TIME.CO, Jakarta – Ukrainian team e Russia engaged in fierce fighting in various parts of Ukraine on Tuesday 27 September 2022, when the referendum on the four territories that Moscow intends to annex draws to a close.
President Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said the Donetsk region to the east remained a top strategic priority for his country and Russia, with fighting engulfing several cities as Moscow forces tried to advance south and west.
There were also clashes in the Kharkiv region in the north-east, the focus of Ukraine’s counterattack this month. And Ukrainian troops continued to take control of four bridges and other river crossings to disrupt Russian troop supply lines in the south.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces Southern Command said Tuesday that a retaliatory strike in Kherson resulted in the deaths of 77 Russian troops, as well as damaging six tanks, five howitzers, three anti-aircraft installations and 14 armored vehicles.
There has been no Russian statement on this Ukrainian claim.
Moscow will annex the provinces of Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia to the east and south, which make up about 15 percent of Ukraine, by referendum. However, Ukraine and the West regard the referendum as a hoax.
None of the provinces are fully under Moscow control and fighting is ongoing along the front line, with Ukrainian forces reporting more progress since defeating Russian forces in the fifth province, Kharkiv, earlier this month.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a veiled threat to use nuclear weapons to protect Russian soil, which would include four provinces if annexed.
Voting on joining Russia began on Friday and will end on Tuesday, with the Russian parliament likely to approve the annexation within days.
Kiev and the West refused referendum like a hoax and promised not to acknowledge the results.
Reuters
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