A rescue worker puts out a fire after a Russian attack in a residential neighborhood of Kharkiv, Ukraine, on Monday. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Monday to extend a fast-track process for obtaining Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians, in another bid to expand Moscow’s influence in war-torn Ukraine. Until recently, only residents of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as residents of the southern Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, large parts of which are under Russian control, were eligible for the simplified process. Ukrainian officials have yet to react to Putin’s announcement. Since 2019, when the process was first introduced for residents of Donetsk and Luhansk, and this year, more than 720,000 residents of rebel-held areas in the two regions – about 18% of the population – have received Russian passports. At the end of May, three months after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the expedited procedure was also offered to residents of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions. A month ago, the first Russian passports were reportedly delivered there. Putin’s move came as Russian shelling of Ukraine’s second-largest city killed at least three people on Monday and injured 31 others, the local administrator said. Hours earlier, Russian troops launched three rocket attacks on Kharkiv, which the official described as “absolute terrorism.” Kharkiv regional governor Oleh Syniehubov told Telegram that the shelling came from multiple rocket launchers and that those treated for injuries sustained in the attacks include children aged 4 and 16. “Only urban structures – a shopping center and houses of peaceful residents of Kharkiv – fell under the fire of the Russians. Several shells hit the yards of private houses. Garages and cars were also destroyed, many fires broke out,” Syniehubov wrote. Earlier, he said one of the rockets fired by Russian forces at Kharkiv overnight destroyed a school, another hit a residential building, while the third landed near a warehouse facility. “All three (three were launched) exclusively at civilian objects, this is absolute terrorism!” Syniehubov said. Kharkiv resident Alexander Peresolin said the attacks came suddenly, without warning, causing him to lose consciousness. “I was sitting and talking to my wife,” he said. “I didn’t understand what happened. There were two strikes, two or three.” Peresolin said neighbors took him to the basement where he later regained consciousness. The strikes came just two days after a Russian rocket attack hit apartment buildings in eastern Ukraine, killing at least 24 people. A total of nine people have been rescued, emergency officials said. The attack late on Saturday destroyed three buildings in a residential district of the city of Chasiv Yar, mostly inhabited by people who work in nearby factories. Russian attacks in the east also continued, with Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai saying on Monday that shelling had hit settlements on the administrative border with Donetsk region. Russian forces carried out five shellings and four shellings in the area, Heidai said. Luhansk and Donetsk regions together form Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, known as Donbas, where separatist rebels have been fighting Ukrainian forces since 2014. Earlier this month, Russia captured the last major stronghold of the Ukrainian resistance in Luhansk, the town of Lysychansk. After Lysychansk was taken, some analysts predicted that Moscow’s troops would likely need some time to rearm and regroup, but Ukrainian officials said there had been no pause in the attacks. The British Army assessed that the Russian troops were not taking the necessary breaks. The Ministry of Defense tweeted on Monday that online videos indicated that at least one tank brigade in the war was “mentally and physically exhausted” as it had been in active combat since the start of the war on February 24. The British said: “The lack of scheduled breaks from intense combat conditions is very likely one of the most damaging of the many personnel issues that Russia (MoD) is struggling to correct among deploying forces.” Also on Monday, Russia’s main gas pipeline to Germany began a 10-day shutdown for maintenance amid European fears that Moscow may not restore the flow after its completion.
