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Russia bombards Ukrainian cities amid Kremlin-organized votes


Russian forces have launched fresh attacks on Ukrainian cities as Kremlin-staged votes take place in occupied regions of Ukraine to create a pretext for their annexation of Moscow.

Ukraine’s presidential office said the latest Russian shelling left at least three people dead and 19 injured. the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and injuring seven others.

During the five-day voting in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south that began on Friday, election officials accompanied by police brought ballots to homes and set up polls. mobile polling station, citing safety reasons. Voting will end on Tuesday, when voting will be held at polling stations.

Two men pose for a photo in front of a convoy held to support voting during the referendum in Luhansk, eastern Ukraine, Friday, September 23, 2022. Voting begins Friday at four regions organized by Moscow, in a referendum to become part of Russia.

Photo AP

Ukraine and its Western allies say the referendums have no legal force. They accused the votes of being an illegal attempt by Moscow to cut off a large part of Ukraine’s territory, extending from the Russian border to the Crimean Peninsula. A similar referendum took place in Crimea in 2014 before Moscow annexed it, a move that most of the world considers illegal.

“Half of the population fled the Donetsk region because of Russian terror and constant shelling, voting against Russia with their feet, and the second half were deceived and scared,” said Donetsk Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on Ukrainians in the occupied regions to sabotage the referendums and share information about those who carried out “this farce.” He also urged people to try to avoid the partial mobilization that Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday or sabotage and desert the Russian military if they end up in the ranks.

“If you fall into the hands of the Russian military, sabotage any enemy activity, obstruct any Russian activity, provide us with any important information about the occupiers – their base, their headquarters, their ammunition depot,” Zelenskyy said.

Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said the vote was “like an opinion poll under the barrel of a gun”, adding that the Moscow-backed local government was sending armed escorts to accompany officials. holding elections and listing the names of individuals who voted against joining Russia.

In the Ukrainian capital, about 100 people from the Russian-occupied city of Mariupol, in the Donetsk region, gathered to protest the referendum, draped in Ukrainian flags and carrying posters that read “Mariupol is Ukraine.”

“They have ruined the city, killed thousands of people and now they are doing something offensive there,” said Vladyslav Kildishov, who helped organize the protest.

Elina Sytkova, 21, a protester who left many relatives in Mariupol despite the city’s months of shelling, said the vote was like a joke, because it was like in Crimea, that is it’s fake, not real. “It’s an illusory choice in the absence of any,” she added.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the partial deployment was ordered by Putin to add some 300,000 troops, but the president’s decree left the door open for a broader convocation.

Across Russa’s 11 time zones, men hugged crying family members before being sent off to duty amid fears that a broader call could be on the horizon. Some media outlets claim that Russian authorities actually plan to mobilize more than 1 million people, accusations denied by the Kremlin.

Police quickly moved to disperse more protests against the campaign held in several cities across Russia on Saturday and arrested more than 100 participants. More than 1,300 protesters were arrested during Wednesday’s anti-war protests, and many of them immediately received summons.

Many Russian men have tried desperately to leave the country, buying scarce and exorbitant airfares. Thousands more fled by car, creating traffic flows that lasted for hours or even days at some borders.

The troop mobilization marks a dramatic shift from Putin’s attempt to treat the seven-month war as a “special military operation” that would not interfere with the lives of most Russians. The massive exodus underscored the unpopularity of war and fueled public outrage that could erode his power.

In this image taken from video, a man wearing a Russian Ao Dai kisses his partner before boarding a bus to be sent to military units of the Eastern Military District, in Yakutsk, Russia, Friday , September 23, 2022. Mobilization is underway in Russia’s Far East region of Yakutia after President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilization of reservists Wednesday to bolster his forces in Ukraine .

Photo AP

To assuage public fears about the call, authorities have announced that many of those working in the high-tech, media or financial sectors will be exempted.

And in a signal that the Kremlin is worried about the widespread panic and chaos caused by the maneuver, the head of a state-controlled TV station harshly criticized the authorities. military for hastily scouring random people to achieve the goal of mobilizing instead of calling people. with military skills has recently served, as Putin promised.

RT director Margarita Simonyan has criticized military service offices for “making people crazy” by rounding up people who are not supposed to be military personnel. “It was as if they were tasked by Kyiv to do it,” she said.

Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the Kremlin-backed Chechnya region who sent his forces to fight in Ukraine and repeatedly called for tougher action, suggested that Moscow should more broadly engage its staff. from law enforcement agencies into the fray.

He denounced those fleeing the campaign as cowards and suggested that the police and various paramilitary agencies totaling 5 million people together with the army would make up a well-trained fighting force. create and be motivated much better.

“If we let 50 percent of the personnel do their job, another 2.5 million people would blow away any Western army and we wouldn’t need any reserves,” Kadyrov said.

Putin’s order to maneuver after a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive forced Moscow to retreat from large swaths of the northeastern region of Kharkiv, a humiliating defeat that highlighted flaws in Moscow’s military planning.

The Defense Ministry on Saturday announced the dismissal of General Dmitry Bulgakov from the post of Deputy Defense Minister in charge of logistics. It made no mention of what led to his ouster, but the move was seen by many as punishment for failures in support operations in Ukraine.



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