The Latest Breaking News from Moscow

Ukraine’s president warned Tuesday that Russia’s just concluded “sham referendums” and attempts to annex Ukrainian territory rule out any talks with Moscow as long as Vladimir Putin remains president, and called for Russia’s “complete isolation” and tough new global sanctions.

Now Moscow has the ‘results’ it wanted from its fake referendums, Putin and the west are considering next steps

Although he exceeds draft age, Dmytro Rossuzhday was certain he would be press ganged into Moscow-backed Ukrainian rebel forces when his bus was stopped at the last checkpoint of the Russian-held part of Zaporizhzhia province.

What happens when there is that knock at the door? Moscow's hastily-organised referendums in occupied parts of Ukraine – complete with house-to-house searches of ballot recipients – take the concept of "get out the vote" to a whole new level. We ask about turnout numbers that already beggar belief and…

Ukraine will not be swayed by any nuclear threats from Moscow or annexation votes held on its territory and will press ahead with its plan to wrest back all its occupied land from Russia, a Ukrainian presidential adviser said on Tuesday.

The so-called referendums — which Ukraine, the U.S. and others have denounced as shams — are widely viewed as an initial Kremlin move toward formal Russian annexation of the territories.

Kremlin-orchestrated referendums that are expected to serve as a pretext for Moscow to annex Russian-held regions of Ukraine concluded Tuesday as the preordained outcome of the votes heightened tension between Russia and the West. Moscow-backed officials in the four occupied regions in southern and eastern Ukraine said polls closed Tuesday…

The number of Russians entering the EU has jumped following a partial mobilisation ordered by Moscow, and illegal crossings are likely to increase should Russia decide to close the border for potential conscripts, EU border agency Frontex said on Tuesday.

New waves of Russians have arrived in Georgia, desperate to avoid joining troops in Ukraine.