INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
proclamation of Russian rule over 15% of Ukraine - the biggest annexation in Europe since World War Two - was roundly rejected by Western
countries, with the United States and Britain announcing new sanctions.It comes as Russian forces in one of the four regions being annexed
face being encircled by Ukrainian troops after Putin ordered a massive mobilisation drive to get hundreds of thousands of Russian men to the
front.In one of his toughest anti-American speeches in more than two decades in power, Putin signalled he was ready to continue what he
accused Washington and its allies of blowing up the Nord Stream gas pipelines.The four Ukrainian regions that he said Russia was absorbing
precedent when it had dropped two atomic bombs on Japan in 1945, but stopped short of issuing new nuclear warnings against Ukraine himself,
clasped the hands of the Russian-backed officials he wants to run the annexed regions, which Ukraine is fighting to win back.Thousands of
sanctions would hurt those who provided political or economic support to the annexation drive.NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg called on Putin to
end a war he had started, while Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelenskiy said he was only ready for peace talks if and when Russia got a new
president.He also announced that Ukraine was formally applying for fast-track membership of the NATO military alliance, something Moscow
president it is impossible
He does not know what dignity and honesty are
condemned referendums that Moscow held in the four Ukrainian regions - and said showed big majorities to join Russia - as illegal shams
Lyman was in serious trouble on Friday with reports from both sides saying Russian forces were nearly surrounded.Ukraine said it had all the
supply routes to the Russian stronghold in the crosshairs of its artillery in the east, and told Moscow it would have to appeal to Kyiv if
it wanted its forces to be allowed out.The encirclement could leave Ukrainian forces an open path to seize more territory in Luhansk and
General Ben Hodges, a former commander of the U.S
territory in Zaporozhzhia province.Reuters saw a dozen bodies amid blasted cars in a scene of carnage
Ukraine said 25 people had been killed and 74 wounded.Ukrainian officials called it a deliberate Russian attempt to sever the last links
Moscow blamed the Ukrainians.The convoy was assembling at a car park near Zaporizhzhia, the Ukrainian-held capital of one of the regions
Moscow says it is annexing.A crater had been gouged in the ground
The impact had sprayed shrapnel across cars packed with belongings
Reuters saw around a dozen bodies.Plastic sheets were draped over the bodies of a woman and young man in a green car
Two bodies lay in a white mini-van in front of another car
The corpse of an elderly woman lay nearby, next to her shopping bag.A woman who gave her name as Nataliya said she and her husband had
This article first appeared/also appeared in https://adaderana.lk
