KYV: In Kherson, one of four partially Russian-occupied territories that President Vladimir Putin formally annexed Russia in Europe's biggest merger since World War II, Ukraine said its military More settlements have been withdrawn.
In a late-night speech on Wednesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that the Kherson city neighborhoods northeast of Novovoskrenske, Novoharihorivka and Petropavlivka had been "liberated" as a result of Russian forces withdrawing from front lines in the south and east.
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When the 193-member UN General Assembly considers whether to condemn Russia after referendums on Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhya in the south, Russia is calling for a secret vote rather than a public vote. Is.
On Wednesday, Putin approved legislation unifying the regions in Russia. According to Ukraine, forcible illegal occupation of its territory will never be tolerated. The referendum was, according to Kyiv and the West, rigged elections under pressure.
According to the new law, 18% of Ukraine's land will be occupied by Russia. Putin claims he wants to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine and ensure Russia's security. Kyiv accuses Moscow of stealing land.
As Putin and other officials have said, Russia could use nuclear weapons to defend its territory, including the annexation of provinces, raising the possibility that Russia will move to annex the regions. As a result the war will escalate.
In his address, Zelensky said that he and his senior military officials met to discuss reclaiming all Russian occupied land. Ukraine has said it will not be afraid of any nuclear threat.
Zelensky addressed pro-Moscow forces in Russian after switching from Ukrainian. He told them that they had already lost.
"The Ukrainians are aware of their reasons. And more and more Russians are coming to the conclusion that they must die because Putin does not want to end the war," he said.
The areas under Moscow's control in Ukraine appear to be decreasing on the Moscow map. The entire territory of the Ukrainian provinces was depicted on a map of "New Territories" published by the state news agency RIA, although some areas were marked under Ukrainian military control.
Ukraine's military in the south reported that its troops had killed at least 58 Russian fighters and destroyed 9 tanks, 17 armored vehicles and 4 howitzers.
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According to regional governor Oleksandr Starukh, seven Russian missiles fired overnight at the city of Zaporizhzhya damaged or destroyed several buildings, set fire to and injured several people. He said rescuers were currently evacuating people from under the rubble.
The report could not be immediately confirmed by Reuters.
Since the beginning of September, Ukrainian forces have seized thousands of square miles of land, including dozens of settlements in the past few days.
After leaving the front line, thousands of Russian troops retreated, first in the northeast and, as of the beginning of this week, also in the south.
Just hours before Lyman, Russia's main stronghold in the northern part of Donetsk, was captured by Ukrainian forces last week, Putin celebrated the annexations with a ceremony in the Kremlin and a concert on Red Square.
One of Putin's first steps toward establishing authority over the four annexed provinces was to order the Russian state to take control of Europe's largest power plant, Zaporizhzhya, despite still being occupied by Russian forces. was being run by Ukrainian engineers. in conflict.
Six reactors at the plant have been shut down for weeks, but one of them will be restarted, according to the United Nations nuclear watchdog IAEA.
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The power plant is directly on the front line, on a Ukrainian force-held bank of a reservoir controlled by Russian forces, and both sides have warned of the risk of a nuclear accident.
