Russia announced plans Thursday to stage elections in occupied parts of Ukraine in just three months, Moscow’s latest bid to signal that it is in control, even as a Ukrainian counteroffensive has pushed its forces back in some areas.
The Ukrainian assault is in its early stages, and military experts say the decisive battles still lie ahead. But corpses of Russian soldiers and burnt-out armoured vehicles lining roads in villages newly recaptured by Ukrainian troops attested to Kyiv’s biggest advances since last year.
“Our heroic people, our troops on … the front line are facing very tough resistance,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told NBC News
