<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Kremlin-installed authorities in four Ukrainian regions under Russian control claimed victory Tuesday in annexation votes, drawing global outrage, as Moscow warned it could use nuclear weapons to defend the territories.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukraine and its allies have denounced the so-called referendums as a sham, saying the West would never recognise the results of the ballots that have dramatically ratcheted up the stakes of Russia's seven-month invasion. Pro-Russian authorities in Zaporizhzhia said 93.11 percent of voters backed joining Russia, according to preliminary results on Tuesday evening.</div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">In Kherson, another Moscow-occupied region in southern Ukraine, officials said more than 87.05 percent of electors supported the move after all the ballots were counted. In the eastern Lugansk region controlled by pro-Russia separatists, local authorities said more than 98.42 percent voted in favour of annexation, according to local authorities.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">And officials in the Moscow-held Donetsk region claimed victory as well, with the local poll body saying 99.23 percent of the vote was for annexation.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">"There is nothing to talk about with (the) current Russian president," Zelensky said.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">Russian forces this month have suffered serious setbacks in Ukraine's east and south, which observers say pushed Putin to rush ahead with the vote to cement Moscow's authority there. Putin said Russia would use any and all available means to defend its territory, implying that after annexation, Moscow could deploy strategic nuclear weapons to repulse Ukrainian attempts to retake the territory.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><br></span></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;">"I want to remind you -- the deaf who hear only themselves: Russia has the right to use nuclear weapons if necessary," former leader Dmitry Medvedev -- a Putin ally who is now deputy chairman of Russia's security council -- said on social media Tuesday.</span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Patrick Ryder said the United States was taking the reiterated threat "seriously" but had seen nothing to cause Washington to change its nuclear posture.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said that "Russia must know that the nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine announced that they would hold the elections just days before voting began last Friday. Together, they form a crucial land connection for the Kremlin between Russia and the Crimean peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014 and is otherwise only connected to the mainland by bridge.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Diabolical scheme' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US Secretary of State Antony Blinken vowed that the West would never recognise Russian annexations of the territories, threatening Moscow with "additional swift and severe costs" for its "diabolical scheme". Source: HT</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>