Europe

MOSCOW, September 24. /TASS/: The accession of the Donetsk and the Lugansk People’s Republics as well as the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions to Russia may take place on September 30, a Russian lawmaker told TASS on Saturday.

"Taking into account the preliminary results of the referendums and Russia’s readiness to acknowledge them, the accession of the territories [the DPR, the LPR, the Kherson and the Zaporozhye Regions to Russia] is likely to take place as early as on September 30," a State Duma member said.

KHERSON, September 25. /TASS/: A missile strike, assumably from the HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system, has hit a hotel in Kherson, causing casualties, a TASS correspondent reported on Sunday.

The Ukrainian military attacked the Kherson hotel at 5:30 am, assumably, firing one rocket from the HIMARS multiple-launch rocket system, according to the information provided by a TASS correspondent. Two people were killed, according to preliminary estimates.

LUGANSK, September 25. /TASS/: The referendum on the accession to Russia in the Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) has been recognized as valid, since the voter turnout has exceeded 50%, Yelena Kravchenko, chairperson of the LPR’s Central Election Commission (CEC) said on Sunday.

"High voter turnout is reported from the entire territory on the Lugansk People’s Republic. After three days of voting, the voter turnout exceeded 50% So, the referendum is recognized as valid," she said.

PRAGUE, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Former Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis's opposition ANO party won most of the country's major cities in municipal elections seen as a test for the ruling coalition's handling of the energy crisis.

The Czech Republic, similar to other European Union member countries, has been struggling with soaring inflation pushed up mainly by high energy prices. The opposition has been saying that the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala has done too little too late to help the people.

LONDON, Sept 25 (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Liz Truss said allies should stand firm on Ukraine and ignore Russian President Vladimir Putin's "sabre-rattling".

Truss, who met U.S. President Joe Biden and France's Emmanuel Macron on her first foreign trip as prime minister to New York last week, in an interview with CNN called on like-minded democracies to be firm against "autocratic regimes".

Sept 25 (Reuters) - President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that Ukraine had received sophisticated air defence systems from the United States.

It was the first acknowledgment that Ukraine had received the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System (NASAMS), long sought by Kyiv and whose shipment was approved by Washington late last month.

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Russia has sought to defend its seven-month old war at the United Nations, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov saying that regions of Ukraine where widely-derided referendums are being held would be under Russia's "full protection" if annexed by Moscow.

The referendums in four eastern Ukrainian regions, aimed at annexing territory Russia has taken by force since its invasion in February, were being staged for a third day on Sunday and the Russian parliament could move to formalise the annexation within days.

Sept 25 (Reuters) - Russia's two most senior lawmakers on Sunday addressed a string of complaints about Russia's mobilisation drive, ordering regional officials to get a handle on the situation and swiftly solve the "excesses" that have stoked public anger.

President Vladimir Putin's move to order Russia's first military mobilisation since World War Two triggered protests across the country and seen flocks of military-age men flee, causing tailbacks at borders and flights to sell out.

MADRID (AP) — Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19.

The leader of Spain’s Socialist party and of the country’s coalition government said in a Twitter post that he was canceling his appearance at a Socialist event Sunday marking the beginning of the new political season after the summer recess.

Sánchez did not say whether he was feeling ill or whether he would cancel other engagements next week.

“I will keep working, taking all precautions,” he said.

MATERA, Italy (AP) — Pope Francis traveled to southern Italy on Sunday to close out an Italian church congress that coincided with Italy’s national election, and delivered a message that hit on key domestic campaign issues including immigration.

Neither Francis nor his hosts referred to the vote during the open-air Mass, though Italy’s bishops conference had earlier urged Italians to cast ballots in the eagerly watched election that could bring Italy its first far-right government since World War II.