The Kremlin acknowledged mistakes in mobilizing hundreds of thousands of reservists and vowed to correct them, while referendums on whether Russian-controlled areas of Ukraine would join the Russian Federation entered their last day.

The Kremlin has so far denied taking a decision on closing the land borders, which are witnessing a large exodus of people fleeing the controversial partial mobilization internally and externally.

This came at a time when protests against the partial mobilization decision are escalating in more than one Russian region, including Dagestan and Siberia.

In a parallel context, Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed the importance of the West's respect for Russia, during his meeting with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko in the resort of Sochi.

For his part, the Belarusian president said - during the meeting - that his country and Russia will not tolerate what he described as humiliation from Western countries.


And the Russian RIA Novosti news agency quoted Belarusian Foreign Minister Vladimir Mackay as saying that all options before his country are available, including equipping aircraft with nuclear weapons.

The Belarusian minister added that his country would need security guarantees in the event of peace agreements between Moscow and Kiev.

Nuclear threats

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Karen Jean-Pierre said Washington has yet to see any reason to adjust the current status of its nuclear forces, despite her country taking Russia's nuclear threats seriously.

For his part, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said that there is no winner in any nuclear war that may erupt.

"Now, decades after the fall of the Berlin Wall, we can again hear the clatter of nuclear swords," Guterres added, during a special session of the United Nations General Assembly devoted to discussing the issue of nuclear disarmament, according to what he was quoted by the United Nations Arabic website as saying.

Guterres called for an end to the "era of nuclear blackmail" and urged all countries to reduce tensions and eliminate the nuclear threat.


In the same context, the Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, called for more efforts to be made to avoid a nuclear disaster in Ukraine.

During the opening of the agency's annual general conference at its headquarters in Vienna, Grossi expressed his concerns about the situation in Ukraine, stressing the need to stop the war in order to avoid a nuclear catastrophe.

referendum

Referendums on the accession of 4 regions controlled by Russian forces in Ukraine to the Russian Federation entered their last day.

The pro-Russian Central Election Commission in Lugansk said that on Monday, Ukrainian forces bombed a referendum center to join Russia in the city of Robyzhny, without recording injuries or damage to the referendum's documents and papers.

Al-Jazeera correspondent in the Donbass region also reported that areas controlled by the Ukrainian forces were subjected to Russian bombardment, which damaged parts of the National Hospital in the city of Toritsk.


The White House spokeswoman said that her country will not recognize the territories in which Russia holds referendums, except that they are Ukrainian territory.

In statements during her regular meeting with the media, Jean-Pierre added that Washington and its allies are ready to impose new and severe economic costs on Russia if it proceeds with the measures to annex those territories to it.

attacks

On the ground, Russian media said that at least one person was killed and others wounded in a Ukrainian missile shelling targeting the city center of Kherson (southern Ukraine).

The media added that the Ukrainian bombardment of the city was carried out with US "HIMARS" missile launchers.

In Mykolaiv (south of the country), the city witnesses almost daily missile attacks, due to its proximity to the line of clashes with the areas controlled by Russia in Kherson.

For its part, the Southern Operations Command of the Ukrainian Army announced the killing of 17 Russian soldiers while the Ukrainian forces carried out 140 shooting missions on the Southern Front.

A spokesman for the Command in Southern Operations, Vladislav Nazarov, said that his country's forces bombed the Kakhovk bridge and a command center in the Pereslav region of Kherson.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the military situation in the Donetsk region (eastern Ukraine) as difficult, and said that it is the country's "first goal" because it is Russia's first goal.

Zelensky said - in his night speech - "The situation in the Donetsk region is very dangerous... We are doing everything we can to contain the enemy's activity. This is our first goal now because Donbass is still the first target of the occupiers."