War in Ukraine, live: last day of annexation votes organized by Russia

Cover image: A Russian military vehicle passes under a billboard that reads: “With Russia, forever. September 27” in Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. September 22, 2022. AP G7 countries have vowed to “never recognize” the results of annexation votes being held until Tuesday, September 27 in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk (east) and those under Russian occupation from Kherson and Zaporizhia (South). For its part, Washington promised a “rapid and severe” response to these annexations, which follow the pattern of that of Crimea in March 2014. China, Moscow’s closest partner, called for respecting “the integrity territory of all countries.” “The situation in the Donetsk region is particularly difficult,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address. “We are doing everything possible to subdue enemy activity. This is our number one objective, since it is also that of the occupier. Kyiv said it is investigating a new mass grave near the Russian border, ten days after discovering more than 440 graves and a mass grave near Izium, in the same region of Kharkiv. The soldiers and officials evoke a hundred bodies, without giving details. Oleksandr Striouk, Ukrainian mayor of Sievierodonetsk, denounced on Telegram the “lies and propaganda” of the “referendum of the Russian Federation (…) which has none than the name”. These votes pose a veneer of legality on the annexation by Russia of these regions. The oligarch Yevgueni Prigojine recognizes, for the first time, having founded the group of mercenaries Wagner. This close friend of Vladimir Putin had been suspected for years of being the financier of a group of mercenaries in the service of the Kremlin. He has admitted their presence in Ukraine, Africa and Latin America. The United States has publicly and privately called on Russia to end its talk of nuclear threat in the war in Ukraine; a weapon whose use would have, Washington warns, “catastrophic” consequences. The port city of Odessa, in southern Ukraine, was attacked with Iranian-made drones used by the Russian army, according to this Ukrainian military authorities said on Sunday. According to reports spotted by the Reuters news agency, two senior Russian parliamentarians on Sunday expressed criticism of the campaign to mobilize reservists in Russia, demanding local officials that they control the situation and quickly put an end to the “excesses” which have provoked the anger of the population. Moscow also tightened, on Saturday, the penalties incurred by the deserters. Vladimir Putin has signed amendments providing for up to ten years in prison for soldiers who desert or refuse to fight. The Russian president also signed a law that facilitates access to Russian nationality for foreigners who enlist for at least a year in the army, at a time when Moscow is seeking by all means to recruit more of men to fight in Ukraine. Find our direct from yesterday by clicking on this link. Read all our articles, analyzes and reports on the war in Ukraine Reportage. In Izioum, “we no longer had the strength to be afraid” Analysis. Nuclear power plants, a new war stake Reportage. In Ukraine, remnants of war exposed as museum pieces Letter from… “Dear mother, take us back. We want to be in your arms! » Factual. The thorny question of welcoming Russian deserters in Europe Report. Istanbul, the exit door for Russians fleeing the mobilization Decoders. Why is it so hard to estimate the number of war dead in Ukraine? Infographics. Seven months of conflict in infographics