No chance for negotiated end to Ukraine war: Russia

KYIV, Sept 20 (AP): The Kremlin said Tuesday that there are no prospects for a negotiated end to the war in Ukraine and gave its blessing to efforts to swiftly bring regions already captured under Russia's complete control. Such a move could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the conflict if Ukrainian forces try to take the regions back.
A close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, former President Dmitry Medvedev, said that folding the separatist Luhansk and Donetsk regions of eastern Ukraine into Russia itself would make their redrawn frontiers "irreversible" and enable Moscow to use "any means" to defend them.
Pressure within Russia and from Moscow-backed leaders in Luhansk and Donetsk for regional votes that would pave their way to becoming fully Russian has increased in the wake of a Ukrainian counteroffensive - bolstered by Western-supplied weaponry - that is wresting back large areas of previously Russian-occupied territory.
Moscow-backed leaders in the Russian-occupied Kherson region of southern Ukraine and pro-Russia activists in the partly-occupied Zaporizhzhia region on Tuesday joined earlier calls from separatist authorities in Luhansk and Donetsk for speedy referendums on joining Russia.
Such votes would almost certainly go Moscow's way. The succession of appeals and Medvedev's backing for them suggested stiffening determination in the Kremlin to fend off further territorial gains by Ukraine.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that there are no prospects for a diplomatic settlement. Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia's Security Council chaired by Putin, said on his messaging app channel that votes in separatist regions are important to protect their residents and "restore historic justice" and would "completely change" Russia's future trajectory.
"After they are held and the new territories are taken into Russia's fold, a geopolitical transformation of the world will become irreversible," said Medvedev, who also served as Russia's president from 2008-2012.
"An encroachment on the territory of Russia is a crime that would warrant any means of self-defense," he said, adding that Russia would enshrine the new territories in its constitution so no future Russian leader could hand them back.
"That is why they fear those referendums so much in Kyiv and in the West," Medvedev said. "That is why they must be held."
The recapturing of large areas of previously Russian-occupied territory, most notably in the northeastern Kharkiv region, has strengthened Ukraine's arguments that its troops could deliver more stinging defeats to Russia with additional armament deliveries.
More heavy weaponry is on its way, with Slovenia this week promising 28 tanks and Germany pledging four additional self-propelled howitzers. More aid also is expected from Britain, already one of Ukraine's biggest military backers after the United States.
British Prime Minister Liz Truss is expected to promise that in 2023, her government will "match or exceed" the 2.3 billion pounds ($2.7 billion) in military aid given to Ukraine this year.
The swiftness of the Ukrainian counteroffensive also saw Russian forces abandon armored vehicles and other weapons as they beat hasty retreats. Ukrainian forces are recycling captured weaponry back into battle.
Ukraine says Russian
missile struck close
to N power plant
A Russian missile struck close to a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine without damaging the three reactors but hit other industrial equipment in what Ukrainian authorities denounced Monday as an act of "nuclear terrorism."
The strike followed warnings from Russian President Vladimir Putin of possible stepped-up attacks on key Ukrainian infrastructure after his forces suffered humiliating battlefield setbacks.
The missile struck 300 meters (328 yards) from the Pivdennoukrainsk nuclear plant, also known as the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, according to Ukrainian nuclear operator Energoatom.
Black-and-white CCTV footage released by Ukraine's Ministry of Defense showed two large fireballs erupting one after the other in the dark, followed by incandescent showers of sparks. A time stamp on the video read 19 minutes after midnight.
The ministry and Energoatom both called the strike "nuclear terrorism." The Russian Defense Ministry had no immediate comment. The United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the attack.
The nuclear plant is Ukraine's second-largest after the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which is Europe's largest nuclear power station and has repeatedly come under fire during the war. The two plants have reactors of the same design.