We will retake land Russia has stolen, says Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is to hold an emergency meeting of his security council to discuss a ‘‘very harsh'' response to Russia's annexation of occupied territories in the east of Ukraine.

At a ceremony in Moscow overnight, President Vladimir Putin was to sign a decree to absorb 15% of Ukrainian land, an area roughly the size of Portugal and with an estimated population of four million people, after a series of referendums staged in the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya.

‘‘They [the votes] are worthless and do not change reality,'' Zelenskyy said in a telephone call to Mario Draghi, Italy's outgoing prime minister.

‘‘The territorial integrity of Ukraine will be restored. And our reaction to recognition of the results by Russia will be very harsh.''

Putin, speaking at a meeting with the heads of the intelligence services of the Commonwealth of Independent States yesterday, said the West was standing ready to provoke ‘‘colour revolutions'' and a ‘‘bloodbath'' in any country, in an apparent reference to protest movements that have taken place across former Soviet states.

The annexation, which is the largest in Europe since World War II, was met with international condemnation. Antonio Guterres, the United Nations secretary-general, warned that it amounted to a ‘‘dangerous escalation'' that would jeopardise the prospects for peace in the region. ‘‘Any decision to proceed with the annexation of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukraine would have no legal value and deserves to be condemned,'' he said.

Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, denounced the referendum as an illegal ‘‘sham'' and a violation of international law, adding: ‘‘To be clear: the results were orchestrated in Moscow and do not reflect the will of the people of Ukraine.''

The move marks the latest in a series of escalations from the Kremlin over recent days after a series of military setbacks during which the Ukrainian forces have reclaimed more than 7770 square kilometres of territory. Putin, announcing a ‘‘partial mobilisation'' last week, hinted at the use of nuclear weapons, saying that he would defend Russia's claim to occupied territories by any means necessary.

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Putin's security council, said this week that Russia could launch a nuclear strike against Ukraine with impunity because Nato countries were ‘‘not going to die in a nuclear apocalypse''. Ukraine has, however, ignored these threats and had further strategic victories in the Donbas region over the past few days.

According to Russian military bloggers, the invading army is on the brink of losing a key position in the Donetsk region, with Ukrainian troops encircling their forces in the city of Lyman.

Ukrainian formations have been advancing on the city from the south and the west and liberating villages along the way.

Yesterday the influential Russian military blogger Rybar reported that Ukrainian forces had mounted an attack on Lyman from the east, but had lost ‘‘a significant amount of man-power'' and vehicles before retreating. However, Military Observer, another Russian military blogger, said: ‘‘The city is in an extremely dangerous position.''

Alexander Petrikin, the proRussian head of the Lyman city administration, admitted that holding the area would be ‘‘difficult''.

Ukrainian soldiers have posted pictures online of themselves hoisting their flag over villages north of Lyman.

Putin's partial mobilisation prompted hundreds of thousands of men to flee Russia and led to protests across the nation, with the president's approval rating dropping by six percentage points yesterday, down from 83% to 77%, according to the independent Levada Centre polling agency.

The pollster also found that only 23% of Russians surveyed were proud of their country.

■ Sweden has stepped up security around two of its nuclear power stations as a result of the sabotage of the Nord Stream pipelines in the Baltic.

The country's national security agency said the ‘‘threat landscape'' confronting both military and civilian potential targets had ‘‘broadened and deepened'' and that it was taking additional measures to protect the reactors at Forsmark, near Stockholm, and Ringhals, south of Gothenburg.

‘‘They [the votes] are worthless and do not change reality.’’

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy