Putin recognizes independence of 2 Ukrainian regions amid furor over annexation plans
Move follows referendums in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia that many condemn as unlawful
Russian President Vladimir Putin has recognized the independence of two more Ukrainian regions, a precursor to their annexation by Russia.
Putin issued decrees early Friday recognizing the independence of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions. He took similar steps in February regarding Luhansk and Donetsk and earlier for Crimea.
Russia's plan to annex more of Ukraine on Friday is an escalation of the seven-month war and is expected to isolate the Kremlin further, draw more international punishment and bring Ukraine extra military, political and economic support.
The annexation — and planned celebratory concerts and rallies in Moscow and the occupied territories — would come just days after voters supposedly approved independence in Moscow-managed "referendums." Ukrainian and Western officials have denounced the votes as illegal, forced and rigged.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters Thursday that four regions of Ukraine — Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — would be folded into Russia during a Kremlin ceremony attended by President Vladimir Putin, who is expected to give a major speech. Peskov said the regions' pro-Moscow administrators would sign treaties to join Russia in the Kremlin's ornate St. George's Hall.
In an apparent response, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting Friday of his National Security and Defence Council.
Zelenskyy also sought to capitalize on anti-war sentiment in Russia by issuing a special video directed at Russia's ethnic minorities, especially those in Dagestan, one of the country's poorer regions in the North Caucasus.
"You do not have to die in Ukraine," he said, wearing a black hoodie that read in English "I'm Ukrainian," and standing in front of a plaque in Kyiv memorializing what he called a Dagestani hero. He called on the ethnic minorities to resist mobilization.
The U.S. and its allies have promised to adopt even more sanctions than they've already levied against Russia and to offer millions of dollars in extra support for Ukraine as the Kremlin duplicates the annexation playbook it followed when it incorporated Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
Ukraine has repeated its vows to recapture the four regions, as well as Crimea. For its part, Russia pledges to defend all its territory — including newly annexed regions — by all available means, including nuclear weapons.
Heightening the tensions are Russia's partial military mobilization and allegations of sabotage of two Russian pipelines on the Baltic Sea floor that were designed to feed natural gas to Europe. Adding to the Kremlin's woes is Ukraine's success in recapturing some of the very land Russia is annexing and problems with the mobilization.
Ukraine's Western supporters have described the stage-managed referendums on whether to live under Russian rule as a bald-faced land grab based on lies. They say some people were forced to vote at gunpoint in an election without independent observers on territory from which thousands of residents have fled or been forcibly deported.
In unusually strong language, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told reporters Thursday in New York that Russia's annexation would violate the UN Charter and has "no legal value." He described the move as "a dangerous escalation" and said it "must not be accepted."
"Any decision by Russia to go forward will further jeopardize the prospects for peace," Guterres said.
As a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, Russia bears "a particular responsibility" to respect the UN Charter, the secretary-general said.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said Guterres conveyed the message to Russia's UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, during a meeting Wednesday.
Ukraine making gains
In what would be a major blow to Moscow's war effort, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said Ukrainian forces may soon entirely encircle Lyman, a city 160 kilometres southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city.
"The collapse of the Lyman pocket will likely be highly consequential to the Russian grouping," in the northern Donetsk and western Luhansk regions and "may allow Ukrainian troops to threaten Russian positions along the western Luhansk" region, the institute said, citing Russian reports.
Elsewhere on the battlefront, rescuers pulled a sleeping 12-year-old girl out alive from rubble after a Russian missile attack on Dnipro, local administrator Valentyn Reznichenko said.
Moscow-installed officials in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region reported that about 30 people were killed when the Ukrainian military shelled a refugee convoy on Thursday. The claim could not be independently verified.
A Russian rocket attack on Kramatorsk, an eastern Donetsk city that Ukraine still holds, wounded 11 people and inflicted damage, Mayor Oleksandr Honcharenko said.
More fighting near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant — Europe's biggest — was another source of concern. Russian forces occupy the plant, but Ukrainian technicians still are running it.
A suspected land mine explosion Thursday on the power plant's perimeter fence was likely triggered by wild animals. The blast damaged electrical lines, according to Ukraine's atomic power agency, Energoatom.
Exodus from Russia
Russia's partial mobilization has been chaotic and unpopular, triggering protests and violence. Russian men have formed miles-long lines trying to leave the country, and Moscow reportedly set up draft offices at its borders to intercept some of those fleeing.
In an apparent effort to calm the population, Putin told Russia's Security Council on Thursday that mistakes had been made in the mobilization, that Russian men mistakenly called up should be sent home and that only reservists with proper training and specialties should be summoned to serve.
Multiple reports have surfaced of Russian men outside the eligible categories being forced to serve, and of reservists being provided inadequate training and equipment.
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, and said many of those leaving are well educated, causing a "brain drain."
Finland closed one of the last ways out for Russians. It's banning Russian citizens with tourist visas from entering the country starting Friday. With the exception of Norway, which has only one border crossing with Russia, Finland has provided the last easily accessible land route for Russian holders of Schengen visas, which allow free movement across much of Europe.