A Russian shot the head of the local military recruiting committee in a Siberian town after he told him he would refuse to take part in the war in Ukraine. The incident happened in the city of Ust-Ilimsk, a city of about 85,000 people in the Irkutsk region of Siberia. Video showed the gunman, dressed in camouflage, shooting the official at close range as other potential conscripts for the Russian invasion fled the room. Reports indicate that at least three shots were fired.

Protests against Vladimir Putin’s partial military mobilization order appeared to continue in the Russian republic of Dagestan on Sunday, with videos showing clashes between police and the public. Video footage posted on social media shows police arresting demonstrators who were protesting the order to draft 300,000 more Russians in the army for the war effort in Ukraine.

Long lines of vehicles were at the Russia-Mongolia border crossing on Sunday as people continued to flee the Kremlin’s mobilization order, AFP reported. The head of a checkpoint in the town of Altanbulag told the agency that more than 3,000 Russians had entered Mongolia through the crossing since Wednesday.

Sergei Tsekovmember of the upper house of the Russian parliament, the Federation Council, called for the closure of the Russian border “to prohibit anyone of military age from traveling abroad”.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claimed that some Russian Kremlin Mass Mobilization conscripts were sent directly to the front lines in Ukraine without training. Amid warnings from the UK Ministry of Defense and other experts that many of those enlisted are likely to receive little meaningful training – and run the risk of “high attrition rates” when deployed – Men recently mobilized by pro-Russian occupation officials in Ukraine were also being readied for the front line. These included newly recruited staff in Crimea as well as conscripts in Luhansk region who have received convocation projects in recent days.

The Russian news agency RIA Novosti publishes turnout figures for the widely derided “referendums” in the occupied territories. Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia and Kherson which started on Friday. Figures suggest turnout was enough for Russian proxy authorities to declare them legitimate, ranging from 77% in Donetsk to 49% in Kherson.

The pro-Russian authorities claimed that in Rubizhne in occupied Luhansk, a polling station had to be moved to a reserve location after shelling by Ukrainian forces hit the school where it was to be held.

EnergoatomUkraine’s state-owned nuclear company, which runs nuclear power plants, including the occupied Zaporizhzhia plant, has accused pro-Russian forces in Zaporizhzhia of making it look like staff voted in the widely condemned referendum being held in the region .

Oleksandre Stryukmayor of Sievierodonetsk, denounced what he called the “lie and propaganda” of the “Russian Federation referendum”, accusing pro-Russian forces of busing people from Crimea to vote and stage propaganda photographs.

Serbia will not recognize Russian annexation ‘referendums’ in occupied Ukrainian areas. Serbian Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said the referendums “completely contradict our state and national interests, our policy of managing territorial integrity, sovereignty and the principle of inviolability of borders”.

The UN’s atomic energy watchdog has said it is ready to hold talks in Russia and Ukraine on setting up a protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said he met with the foreign ministers of the two countries at the United Nations general assembly last week to discuss the possibility of a protection zone.

Two drones launched by Russian forces in the Odessa Ukrainian region hit military objects, causing fire and detonation of ammunition.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy vowed to liberate the whole country as Russia continued with its so-called referendum in occupied areas of Ukraine and so-called election workers accompanied by masked gunmen knocked on doors to get people to vote. Ukraine’s president said the country’s armed forces would reject Russian forces and retaliate to “every strike from the aggressor”. He vowed that Ukraine would regain control of the southern Kherson region and eastern Donbass, saying: “All murderers and torturers will be brought to justice.”

Ukraine’s president renewed calls for Western allies to cut Swift’s Russian banksthe global banking system that allows banks to send messages to each other. “If we remove Russian banks from Swift, we have to remove all Russian banks from Swift,” he said.

Zelensky also claimed in a US television interview that Ukraine had discovered two more mass burial sites containing the bodies of hundreds of people in the northeastern town of Izium.

Russian businessman Yevgeny Prigozhina close ally of the president Vladimir Poutineexplicitly stated for the first time today that he had founded the Wagner mercenary group and confirmed its deployment to countries in Latin America and Africa.

president of moldova Maia Sandu said his country could revoke the citizenship of those who go to fight for Russia in Ukraine.

Belarusian leader, Alexander Lukashenko, met Putin on Monday in Sochi.

Hungarian Prime Minister Victor Orban suggested he would hold a ‘national consultation’ on EU sanctions against Russia, saying ‘the sanctions were introduced in an undemocratic way, because it was the decision of the bureaucrats in Brussels, for which the Europeans are paying “We need to know people’s opinion. For the first time in Europe, in Hungary, we will ask for the opinion on sanctions.”

Japan will ban exports of chemical weapons-related products to Russia and is ‘deeply concerned’ about possible use of nuclear weapons, chief cabinet secretary says Hirokazu Matsuno said Monday.

US and allies will act ‘decisively’ if Russia uses tactical nuke in Ukraine, US national security adviser says, reaffirming Biden’s White House’s previous response to growing concerns that Vladimir Putin’s threats are more likely to come true. Jake Sullivan told CBS on Sunday: “We have communicated directly, privately and at very high levels to the Kremlin that any use of nuclear weapons will have catastrophic consequences for Russia, that the United States and our allies will respond in a decisive, and we have been clear and precise about what this will entail.

British Prime Minister Liz Truss said her allies France and the United States should continue to support Ukraine in the face of increased threats from the Russian President and his military appeal. Truss said Vladimir Putin was stepping up the war because he was not winning and made a mistake.

Thousands of Hasidic Jewish pilgrims flock to central Ukraine to mark the Jewish New Year on Sunday, ignoring international travel warnings as Russian forces attacked more targets from the air. The pilgrims, many from Israel and further afield, converged on the small town of Uman, the burial place of Nachman of Breslov, a respected Hasidic rabbi who died in 1810, the Associated Press reported.

Ukraine’s ambassador to the UK has appealed for continued “generosity” and “patience” from those providing shelter for refugees in Britain. Vadym Prystaiko has said Ukraine needs “a lot more” help from the UK as the country fights off an invasion from Moscow, with the Kremlin’s military appeal amounting to “something formidable”.

Israel to treat 20 Ukrainian soldiers injured in war with Russia, according to the Israeli ambassador to Ukraine. The first two patients will arrive for treatment at Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv on Sunday, envoy Michael Brodsky said.

Aiden Aslin, one of five British nationals released by Russia last week, gave his first media interview after returning to the UK. He told The Sun on Sunday he had been kept in solitary confinement for five months and “treated worse than a dog”.