There are fears Putin will use the event to announce an escalation of the battle, or perhaps a type of conscription to spice up Russia’s battered invasion forces.
Initially scheduled for this morning (Australia time), it is now been revealed Putin’s remarks will likely be delayed till tomorrow.
To date, Putin has held off towards conscription regardless of requires “full mobilisation” from distinguished Russian hawks, amid a notion it will not be standard with the broader nation.
The Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk areas introduced the votes following a blistering Ukrainian counter-offensive that noticed many Russian territorial good points at the least briefly reversed.
If Putin backs the referendums, it might develop into a pretext to recommend any Ukrainian assault on these conquered territories is an assault on Russia.
NATO has already dismissed the prospect of the votes as a sham.
French President Emmanuel Macron issued a blunt condemnation.
“This battle launched by Russia is undermining the precept of our organisation, is undermining the one potential world order, is undermining the peace and that which underpins peace, the respect for the intangibility of borders and sovereign nations,” he mentioned.
Ukrainian troopers embrace as Russians retreat
