Russians strike Ukraine as Kremlin-staged votes continue
Kyiv (AP): Russian forces launched new strikes on Ukrainian cities Saturday as Kremlin-orchestrated votes continued in occupied regions of Ukraine to pave the way for their annexation by Moscow.
Zaporizhzhia Gov. Oleksandr Starukh said the Russians targeted infrastructure facilities in the Dnieper River city, and one of the missiles hit an apartment building, killing one person and injuring seven others.
The Russian forces also struck other areas in Ukraine, damaging residential buildings and civilian infrastructure.
The British Defense Ministry said that Russia was targeting the Pechenihy dam on the Siverskyy Donets River in northeastern Ukraine following previous strikes on a dam on a reservoir near Kryvyi Rih, causing flooding on the Inhulets River.
Ukrainian forces are advancing further downstream along both rivers, the British said. As Russian commanders become increasingly concerned about their operational setbacks, they are probably attempting to strike the sluice gates of dams, in order to flood Ukrainian military crossing points.
Amid the fighting, voting continued in Kremlin-organized referendums in occupied areas votes that Ukraine and its Western allies dismissed as a sham with no legal force.
In the five-day voting in the eastern Luhansk and Donetsk regions and Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south that began Friday, election officials accompanied by police officers carried ballots to homes and set up mobile polling stations, citing safety reasons. The votes are set to wrap up Tuesday when balloting will be held at polling stations.
The voting was also was held in Russia, where refugees and other residents of those regions cast ballots.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow will heed the residents' will, a clear indication that the Kremlin is poised to quickly annex the regions once the voting is over.
Ukraine and the West said the vote was an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to slice away a large part of the country, stretching from the Russian border to the Crimean Peninsula. A similar referendum took place in Crimea in 2014 before Moscow annexed it, a move that most of the world considered illegal.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Ukrainians in occupied regions to undermine the referendums and to share information about the people conducting this farce. He also urged Ukrainians to avoid being called up in the Russian mobilization announced Wednesday.
But if you do end up in the Russian army, then sabotage any enemy activity, interfere with any Russian operations, give us all important information about the occupiers. ... And at the first opportunity, switch to our positions, he said in his nightly address.
Russia's Defense Ministry said that a partial mobilization ordered by Putin aimed to add about 300,000 troops, but the presidential decree keeps the door open for a broader call-up.
Across Russa's 11 time zones, men hugged their weeping family members before being rounded up for service amid fears that a wider call-up might follow. Some media reports claimed that the Russian authorities actually plan to mobilize more than 1 million, the allegations denied by the Kremlin.
Protests against the mobilization that erupted Wednesday in Moscow, St. Petersburg and several other Russian cities were quickly dispersed by police, who arrested over 1,300 and immediately handed call-up summons to many of them. Anti-war activists are planning more protests Saturday.
Many Russian men tried desperately to leave the country, buying up scarce and exorbitantly priced plane tickets. Thousands others fled by car, creating lines of traffic hours or even days long at some borders. The lines of cars were so long at the border with Kazakhstan that some people abandoned their vehicles and walked just as some Ukrainians did after Russia invaded their country Feb. 24.
In a bid to calm public fears over the call-up, the authorities announced that many of those working in high tech, communications or finance will be exempt.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
'Made in India' must become symbol of excellence, global competitiveness: PM
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday called upon states to encourage manufacturing, boost 'ease of doing business' and strengthen the services sector to make India a global services giant.
Addressing the 5th National Conference of Chief Secretaries here, Modi emphasised the need for quality in governance, service delivery and manufacturing, and said the label 'Made in India' must become a symbol of excellence and global competitiveness.
He said India has the potential to become the world's food basket and the country must move towards high-value agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, dairying and fisheries to become a major food exporter.
"Called upon states to encourage manufacturing, boost 'Ease of Doing Business' and strengthen the services sector. Let us aim to make India a Global Services Giant," Modi said in a series of posts on X.
The theme of the three-day conference, which began on December 26, was 'Human Capital for Viksit Bharat'.
Modi observed that this conference marks another decisive step in strengthening the spirit of cooperative federalism and deepening Centre-State partnership to achieve the vision of a 'Viksit Bharat'.
Highlighting India's demographic advantage, he said nearly 70 per cent of the population is in the working-age group, creating a unique historical opportunity which, when combined with economic progress, can significantly accelerate the journey towards a 'Viksit Bharat', according to an official statement.
Modi said India has boarded the "Reform Express", driven primarily by the strength of its young population, and empowering this demographic remains the government's key priority.
He noted that the conference is being held at a time when the country is witnessing next-generation reforms and steadily moving towards becoming a major global economic power.
Underlining the need to strengthen 'atmanirbharta' (self-reliance), he said India must pursue self-reliance with zero defect in products and minimal environmental impact, making the label 'Made in India' synonymous with quality and strengthening the commitment to "zero effect, zero defect".
The PM urged the Centre and states to jointly identify 100 products for domestic manufacturing to reduce import dependence and strengthen economic resilience in line with the vision of 'Viksit Bharat'.
In higher education, too, he said, there is a need for academia and industry to work together to create high-quality talent.
He highlighted that India has a rich heritage and history with the potential to be among the top global tourist destinations.
Modi urged the states to prepare a roadmap for creating at least one global-level tourist destination and nourishing an entire tourist ecosystem.
He said it is important to align the national sports calendar with the global sports calendar.
"India is working to host the 2036 Olympics. India needs to prepare infrastructure and sports ecosystem at par with global standards," he said.
The prime minister said the next 10 years must be invested in the states, only then will India get the desired results in such sports events.
Every state must give this top priority and create infrastructure to attract global companies, he said.
In the services sector, Modi said, there should be greater emphasis on other areas like healthcare, education, transport, tourism, professional services and artificial intelligence, etc. to make India a global services giant.
He said India will soon be launching the National Manufacturing Mission (NMM).
States should work in tandem with the discussions and decisions emerging from the conferences of both chief secretaries and DGPs to strengthen governance and implementation.
The PM said similar conferences could be replicated at the departmental level to promote a national perspective among officers and improve governance outcomes in pursuit of a 'Viksit Bharat'.
In conclusion, he said every state must create a 10-year actionable plan based on the discussions of this conference with one, two, five and 10-year target timelines wherein technology can be utilised for regular monitoring.
The conference featured a series of special sessions that enabled focused deliberations on cross-cutting and emerging priorities.
It marks another important milestone in strengthening the Centre-State partnership through structured and sustained dialogue on national development priorities, according to the statement.
The PM's principal secretaries P K Mishra and Shaktikanta Das, Cabinet Secretary T V Somanathan, members of the NITI Aayog, chief secretaries of all states and Union territories, and domain experts attended the meeting.
Anchored in the prime minister's vision of cooperative federalism, this conference serves as the forum where the Centre and states collaborate, designing a unified roadmap to maximise India's human capital potential and accelerate inclusive, future-ready growth.
It has been organised annually over the past four years.
The first conference was held in Dharamshala in June 2022, followed by subsequent conferences in New Delhi in January 2023, December 2023 and December 2024.
