Russia shells cities amid Kremlin-staged referendum

KYIV, Ukraine — Russian forces launched new strikes on Ukrainian cities as Kremlinorchestrated votes took place Saturday in occupied regions of Ukraine to create a pretext for their annexation by Moscow, while hundreds of people were arrested in Russia for trying to protest a mobilization order that commits more troops to the fight in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s presidential office said the latest Russian shelling killed at least three people and wounded 19. Oleksandr Starukh, the Ukrainian governor of Zaporizhzhia, one of the regions where Moscow-installed officials organized referendums on joining Russia, said a Russian missile hit an apartment building in the city of Zaporizhzhia, killing one person and injuring seven others.

Ukraine and its Western allies say the referendums under way in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south and the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions have no legal force. They alleged the votes were an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to seize Ukrainian territory stretching from the Russian border to the Crimean Peninsula.

Luhansk Gov. Serhiy Haidai said the voting “looked more like an opinion survey under the gun barrels,” adding that Moscow-backed local authorities sent armed escorts to accompany election officials and to take down the names of individuals who voted against joining Russia. The votes are set to wrap up Tuesday.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in occupied regions to undermine the referendums and to share information about the people conducting “this farce.” He also called on Russian recruits to sabotage and desert the military if they are called up under the partial troop mobilization President Vladimir Putin announced last week.

“If you get into the Russian army, sabotage any activity of the enemy, hinder any Russian operations, provide us with any important information about the occupiers,” Zelenskyy said.

Putin on Saturday signed a bill that toughens the punishment for soldiers who disobey officers’ orders, desert or surrender to the enemy.

Russian police moved quickly to break up demonstrations against the mobilization that were held in several cities Saturday, detaining about 750 people. More than 1,300 protesters were arrested during previous protests.