On Friday, Russians are casting their votes in a presidential election widely expected to secure President Vladimir Putin a fifth term in office. The voting period spans three days, yet there’s no credible challenger to the current leader.
According to Reuters, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry denounced Russian efforts to conduct elections in occupied territories or coerce regional residents into participating as “illegal,” a sentiment echoed by NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in a separate briefing.
Meanwhile, clashes persisted on Thursday in the Russian border regions of Belgorod and Kursk as three paramilitary groups based in Ukraine — the Freedom of Russia Legion, and the Siberia and RDK battalions — attempted incursions into Russian territory.
The Russian Defense Ministry, via the Telegram messaging app, reported repelling another attempted incursion in Belgorod on Thursday. However, the Freedom of Russia Legion vowed to continue assaults until the region is “completely liberated from the troops of the Putin regime.”
Regional officials reported a rising death toll in the southern Ukrainian city of Odesa following a Russian missile strike on a residential area in the early hours of Friday morning. Additionally, Ukraine’s air force claimed to have shot down 27 Iranian-made drones across seven regions, including around the capital, Kyiv, in the early hours of Friday morning.
In a televised interview aired on Thursday evening, French President Emmanuel Macron emphasized that Russia must not prevail in the conflict, reaffirming his stance against ruling out the possibility of sending troops from NATO countries to Ukraine.
“If Russia were to win, the lives of French people would change. We would no longer have security in Europe. Who can seriously believe that Putin, who has respected no limits, would stop there?” Macron said.
