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‘No talks if Russia holds referendums’: Zelensky on Ukraine war| Top points
The governor of the Luhansk region - which is almost entirely under Russian control, suggested that Russia was preparing for a new referendum in the newly captured areas.
With the Ukraine-Russia war in its sixth month, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday ruled out talks if Russia proceeded with referendums in occupied areas of the war-torn country. In his latest video address, Zelensky said that Kyiv was holding fast to its position of yielding no territory to Russia and reiterated that they will “not give up anything that is theirs”.
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Here are the latest developments:
1. Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensy on Sunday in his late-night address said that if Russia continues to hold referendums in occupied areas of Ukraine then there would be no talks with Kyiv or the international allies. “Our country's position remains what it always has been. We will give up nothing of what is ours. If the occupiers proceed along the path of pseudo-referendums they will close for themselves any chance of talks with Ukraine and the free world, which the Russian side will clearly need at some point,” he said.
2. The Russian forces hold most of the Kherson region in southern Ukraine where the officials in charge have suggested that a referendum on joining Russia could be held within the coming weeks or months.
3. The governor of the Luhansk region - which is almost entirely under Russian control, suggested that Russia was preparing for a new referendum in the newly captured areas. The governor also said that Moscow was offering residents benefits for taking part in it.
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4. Ukraine on Sunday said that the new Russian shelling had damaged three radiation sensors and hurt a worker at the Zaporizhzhia power plant. Zaporizhzhia is the largest of Ukraine's four nuclear power plants, providing about half the country's electricity.
5. Calling Russia's shelling a “Russian nuclear terror”, Zelensky said that “there is no such nation in the world that could feel safe when a terrorist state fires at a nuclear plant.”
(With inputs from agencies)
