Western leaders have condemned the staged referendums that concluded in parts of four Ukrainian regions under Russian control this week, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken accusing Moscow of engaging in a “diabolical scheme” to annex Ukraine’s territory. The votes were illegal under international law, with reports of residents being coerced into voting. Russian state media claimed that initial results show 98% of those voting in Donetsk and Luhansk support joining Russia.
Meanwhile, the European Union said Wednesday that explosions damaging the Nord Stream 1 and 2 pipelines and causing leaks into the Baltic Sea appeared to be “the result of a deliberate act.” President Ursula von der Leyen said investigations were underway into what she called “sabotage action,” underscoring that any deliberate disruption to European energy infrastructure would “lead to the strongest possible response.”
Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.
Staged referendums yield expected result as Russia readies annexations. Putin’s plan to illegally annex four partially occupied regions in Ukraine lurched forward on Tuesday, as Russian officials and Kremlin proxy leaders claimed that staged referendums showed residents in favor of joining Russia by absurd margins of more than 95 percent.
Moscow does not fully control any of the four Ukrainian regions, either militarily or politically, The Post’s Mary Ilyushina and Isabelle Khurshudyan write. Moscow’s war against Ukraine has taken another disastrous turn in recent days, as Putin’s declaration of a partial military mobilization has led more than 180,000 Russians to leave the country to escape potential conscription, according to the neighboring countries of Georgia, Kazakhstan and Finland. The total is likely much higher.
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https://digitalalaskanews.com/ukraine-live-briefing-west-condemns-staged-referendums-calls-nord-stream-explosions-deliberate-act/
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