Soldiers salute as the Ukrainian national anthem is played at the funeral of Colonel Oleksiy Telizhenko in Bucha, near in Kyiv, Ukraine, October 18, 2022.
photo: AP
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared a state of war in the four Ukrainian regions that were annexed to his country last month.
The Russian President also indicated that he granted greater powers to the governors of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk regions to ensure security and help factories and institutions to support the military operation, announcing the establishment of regional defense headquarters in those joined regions.
Also, the Russian President directed his government to form a coordination council with the acceding regions headed by Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin.
The Kremlin leader also declared a state of high alert in the regions of the Central Federal District, which includes Moscow and the Southern Federal District. He called for strengthening the protection of public order, ensuring public safety, and protecting military, government and private facilities.
The Russian President accused the Kyiv regime of being behind the bombing of the Crimean Bridge, which took place on October 8. He also stressed that Ukraine rejects any offer to negotiate and continues to bomb civilians.
Since September 2022, the Ukrainian forces have launched a counter-attack, especially in the northeast and south of the country, to control towns that had been in the hands of the Russians for months, and had already achieved remarkable progress. Putin’s decision would grant its military more space to counter Ukraine’s operations.
The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine says the situation in the Kherson region has become “very difficult” as Ukrainian forces push ahead with an offensive to take back southern and eastern areas of the country and that Moscow was preparing to evacuate civilians, weeks after annexing the area, per Aljazeera.
The latest escalations in the Ukraine war have become more dangerous, with experts raising concerns over the use f WMD and nuclear weapons.