Russian-Ukraine War: Putin Imposes Martial Law in 4 Annexed Regions; Explosions Heard in Kyiv | Key Updates

Amid an escalation in the war, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday imposed martial law in four Ukraine regions annexed by Russia — Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

“I signed a decree to introduce martial law in these four subjects of the Russian Federation,” Putin said during a televised National Security Council meeting, news agency AFP reported.

The law will be implemented from early Thursday, the published decree said.

This comes on the same day that Russian-installed officials in Kherson, one of the four occupied regions, told civilians to leave some areas as soon as possible in anticipation of an imminent Ukrainian attack.

What did Putin say?

In his speech, Putin blamed this development on Ukraine and said, “the Kyiv regime refused to recognise the will of the people, rejects any proposals for negotiation, gunfire continues, civilians are dying.”

The Russian leader also accused Ukraine of using “terrorist methods” and highlighted the attacks on the Crimea bridge and Russian nuclear facilities.

“We are working on solving very complex large-scale tasks to ensure security and protect the future of Russia,” Putin said.

Putin said he was conferring additional powers on the leaders of all Russia’s 80-plus regions to protect critical facilities, maintain public order and increase production in support of Moscow’s “special military operation”.

What happens under martial law?

Under the Russian regime, an imposition of martial law essentially allows the country to strengthen its use of military, increase curfew timings.

This also gives the ruling government and its forces power to limit movements of people, have stricter censorship and interning of foreign citizens.

Other developments in the Russia-Ukraine war

Kyiv mayor Vitali Klitschko on Wednesday said that several Russian rockets had been downed over the capital.

This comes after AFP reporters heard several loud explosions in the centre of the city.

“Air defenses have shot down several Russian rockets over Kyiv. Stay in shelters!” Klitschko wrote on social media. Fatal Russian strikes recently in the Kyiv region have targeted energy facilities.

At least two blasts rang out at about 14:20 Kyiv time (11:20 GMT) in the wake of Russian attacks with Iranian-made drones aimed at energy infrastructure that killed at least five people in the city on Monday.

With inputs from agencies

Read the Latest News and Breaking News here

For all the latest world News Click Here 

Read original article here

Denial of responsibility! TechAI is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.