Authorities in Ukrainian region of Vinnytsya order local evacuation early on Saturday after strike following reports of drones in area
Welcome back to our ongoing live coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a snapshot of the latest to bring you up to speed.
Authorities in the western Ukrainian region of Vinnytsya ordered an evacuation early on Saturday around what they said was an infrastructure site that had been hit in a Russian attack.
Vladimir Putin said residents of Russian-held regions in Ukraine expressed their desire to be part of Russia in recent local elections, reaffirming referendums last year that western countries denounced as illegal. In a video address released early on Saturday on the one-year anniversary of Moscow’s announcement it was annexing four parts of Ukraine, the Russian president said the choice to join Russia was reinforced by this month’s local elections that returned officials supporting Russia’s annexation. Western countries dismissed the outcomes as meaningless, underpinned by mass coercion of voters. Flag-waving Russians gathered for a concert in Red Square on Friday as the Kremlin held celebrations to mark the annexations.
The UK government has imposed an asset freeze and travel bans on Russian officials in the annexed Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk and Crimea as part of its broader sanctions against Russia.
Seven European Union countries have ordered ammunition under a landmark EU procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted western stocks, according to the EU agency in charge.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree setting out the routine autumn conscription campaign, calling up 130,000 citizens for statutory military service, a document posted on the government website showed. Separately, Putin reportedly met Andrei Troshev, formerly a top Wagner mercenary commander, to discuss how voluntary fighting units are used in the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Friday.
German chancellor Olaf Scholz and the leaders of five Central Asian nations on Friday pledged to cooperate closely on sanctions in a carefully worded statement that did not pinpoint Russia. The gathering of Scholz and the leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan in Berlin was the first of its kind in an EU country.
