Moscow renews its threats to use nuclear weapons

Russian Election Commission: Strong support for the annexation of 4 Ukrainian regions

Members of an electoral commission count the votes at a polling station in the city of Sevastopol.

Reuters

The Russian Electoral Commission announced that the preliminary results of the referendums on the annexation of four Ukrainian regions under full or partial Russian control show the "yes" victory, after the votes of polling stations in Russia were counted, while Moscow renewed its threats to use nuclear weapons to defend these territories.

RIA Novosti, TASS and Interfax news agencies reported that the Russian Electoral Commission confirmed that support came from 97% to 98% of the votes after 20% to 27% of the votes had been counted in polling stations in Russia, while the counting of votes had begun in the Ukrainian regions. under Russian control.

The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry considered that the results of the Russian referendums "will not affect" the movements of Ukrainians on the front.

The former Russian president and deputy head of the Russian Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, stressed that Moscow will defend the territories it intends to annex, especially through "strategic nuclear weapons."

When asked by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov whether Medvedev's statements represented Moscow's official position, he recalled the Russian military doctrine that states that nuclear strikes can be launched if territory considered by Moscow to be Russian is attacked.

But “there will be fundamental changes in these territories legally, in terms of international law and because of all the consequences (resulting from the measures taken) to ensure security, in the territories” that Moscow intends to annex after the referendums, he said.

The nuclear threats being taken seriously by the West coincided with the end of referendums organized by Moscow in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Lugansk in eastern Ukraine and the Russian-controlled Kherson and Zaporizhia regions in the east.

Ukraine and its allies have denounced these "sham" referendums.

Yesterday, a spokesman for the European Union's foreign policy chief confirmed that the annexation referendums organized by Russia in Ukraine are "illegal" and that all persons who participated in organizing them will be subject to sanctions.

However, these criticisms and threats did not deter Moscow, which hastily organized last week these referendums against the backdrop of Ukrainian military gains, opening hundreds of polling stations in the four regions and in Russia for the displaced to vote.

Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed yesterday that the referendums are aimed at "save the residents" of these regions.

The G7 countries pledged to "never recognize" the results of the elections, while Washington promised a "quick and harsh" response by imposing additional economic sanctions in the event of the annexation of these areas, as happened with the Crimea in March 2014.

China called on Moscow's major partner to respect the "territorial integrity of all countries" without denouncing these referendums.

"What can we expect from this event?" said the separatist leader in Lugansk, Leonid Pasechnik.

Stability, economic stability and confidence in the future.

Yesterday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna visited Kyiv to express her country's support for Ukraine and to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

At the same time, Moscow continues to partially mobilize reserve soldiers in order to recruit about 300,000 soldiers in order to participate in its war on Ukraine and to counter the Ukrainian counter-attack, which, thanks to Western weapons supplies, has allowed to recover thousands of square kilometers since the beginning of September.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev stressed yesterday that his country will protect the Russians who flee to Kazakhstan to escape the military mobilization in Russia to fight in Ukraine.

The Ministry of the Interior in Georgia announced that the number of Russians arriving in this country doubled to about 10,000 per day after the mobilization was announced.

On the ground in Ukraine, Kyiv reported new progress by retaking the town of Porevchina on the left bank of the Oskil River in the Kharkiv region and the logistically strategic town of Kopensk-Vozlovy.

Moscow, for its part, continued to assert that it inflicted heavy losses on Kiev.

Russian attacks have intensified with Iranian marches in recent days, especially over Odessa, which includes a large port on the Black Sea, where two "suicide planes" struck military installations on Monday, causing a big fire and exploding ammunition, according to what the Ukrainian military leadership announced.

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