Zelensky said Ukraine’s armed forces would throw Russian forces out and respond to “every blow of the aggressor.” He pledged that Ukraine’s armed forces would regain control of the southern Kherson region and eastern Donbas, which includes Luhansk province and Crimea. “Every murderer and torturer will be brought to justice for what they did against Ukrainians,” he said. Reports posted on Telegram groups from occupied territories suggest that the local population has overwhelmingly boycotted the Kremlin’s referendum stunt, which began on Friday. The process ends on Tuesday and Vladimir Putin is expected to declare this week that these lands belong to Russia. On Sunday, locals described a chaotic voting process, largely staged for Russian state television. In the town of Hakova, officials went from house to house, fiddling with intercoms, while two soldiers with assault rifles stood nearby. Most residents refused to open their doors. In the southern coastal village of Stanislav, a resident walked with two Russian officials, collecting signatures. Some of those voting, smiling for the cameras, are Russian citizens bussed in from Crimea. Some elderly Ukrainians have joined, say reports on social media. The Ukrainian governor of Luhansk province, Serhiy Haidai, dismissed the exercise as a hoax. He said those who participated in the polls voted openly. Anyone who ticked the “no” box on joining Russia was marked in a notebook and added to a “list of untrustworthy people,” he said. In some cases, armed men broke down the doors. Heidai said Moscow had inflated turnout in cities that were now nearly empty because of the conflict. They include Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk and Rubizhne, which the Russian army pulverized and then occupied over the summer. Turnout was 41%-46%, he said, despite tens of thousands of people dropping out. The Kremlin had shelved plans for a referendum due to a lack of support, but they were hastily revived last week after a series of Russian military setbacks. Earlier this month, Ukraine’s armed forces recaptured almost all of the Kharkiv region and are advancing on the southern city of Kherson, which it has held since March. On Wednesday, Putin announced a partial mobilization of up to 1 million troops. The announcement sparked protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg, and violent clashes Sunday with police in Dagestan, a multi-ethnic republic in the North Caucasus. The video showed people shooting into the air as crowds demanded the release of conscripted relatives. Video sent by a friend at the anti-mobilization demonstration in Makhachkala, Dagestan. It’s very rare in Russia to see protesters fighting with police like this pic.twitter.com/kdBbzxDxfp — Pjotr​​​​​​Sauer (@PjotrSauer) September 25, 2022 More than 2,000 people have been detained across Russia for protesting against the draft, according to OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group. Many men of military age have crossed into Georgia or Finland in an attempt to avoid Russia’s first mobilization since the second world war. In Ukraine, the fighting continued. According to Russian media sources, a former Ukrainian parliamentarian working with Moscow, Oleksii Zhuravko, was killed in Kherson, along with one other person. According to reports, a rocket strike demolished a hotel where Zuravko had a meeting. He had left Ukraine for Russia in 2015. The military command in the Black Sea port of Odessa has confirmed Moscow’s use of Iranian-supplied kamikaze drones. Serhii Brachuk, a spokesman for the region, said the city center was hit three times, with no casualties. A Russian drone was shot down. Ukraine’s southern command claimed to have killed 57 Russian soldiers and said it destroyed 30 pieces of equipment.