KYIV, (Reuters) – President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukrainian forces have retaken more settlements in Kherson, one of the partially Russian-occupied southern regions that Moscow claims to have annexed.
With Russian forces retreating from front lines in the south and east, Zelenskiy said in a late-night video address on Wednesday that Novovoskresenske, Novohryhorivka and Petropavlivka to the northeast of Kherson city had been “liberated”.
At the United Nations, Russia is lobbying for a secret ballot instead of a public vote next week when the 193-member U.N. General Assembly considers whether to condemn its annexation of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south after staging referendums in the provinces.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law on Wednesday to incorporate the four regions into Russia. Ukraine says it will never accept an illegal seizure of its territory by force. Kyiv and the West said the referendums were rigged votes held at gunpoint.
The new law would incorporate about 18% of Ukraine’s territory into Russia, equivalent to the area of Portugal, in Europe’s biggest annexation since World War Two. Putin says he wants to ensure Russia’s security and protect Russian-speakers in Ukraine. Kyiv accuses Moscow of a land grab for territory.
Russia’s move to annex the regions raises the possibility of escalation in the war. Putin and other officials have said they could use nuclear weapons to protect Russian territory including the annexed provinces.
Ukraine has said it will not be swayed by any nuclear threats and Zelenskiy said in his address he and his senior military officials met to discuss recovering all lands occupied by Russia.
Switching to Russian, Zelenskiy addressed pro-Moscow forces, telling them they had already lost.
“Ukrainians know what they are fighting for. And more and more citizens of Russia are realizing that they must die simply because one person does not want to end the war,” he said in a reference to Putin.
Moscow’s map of Ukraine appears to show shrinking areas it controls. A map of “new regions” published by state news agency RIA included the full territory of the Ukrainian provinces, but some parts were shaded and labelled as being under Ukrainian military control.
Ukraine’s military in the south said its forces had completed more than 350 fire missions, killed at least 58 Russian fighters, destroyed nine tanks, 17 armoured vehicles and four howitzers.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report.
