- Russian annexation of four condemned regions worldwide
- The move is a “dangerous escalation” that endangers peace, according to the UN chief
- Ukraine’s Zelenskiy says Putin must be stopped for war to end
- Zelenskiy calls an emergency meeting on security and defense
ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine, Sept 30 (Reuters) – A missile attack on a convoy of cars in southern Ukraine killed a number of civilians on Friday, hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to declare Moscow’s rule over the lands he has taken over his invasion.
The convoy was meeting at a parking lot near the city of Zaporizhzhia to transport people and supplies into Russian-controlled territory in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia province. The regional capital is still controlled by Ukraine.
A missile had punched a crater in the ground near two lines of vehicles. The impact had thrown chunks of dirt into the air and sprayed the vehicles with shrapnel. The windows of the vehicles, mostly cars and three vans, were blown out. Reuters saw a dozen bodies, four of them in cars.
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“So far, 23 dead and 28 wounded. All civilians,” Zaporizhzhia regional governor Oleksandr Starukh wrote on Telegram.
The vehicles were filled with the belongings of the occupants, blankets and suitcases. A body leaned from the driver’s seat into the passenger seat of a yellow car, its left hand still gripping the steering wheel.
The attack came hours before President Vladimir Putin was due to hold a ceremony in an ornate Kremlin hall to proclaim Russia’s rule over about 15 percent of Ukraine, Europe’s biggest annexation since hitler A celebratory pop concert would follow outside the Kremlin walls in Red Square.
Russia’s annexation of the Russian-held areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia has been condemned in the West and beyond. UN chief Antonio Guterres called it a “dangerous escalation” and a violation of the UN charter.
“It can still be stopped. But to stop it we have to stop that person in Russia who wants war more than life. Your lives, citizens of Russia,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a speech Thursday evening .
The Russian annexation, held after what the West denounced as fake referendums held at gunpoint in occupied territory, followed weeks of battlefield defeats for Moscow’s forces in which they were driven from their positions in the north -Eastern Ukraine.
Putin has ordered the call-up of hundreds of thousands of Russian reservists, a move that has caused tens of thousands of Russian men to flee across borders to escape being sent to war.
Military experts said Russia could soon face one of its biggest defeats of the war so far, with thousands of soldiers trapped in Lyman, the last major Russian stronghold in northern Donetsk province. The fall of the city would pave the way for Ukraine to reclaim areas now claimed by Russia.
Kyiv has so far been tight-lipped about the situation there, but Russian military bloggers have described the Russian force as nearly surrounded, with the advancing Ukrainians cutting off the last possible avenues of escape.
“Possibly a dip tonight or tomorrow, overshadowing the annexation announcement,” tweeted Rob Lee, a Russian military expert and senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.
NUCLEAR THREAT
Since his troops were forced to flee the Ukrainian province of Kharkiv, Putin has chosen to escalate the war. Last week he endorsed annexation, ordered the call-up of reservists and threatened to use nuclear weapons if Russia is attacked.
Russian officials, including Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, have said explicitly that the threat of nuclear retaliation would apply to any attack on areas they plan to annex, despite the 1,000-kilometer (600-mile) long line through it.
Ukraine has said it will take back all its territory.
Zelenskiy vowed a strong response to the annexations and summoned his defense and security chiefs for an emergency meeting on Friday where “fundamental decisions” will be taken, an official said.
“WITHOUT LEGAL VALUE”
On the eve of the annexation ceremony in the Georgievsky Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, Putin said “all the mistakes” made in a call announced last week must be corrected, his first public acknowledgment that he had not went well
Putin’s summons order did not give details of who is to be drafted. Russian officials have said publicly that older men or those without military experience should be exempt, but conscription notices have been issued to men of all ages and backgrounds. Members of ethnic minorities say they have been particularly targeted, sparking unrest in southern Russia and Siberia.
At Friday’s event, Putin will deliver a speech and meet with the leaders of the four Kremlin-backed regions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not say whether Putin would attend the concert, as he did at a similar event in 2014 after Russia proclaimed it had annexed Ukraine’s Crimea region.
A stage has been set up in Moscow Square with giant video screens and billboards proclaiming the four zones that make up Russia.
US President Joe Biden said the US would never recognize Russia’s claims to Ukrainian territory, and denounced the referendums.
“The results were fabricated in Moscow,” Biden told a conference of Pacific Island leaders on Thursday.
UN Secretary-General Guterres told reporters: “Any decision to proceed with annexation… would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned.”
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Reuters bureau reports; Written by Peter Graff; Editing by Robert Birsel and Angus MacSwan
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