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The latest developments in Russia's war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

9:15 p.m.: The United Kingdom has announced 92 new sanctions in response to Russia-backed authorities imposing "sham referendums" in four regions of Ukraine, saying the move "is a clear violation of international law, including the UN charter," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

The British Foreign Office said in a statement that the referendums, which began last week and run until Tuesday, are a "desperate attempt to grab land and justify their illegal war."

The statement said that among those hit by the new sanctions are top Russian officials involved in enforcing the votes.

"Sham referendums held at the barrel of a gun cannot be free or fair and we will never recognize their results. They follow a clear pattern of violence, intimidation, torture, and forced deportations in the areas of Ukraine Russia has seized," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in the statement.

"Today's sanctions will target those behind these sham votes, as well as the individuals that continue to prop up the Russian regime's war of aggression. We stand with the Ukrainian people and our support will continue as long as it takes to restore their sovereignty," he added.

The sanctions also hit 55 board members from state-linked organizations that the United Kingdom said continue to "bankroll the Russian war machine, serving as a stark reminder of the cost of supporting Putin's operation."

8:18 p.m.: Negotiators have agreed to include more than $12 billion in Ukraine-related aid in a stopgap spending bill that would fund the federal government into mid-December, The Associated Press reported.

The package will also provide disaster assistance, including for Jackson, Mississippi, where improvements are needed to the city's water treatment system. Also in the package is money to help households afford winter heating and to assist Afghans in resettling in the U.S.

7:45 p.m.: Hungary, which is highly dependent on Russian energy, said it staunchly opposed European Union sanctions on the Russian nuclear industry, following EU talks on the issue at the weekend, Reuters reported.

Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto told a meeting in Vienna of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that "some entities in the European Union are...continuously making attempts to put hurdles and obstacles in (the) way of nuclear investments."

"I want to make it very clear here that we do consider all actions carried out... to put obstacles on the way of the construction of our nuclear power plants as attacks against our sovereignty."

The landlocked central European country is exempted from the partial EU embargo on Russian oil and rejects calls for other sanctions on Russia's energy industry, even indirect ones on areas such as construction, engineering or IT.

6:55 p.m.: Russia's war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic are dragging down global economic growth more than expected and driving up inflation that will stay high into next year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said, according to The Associated Press.

The Paris-based organization projects worldwide growth to be a modest 3% this year before slowing further to just 2.2% next year, representing around $2.8 trillion in lost global output in 2023.

The war in Ukraine has driven up food and energy prices worldwide, with Russia a key global energy and fertilizer supplier and both countries major exporters of grain for millions of people worldwide already facing hunger. Meanwhile, China's COVID-19 lockdowns have shuttered large parts of its economy.

6:26 p.m.: The United States announced another $457.5 million for Ukrainian law enforcement, its latest funding to Kyiv in addition to billions for the military as it fights Russian invaders, Agence France-Presse reported.

The latest assistance will support the national police and border guards and also support efforts to probe alleged atrocities by Russian troops as they withdraw.

"Our provision of personal protective equipment, medical supplies and armored vehicles has significantly reduced casualties for Ukrainian civilians and their defenders," Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement.

5:18 p.m.: President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden, according to a decree signed by the Russian leader on Monday.

Snowden is one of 75 foreign nationals listed by the decree as being granted Russian citizenship. The decree was published on an official government website.

Snowden, a former contractor with the U.S. National Security Agency, has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the U.S. after leaking classified documents detailing government surveillance programs.

He was granted permanent residency in 2020 and said at the time that he planned to apply for Russian citizenship, without renouncing his U.S. citizenship

4:10 p.m.:

The illegal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is continuing. The map below is the latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 26 September 2022.Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/XTNNFtScG7🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/ZQ2zblV7wO

3:25 p.m.: The number of people detained in Russia for protesting against the country's partial military mobilization has risen to nearly 2,500 people across the country, as prominent pro-Kremlin voices have begun questioning the way the draft is being conducted, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

OVD-Info, a human rights group that monitors political arrests in Russia, said that 2,353 people had been detained as of Sunday, and at least 141 new detentions had been recorded on Monday.

The highest one-day number of detentions came on September 21, when protests were held in 43 cities immediately after the draft was announced.

2:30 p.m.:

Russians fleeing Georgia are flocking to Telegram for tips and advice. https://t.co/HbqYO7wAUY

2:05 p.m.: Denmark's maritime authority said Monday that a gas leak had been observed in a pipeline leading from Russia to Europe underneath the Baltic Sea and that there is a danger to ship traffic,The Associated Press reported.

The operator of Nord Stream 2 confirmed that a leak in the pipeline had been detected southeast of the Danish island Bornholm in the Baltic Sea.

The pipeline runs 1,230 kilometers (764 miles) from Russia through the Baltic Sea to Germany. It is completed and filled with gas, but gas has never been imported through it, the German press agency dpa reported.

The cause of the detected leak wasn't immediately clear.

The Danish energy agency said in a statement that the country's maritime authority has issued a navigation warning and established a five-nautical mile prohibition zone around the pipeline "as it is dangerous for ship traffic."

1:55 p.m.:

President Vladimir Putin has granted Russian citizenship to former U.S. security contractor Edward Snowden.Snowden has been living in Russia since 2013 to escape prosecution in the U.S. after leaking classified documents. https://t.co/axw7CU8fVI

1:40 p.m.: Negotiators to a stop-gap spending bill in the U.S. Congress have agreed to include about $12 billion in new aid to Ukraine in response to a request from the Biden administration, a source familiar with the talks said on Monday, according to Reuters.

The source, who asked not to be identified, said the measure will also include resettlement funding for Afghan refugees.

Earlier this month, U.S. President Joe Biden asked Congress to provide $11.7 billion in new emergency military and economic aid for Ukraine.

Congress is facing a midnight Friday deadline to pass the spending bill that also would temporarily fund a wide range of U.S. government programs.

1:20 p.m.:

Margaryta Tkachenko and her three children live in a war-destroyed home in Izium, a city held by Russian forces until two weeks ago.The damage reminds her of the six-month occupation the family endured. pic.twitter.com/ZP0sE76god

1:05 p.m.: The European Union and the U.S. on Monday questioned Serbia's proclaimed commitment to join Europe's 27-nation bloc after Belgrade signed an agreement with Moscow pledging long-term "consultations" on foreign policy matters amid Russia's war in Ukraine, the Associated Press reports.

Serbia's officials signed the deal last week in New York with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, where most Western delegations shunned Russia's top diplomat over the country's invasion of Ukraine.

Serbia's foreign ministry has sought to downplay the importance of the signed agreement, saying it's a "technical" one and relates to bilateral ties and not security issues.

European Commission spokesman Peter Stano warned on Monday that Serbia's relations with Russia can't be "business as usual" under the current circumstances when Moscow is violating the U.N. Charter with its armed forces committing atrocities in Ukraine.

12:40 p.m.:

From @Breakingviews: There are lots of reasons to worry about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but its impact on the fight against climate change is not one of them, writes @Hugodixon https://t.co/GN6Kl7QL2M

12:15 p.m.: The United Kingdom has announced 92 new sanctions in response to Russia-backed authorities imposing "sham referendums" in four regions of Ukraine, saying the move "is a clear violation of international law, including the UN charter," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

The British Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday that the referendums, which began last week and run until Tuesday, are a "desperate attempt to grab land and justify their illegal war."

The statement said that among those hit by the new sanctions are top Russian officials involved in enforcing the votes.

"Sham referendums held at the barrel of a gun cannot be free or fair and we will never recognize their results. They follow a clear pattern of violence, intimidation, torture, and forced deportations in the areas of Ukraine Russia has seized," Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said in the statement.

The sanctions also hit 55 board members from state-linked organizations that the United Kingdom said continue to "bankroll the Russian war machine, serving as a stark reminder of the cost of supporting Putin's operation."

11:55 a.m.:

The Eiffel Tower is going dark earlier than normal, and bakeries are running fewer ovens to save energy.But conservation only goes so far as Europe heads into winter with an energy crisis fueled by the war in Ukraine. How it fares may be up to luck. https://t.co/40dQFIlwsf

11:40 a.m.: Ukrainians in the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol fear they will be called up by Moscow following a referendum on joining Russia in which some residents were forced to vote at gunpoint, its exiled mayor said on Monday, according to Reuters.

Mayor Ivan Fedorov said the last official route out of Melitopol to territory controlled by Ukraine had been closed, and that residents' concerns had risen since voting began in the four-day referendum on Friday.

"Our residents are frightened, they are panicking, they don't know what will happen tomorrow, and when people will start being called up (to Russia's army)," he told a news briefing via video link.

Melitopol, in southeastern Ukraine, was one of the first cities to fall after Russia's invasion in February. It is one of four regions to hold referendums that Kyiv says are a sham.

Fedorov said he believed the main reason for holding the referendums was to enable Moscow to conscript Ukrainians following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of a partial mobilization last week.

11:25 a.m.: Another Russian torture chamber has been discovered in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region, which until recently was occupied by Russian military forces, the Kyiv Independent reported Monday.

"Ukraine's Security Service has found another Russian torture chamber in the liberated village of Lyptsi, where Russia's proxies and military kept pro-Ukrainian residents and brutally tortured them," The media outlet said.

"So far, the Ukrainian police's main investigation department has discovered 18 Russian torture chambers in Kharkiv Oblast," it reported.

11:10 a.m.:

The so-called referendums on joining the Russian Federation have been held in four Ukrainian regions partially occupied by Moscow. The votes have been dismissed as a sham by Ukraine, the West, and the United Nations because they are illegal under international law. pic.twitter.com/u8lvzygHX8

11 a.m.: European Union countries started discussing on Monday how to treat Russians trying to get into the bloc to avoid President Vladimir Putin's call-up for the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The number of draft-age men heading abroad since Putin called up 300,000 reservists on Wednesday has posed a dilemma for EU members, particularly eastern states, that had been limiting Russians' access in response to the war.

It has also raised fears of increased traffic and possible security risks at frontiers.

EU leaders gave mixed messages ahead of a meeting of their ambassadors in Brussels on Monday, with another one planned for Tuesday.

10:45 a.m.: Local media are reporting that Belarus's authoritarian leader, Akexander Lukashenko, has flown to Russia to meet with President Vladimir Putin, according to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

No details of the Monday meeting were given.

Belarus has been a close ally of Russia during its war in Ukraine.

Lukashenko has allowed Putin to use Belarusian territory to stage attacks on Ukraine since the Kremlin launched its invasion on February 24.

10:30 a.m.: The Kremlin said on Monday that no decisions had been taken on closing Russia's borders, amid an exodus of military-age men since President Vladimir Putin declared a partial mobilization last Wednesday, Reuters reported.

Asked about the possibility of border closures in a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "I don't know anything about this. At the moment, no decisions have been taken on this."

Peskov also acknowledged that some call-ups had been issued in error, saying mistakes were being corrected by regional governors and the ministry of defense.

Peskov said: "There have been cases when the decree is violated ... These cases of non-compliance with the required criteria are being eliminated."

10:15 a.m.:

Russians continue to leave the country in droves, with some local media outlets saying that more than 260,000 have fled since the Kremlin announced the partial mobilization last week. https://t.co/0VfsB57TL6

10:05 a.m.: A ship carrying thousands of tons of corn and vegetable oil from war-ravaged Ukraine docked in northern Lebanon on Monday, the first such vessel since Russia's invasion of its neighbor started seven months ago, The Associated Press reported.

AK Ambition, registered in Panama and loaded with 7,000 tons of corn and 20 tons of vegetable oil, arrived in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest, with Ukraine Embassy officials waiting at the port.

Last month, Razoni, carrying grain from Ukraine, was turned back and eventually docked in Syria, Russia's ally, after the Lebanese importer refused to accept the shipment, allegedly because of a delay.

Razoni was the first ship to leave from Ukraine heading to Lebanon after a wartime deal signed between the United Nations and several countries for the save passage of movement of the ships carrying vital cargo.

Ukraine's ambassador to Lebanon, Ihor Ostash, said AK Ambition's arrival was part of a deal signed between Ukrainian and Lebanese companies to bring weekly shipments to Lebanon. It comes at a time when the small Mediterranean nation is in desperate need amid an unprecedented economic meltdown.

9:50 a.m.: The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) said Monday that aid workers have reached over 13 million people affected by the war in Ukraine.

In 7 months of war, humanitarians in Ukraine have worked intensively to expand aid operations.We had to navigate the challenges imposed by one of the most ferocious conflicts in recent history to support 13.4 million people.We will continue doing so. pic.twitter.com/piPfnKqWhO

9:20 a.m.: The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has said that Russian soldiers who die in the war against Ukraine will be cleansed of all their sins, Reuters reported. The statement came days after President Vladimir Putin ordered the country's first mobilization since World War Two.

Patriarch Kirill is a key Putin ally and backer of the invasion. He has previously criticized those who oppose the war and called on Russians to rally round the Kremlin.

"Many are dying on the fields of internecine warfare," Kirill, 75, said in his first Sunday address since the mobilization order. "The Church prays that this battle will end as soon as possible, so that as few brothers as possible will kill each other in this fratricidal war."

"But at the same time, the Church realizes that if somebody, driven by a sense of duty and the need to fulfil their oath ... goes to do what their duty calls of them, and if a person dies in the performance of this duty, then they have undoubtedly committed an act equivalent to sacrifice. They will have sacrificed themselves for others. And therefore, we believe that this sacrifice washes away all the sins that a person has committed."

8:55 a.m.:

⚡️ Meduza: 11 military enlistment offices, 6 administrative buildings set on fire in Russia since mobilization start. Russian news outlet Meduza reported that at least 11 military enlistment offices had been set on fire in Russia since Vladimir Putin announced mobilization.

8:40 a.m.: U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday announced an additional $457.5 million in aid to Ukraine for civilian security assistance.

The funds will be used "to enhance the efforts of Ukrainian law enforcement and criminal justice agencies to improve their operational capacity and save lives as they continue to help defend the Ukrainian people, their freedom, and their democracy from the Kremlin's brutal war of aggression," Blinken said in a statement.

More than $645 million has been committed by the U.S. since December 2021 for Ukrainian law enforcement and criminal justice, including for the National Police of Ukraine and the State Border Guard Service, Blinken said.

"In addition to expanding our direct assistance to Ukrainian law enforcement, a portion of this new assistance will also continue U.S. support for the Ukrainian government's efforts to document, investigate, and prosecute atrocities perpetrated by Russia's forces," he added.

8:25 a.m.:

Russian forces controlled Izium for six months before being forced to retreat two weeks ago in a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Now, more hardship looms as winter approaches.By @lhinnant https://t.co/dQlVIQvZ6p

8:10 a.m.: VOA's Eastern Europe Chief Myroslava Gongadze interviewed Yuriy Kochevenko, of the 95th brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who participated in the liberation of the town of Izuim from Russian military forces in the northeastern Kharkiv region. He talked about his reaction to Russian mobilization, western support, and what this war meant to him.

"We are fighting for our people, we are fighting for our families, we are fighting for our children, our future. Of the free world want to be safe the Russian empire must be destroyed," he told VOA.

"We defend not just Ukraine, we defend Europe, we defend the free world," he said.

7:50 a.m.: Ukraine's president said that there was fierce fighting taking place on the front lines of its 7-month-old defense against Russia's invasion but that Kyiv was seeing "positive results," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported Monday.

In his nightly video address late Sunday, Zelenskyy claimed gains against Russian forces in the eastern Donetsk, northeastern Kharkiv, and the southern Mykolayiv and Zaporizhzhya regions.

"We have positive results in several directions." he said.

Russia and its separatist allies in the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukraine have been holding votes on possible independence and union with Russia that they call referendums but Kyiv and many in the international community have said are a sham.

The votes are scheduled to conclude on Tuesday.

They were announced amid Ukrainian counteroffensives in northeastern and eastern Ukraine that Kyiv has said have wrested back thousands of square kilometers this month.

7:35 a.m.:

"The world economy is paying a high price for Russia's unprovoked, unjustifiable, and illegal war of aggression against Ukraine," the OECD said in a regular report updating its economic outlook. https://t.co/aOchhQ8hye

7:20 a.m.: Russian men of fighting age should not be allowed to travel abroad, a senior lawmaker was quoted as saying on Monday, amid growing public concern that wider border closures will be announced to stop people fleeing the draft.

"Everyone who is of conscription age should be banned from traveling abroad in the current situation," Sergei Tsekov, a member of Russia's upper house of parliament, the Federation Council, Reuters reported citing RIA news agency.

Since President Vladimir Putin announced a partial call-up of reservists to fight in Ukraine last week, flights to leave the country have sold out and protests have been staged - and swiftly broken up by police - in cities across Russia.

The announcement triggered panic that men of fighting age would be turned away at the borders, although the Kremlin has dismissed reports of people fleeing to airports.

Another lawmaker played down the idea of border closures and said the government was providing support measures to those being called up to serve.

"I would like to invite all colleagues (instead of inflaming the situation) to pay attention to the issues of social support for citizens who are subject to mobilization...," Andrei Klishas, another member of the Federation Council, wrote in response to Tsekov's proposal.

7:05 a.m.: Pro-Western President Maia Sandu said on Monday Moldova may revoke the citizenship of its nationals who go to fight for Russia in Ukraine after being called up because they also hold Russian passports, Reuters reported.

Russia launched a "partial" mobilization last week to reinforce its troops in Ukraine, and there are 200,000 people with dual Moldovan-Russian citizenship who live in the breakaway Moldovan region of Trandniestria.

Sandu said there was a risk that some of those people could be called up by Russia to fight.

"To prevent that happening, we are analyzing the possibility of applying the process of revoking Moldovan citizenship for those people (with Russian passports) who fight on the side of the aggressor," Sandu said.

"We are also looking at the possibility of making punishment harsher for Moldovan citizens (without Russian passports) ... who are in the ranks of the aggressor's armed forces," she said.

She said Moldova was holding consultations with Moscow to prevent cases of its citizens being called up.

Russia has had peacekeeping troops stationed in Transdniestria since the early 1990s when an armed conflict saw pro-Russian separatists wrest most of the region from Moldovan control.

6:30 a.m.: U.N. atomic watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said on Monday he is ready to hold talks in Ukraine and Russia this week on setting up a protection zone at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine that he often says is needed urgently.

"There is a plan on the table to do it. Last week I had an opportunity to start consultations with Ukraine and with the Russian Federation ... and I am ready to continue these consultations in both countries this week," Grossi told a meeting of International Atomic Energy Agency member states.

The 66th #IAEAGC has just started. I wish all participants a week full of productive exchanges and discussions. Here's an overview of the week ahead: https://t.co/mQa40wYytl pic.twitter.com/x6ruMVq4Ep

5:30 a.m.: Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin said on Monday that he had founded the Wagner Group private military company in 2014, the first public confirmation of a link he has previously denied and sued journalists for reporting, Reuters reported.

The Wagner Group, staffed by veterans of the Russian armed forces, has fought in Libya, Syria, the Central African Republic and Mali, among other countries.

The press service of Prigozhin's Concord catering firm posted his comments on the social network VKontakte in response to a request for comment from a Russian news site on why he had stopped denying his links to Wagner.

"I cleaned the old weapons myself, sorted out the bulletproof vests myself and found specialists who could help me with this. From that moment, on May 1, 2014, a group of patriots was born, which later came to be called the Wagner Battalion," Prigozhin said.

"I am proud that I was able to defend their right to protect the interests of their country," he said in the statement.

Prigozhin's Concord catering firm confirmed to Reuters that the statement was genuine.

Prigozhin, known as "Putin's chef" due to his company's Kremlin catering contracts, has been sanctioned by the United States and European Union for his role in Wagner.

They also accuse him of funding a troll farm known as the Internet Research Agency that Washington says tried to influence U.S. elections.

Prigozhin has previously sued outlets including investigative website Bellingcat, Russian news site Meduza and now-shuttered radio station Echo of Moscow for reporting his links to Wagner.

Wagner was founded in 2014 after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimea peninsula and started providing support to pro-Russia separatists in Ukraine's eastern Donbas region.

5:15 a.m.: In Russia's Siberia region Monday, a 25-year-old man shot a military commandant at an enlistment center, the local governor said.

Many men opposed to Putin's war or fearful of being killed in the battlefront have abruptly fled Russia on flights to other countries, while others have joined long queues of cars on land routes headed to the Russian borders with Finland, Georgia and other countries.

5 a.m.: Almost 17,000 Russians crossed the border into Finland during the weekend, an 80% rise from a week earlier, Reuters reported Monday citing Finnish authorities, as the influx of people continued in the wake of Russia's announcement of military mobilization.

The border traffic had somewhat calmed early on Monday but remained busier than in the previous weeks, Captain Taneli Repo at Finland's southeastern border authority told Reuters.

"The queues continue to be a bit longer than they've usually been since the pandemic," he said.

Wednesday's announcement of Russia's first public mobilization since World War II, to shore up its faltering Ukraine war, has triggered a rush for the border, the arrest of protesters and unease in the wider population.

Young Russian men who spoke to Reuters after crossing into Finland via the Vaalimaa border station last week, some three hours by car from Russia's second-largest city St Petersburg, said they left out of fear of being drafted for the war.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine "a special military operation."

The Finnish government, wary of becoming a major transit nation, on Friday said it will stop all Russians from entering on tourist visas within the coming days, although exceptions may still apply on humanitarian grounds.

4 a.m.: Kremlin-orchestrated referendums conducted under gun barrels portend Russia's imminent annexation of four occupied regions. Many residents fled the regions before the referendums got underway, scared about being forced to vote or potentially being conscripted into the Russian army, The Associated Press reported.

The referendums, denounced by Kyiv and its Western allies as rigged, are taking place in the Russian-controlled Luhansk and Kherson regions, and in occupied areas of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. Russian authorities are expected to announce the regions as theirs once the preordained vote ends Tuesday.

After months of war, many Ukrainians fear more suffering and political repression awaits them. Kremlin-orchestrated referendums conducted under gun barrels, and widely denounced as rigged, portend Russia's imminent annexation of four occupied regions. https://t.co/hJDywqLoQo

3:30 a.m.:

⚡️ Russia's attacks kill 3 in Donetsk Oblast, injure 6 in Kharkiv Oblast.In the past 24 hours, Russian forces have killed three civilians and injured 11 in Donetsk Oblast, not including Mariupol and Volnovakha, reported Pavlo Kyrylenko, the oblast governor.

3 a.m.: An EU official and an EU diplomat said ambassadors of European Union member states have been invited to a meeting of the bloc's crisis response working group on Monday to discuss concerns about an escalation of the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Ambassadors are not usually present at meetings of the integrated political crisis response group, which includes officials from the EU's executive and its diplomatic service.

The closed-door meeting in Brussels is due to start at 10 a.m. (0800 GMT), the sources said.

2:30 a.m.: Kazakhstan, one of Russia's close ex-Soviet partners, will not recognize the possible annexation of Ukraine's eastern regions by Russia through referendums held there, Reuters reported Monday, citing the Central Asian nation's foreign ministry.

Voting took place in four Ukrainian regions mostly held by Russian forces, the start of a plan by President Vladimir Putin to annex a big chunk of Ukraine in what the West says is violation of international law that significantly escalates war in the country. Russia calls its actions in Ukraine "a special military operation."

"As for the holding of referendums ... Kazakhstan proceeds from the principles of territorial integrity of states, their sovereign equivalence and peaceful coexistence," ministry spokesman Aibek Smadiyarov said.

Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly called for the resolution of the Ukrainian conflict in line with the United Nations charter.

"We reconfirm our readiness to provide all possible assistance to the establishment of a political dialog," Smadiyarov said. "At the same time, our country believes that maintaining stability at either regional or global level is the most important goal."

2 a.m.: Britain said on Monday that initial tranches of men called up for Russia's partial mobilization have started arriving at military bases.

"Russia will now face an administrative and logistical challenge to provide training for the troops," the British Ministry of Defense said in an intelligence update.

Many of the drafted troops will not have had any military experience for some years, the intelligence update added.

Earlier last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had signed a decree on partial mobilization beginning Wednesday.

Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 26 September 2022 Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/qJ9KOiz3lB🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/a84C4tDfep

1:30 a.m.: The South command of Ukraine's forces said Monday two drones launched by Russian forces into the Odesa region in Ukraine hit military objects causing a fire and the detonation of ammunition, Reuters reported.

"As a result of a large-scale fire and the detonation of ammunition, the evacuation of the civilian population was organized," the command said in statement on the Telegram.

"Preliminarily, there have been no casualties."

Ukraine military says Russian drones hit military objects in Odesa https://t.co/QNR8nrxIgQ pic.twitter.com/VkzQbQg4wi

1:15 a.m.: Denmark warns of danger of spills from tankers carrying Russian oil, the Financial Times reports.

Tankers of Russian oil sailing through the shallow, treacherous Danish straits are more likely to crash and spill their cargoes, Denmark's maritime authority has warned https://t.co/gpRkG68jfb pic.twitter.com/A1psEzs9CA

1 a.m.: Politicians in Bulgaria are crisscrossing the Balkan country of nearly 7 million to convince voters to cast ballots for them in snap parliamentary elections scheduled for October 2, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported.

But one candidate, Ivan Kalchev, is not on the campaign trail, but the battlefield in Ukraine.

Kalchev traveled to Ukraine in early March to join up with the foreign legion organized by Kyiv, shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops into Ukraine on February 24.

12:30 a.m.: According to independent Russian media outlet Meduza, Russia plans to ban men of conscription age from leaving country beginning Wednesday, The Kyiv Independent reported.

Meduza said the ban will be announced at the end of referenda in the four occupied regions of Ukraine - Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts. However, Ukraine, the U.S. and their Western allies are calling the referenda sham votes and of no legal consequence. Any Russian annexation of Ukrainian land would not be globally recognized.

The news outlet cited two sources in the Kremlin saying that the most likely date the borders will be shut is Wednesday.

On September 21, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that the army planned to mobilize 300,000 conscripts for the war against Ukraine following Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement of "partial mobilization" in Russia. Later, Meduza citing undisclosed sources, reported that Russia plans to mobilize 1.2 million conscripts for war against Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reported.

Russian proxies in the occupied parts of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia oblasts have announced that between Friday and Tuesday, they will rush "referendums" on these areas joining Russia. This is a violation of international law.

12:01 a.m.: Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Monday that Japan has decided to ban exports of chemical weapons-related goods to Russia in an additional sanction against Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, and is "deeply concerned" about the possible use of nuclear weapons, Reuters reported.

Japan also added 21 Russian organizations such as science labs as the target of existing export bans, according to a government statement released after Monday's cabinet meeting, which formally approved the new sanction measures announced by the foreign minister at a Group of Seven meeting last week.

"Japan is deeply concerned about the possibility of nuclear weapons used during Russia's invasion of Ukraine," Matsuno also said in a media briefing, adding Japan will continue to work with the international society in supporting Ukraine and sanctioning Russia.

Some information in this report came from The Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France-Presse.

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