Ukraine: Biden promises “swift and severe” sanctions in the event of Russian annexations

Europe 1 with AFP 9:45 a.m., September 24, 2022, modified at 9:45 a.m., September 24, 2022

"The referendums in Russia are a sham, a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force", denounced Friday evening the American president, Joe Biden who assures that the United States and their allies were going impose further "swift and severe" economic sanctions on Russia if it annexes Ukrainian territories. 

Earlier, in a joint statement, the G7 countries (Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom) had called on "all countries to unequivocally reject these fictitious referendums", "sham" which "have neither legal effect nor legitimacy".

Volodymyr Zelensky denounces "pseudo-referendums"

Friday evening, in his daily address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky also denounced "pseudo-referendums".

Without going so far as to denounce the polls, China, Moscow's closest partner, nevertheless went there with its criticism, calling for respect for "the territorial integrity of all countries".

Voting closes September 27

Russia has begun to vote in its "referendums" to annex Ukrainian regions that it wholly or partly controls.

The votes, which began at 0500 GMT on Friday, will end on September 27 in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), and in areas under Russian occupation in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia (south).

Hundreds of polling stations were to be opened in the four territories, and others in Russia to allow displaced people to vote.

In Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, authorities staged demonstrations in support of the votes with flags and slogans.

"These referendums are a step towards this peace," said Viktor Suvorov, 40, present at the Moscow rally, a stone's throw from Red Square.

In Ukraine, in Chevchenkové, the Ukrainian official Andriï Kanachevitch protested to AFP against "illegal" elections.

"It's nonsense," he said.

A commission of inquiry recognizes that "war crimes have been committed in Ukraine"

On the side of the UN, a commission of inquiry has recognized that "war crimes have been committed in Ukraine", referring in particular to Russian bombardments on civilian areas, executions, acts of torture, ill-treatment as well as sexual violence.

Ukraine has also announced that it has exhumed 447 bodies from a mass burial site in Izium, a town recaptured from the Russians in the northeast, including 30 with "signs of torture" such as bound hands, limbs broken or "amputated genitalia".

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On the diplomatic side, Iran has found itself in the crosshairs of the Ukrainian authorities, who blame it for its arms deliveries to Moscow and in particular drones, which killed one person in a Russian attack on the port of Odessa on Friday.

Criticizing "hostile" behavior, Kyiv decided to withdraw accreditation from the Iranian ambassador to Ukraine and to "significantly reduce" the staff of the Iranian embassy in Kyiv.

On the ground, Ukraine claimed responsibility for taking Yatskivka in the Donetsk region (east) on Friday.

She also says she advanced south of Bakhmout, a locality in the east, which the Russian army has been trying to take for months without success.

On the separatist side, the head of Donetsk Denis Pushilin spoke of an "extremely difficult" situation north of his city.

In the Lugansk region, another separatist official, Andrei Marochko, reported Ukrainian bombardments, noting that the forces of kyiv "want to do everything to derail the referendum".

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The hasty announcement of these elections was accompanied by that, Wednesday by Vladimir Putin, of the immediate mobilization of at least 300,000 reservists.

The Russian president also threatened to use all of Russia's arsenal, which includes nuclear weapons.

This mobilization continued in Russia, the Kremlin seeking the parade with the advances of the Ukrainian army which, strong of the deliveries of Western weapons, claimed new territorial progress Friday.

On this subject, Mr Zelensky called on all Ukrainians who find themselves in the territories occupied by the Russians to "go into hiding to escape Russian mobilization" and, if they cannot escape it, to "sabotage any activity of the enemy".

The announcement of the mobilization pushes many Russians to leave the country

If television broadcast almost no images of the mobilization, several videos on social networks showed men with closed faces getting on buses after kissing their loved ones, some in tears.

Reached by AFP, Konstantin, 29, said he received his summons at his parents' home.

"I'm still in shock," he said.

"I'm not going to hide but I'm not jumping for joy either".

Others were given a summons after being arrested during demonstrations against the mobilization on Wednesday.

"I expected the usual (procedures): the arrest, the police station, the court. But being told: + Tomorrow you are going to war + (...) that was a surprise", told AFP Mikhail Suetin, 29, who refused to sign the document.

The announcement of the mobilization also prompted many Russians to leave the country, causing an influx at the borders, without it being possible to quantify the extent of the phenomenon.

Finland has decided to take measures to "significantly" limit the entry of Russian citizens on its soil, while the Baltic countries and Poland have already been drastically curbing entry for weeks.