Ukraine hits Russia hard in the areas Moscow is trying to control

Kyiv, Ukraine
CNN
–

Like Vladimir Putin More Ukrainian land lost On Tuesday, his government sought to end its claim to four Ukrainian regions, none of which are no longer fully under Russia’s control.

The upper house of Russia’s legislature, the Federation Council, on Tuesday unanimously approved a decision to annex Ukraine’s Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhia regions in defiance of international law and A day after the lower room did the same. Putin’s spokesman said that President Putin is expected to sign the law later today.

However, Kyiv’s army continued to advance in many areas that Russia now claims to belong to, raising questions about whether the Kremlin could hold parts of those territories it currently controlled – and even what Russia would consider its new borders after the annexation. . Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that Moscow needed to “continue consultations” with local residents before demarcating its borders.

How Russia plans to seize the four regions it has sought to regard as its own remains unclear, at least in the short term. Peskov I hinted last week that Russia would attempt to retake the area at a later time, and that this campaign would likely include some of the 300,000 reservists called up as part of a “partial mobilization” Putin ordered it last month.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday that more than 200,000 people have joined the country’s army since the announcement sparked protests It sent hundreds of thousands of people – mostly men of fighting age – to flee to neighboring countries.

For now, Ukrainian forces continue to press ahead with their surprisingly successful counter-offensive which, as a Ukrainian official said Tuesday, saw more areas liberated “every day”.

On Sunday, Kyiv took control of Lyman, an important Donetsk rail logistics hub that the Russian army used to direct troops and supplies to the west and south. Russian Ministry of Defense He said he had to give up Lyman Or risk encircling their forces there, allowing Ukrainian forces to use the city as a springboard to push forces east.

Victory in Lehman was followed by Ukrainian gains in Luhansk on Monday And success in pushing south towards Kherson Overnight from Monday to Tuesdaywhich saw Kyiv restore the cities of David Breed and Velika Oleksandrivka.

“Ukrainian marines are confidently advancing towards the Black Sea,” the Ukrainian Defense Ministry tweeted on Tuesday as it announced the gains in Kherson.

Both Donetsk and Luhansk are in eastern Ukraine, and fighting against Moscow-backed separatist republics has been raging in each region since 2014. Kherson and Zaporizhzhya are in southern Ukraine and were occupied by Russian forces shortly after the invasion began in late February.

Kyiv’s recent success was not lost on those in the Kremlin. Unusually pro-Russian bloggers and publicists have criticized the war effort in recent days. Although there were no votes against annexation in Parliament, A senator aired Tuesday’s concerns That Russia would absorb lands “occupied by the armed forces of another country.”

With defeats piling up, changes seem to await the Russian war machine. Show records The Kremlin recently dismissed Colonel Alexander Zuravlyov from the post of head of the Western Military District, one of five similar districts in the country’s army and a major player in the war in Ukraine.

US officials They expressed their concerns Putin may escalate the conflict in response to Ukraine’s battlefield success. Washington is considering how to respond to a range of potential scenarios, including whether Russia will use tactical nuclear weapons, according to three sources familiar with the latest intelligence. Officials warn that the United States has not detected preparations for a nuclear strike.

The United States and many advanced democracies of the world constantly express strong opposition to the entire process of annexation, including the so-called referendums held in the four regions that Russia is trying to annex. These organized contests, which allegedly showed that the majority of people living there wanted to join Russia, were widely criticized as a farce that failed to meet internationally recognized standards for free and fair elections. Reports from the field indicated that the voting took place mainly and literally at gunpoint.

The results were followed by a fiery speech from Putin at St. George’s Hall in the Kremlin Friday. In the speech, Putin announced that the territories would be annexed and that the millions of people living there would be Russian citizens “forever.” On Tuesday, the Russian deputy foreign minister said that residents will have one month to change their citizenship.

G7 members — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States — and the European Union responded by saying they would never recognize the Kremlin’s sovereignty over the regions and vowing to “impose additional economic costs on Russia.”

Western leaders have continued to unveil new sanctions on the Putin regime in recent days. UK government Tuesday Impose sanctions on the leader of the Kherson region “for destabilizing Ukraine, undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty or independence of Ukraine.”