Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 215

Here is the situation as it stands on Monday, September 26.

Russian mobilisation

• A gunman was detained after opening fire at a draft office in Russia’s Irkutsk region.
• Russia’s two most senior legislators addressed complaints about Russia’s enlistment drive, ordering regional officials to get a handle on the situation and swiftly solve the “excesses” that have stoked public anger.
• Police clashed with people opposed to the draft in the southern Russian region of Dagestan, underscoring the level of discontent with President Vladimir Putin’s decision to send hundreds of thousands more men to fight in Ukraine.

Fighting

• Ukraine discovered two more mass burial sites containing the bodies of hundreds of people in the northeastern town of Izyum, which Kyiv recaptured from Russia this month, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

• Ukraine and Russia traded accusations of attacks on civilians in southern Ukraine.
• Ukraine’s military said Russian forces launched dozens of missile attacks and air attacks on military and civilian targets in the past 24 hours.
• Russia also used drones to attack the centre of the southern city of Odesa, Ukraine’s military said. No casualties were reported.
• Russia denies deliberately attacking civilians. Its RIA state news agency reported that Ukrainian forces bombed a hotel in the city of Kherson, killing two people. Russian forces have occupied the southern city since the early days of the invasion.
• A group of Sri Lankans held captive by Russian forces in an agricultural factory in eastern Ukraine alleged torture for months before escaping on foot as the Russians withdrew from the Kharkiv region.

Diplomacy

• The ambassador of Ukraine in the UK, Vadym Prystaiko, issued a plea for patience and generosity for those offering a home to refugees.
• “We hoped to reach a six-month period by the sponsorship agreement between most of the UK citizens and Ukrainians who came here,” he said. “I just hope that the generosity, tolerance, kindness, patience of these people will allow us to engage with Ukrainians who still need some support here.”
• The United States warned of “catastrophic consequences” if Moscow were to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine after Russia’s foreign minister said regions holding referendums would get full protection if annexed.

Referendums

• Russia launched referendums aimed at annexing four occupied regions, drawing condemnation from Kyiv and Western nations who dismissed the votes as a sham and pledged not to recognise the results.
• The Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, may debate bills incorporating the Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine into Russia on Thursday, the state-run TASS news agency said, citing an unnamed source.
• The votes in the provinces of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia were hastily organised after Ukraine recaptured large swathes of the northeast in a counteroffensive.