A beauty queen who was crowned Miss Crimea in 2022 has been fined by Russian authorities, and another woman jailed, for singing a Ukrainian song.

Olga Valeyeva was accused of discrediting Russia’s military and promoting extremist symbols after a video showed her singing Red Viburnum, the BBC reports.

The 19th Century military march is popular among Ukrainian nationalists.

Russian police arrested the two women and fined Valeyeva 40,000 roubles ($1046). The second unnamed woman was given 10 days in jail.

It’s reported the pair was singing together over drinks and the video posted to Instagram stories which auto-deletes after 24 hours.

The 34-year-old tattooed winner of Mrs Beauty Queen – Crimea 2022 sparked controversy for her painted appearance when she was crowned in May.

Her tattoos and facial features, suggestive of plastic surgery, divided online opinion about the jury’s choice.

Crimea’s Russian authorities posted a video of the two women publicly apologising.

A public apology was posted on Crimean Interior Ministry’s Telegram account.

Russian media reported Valeyeva as saying: “I just sang a Ukrainian song without any deeper meanings”.

The Moscow Times reports it’s not the first time people in Russian-controlled Crimea have fallen foul of the law for singing.

Last month, six people were arrested or fined for playing Chervona Kalyna at a wedding reception on the peninsula.

The region was annexed in 2014 and run by the Moscow-installed head of the peninsula, Sergey Aksyonov.

रूस की इन दो लड़कियों को यूक्रेनी सेना का एंथम गाने पर सज़ा मिली है।इनमें एक "मिस क्रीमिया-2022" रही ओल्गा वलीवा को 40000 रूबल (Olga is minor) और दूसरी को 10 दिन के जेल की सज़ा मिली है।#Russian #RussiaUkraineWar #OlgaValeeva #MissCremia #Viral #viralvideos2022 #UkraineRussiaWar pic.twitter.com/qWLVLcLDzq

— Moazzam Ali Siddiqui (@MoazzamTweet) October 4, 2022

Mr Aksyonov has previously warned that singing Ukrainian songs would incur punishment.

“Singing such nationalist anthems – especially during the special military operation – will be punished,” Mr Aksyonov said in a video on Telegram in September.

“People who do this are acting like traitors.”

Ukaine seizes back territory

Meanwhile Ukraine has been steadily advancing against Russian forces and vowed to regain all of the country’s lost territory, including Crimea.

Ukrainian forces have broken through Russian defences in the south of the country and expanded a rapid offensive in the east, seizing back territory in areas annexed by Russia last week.

Vladimir Putin was set on Tuesday (local time) to formalise Russia’s annexation of four Ukrainian territories, despite the fact that its forces do not fully control any of them.

Ukraine and its allies have refused to recognise the annexations, which they say are illegal.

In their biggest breakthrough in the south since the seven-month war began, Ukrainian forces recaptured several villages in an advance along the strategic Dnipro River on Monday, Ukrainian officials and a Russian-installed leader in the area said.

It comes as the bodies of Russian soldiers have been found lying in the streets of the key eastern city of Lyman which was taken back by Ukraine.

The Ukrainian military collected the bodies of their comrades after fierce battles for control of Lyman, a key logistics and transport hub, but did not immediately remove those of the Russians.

After reclaiming control of Lyman in the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian forces pushed further east and may have gone as far as the border of the neighbouring Luhansk region as they advanced toward Kreminna, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said in its latest analysis of the combat situation.

On Monday, Ukrainian forces also scored significant gains in the south, raising flags over the villages of Arkhanhelske, Myroliubivka, Khreshchenivka, Mykhalivka and Novovorontsovka.

The Ukrainian successes in the east and the south came even as Russia moved to absorb four Ukrainian regions amid the fighting there.

Russia’s moves to incorporate the Ukrainian regions have been done so hastily that even the exact borders of the territories being absorbed were unclear.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree formally declaring it “impossible” to deal with Vladimir Putin, but leaving the door open to talks with Russia.

The move formalises comments made by Mr Zelensky after the Russian president proclaimed four occupied regions of Ukraine to be a part of Russia.

Russian troop draft

More than 200,000 people have already been drafted into Russia’s armed forces since President Vladimir Putin ordered a partial mobilisation two weeks ago, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu says.

Mr Shoigu had announced that he planned to enlist 300,000 men with previous military experience to bolster Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, where it has suffered a series of defeats in recent weeks.

However, the official decree did not include a figure, and officials are keen to allay public fears that the actual number could be higher, as even pro-Kremlin figures voice concern that people are being recruited indiscriminately.

Reports have surfaced of men with no military experience or past draft age receiving call-up papers, adding to outrage that has reignited dormant – and banned – anti-war demonstrations.

Tens of thousands of men seeking to avoid the draft have already fled abroad and the public remains concerned that the mobilisation could be expanded.

Mr Putin acknowledged mistakes in the mobilisation last week and said they should be corrected.

Mr Shoigu said new units were receiving instruction at 80 training ranges and six training centres, according to a Defence Ministry posting on Telegram.

-with AAP