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.
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'Did anyone die?' asks Lamborghini driver after hitting two pedestrians in Noida, arrested
Noida (PTI): A Lamborghini hit two pedestrians on a footpath adjacent to an under-construction building in sector 94 here on Sunday, police said.
The injured, labourers from Chhattisgarh, were rushed to a nearby hospital and are said to be out of danger. They have suffered a fracture in their legs, police said.
A purported video surfaced online showing that after the accident, a man was heard asking the accused if he knew how many people died here. To this, the accused asked the locals "koi mar gaya idhar? (did anyone die here?)" and came out of the car.
Following this, someone in the video could be heard saying, "police ko bulao (call the police)".
Bhupendra Singh, In-charge at Sector 126 Police Station told PTI, "In the car accident two labourers were injured and they were from Chhattisgarh. They are out of danger and have fractures in their legs."
The accident happened adjacent to an under-construction building, he said.
"The car driver has been identified as Deepak, a resident of Ajmer and the car is registered with the Puducherry registration. He has been arrested and the car has been seized," he added.
During questioning he told the police that the accident happened due to a fault in the vehicle. Further investigation is underway, Singh said.
#WATCH | Noida, Uttar Pradesh: Two people were injured after being hit by a Lamborghini car near Sector 94 roundabout in Sector-126 police station area. The car is registered in the name of Mridul and was being driven by Deepak. The driver, Deepak, a resident of Ajmer, has been… pic.twitter.com/sJiFcqdMm7
— ANI (@ANI) March 30, 2025
नोएडा: तेज रफ्तार लैम्बॉर्गिनी कार ने एमिटी यूनिवर्सिटी के पास M3M प्रोजेक्ट साइट के बाहर फुटपाथ पर बैठे मजदूरों को कुचला। pic.twitter.com/yDF4OhFs2B
— Greater Noida West (@GreaterNoidaW) March 30, 2025
