New Delhi: In a veiled reference to use of nuclear weapons, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday announced that the country would annex four occupied regions in Ukraine and added that he would use ‘all available means’ to protect the newly incorporated regions, news agency AP reported.
According to the report, Russia pounded the Ukrainian cities with missiles, rockets and suicide drones, and one strike has reportedly killed 25 people on Friday.
In the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, anti-aircraft missiles rained down on people who were waiting in cars to cross into the Russian-occupied territory to bring back family members across the front lines, as per the report.
Russian strikes were also reported in the Ukrainian city of Dnipro. In Mykolaiv, a Russian missile struck a high rise and injured eight people, reported AP. Russia also reportedly targetted Mykolaiv and the Black Sea port city of Odesa with Iranian-supplied suicide drones.
The Russian President opened a Kremlin ceremony to start the process of annexing parts of Ukraine into Russia by saying he would sign laws to annex them despite international condemnation.
Amid the seven-month long conflict between Russia and Ukraine, the ceremony was organised for Putin and and the heads of the four regions of Ukraine to sign treaties for the areas to join Russia.
At the beginning of the ceremony, Putin urged Ukraine to sit down for talks, however, warned that Moscow would not give up the newly incorporated regions.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called an emergency meeting of his National Security and Defense Council where he denounced the latest barrage of Russian attacks.
“The enemy rages and seeks revenge for our steadfastness and his failures,” he posted on his Telegram channel. “You will definitely answer. For every lost Ukrainian life,” Zelenskyy added.