Russia-Ukraine Highlights: Ukraine hits out at Iran for sending weapons to Russia

Russia Begins Orchestrating Staged Voting in Occupied Territories

Moscow began orchestrating referendums on joiningRussiain areas it occupies in Ukraine on Friday, an effort widely seen as a sham that is expected to culminate in the annexation of an area larger than Portugal.

While the Kremlin has used referendums and annexation in the past to exert its will, the boldness of President Vladimir Putin’s gambit in Ukraine far exceeds anything it has tried before. Huge numbers of people have fled the areas thatRussiacontrols, the process has been rushed, and referendums are taking place against a backdrop of oppression — with U.N. experts citing evidence of war crimes in a forceful new statement.

Ukraine hits out at Iran for sending weapons to Russia

Ukraine on Friday criticised Iran for supplying weapons toRussiaafter announcing a civilian was killed during a Russian attack on the southern port city of Odessa that featured an Iranian-made drone.

"The use of Iranian-made weapons by Russian troops... are steps taken by Iran against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of our state, as well as against the life and health of Ukrainian citizens," a spokesman for Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, Sergii Nykyforov, wrote on Facebook.

Finland to 'significantly' restrict entry of Russians: Government

Helsinki announced Friday that it would "significantly restrict the entry of Russian citizens," after Finland saw an influx over its eastern border followingRussia's mobilisation orders.

Citing "serious damage to Finland's international position," the ministerial committee on Foreign and Security Policy also concluded that new visas would be restricted, the government said in a statement.

Muslim clerics warn Uzbeks against joining Russia-Ukraine war

Uzbekistan's top religious authority urged Uzbeks on Friday not to get involved in the conflict in Ukraine, saying that doing so was against the Islamic faith, afterRussiaoffered fast-track citizenship to foreigners those who join its army.

The Muslim Board said members of some "terrorist organisations" were recruiting Muslims to fight in the Ukraine conflict under the pretext of "jihad" or holy war.

Ukraine says recaptured territory in east, as annexation polls open

Kyiv said Friday its forcesrecaptured a village in the eastern Donetsk region and territory around another war-scarred town there, as Moscow-proxies held votes on annexation byRussia.

"The Ukrainian army has retaken the village of Yatskivka in the Donetsk region," a senior army official told reporters, adding that Kyiv's forces had "also regained controlled over positions to the south of Bakhmut," also in Donetsk, where voting was underway Friday in Russian-controlled territory.

Moscow is not threatening anybody with nuclear weapons: Russian deputy foreign minister

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Friday that Moscow was not threatening anybody with nuclear weapons and that open confrontation with the United States and NATO was not inRussia's interests, Russian state news agencies reported.

Russia's envoy to US says he hopes world not on verge of nuclear conflict

Russia's ambassador to the United States said on Friday he wanted to believe that Moscow and Washington were not on the verge of falling into the "abyss of a nuclear conflict", the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

Chinese and Ukrainian foreign ministers meet in New York

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi has met his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the Chinese foreign ministry said Friday.

Thursday's meeting was the first between the two sinceRussia's invasion of Ukraine in February -- though they have held two phone calls in that time.

UN rights experts present evidence of war crimes in Ukraine

A team of experts commissioned by the UN's top human rights body to look into rights violations in Ukraine said Friday its initial investigation turned up evidence of war crimes in the country followingRussia's invasion nearly seven months ago.

The experts from the Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, mandated by Human Rights Council earlier this year, have so far focused on four regions – Kyiv, Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Sumy.

Presenting their most extensive findings so far, they cited testimonies by former detainees of beatings, electric shocks and forced nudity in Russian detention facilities, and expressed grave concerns about executions in the four regions.

Finland sees more Russians at border wanting 'to be safe'

Traffic into Finland across its southeastern border withRussiawas heavy on Friday, border guards told Reuters, adding that the number of Russians who entered the previous day was more than double the amount who arrived the week before.

Finland is considering barring most Russians from entering as the volume of arrivals from its eastern neighbour "intensified" on Thursday following President Vladimir Putin's order for a partial military mobilisation.

Experts commissioned by the UN's top human rights body cite evidence of war crimes committed in Ukraine, reports AP

Russian army: Putin details the next stage of the Ukraine war and who is being called up

Fares for flights out ofRussiarose dramatically in the 24 hours after President Vladimir Putin announced a mobilisation of reserve troops and suggested a possibility of wider conscription.

Protests against Putin’s announcement have taken place in around 30 towns and cities acrossRussia. Doctors, teachers and bank workers are being asked to prepare for military duty, according to The Times.

Putin was 'pushed' into Ukraine war, says Italy's Berlusconi

Russian President Vladimir Putin was "pushed" into the war on Ukraine to install a new government in Kyiv, former Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi said late on Thursday, in comments likely to concern Western allies ahead of Italy's election.

Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party belongs to a right-wing coalition expected to win the general election on Sunday, is not new to defending Putin's actions in Ukraine. His comments highlight cracks in the coalition over the war.

World opinion shifts against Russia as Ukraine worries grow

The tide of international opinion appears to be decisively shifting against Russia, as a number of non-aligned countries are joining the United States and its allies in condemning Moscow's war inUkraineand its threats to the principles of the international rules-based order.

Western officials have repeatedly said that Russia has become isolated since invadingUkrainein February. Until recently, though, that was largely wishful thinking.

But on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, much of the international community spoke out against the conflict in a rare display of unity at the often fractured United Nations.

US heartened by Prime Minister Modi’s comments to Putin to end war in Ukraine: Pentagon official

The US is heartened by the recent remarks made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Russian President Vladimir Putin that this is not the time for war inUkraine, a senior Pentagon official has said.

Prime Minister Modi met President Putin in Uzbek city of Samarkand on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit on September 16 and during the meeting, Modi told Putin, “Today's era is not an era of war, and I have spoken to you on the phone about this."

Voting starts in occupied regions of Ukraine on referendums to join Russia in balloting labelled a sham by the West, reports AP

Can Ukraine break through again?

When Ukraine reclaimed territory covering some 3,700 square miles this month, it started a new phase of the conflict. After mostly defending for months, Ukraine is now dictating the war, choosing where it wants to press new offensives.

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On Russia, China is in a tight spot

China has recently expressed concerns about Russia’s war on Ukraine. At the opening of the Winter Olympics in Beijing, Putin and Xi Jinping officially declared that the relationship between their two countries had “no limits”.

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India calls for cessation of hostilities in Ukraine

India on Thursday called for immediate cessation of hostilities in Ukraine days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered fresh mobilization of troops and declared that he would not hesitate to use nuclear weapons to defend his country's territory.

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War leaves Ukraine farming village queueing for food

Ukraine's farmland is famed for its rich black soil and considered a breadbasket for the world, but on Thursday, after months of war, residents of a frontline farming village were queueing for food.

The Russian invasion force that crossed the border on February 24 did not quite reach little Lebyazhe, as Ukrainian troops scrambled to defend routes to the country's second city, Kharkiv. (AFP)