A “so-called referendum” conducted by Russia in Ukrainian territory has been denounced by Joe Biden as a “shameless and transparent endeavor by Russia to acquire parts of neighboring Ukraine.”
The US president made the comments during a White House summit with Pacific Island nations.
Mr Biden said the results of Russia’s “referendums” “were manufactured in Moscow”.
He added “the United States will never, never, never recognise Russia’s claims on Ukraine sovereign territory.
The US and its allies have promised to adopt even more sanctions than they’ve already levied against Russia and to offer millions of dollars in extra support for Ukraine.
President Volodymyr Zelenskysays his forces have retaken over 2,000 sq km (772 sq miles) in a rapid counter-offensive in eastern Ukraine.
His latest update, if confirmed, means Kyiv’s forces have more than doubled their gains in little over 24 hours.
Ukraine’s rapid advance saw troops enter the key towns of Izyum and Kupiansk on Saturday.
But UK defence officials have warned that fighting has continued outside those towns.
And officials in Kyiv said Ukrainian forces were still fighting to gain control of a number of settlements around Izyum, while adding that more than 30 towns and villages have been retaken in the Kharkiv region.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed its forces’ retreat from Izyum itself and Kupiansk, which it said would allow its forces “to regroup” in territory held by Moscow-backed separatists.
The Russian ministry also confirmed the withdrawal of troops from a third key town, Balaklyia, in order to “bolster efforts” on the Donetsk front. Ukrainian forces entered the town on Friday.
Meanwhile, the head of the Russia-installed administration in the Kharkiv region recommended that its people evacuate to Russia “to save lives”.
Unverified footage on social media appeared to show long queues of traffic building up at border crossings.
And the governor of the Belgorod border region in Russia said mobile catering, heating, and medical assistance would be available to people queuing.
The pace of the counter-attack has not only caught the Russians off guard, but even surprised some Ukrainians.
But Russians still hold around a fifth of the country, and few imagine a swift end to the war.
The Ukrainian advances – if held – would be the most significant frontline changes since Russia withdrew from areas around Kyiv in April.
Kupiansk had served as Russia’s main eastern supply hub and the loss of Izyum – which Moscow spent over a month trying to take at the beginning of the war – would be seen as a major humiliation for President Vladimir Putin.
According to one military expert, the advance marks the first time since World War Two that whole Russian units have been lost.
The gains will also be seen as a sign that Ukraine’s army has the capacity to retake occupied territory – crucial as Kyiv continues to ask hard-pressed Western allies for military support.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said the latest developments showed its forces could end the war faster with more Western weapons.
Journalists have been denied access to the frontlines, and Ukraine is determined to control the information war.
On Saturday, UK defence officials suggested that much of the retaken area was only “lightly held”.
Ukraine launched its counter-offensive in the east earlier this week, while international attention was focused on an anticipated advance near the southern city of Kherson.
Analysts believe Russia redirected some of its most seasoned troops to defend the city.
But as well as gaining ground in the east, Ukraine is also making gains in the south, an official said.
Nataliya Gumenyuk, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian army’s southern command, said they had advanced “between two and several dozens of kilometres” along that front.
But Russian forces fighting on the southern front are said to have dug into defensive positions, and Ukraine’s troops have faced heavy resistance since the offensive began.
And in Kharkiv itself, one person was killed and several homes damaged on Saturday as Russian rocket fire hit the city, according to local officials.
Elsewhere, Ukraine’s energy regulator, Energoatom, says the last reactor at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been shut down, and is not generating electricity.
The reactor had been generating energy for the plant itself for three days – it was shut down when external power was restored.
The Ukrainian operator said that to prevent an emergency, it was essential that shelling of the power lines connecting the station to the national grid be halted.
Zelensky said it was “good” UN experts had made their first inspection of the nuclear power plant – “despite provocations by the Russian military” – before countering it was “bad that we have not yet heard the appropriate calls from the IAEA”.
Referring to a meeting he’d had with agency chief Rafael Grossi in Kyiv beforehand, the Ukrainian leader said the pair “clearly” agreed a need for “demilitarisation and full control by Ukrainian nuclear specialists” of Zaporizhzhia.
In the address, posted to Telegram, he also called out the agency for failing to allow “independent journalists” to accompany and document the mission – something he claimed was also pre-agreed.
Despite this, he said Ukraine was “hopeful” the mission would draw “objective” conclusions, adding:
Quote Message: When the Russian military finally… take away their weapons, ammunition, when they stop shelling neighbouring areas and cease their provocations, the Zaporizhzhia plant will be able to return to a completely safe functioning, which has always been the case under the control of Ukraine.” from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky
When the Russian military finally… take away their weapons, ammunition, when they stop shelling neighbouring areas and cease their provocations, the Zaporizhzhia plant will be able to return to a completely safe functioning, which has always been the case under the control of Ukraine.”
Russia seized the plant in March and has been accused of turning it into a base from where it hits nearby towns.
Both countries have traded blame for shelling it in recent days, prompting UN warnings of a nuclear disaster.
Mr Zelensky says any Russian soldier who shoots at or under the cover of the plant will be a “special target”.
The six-nuclear reactor Zaporizhzhia station is located in the city of Enerhodar, on the eastern bank of the Dnieper River (Dnipro in Ukrainian) in southern Ukraine.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, seizing the plant within days. Moscow has kept Ukrainian personnel to operate the facility.
The UN has warned that continued hostilities around the station could lead to a nuclear disaster affecting much of Europe.
Russia has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing at the plant.
It says it seized control of the plant to prevent leaks of radioactive materials during fighting in the region.
During his video address late on Saturday, Mr Zelensky said Russia had engaged in “constant provocations” by firing on the plant and said forces stationed there had used it as a base to shell the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets – on the other bank of the river.
This was being done, the president said, to “blackmail our state and the entire free world”. But he stressed that “Russian blackmail only mobilises even more global efforts to confront terror”.
“Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots under the cover of the plant, must understand that he is becoming a special target for our intelligence, for our special services, for our army,” the president said.
He added that “every day” of Russia’s occupation of the plant “increases the radiation threat to Europe”.
Ukraine’s defence intelligence agency also accused Russia of a provocation by parking a Pion self-propelled heavy artillery piece outside a nearby town and painting a Ukrainian flag on it, in an attempt to discredit Kyiv.
A BBC investigation revealed earlier this week that many of the Ukrainian workers at the site are being kept under armed guard amid harsh conditions.
On Thursday, foreign minsters from the G7 group of industrial democracies demanded that Russia withdraw from the site immediately.
Their warning echoed statements from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which called for an end to “all military activities that endanger nuclear security”.
UN Secretary General António Guterres has warned that the situation at the plant could “lead to disaster”.
A bipartisan pair of senators has called on the Biden administration to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism in response to its invasion of Ukraine, saying they would push Congress to pass a bill issuing the designation “whether or not” it had President Joe Biden’s support.
Democratic Sen. Richard Blumenthal and Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham told CNN’s Dana Bash on “State of the Union” on Sunday that the designation should be made either by the President or Congress, with both of them saying Biden must intensify pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin and continue aiding Ukraine amid the ongoing invasion.
“I hope the President will decide to adopt this stance voluntarily and he hasn’t taken it off the table on the state-sponsored terrorism,” said Blumenthal, who represents Connecticut.
Graham, of South Carolina, said he wants the Biden administration to engage with Congress in designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism but said Congress is “willing” to advance legislation calling for the designation regardless.
“I’d like to work with (the Biden administration). But whether or not we have to do legislation to make it happen — we’re willing to do it.
I am urging the administration to act now,” Graham said.
The two senators traveled together in June to Ukraine, where they met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and called on Biden to send more humanitarian aid to the county and issue stronger sanctions in addition to designating Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism.
The US State Department is responsible for designating nations as state sponsors of terrorism.
 The department defines the designation as a country that has “repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.” There are only four countries that are currently labeled state sponsors of terrorism by the US: North Korea, Iran, Cuba, and Syria.
In July, the Senate passed a nonbinding resolution calling on the State Department to designate Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. And in April, a senior administration official said department officials were looking at the possibility of labeling Russia a state sponsor of terrorism.
Both senators on Sunday praised House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for making a controversial visit to Taiwan last week and connected American support for the self-governing island to the impact of US aid to Ukraine in combating Russia’s invasion. Blumenthal said, “China is watching what we do in Ukraine” as it considers potential actions in neighboring Taiwan.
“She should have gone, I’m glad she went,” Graham said. “If she hadn’t gone, what would that have sent a signal to the Iranians and to the Russians?”
Upcoming Senate agenda
Though Graham and Blumenthal were split on the benefits of the Inflation Reduction Act, Democrats’ sweeping climate and health care bill that is being debated in the Senate on Sunday, the senators both advocated more bipartisan gun legislation.
The two senators, who both supported the gun safety legislation passed earlier this year, said there were more gun safety overhauls they both want to see passed. They specifically highlighted a proposal to empower judges and law enforcement to restrict gun access to those who may pose a threat to others.
“I think what we can do is incentivize states to give them the tools they need to deal with this before it’s too late,” Graham said, stressing that his proposal would not be a “national ‘red flag’ law.”
“The common ground that I think we share and many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle share: Keep guns out of the hands of dangerous people, but through due process,” Blumenthal said.
The two stood by their respective party’s positions when asked about the Democrats’ climate and health care bills. Blumenthal said the bill would deliver “historic” cost savings to Americans, while Graham said the legislation is “gonna make everything worse.”
Blumenthal and Graham also split on whether Congress should codify the right to marriage for same-sex couples.
Though some Republicans have said they would side with Democrats on the bill, Graham said he believes same-sex marriage laws should be decided by the states.
When asked if the US Supreme Court decision affirming the right to same-sex marriage should be overturned, Graham replied: “Well, that’d be up to the court.”
2024 election
Blumenthal, who is up for reelection this year, did not say whether or not he wants Biden to run for reelection in 2024, saying instead that he is concentrating on this year’s midterms.
“I’m going to be very blunt and very honest with you. My focus is totally on this November,” Blumenthal said.
He continued: “I will support President Biden if he decides he wants to run and I think his decision will be determined by how November ends for the Democratic Party and for senators like myself who are running for reelection.”
Graham, in contrast, reiterated his support for Donald Trump and said he would support the former President if he runs for a second term in 2024.
However, Graham said Trump should refrain from bringing up election conspiracies if he runs again, noting: “I don’t believe the election was stolen.” But he added that he wants to “look at election integrity measures.”
“I think we should look at election integrity measures to make sure some problems don’t happen again. But if he runs for president, talking about 2020 is not what people want to hear,” Graham said.
Graham has been subpoenaed by an Atlanta-area grand jury investigating efforts made by Trump and his allies to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. Graham has filed a motion to block the subpoena.
Kyiv (Ukraine) (AFP) Russian artillery strikes pounded Ukraine’s second largest city Kharkiv on Thursday after Moscow announced it was expanding its war aims, even as Russian gas flows to Europe resumed through the Nord Stream pipeline.
The attacks on the eastern city — scarred by weeks of Russian shelling — came after 10 days of scheduled work ended on the Nord Stream gas pipeline that had spurred fears of a permanent cut-off.
Kharkiv’s regional governor said two people were killed and 19 injured, four of whom were in a serious condition.
Three people were killed by strikes a day earlier in Kharkiv, where some semblance of normal life had returned in recent weeks after Ukrainian forces pushed back Russian troops from the city limits.
“We are asking Kharkiv residents to be extremely careful. The enemy is firing chaotically and brutally at the city. Stay in shelters!” the governor, Oleg Synegubov, wrote on social media.
Presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said there was also some damage on a mosque in Kharkiv, accusing Russia of “contempt” after Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Iran this week.
In Kramatorsk in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, which has seen some of fiercest fighting, a school that Ukrainian officials said was being used as a food aid storage point was also struck.
The school’s deputy director Olena Shmadchenko, 56, looked at the destroyed building in despair.
Russia resumes gas supply to Europe through Nord Stream 1Patricio ARANA AFP
“I have been working at this school for 16 years. It was my home!” she told AFP.
25 percent devaluation
Russian troops invaded Ukraine on February 24 and the war has left thousands dead, forced millions to flee their homes and wrought havoc with the economy.
The central bank on Thursday said it was devaluing the Ukrainian currency, the hryvnia, by 25 percent.
“The new hryvnia rate will become an anchor for the economy and will add its resilience in conditions of uncertainty,” the bank said in a statement.
In its latest package of penalties Wednesday, the European Union targeted gold exports and froze assets at Russia’s largest bank Sberbank.
The German government had been worried Moscow would not reopen the taps on the Nord Stream pipeline after Russia in recent months severely curbed flows in retaliation against sanctions.
A relative kneels by the body of a teenager who died in a Russian missile strike at a bus stop in KharkivSERGEY BOBOK AFP
“It’s working,” a Nord Stream spokesman said Thursday, without specifying the amount of gas being delivered.
‘Different’ war aims for Russia
Western powers have stepped up arms supplies to Ukraine but President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked for more and speedier deliveries.
Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin said Wednesday Washington would send four more M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Himars), which have notably boosted Kyiv’s capabilities.
“Ukraine needs the firepower and the ammunition to withstand this barrage and to strike back,” Austin told reporters, adding that the new shipment would bring the total of US Himars sent to Kyiv to 16.
Russia has warned about arms supplies and said it will no longer be focused only on wresting control of the east Ukraine regions of Lugansk and Donetsk, which have been partially controlled by pro-Moscow rebels for years.
In recent weeks, Russian forces have hit civilian targets in cities and towns far away from the frontline, leaving scores of civilians dead.
The conflict has forced millions of Ukrainians to flee their homes with neighbouring Poland among the most popular destinationsAlik KEPLICZ AFP
Four months in refugee centre
In an emotional speech before the US Congress on Wednesday, Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska described the suffering of millions of Ukrainian parents and children, and asked Washington for air-defence systems to fend off Russian missiles.
Zelenska displayed images of children who were killed or maimed by Russia, including a four-year-old killed by a strike in the city of Vinnytsia.
Photos of her blood-spattered pink stroller and footage of her final moments went viral on social media.
“Help us to stop this terror against Ukrainians,” Zelenska said.
Refugees who fled Ukraine in the early weeks of the war have found themselves in limbo.
“All I hope for now is to return home… or else to be relocated somewhere in Poland,” said Olena Polonitska, who has been living at the centre for four months with her 11-year-old son Kyrill.
Ukraine may be losing between 50-100 lives in the east every day, President Volodymyr Zelensky says.
He made this known during a press briefing on Sunday.
He said those killed were defending Ukraine in “the most difficult directionâ€.
Zelensky did not elaborate further but the comments appear to be a reference to military losses and are a sign of how fierce the fighting is in the east.
Russian forces have stepped up their attempts to capture cities in the eastern Donbas region, with a focus on the city of Severodonetsk.
Russia’s death toll equals that of Afghan conflict
In its latest intelligence update, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) says that in the first three months of the war, Russiais likely to have suffered a similar death toll to that seen by the Soviet Union during its nine-year war in Afghanistan.
The high casualty rate – seen in the Donbas offensive – can be explained by a combination of poor low-level tactics, limited air cover, lack of flexibility and “a command approach which is prepared to reinforce failure”.
The MoD predicts those casualties, as they continue to rise, will become more apparent to the Russian public, and “public dissatisfaction with the war and a willingness to voice it may grow”.
It is a pointed reference. The Soviet Union lost at least 15,000 soldiers in the Afghan conflict trying to prop up a communist government. The war became a bloody stalemate, and is viewed as a factor in the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The war in Ukraine can only be resolved through “diplomacy”, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.
Speaking on national TV, he suggested his country could be victorious against Russia on the battlefield.
However, he added that the war could only come to a conclusive halt “at the negotiating table”.
Meanwhile, heavy fighting is taking place in and around Severodonetsk, as Russian forces step up efforts to seize the whole of the Luhansk region.
The end of fighting in the southern port city of Mariupol has freed up Russian troops for redeployment elsewhere and allowed them to intensify their onslaught in the east.
Local governor Serhiy Haidai said the Russians were “destroying” Severodonetsk as they gradually surrounded it.
Writing on the messaging app Telegram, he said Ukrainian troops had repelled 11 attacks on the frontline – with eight tanks among the Russian vehicles destroyed. There was no independent confirmation of the claims.
BBC correspondent James Waterhouse said Russia had increased its artillery and air strikes as well as missile attacks – gaining ground mile by mile in Luhansk while the Ukrainians are forced to retreat.
In his TV address, Mr Zelensky said the conflict “will be bloody, there will be fighting, but it will only definitively end through diplomacy”.
But he indicated this would not be easy, as neither side wanted to give anything up.
On Tuesday, Kyiv’s lead negotiator, Mykhaylo Podolyak, said talks were on hold.
The following day, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov accused Kyiv authorities of not wanting to continue talks to end hostilities.
Russian news agencies say the last meeting happened nearly a month ago, on 22 April.
With no end in sight to the fighting, the US is sending more military, economic and humanitarian aid.
On Saturday, President Joe Biden signed a bill to provide a package for Ukraine worth nearly $40bn (£32bn), the White House said.
The money represents the largest programme of American assistance since Russia launched its invasion in February.
The bill, which will funnel support to Ukraine for about the next five months, includes some $6bn budgeted for armoured vehicles and air defences.
President Zelensky tweeted his gratitude, saying military aid was “needed more than ever”.
It also emerged on Saturday that President Biden is one of over 900 US citizens who have been indefinitely banned from entering Russia.
The list also includes Secretary of State Antony Blinken, CIA chief William Burns and hundreds of members of Congress.
In another development, Russia has switched off its gas supply to Finland after it refused Moscow’s demand to pay for fuel in Russian roubles.
