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Occupied Ukraine encouraged to vote in Russian election by armed men

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Moscow is orchestrating a significant effort urging residents in occupied parts of Ukraine to participate in Russia’s presidential election. The election, spanning three days for the first time, is being supplemented with early voting in regions under occupation, including Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, and Luhansk.

Reports indicate coercion tactics, with pro-Russian collaborators and armed soldiers visiting households with ballot boxes to encourage voting. While Vladimir Putin’s victory seems assured, a high turnout would bolster Kremlin’s legitimacy and potentially justify Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Residents are pressured through various means, including home visits by electoral representatives accompanied by armed individuals, data collection, and filming. Despite resistance and attacks on election organizers, Moscow continues to promote the vote as an endorsement of Putin’s leadership, using symbols associated with the Ukraine conflict.

However, critics denounce the process as undemocratic and farcical, citing intimidation tactics, forced participation, and the absence of genuine opposition. Many residents, fearful of repercussions, reluctantly comply with the orchestrated election process.

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Ukraine war: Attack on Belgorod shopping centre in Russia near border

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The governor of the Belgorod region reported that an air attack in the Russian city resulted in the deaths of at least five individuals and injuries to eighteen others. Videos on social media depicted ambulances outside a damaged shopping center with broken windows. Russian authorities stated that their air defense systems intercepted 14 Ukrainian missiles over the Belgorod region, with one missile striking a shopping center and another hitting a sports stadium.

Belgorod, situated approximately 30km from the Ukrainian border, has frequently been targeted by Ukrainian forces since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine began nearly two years ago. This recent attack follows a previous drone and rocket strike in December that claimed 25 lives and injured 100, marking the deadliest assault on Belgorod thus far.

In response to the ongoing conflict, Russia launched 26 missiles at Ukraine, resulting in the death of a woman in Chuguyiv and multiple injuries. Meanwhile, the battle for the eastern Ukrainian town of Avdiivka continues, with Ukrainian soldiers expressing concerns over shortages of weapons and ammunition.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg cautioned that the US’s failure to approve continued military assistance to Ukraine is impacting the battlefield. Avdiivka holds strategic importance as a gateway to the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk and has been a focal point of conflict since the onset of the eastern Ukrainian conflict in 2014.

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Ukraine drones hit St Petersburg gas terminal in Russia

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An explosion at a significant gas export terminal near St Petersburg in Russia has reportedly been orchestrated by Ukrainian drones, as informed by sources to BBC News. The incident, which caused a large fire at the Ust-Luga terminal, resulted in no injuries according to Russian officials. Ukrainian sources from Kyiv claim that the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) conducted a “special operation” using targeted drones. Both Russia and Ukraine have utilized drones in the ongoing conflict.

The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia began nearly two years ago, with limited progress reported in recent months. The explosion near St Petersburg occurred at the Ust-Luga terminal of gas producer Novatek, prompting a “high alert regime” in the region. Novatek suspended operations at the terminal, attributing the fire to “external influence” without providing specific details.

According to Ukrainian sources, the fuel processed at the attacked plant supplied Russian troops in the ongoing conflict, and this strike is said to significantly complicate military logistics. The attack is also characterized as an economic blow to Russia, a major fuel exporter from the terminal.

Reports from Russia’s Fontanka.ru include video footage of tankers near the fire, revealing that two drones were observed heading towards St Petersburg before altering their course towards the Ust-Luga port. Witnesses reported feeling the ground shake with explosions, and about 150 staff were evacuated from the terminal.

The Russian defence ministry stated it shot down three Ukrainian drones in the Smolensk Region near the Ukrainian border on Saturday night, following earlier reports of downed drones in Tula and Oryol in western Russia. No casualties were reported.

Additionally, on the same day, a shelling incident in the Russian-controlled city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine resulted in at least 25 deaths and 20 injuries at a busy market. Russia and Ukraine have been targeting each other’s energy infrastructure, with a recent fire at an oil depot in Bryansk, southwest Russia, blamed on a Ukrainian drone strike. This follows an attack on a major oil loading terminal in St Petersburg and Russia’s claim of capturing a village near Bakhmut, which Kyiv has not confirmed. Ukraine, facing ammunition shortages, has expressed intentions to domestically produce a million drones this year.

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Repeat Drone Strike Targets Moscow Skyscraper Amid Ongoing Ukraine Conflict

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Moscow’s Mayor Sergei Sobyanin has reported a second drone attack on a skyscraper in the city’s Moskva City complex within two days. Multiple drones were shot down during the overnight incident, but one managed to hit the same tower that was targeted on Sunday. The attack caused damage to the building’s glass facade, but fortunately, no injuries have been reported.

Russia’s defense ministry has attributed the latest attack to Ukraine, although Kyiv has not made any official comments on the matter. The tensions have escalated further, as Russia also claimed that three Ukrainian unmanned boats were destroyed while attempting to attack Russian naval ships in the Black Sea.

The IQ-Quarter Tower 1 building suffered over 150 sq m of destroyed glazing during the drone attack. Additionally, two more Ukrainian drones were reportedly shot down by anti-aircraft systems in other parts of the Moscow region, with Russia’s defense ministry claiming to have thwarted a “terrorist attack” from Ukraine.

This incident adds to the growing accusations by Moscow, alleging that Ukraine has been conducting drone strikes on Russian territory in recent months. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has not claimed responsibility for specific attacks but has expressed that such actions on Russian territory are seen as an “inevitable, natural, and absolutely fair process.”

The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has been ongoing since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In the wake of these recent incidents, there have been casualties and damages on both sides, further escalating the tensions in the region.

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Putin is looking for foreign volunteers to fight in Ukraine’s war

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Foreign volunteers are needed to fight Ukrainian forces, according to Russian President Vladimir Putin.

He said those who wanted to volunteer to fight alongside Russia-backed forces should be allowed to do so at a Russian security council meeting.

Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s defence minister, said 16,000 volunteers were ready to fight alongside Russia-backed forces in the Middle East.

Syrians skilled in urban combat, according to US officials, could be among them.

Syria has long been a Russian ally, and Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a vocal supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during the country’s civil war.

“If you see that there are these people who want to come to help the people in Donbas on their own volition, not for money,” Mr Putin told his defence minister, “then we need to give them what they want and help them get to the conflict zone.”

Mr. Shoigu also proposed transferring captured Western anti-tank missile systems to Russian-backed rebel fighters in the Donbas region’s breakaway Ukrainian regions of Luhansk and Donetsk.

Foreign fighters, including former and current members of the British army, have been arriving in Ukraine to fight for Kyiv’s government.

Mr Zelensky recently stated that 16,000 foreigners had volunteered for the cause, forming a “international legion,” as he put it.

Charles Lister, a Middle East Institute analyst in the United States, questioned how useful Syrian forces would be to Mr Putin.

“If [President] Assad’s regime sends troops to Ukraine, they’ll be nothing more than cannon fodder in a battle and environment they’ve never experienced,” he wrote on Twitter.

He went on to say that there was no evidence of any actual recruitment of Syrians.

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