No decision to seal Russia border: Kremlin
Russia's partial mobilisation has sparked protests in various parts of the country. Photo: AAP
Russian-organised referendums that could annex 15 per cent of Ukraine’s territory are ending as the Kremlin says no decision has been taken on whether to seal Russia’s borders to stop military-aged men fleeing.
Voting in the Ukrainian provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the east and southeast began on Friday.
The referendums have been dismissed as a sham by Western nations which say they won’t recognise the results.
The self-styled Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, which Putin recognised as independent just before the invasion, and Russian-installed officials in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions asked for votes.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has said Russia will defend any territory it annexes using any weapons in its arsenal.
The call-up of 300,000 reservists in Russia has led to the first sustained protests in Russia since the war with Ukraine began, with one monitoring group estimating at least 2000 people have been arrested so far.
All public criticism of Russia’s “special military operation” is banned.
Flights out of Russia have sold out and cars have piled up at border checkpoints, with reports of a 48-hour queue at the sole road border to Georgia, which allows Russian citizens to enter without a visa.
Asked about the prospect of the border being shut, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “I don’t know anything about this. At the moment, no decisions have been taken on this.”
Russia counts millions of former conscripts as official reservists.
Authorities have not spelled out precisely who is due to be called up, as that part of President Vladimir Putin’s order is classified.
A senior Russian MP from the ruling party said men of fighting age should not be allowed to travel abroad.
“Everyone who is of conscription age should be banned from travelling abroad in the current situation,” Sergei Tsekov, who represents Russian-annexed Crimea in Russia’s upper house of parliament, told RIA news agency.
Moscow says it wants to rid Ukraine of nationalists and protect Russian-speaking communities.
Kyiv and the West describe Russia’s actions as an unprovoked war of aggression.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met security chiefs on Monday to plan ways to counteract Russia’s use of “new types of weapons” after it stepped up attacks in the Odessa region using Iranian combat drones.
He said the military situation in Donetsk was “particularly severe”.
“We are doing everything to contain enemy activity. This is our No. 1 goal right now because Donbas is still the No. 1 goal for the occupiers,” he said, referring to the wider region that encompasses Donetsk and Luhansk.
Russia carried out at least five attacks on targets in the Odesa region using Iranian drones in the past few days, according to the regional administration.
Ukraine’s air force said it destroyed four Shahed-136 “kamikaze” drones. Reuters could not immediately verify the reports.
More United States funding looks to be on the way as negotiators of a stop-gap spending bill in Congress have agreed to include nearly $12 billion in new military and economic aid to Ukraine.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Sunday the US would respond “decisively” to any Russian use of nuclear weapons and had privately told Moscow “exactly what that would mean”.
– AAP