Not long after Russia’s illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories, President Putin imposed martial law there. The Kremlin decree gives the occupiers extended powers. At the same time, the pro-Russian administration in Cherson has to retreat.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has declared a state of war in four recently annexed Ukrainian territories. He has already signed a corresponding decree, Putin said early in the afternoon during a speech in the National Security Council that was broadcast on state television. Martial law will mean extended powers for the Russian occupation administrations in the Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia regions. In addition, residents can now be forced to work in the defense industry or prevented from traveling. According to the decree, it is now also possible to officially introduce military censorship or tap private telephone calls.
At the end of September, after several sham referendums, Putin had Luhansk, Donetsk, Cherson and Zaporizhia annexed in violation of international law. The step is not recognized internationally. A few days ago, in a resolution by a large majority, the UN General Assembly called on Russia to undo the annexation of the partially occupied regions. However, the UN resolution is not binding under international law. Putin justified the imposition of martial law by saying that Kyiv refused to recognize the results of the September vote on joining Russia. “On the contrary, the shelling continues. Innocent people are dying,” Putin said. According to him, attempts to recapture Ukraine are now attacks on Russian territory.
Faced with advancing Ukrainian troops, the pro-Russian administration began withdrawing from the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson and evacuating civilians. “Starting today, all government structures of the city, civil and military administration, all ministries, will be moved to the left bank of the river (of the Dnipro),” pro-Russian chief administrator of the Kherson region Vladimir Saldo told the Russian broadcaster Rossiya 24. Kyiv Russia says it wants to scare the residents of Cherson with the evacuation.
Located near Moscow’s annexed Crimea peninsula, the city of Kherson, which once had 280,000 inhabitants, was the first major Ukrainian city to be occupied by Russian forces after Russia’s war of aggression began on February 24. At the end of September, Moscow annexed the area in southern Ukraine. For several weeks it has been the target of a counter-offensive by the Ukrainian army, which has been able to keep advancing. In eastern Ukraine, too, Moscow had to withdraw from areas that had just been annexed.
