Russia tightening grip on Ukraine with 'farce' elections

Moscow is holding "farce" elections in occupied territories of Ukraine this week as the Kremlin tightens its grip on land it seized in the early months of the war.

The British Defense Ministry said in its latest assessment of the war that voting had already started in Zaporizhzhia and Mariupol and that most of the elections are planned for Friday through Sunday − election day in the Russian Federation. The ministry cited a "lack of qualified, experienced, and willing" candidates in Ukraine.

Hi! I'm Nicole with another edition of Ukraine-Russia news. This week, we're taking a deeper look at these elections. But first, here are a few updates on the war from Paste BN:

• Reznikov out: Ukraine's parliament on Tuesday accepted the resignation of defense minister Oleksii Reznikov, whose removal marks the biggest shakeup in Kyiv's war effort since Russia's invasion began more than 17 months ago. 
• An explosion rocked a Russian military enlistment office in St. Petersburg, the local news website Fontanka said Tuesday. No injuries were reported.
• Sergei Surovikin, a top Russian general who fell from grace after being linked to Wagner Group founder Yevgeny Prigozhin's mutiny in June, made a public appearance over the weekend. Russia's state-run Pravda said Surovikin was expected to receive several job offers sooner than later.

Ukrainian officials urge locals not to participate in elections

“There is also an absence of independent candidates that are not members of the Kremlin endorsed parties, indicating that these will not be free or fair elections," the assessment said. The ministry, citing Kremlin polls, said the United Russia party could capture 80% of the vote, claiming the majority of seats as Moscow tightens its grip in the four occupied regions.

Ukraine's National Resistance Center called the elections in what it calls the temporarily occupied territories, or TOT, a "farce" and urged residents not to participate in the "propaganda show."

In other news, more than 300 people were killed by cluster munitions in Ukraine in 2022, surpassing Syria as the country with the highest number of deaths from the controversial weapons for the first time in a decade, according to the Cluster Munition Coalition’s annual report.

In Syria, civilians still regularly fall victim to the scattered remnants from cluster strike attacks from years before. Often it is children who are maimed or killed when they unknowingly pick up the ordnance. The world has sought to ban cluster weapons, but Syria, Russia, Ukraine and the United States — which has said it will start supplying them to Ukraine — remain holdouts.

Associated Press contributed reporting.

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