatsugu Asakawa said.
In opening the ADB meeting, Asakawa noted that the economic outlook has worsened with the Russian invasion of Ukraine, soaring prices for many commodities and a harsher economic environment thanks to rising interest rates and weakening currencies for many developing economies.
10:15 a.m.: Farmers are among the Russians being drafted into the military, President Vladimir Putin told a meeting with officials on Tuesday, signaling potential further risks for the 2023 crop, Reuters reported.
Russia is the world's largest wheat exporter. Autumn is a busy season for farmers as they sow winter wheat for the next year's crop and harvest soybeans and sunflower seeds. Winter grain sowing has already been significantly delayed by rains.
"I would also like to address regional heads and the heads of agricultural enterprises. As part of the partial mobilization, agricultural workers are also being drafted. Their families must be supported. I ask you to pay special attention to this issue," Putin told the televised meeting.
Wednesday's announcement of Russia's first public mobilization since World War Two, amid what Moscow calls its special military operation in Ukraine, has triggered a rush for the border by eligible men and unease in the wider population.
9:50 a.m.:
9:40 a.m.: Democratic lawmakers have unveiled a stopgap spending measure to finance the federal government through December 16, provide additional support to Ukraine and help communities respond to recent natural disasters, The Associated Press reported Tuesday.
Both chambers of Congress must approve legislation by the end of Friday, which is the end of the fiscal year, to prevent a partial government shutdown. It represents the last bit of unfinished business for lawmakers before the midterm elections in November. Both sides are eager to wrap up and spend time on the campaign trail, lowering the risk of a federal stoppage.
The bill provides about $12.3 billion in assistance related to Ukraine, including training, equipment, weapons, and direct financial support for the Ukraine government. The assistance would be on top of some $53 billion Congress has already approved through two previous bills.
9:25 a.m.:
9:10 a.m.: The Kremlin said on Tuesday that it did not rule out sabotage as a reason behind damage to the Russia-built network of Nord Stream pipelines which sprung unexplained leaks in the Baltic Sea, Reuters reported.
The pipelines, designed to bring gas from Western Siberia's Yamal Peninsula directly to Germany, Europe's biggest economy, have been the focus of an energy war between Russia and its traditional European clients over the conflict in Ukraine.
Nord Stream AG, the operator of the network, said earlier on Tuesday that three offshore lines of the Nord Stream gas pipeline system sustained "unprecedented" damage in one day.
Asked if sabotage was the reason for the damage, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "No option can be ruled out right now."
The Kremlin, Peskov said, was very concerned by the situation, which required prompt investigation as it was an issue affecting the energy security of the "entire continent."
Nord Stream AG said it was impossible to estimate when the gas network system's working capability would be restored.
8:55 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday his country expected a record-high grain harvest in 2022 as Moscow blames Western sanctions over Ukraine for preventing its exports, especially to poor countries, Agence France-Presse reported.
"The preliminary estimate (for 2022) already stands at 150 million (metric tons), including around 100 million (metric tons) of wheat. This will be a record in the history of Russia," Putin said in televised meeting on agriculture.
8:25 a.m.:
8:10 a.m.: Heavy fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces is under way in parts of eastern Ukraine and the northeast Kharkiv region as Moscow continues a crackdown on protests against a partial mobilization decreed by President Vladimir Putin last week, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Tuesday.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the eastern Donetsk region remained Ukraine's — and Russia's — top strategic priority, with fighting under way in several towns as Russian troops try to advance to the south and west.
Fighting was raging in the Kharkiv region in the northeast, which has been the target of a Ukrainian counteroffensive this month. In the south, Ukrainian forces pressed on with a campaign to render four bridges and other river crossings inoperable to disrupt supply lines to Russian forces.
The Ukrainian armed forces' southern command said on Tuesday that its counteroffensive in the southeastern Kherson region had resulted in enemy losses of 77 servicemen, six tanks, five howitzers, three anti-aircraft installations and 14 armored vehicles.
The claim could not be independently verified.
7:50 a.m.:
7:35 a.m.: The European Commission on Tuesday said it was premature to speculate on the cause of leaks in the two Nord Stream pipelines designed to bring gas from Russia to Europe.
“At this stage, it’s very premature to speculate on what the causes are... The member states are looking into this issue, we will remain in close contact with them, but it's really not the moment to speculate,” a Commission spokesman told a regular EU news conference.
The Commission is following developments on the leaks closely, and so far does not see any impact on Europe’s security of supply, the spokesman said. Although neither were in operation, both pipelines still contained gas under pressure.
7:15 a.m.: The Ukrainian infrastructure ministry said on Tuesday a total of 231 ships with 5.3 million tons of agricultural products on board have left Ukraine so far under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Ukrainian sea ports, Reuters reported.
The ministry said nine ships with 345,300 tons of agricultural products had left Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Tuesday, including capsize ship MARAN EXCELLENCE loaded with 115,000 tons of food.
Ukraine’s grain exports slumped after Russia invaded the country on February 24 and blockaded its Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.
Ukraine, a major global grain producer and exporter, shipped up to 6 million tons of grain per month before the war.
Three Black Sea ports were reopened under a deal signed on July 22 by Moscow and Kyiv and the ministry has said these ports are able to load and send abroad 100-150 cargo ships per month.
6:45 a.m.:
6:30 a.m.: The state prosecutor’s office in Frankfurt said on Tuesday police have searched a motor yacht in northern Germany as part of an investigation into a Russian businessman over alleged money-laundering, Reuters reported.
According to the Spiegel news website, the vessel belongs to Alisher Usmanov, an oligarch on the European Union sanctions list who faced raids at his properties in Germany last week.
6 a.m.: The head of the World Trade Organization told Reuters on Tuesday that she expects that global trade forecasts will be revised lower from the current 3% for 2022, citing the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war and related food and energy crises.
“We are in the middle of revising our forecasts now but it's not looking very promising. All the indicators are pointing to downside numbers,” Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala told Reuters in an interview. “Grosso modo the outlook is looking gloomy,” she said, without giving exact estimates.
The WTO already revised down its forecast for global trade growth this year to 3% from 4.7% in April. It projected 3.4% growth in 2023.
5:30 a.m.: The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had caused a dire human rights situation and led to a wide range of rights violations, including extrajudicial killings and torture, that could amount to war crimes.
The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, or OHCHR, said in a report that it was particularly concerned about torture and ill treatment of detainees by Russian forces and affiliated armed groups, but said there had been rights violations by both sides, Reuters reported.
The OHCHR also said it was “highly concerned” about the “enormous risks” posed by hostilities near or in nuclear power plants, and called for immediate steps to demilitarize the Zaporizhzia nuclear power station occupied by Russian forces.
Kyiv and Moscow did not immediately comment on the report, carried out between February 1 and July 31 and based on work of the United Nations Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. Both sides have denied allegations of human rights abuses.
“The ongoing armed attack by the Russian Federation against Ukraine and associated hostilities have resulted in a dire human rights situation across the country. The armed conflict has led to a wide range of human rights violations affecting both civilians and combatants,” it said.
The OHCHR said it was continuing to document and verify allegations of unlawful killings of hundreds of civilians by Russian armed forces in the Kyiv, Sumy and Kharkiv regions.
It said it had also documented at least six killings of civilians perceived as traitors for alleged collaboration with Russia in occupied areas. The OHCHR said it had documented violations by both sides of human rights laws and international law on the treatment of prisoners of war and non-combatants.
It said the alleged violations included extrajudicial executions, torture and ill-treatment, sexual violence, ignoring fair trial guarantees, denial of medical assistance, lack of food and water, and poor sanitation.
“Some of these violations may amount to war crimes,” it said.
5 a.m.: French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna was in Kyiv on Tuesday on an unannounced visit to Ukraine in a show of support for the country invaded by Russia.
“Good morning Ukraine, it’s good to be back,” she wrote on Twitter, posting a picture of herself walking in Kyiv with the French ambassador to Ukraine Etienne de Poncins.
4:30 a.m.: Refugees arriving from Ukraine have helped drive Germany’s population to its highest level, the Federal Statistical Office said, with more than 84 million people now living in the European Union’s most populous country, Reuters reported.
Germany has one of the world’s lowest fertility rates and by some measures its most aged population, but its wealth, demand for labor and relatively open immigration policy made it an attractive target for migrants even before the EU opened its doors to Ukrainians fleeing their country after Russia's invasion in February.
In a report issued on Tuesday, the Federal Statistics Office said that the population had grown by 1%, or 843,000 people, in the first half of 2022. The population grew just 0.1% over the whole of 2021. Germany recorded net immigration of 750,000 people from Ukraine over the same period.
Growth on a comparable scale has been seen only three times since German reunification in 1990, and each time was linked to a wave of refugees.
In 1992, refugees from the war in former Yugoslavia helped swell the population by 700,000. In 2015, Germany let in almost a million refugees from war in the Middle East.
Germany’s female population grew by 1.2%, significantly more than its male population, which increased by 0.8%, reflecting the fact that mainly women and children fled the war in Ukraine. Men of fighting age are forbidden from leaving the country.
4:20 a.m.:
4 a.m.: Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Tuesday that Moscow has the right to defend itself with nuclear weapons if it is pushed beyond its limits and that this is “certainly not a bluff,” Reuters reported.
Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council, also warned that Moscow has the right to respond “without much consultation,” as tensions rise with the West over referendums held in large swathes of Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory.
Medvedev has regularly issued aggressive statements on the West and Ukraine in recent months, underlining his transformation from an apparently Western-minded liberalizer as president from 2008-2012 to strident geopolitical hawk.
3:15 a.m.: Two leaks have been identified on the Nord Stream 1 Russia-Europe gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea, hours after a similar incident on its twin pipeline, Scandinavian authorities said Tuesday.
“Authorities have now been informed that there have been another two leaks on Nord Stream 1, which likewise is not in operation but contains gas,” the Danish climate and energy minister told Agence France-Presse in a statement, adding that they had called for “higher levels of preparedness in the electricity and gas sector” in the country.
3 a.m.: Kazakhstan’s president said Tuesday that the country will ensure the safety of Russians fleeing mobilization, Agence France-Presse reported, citing Russian news agencies.
“Most of them are forced to leave because of the hopeless situation. We must take care of them,” President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said.
A close ally of Russia, Kazakhstan said earlier that it will not recognize the results of so-called referendums organized by Moscow on Ukraine’s territories occupied by Russian troops. The country’s foreign ministry spokesman said that decision was based on “the principle of countries’ territorial integrity.”
2:55 a.m.:
2:30 a.m.: Sweden’s Maritime Authority said on Tuesday it had issued a warning of two leaks on the Russian-owned Nord Stream 1 pipeline in Swedish and Danish waters, shortly after a leak on the nearby Nord Stream 2 project was discovered.
“There are two leaks on Nord Stream 1 — one in Swedish economic zone and one in Danish economic zone. They are very near each other,” a Swedish Maritime Administration (SMA) spokesperson told Reuters.
The leaks were located northeast of the Danish island Bornholm, the spokesperson said. It was not immediately clear what had caused the leaks.
“We are keeping extra watch to make sure no ship comes too close to the site,” a second SMA spokesperson said.
On Monday, Danish authorities asked ships to steer clear of a five nautical mile radius southeast off Bornholm after a gas leak from the defunct Nord Stream 2 pipeline drained into the Baltic Sea.
Later the same day, the operator of the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, which ran at reduced capacity from mid-June before shutting down completely in August, also disclosed a pressure drop on both lines of the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline.
The Baltic Pipe, a new subsea pipeline delivering Norwegian gas to Poland with an annual capacity of 10 billion cubic meters per day, is due to be inaugurated later on Tuesday.
2:15 a.m.: Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely to announce the accession of occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation during his address to parliament on September 30, the British Ministry of Defense said on Tuesday.
The referendums currently underway within these territories are scheduled to conclude on September 27, the Defense Ministry said in its daily briefing on Twitter.
“Russia’s leaders almost certainly hope that any accession announcement will be seen as a vindication of the special military operation and will consolidate patriotic support for the conflict,” it said.
Kyiv and the West have dismissed the referendums as a sham and pledged not to recognize the results.
1:30 a.m.: VOA United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer confirms the United Nations Security Council is convening a session on Ukraine at 3 p.m. EDT on Tuesday.
Ukraine requested the session, according to a letter from Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the U.N. Sergey Kislitsa. Among topics to be discussed are the referendums in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics as well as in the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. Ukraine also asked U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres to address the session.
1 a.m.: In a bomb shelter in western Ukraine, a young woman holds her phone in the air, trying to get a Wi-Fi signal, while another sips a matcha latte. Long silences hang between sentences as the small collection of strangers tossed together after the latest air-raid siren start to make small talk.
While it is a real bomb shelter, this is far from a real air-raid alert: Shmata (Rag) is a play, and one of an increasing number of performances being put on underground in Ukrainian bomb shelters since Russia launched a large-scale invasion eight months ago. And it’s one that, despite the dramaticism, removes itself somewhat from the war's intensity.
“Someone changes their socks, someone cleans with disinfectant, and someone even brought a window with them to wash,” director Yana Tytarenko said.
Theaters and cultural institutions have been targeted by Russia — especially in the weeks after the invasion was launched on February 24. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry said in early August that some 530 “Ukrainian institutions of culture and art,” including theaters and religious and cultural centers, had been destroyed in Russian strikes.
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has the story.
12:30 a.m.: EU and U.S. envoys have expressed dismay at Serbia’s decision to sign a two-year pledge to consult with Moscow as much of the West seeks to isolate Russia over its escalating war on Ukraine, RFE/RL’s Balkan service reported.
Moscow’s closest ally in the Balkans even as it pursues EU membership, Belgrade has condemned Russia’s unprovoked invasion but staunchly resisted joining unprecedented Western sanctions that would curb trade, energy shipments, direct flights, and other links.
Alongside Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on September 23, Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic announced his signing of a “Plan of Consultations” through 2024 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York.
U.S. Ambassador to Serbia Christopher Hill said at a conference at Belgrade's Metropol Hotel on Monday that “the United States would like to hear some clarification of what this agreement or what this protocol really was.”
12:05 a.m.: Voting in annexation polls organized by Russia-installed authorities in four parts of Ukraine is set to close Tuesday as the Ukrainian government and its western allies reject the polls as a sham.
“We stand with our partners around the world in rejecting whatever fabricated outcomes Russia announces,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday.
“As far as what we are doing, we are prepared to impose additional swift and severe economic costs on Russia, along with our allies and partners, in response to these actions that we’re seeing currently if they move forward with annexation,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been very clear about that.”
The voting began Friday in the Russian-controlled Luhansk and Kherson regions, and in occupied areas of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. In some instances, Russian soldiers have been going door to door to order Ukrainians to vote at gunpoint.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported heavy fighting in several areas of Ukraine as he gave his nightly address Monday.
“The situation is particularly intense in the Donetsk region,” he said. “We are doing everything to curb the enemy activity. That is where our number one goal is right now, as Donbas is still the number one goal for the occupiers.”
Zelenskyy called Russia’s mobilization of 300,000 reservists “a sincere attempt to give commanders on the ground a constant stream of cannon fodder.”
Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
