Russian-occupied Ukraine regions to ask Putin for Russian annexation

Russian-installed officials in occupied regions of Ukraine said Wednesday they would ask President Vladimir Putin to incorporate them into Russia, a day after their residents overwhelmingly supported such a move in Kremlin-orchestrated votes that were viewed as illegitimate.

The preordained outcome sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in Russia's seven-month war, with the Kremlin threatening to throw more troops into the battle and possibly use nuclear weapons.

The referendums asking residents whether or not they wanted the four occupied southern and eastern Ukraine regions to be incorporated into Russia began on Sept. 23, often with armed officials going door-to- door collecting votes.

Pro-Moscow officials in the eastern Luhansk region and the partially occupied southern region of Zaporizhzhia said they will make a request on Wednesday. The Russian backed administration of the neighboring occupied Kherson region said such a request will be made in the coming days. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, speaking to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday, said that any annexation in the modern world is a crime, a crime against all states that consider the inviolability of border to be vital for themselves. Large swaths of which still remain under Ukrainian control are expected to follow suit, as well as large swaths in the Donetsk region.

According to Russian-installed election officials, 93% of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, 87% in the Kherson region, 98% in the Luhansk region and 99% in Donetsk.

Kyiv and its Western allies dismissed the votes as a sham. Zelenskyy said that Russia's attempts to annex Ukrainian territory will mean nothing to talk about with the president of Russia. As the Kremlin paved the way for the annexation of the occupied lands, its troops continued to shell other areas of the country.

Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol say Russian rockets and artillery have pounded the city overnight.

The city, across the Dnieper River from Russian-occupied territory, including the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saw 10 high-rises and private buildings hit, as well as a school, power lines and other areas, said Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region.

Reznichenko said there were no immediate casualties reported from the attacks.

In the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, which is partially occupied by Moscow, Russian fire killed five people and wounded 10 others over the past 24 hours, said Donetsk governor Pavlo Kyrylenko.