Russia says Putin’s party wins local polls – DW – 09/11/2023

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pointed to progress achieved by Ukrainian troops at the front.

Speaking during his nightly address, Zelenskyy said there was “movement forward” in the past seven days.

He added the movement was taking place in southern Ukraine in the Zaporizhzhia region, as well as around the Russian-controlled city of Bakhmut.

Ukraine’s armed forces have meanwhile announced further territorial gains in the country’s east, where Russia has captured several areas since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Zelenskyy said Ukrainian troops were holding their ground on several eastern fronts, including Avdiivka and Maryinka. The former has been under Russian attack nearly constantly since the invasion.

“In my opinion, this is very significant,” Vitaliy Barabash, the head of the local military administration, told national television. “To be frank, the enemy overlooked this southern direction a bit.”

Barabash called the advance a “thunderous assault operation” and said fighting was underway in the settlement.

Russia said that President Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party has secured the largest number of votes in the country’s local elections, which were also held in four Moscow-occupied Ukrainian regions.

Russian data claimed voters in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia had backed United Russia with over 70% of the vote. 

Many rights groups and Western observers pointed at vote rigging, as well as the lack of electoral competition, as strong candidates, including some from Russia’s main opposition Communist Party, were blocked from running by authorities.

In the capital Moscow, Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin was re-elected with over 75% of the vote, having enjoyed virtually no opposition.

United Russia head Dmitry Medvedev described the election results as positive.

“It can already be said that United Russia has performed worthily,” the state news agency TASS cited the former Russian president as saying.

Media reports suggest Russia is considering resuming its production of the T-80 tank model.

The Soviet-era T-80 was largely discontinued in favor of the T-90. No details were given regarding when such resumption would kick off. 

Russia has lost massive amounts of military equipment and weapons in the months since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Investigative group Oryx estimates Moscow lost over 2,000 tanks.

rmt/sri (AFP, dpa, Reuters)