Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on citizens resisting under Russian occupation to sabotage and hinder Kremlin troops and share with kyiv any information they deem important so that they can be "weakened and destroyed."
The president made this call on Friday night, just the day Moscow had launched illegal referendums to annex four regions of Ukraine, which are held until Tuesday.
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The first thing that Zelensky asks of the Ukrainians in those areas is that they "save their lives", avoid being "recruited" by the Russians and escape as soon as they can to territory under kyiv's control.
But to those who are already under the Russian Army, he asks them to: "Sabotage any enemy activity, hinder any Russian operation, provide us with any important information about the occupiers: their bases, headquarters or warehouses with ammunition."
The regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson, occupied in part by Kremlin troops, host these illegal consultations that do not have observers or international support.
kyiv denounces that the population is being forced to participate, even taking armed soldiers from house to house.
Moscow's objective in annexing these territories is to be able, under its legislation, to give a firmer military response to the counteroffensive that since the beginning of September has made it lose positions with respect to the Ukrainian Army.
On the diplomatic front, kyiv has decided to withdraw the accreditation of the Iranian ambassador on the grounds that this country is supplying weapons to the Russian troops occupying Ukraine.
The kyiv authorities have denounced an attack by the Russians carried out with Iranian drones on Friday in Odessa, on the shores of the Black Sea.
One of them was shot down over the sea by the local Army, but the other hit a building in the port, killing a woman, official sources added.
This was not the first of this type of attack which, according to
The
Wall Street Journal
, is causing significant damage to local troops.
The Tehran government regrets Ukraine's decision, which should "refrain from being influenced by third parties seeking to destroy relations between the two countries," according to a Foreign Ministry spokesman quoted by the Reuters agency.
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