Ukraine breaks through Russian lines

Ukraine's military is overrunning Russian troops in the southern Kherson region recently subject to annexation by Moscow, Kremlin-aligned officials said Monday.

Hi, it's Julius with an update on Ukraine. 

Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-picked head of the Kherson province, said on state television that multiple settlements about 70 miles northeast of the city of Kherson on the Dnieper River have been overrun.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said in his daily briefing Monday that “with superior tank units ... the enemy managed to penetrate into the depths of our defense.” But Konashenkov said Russian troops had fallen back to a defensive position and "continue to inflict massive fire damage” on Kyiv’s forces.

Ukraine also reported making inroads in the Luhansk province days after reclaiming the strategic eastern city of Lyman in the neighboring Donetsk province.

Russian legislature approves annexation of Ukrainian territory

The Federation Council, the upper house of Russia's national legislature, on Tuesday unanimously approved four federal constitutional laws rubber-stamping the annexation of the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The lower house already signed off and Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to quickly close the deal.

However, Ukraine's recent gains are bringing into question Russia's ability to absorb the regions after claiming overwhelming victory last week in widely discredited elections. Russian officials so far can't even agree on where the borders of those provinces are.

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