The Russian special military operation in Ukraine continues, today, Saturday, as the Russian army continues to … Demolition of the positions of the Ukrainian forces and the military infrastructure of Kiev With the aim of liberating the lands of the Donbass, while Kiev continues to receive Western support in the face of the Russian bear.
In the latest developments on the ground, Ukrainian forces bombed the city of Donetsk, according to separatist authorities, while the separatist authorities in Donetsk announced the killing of two people during the Ukrainian bombing of the city, warning citizens not to go out on the street. in anticipation of the dangers of the bombing and coinciding with a referendum to join Russia.
The British military said Russia bombed a dam on the Donets River with ballistic missiles, indicating that Russia could bomb the dams to flood Ukrainian army crossings.
The Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence bulletin that the attack occurred on September 21 and 22 following a previous attack on the Karachonevsky Dam on the Kryvyi Rih River in central Ukraine on September 15, adding that Ukrainian forces they were advancing towards the mouth of the Kryvyi Rih River. two rivers.
This comes when Kremlin-controlled areas in eastern and southern Ukraine voted for their annexation to Russia for the second day in a referendum that US President Joe Biden called a “fiction”.
The referendum on the annexation of four Ukrainian regions to Russia began on Friday, upping the ante seven months after the invasion launched from Moscow.
The annexation of the four regions to Russia would represent a significant escalation of the conflict, as Moscow would view any military move there as an attack on its own territory. Referendums recall what happened after Russia annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
For his part, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky urged the world to condemn what he called The “false referendums” that Russia has begun to organize to annex the areas it controls in Ukraine.
“The world will react absolutely right to bogus referendums – they will be categorically condemned,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation on Friday.
Four provinces in Ukraine fully or partially controlled by Russian forces, namely Donetsk and Luhansk to the east and Kherson and Zaporizhia to the south, are voting on their annexation to Russia.
Voting for the referendum on the accession of the Lugansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions to Russia began on Friday morning and is expected to last 5 days up to and including 27 September.
For his part, the president of the United States said on Friday The Russian referendums aimed at annexing four occupied regions of Ukraine are nothing more than “fake” voting operations.He added that Washington would never recognize the annexation of any Ukrainian territory to Russia.
Biden said in a statement that Washington will work with its allies and partners “to impose faster and harder economic costs on Russia.”
The Kremlin had confirmed that if a positive decision was made in the referendums, the actions of the parliament and Russian President Vladimir Putin would follow.
Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov stressed that these measures will take place quickly, according to Russian media reports.
“Certainly, a decision to that effect will be required later by the parliament and the head of state of Russia. The necessary documents must be signed, certain required actions must be carried out. All will be carried out in strict accordance with the applicable law”, Peskov said.
On the ground, the Russian Defense Ministry announced on Friday that its forces had killed more than 500 Ukrainian soldiers, “extremist nationalists and foreign mercenaries” over the past day, and had also shot down 3 Ukrainian warplanes.
Russian defense spokesman Igor Konashenkov said at a press conference that targeting units of the 81st Airborne Brigade near the city of Kramatorsk in the Republic of Donetsk resulted in the killing of more than 220 soldiers and more than 100 foreign mercenaries were cleared near the city of Slaviansk.
In the Zaporozhye region, more than 190 militants were killed in Russian aviation attacks on Ukrainian positions.
Konashenkov said that the Russian air force destroyed a Ukrainian MiG-29 aircraft in the Nikolaev region and two Su-25 aircraft in the Kherson region and the Republic of Donetsk in the air.
Russian air defenses shot down 19 drones in one day and intercepted 42 shells from the “Himars” and “Olkha” rocket launchers.
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