Russia is poised to formally annex areas of Ukraine where it has military control after referendums there reportedly endorsed Moscow’s rule.
But the ballots were widely discredited and earned the Kremlin no relief on Wednesday from international pressure over its assault on its neighbour.
Pro-Moscow administrations of all four occupied regions of southern and eastern Ukraine said on Tuesday night that their residents voted to join Russia in five days of Kremlin-orchestrated balloting.
According to Russia-installed election officials, 93 per cent of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87 per cent in the Kherson region, 98 per cent in the Luhansk region and 99 per cent in Donetsk.
Russian-installed officials in those occupied regions said on Wednesday they would ask Russian president Vladimir Putin to incorporate them into Russia.
It was not immediately clear how the administrative process would unfold.
Western countries, however, dismissed the ballots as a meaningless pretence staged by Moscow in an attempt to legitimise its invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24th.
The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said late on Tuesday that Washington would propose a UN Security Council resolution to condemn Russia’s “sham” vote.
The resolution would also urge member states not to recognise any altered status of Ukraine and demand that Russia withdraws its troops from its neighbour, she tweeted.
The European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, also weighed in on the ballots, calling them “illegal” and describing the results as “falsified”.
“This is another violation of Ukraine’s sovereignty (and) territorial integrity, (amid) systematic abuses of human rights,” Mr Borrell tweeted.
In Kyiv, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry blasted the ballots as “a propaganda show” and “null and worthless”.
“Forcing people in these territories to fill out some papers at the barrel of a gun is yet another Russian crime in the course of its aggression against Ukraine,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
It asked the EU, Nato and the Group of Seven major industrial nations to “immediately and significantly” step up pressure on Russia through new sanctions, and to significantly increase their military aid to Ukraine.
The Kremlin remained unmoved amid the hail of criticism, however.
Its spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said that at the very least Russia intended to drive Ukrainian forces out of the eastern Donetsk region, where Moscow’s troops and separatist forces currently control about 60% of the territory.
The EU also expressed outrage over the suspected sabotage on Tuesday of two underwater natural gas pipelines from Russia to Germany and warned of retaliation for any attack on Europe’s energy networks.
Mr Borrell said on Wednesday that “all available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act”, even though the perpetrators have not so far been identified.
“Any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure is utterly unacceptable and will be met with a robust and united response,” Mr Borrell said in a statement on behalf of the EU’s 27 member countries.
Mr Peskov said allegations that Russia could be behind the incidents were “predictable and stupid”.
He told reporters in a conference call that the damage has caused Russia huge economic losses.
The war in Ukraine has brought an energy stand-off between the EU, many of whose members have for years relied heavily on Russian natural gas supplies, and Moscow.
The damage makes it unlikely the pipelines will be able to supply any gas to Europe this winter, according to analysts.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military and a Washington-based think tank said on Wednesday that Russia is sending troops without any training to the front line.
Moscow has struggled to hold the line against Ukraine’s recent counter-offensive and has ordered a partial mobilisation to replenish its ranks.
The effort is causing unrest, however, amid a reluctant public.
In a daily briefing, the Ukraine military’s general staff said 1st Tank Regiment of the 2nd Motorised Rifle Division of Russia’s 1st Tank Army has received untrained new troops.
The Ukrainian military also said prison convicts are arriving in Ukraine to reinforce the Russian lines.
It offered no evidence to support the claim, though the Ukrainian security services have released audio of allegedly monitored Russian phone conversations on the issue.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank cited one online video by a man who identified himself as a member of the 1st Tank Regiment, visibly upset, saying that he and his colleagues would not receive training before shipping out to the Russian-occupied region of Kherson in Ukraine.
“Mobilised men with a day or two of training are unlikely to meaningfully reinforce Russian positions affected by Ukrainian counter-offensives in the south and east,” the institute said.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said Ukraine’s counter-offensive, which has inflicted some humiliating defeats on Moscow’s forces, is advancing slowly.
The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing.
The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 28 September 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/jS2ywOMeFv
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/zTx8slpESO— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 28, 2022
It said Russia is currently putting up a stouter defence.
In the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, which is partially occupied by Moscow, Russian fire killed five people and wounded 10 others over the last 24 hours, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the local military authority.
Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol said Russian rockets and artillery pounded the city overnight.
The city, across the Dnipro River from Russian-occupied territory, saw 10 high-rises and private buildings hit, as well as a school, power lines and other areas, said Valentyn Reznichenko, the head of the local military administration, said.
