Recommends citizens to “save their lives” and avoid being “recruited”
The president of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, has not stood idly by in the face of the Russian strategy of calling referendums in the occupied regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson in order to annex them and legitimize a tougher response to the kyiv attacks. In a video released late Friday, right at the end of the first day of consultations, Zelensky urged citizens who cannot flee to sabotage Russian forces from within.
His first recommendation for Ukrainians in these areas is to “save their lives”, avoid being “recruited” by the Russians and escape as soon as possible to territory under kyiv’s control. But he also made a request for those who do not manage to flee and end up in the Russian Army: “Sabotage any activity of the enemy, hinder any Russian operation, provide any important information about the occupiers; their bases, headquarters or ammunition depots.
forced to vote
The regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson – the first two fully occupied and the other two only partially – host until Tuesday illegal consultations that do not have observers or international support. kyiv denounces that the population is being forced to participate, even taking armed soldiers from house to house. Moscow’s objective in annexing these territories is to be able, under its legislation, to give a firmer military response to the counteroffensive that since the beginning of September has made it lose positions.
On the diplomatic front, kyiv decided to withdraw the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador on the grounds that this country is supplying weapons to the Russian troops occupying Ukraine. The authorities have denounced an attack by the Russians carried out with Iranian drones on Friday in Odessa, which caused the death of a woman, according to official sources. Tehran’s government regretted Ukraine’s decision and said it “should refrain from being influenced by third parties,” according to a Foreign Ministry spokesman.
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