Artillery craters are seen in the field from an arial view in the recently liberated area of Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) From left, Denis Pushilin, the leader of the Donetsk People's Republic and Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, and Artem Vladimirovich Zhoga, commander of the Sparta Battalion of Donetsk People's Republic separatist force listen to Russian national anthem during a ceremony in the Kremlin to sign the treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. The signing of the treaties making the four regions part of Russia follows the completion of the Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums." (Mikhail Metzel, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP) A view of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant and the Dnipro river on the other side of Nikopol, Ukraine on Aug, 22, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka, File) Russian President Vladimir Putin joins hands with Moscow-appointed head of Kherson Region Vladimir Saldo, Moscow-appointed head of Zaporizhzhia region Yevgeny Balitsky, Denis Pushilin, leader of self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Leonid Pasechnik, leader of self-proclaimed Luhansk People's Republic, as they celebrate at the Kremlin during a ceremony to sign the treaties for four regions of Ukraine to join Russia, in Moscow, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. The signing of the treaties making the four regions part of Russia follows the completion of the Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums." (Grigory Sysoyev, Sputnik, Government Pool Photo via AP) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks to poetess from Donetsk region Bogdana Neshcheret before celebrations marking the incorporation of regions of Ukraine to join Russia in Red Square with the Spasskaya Tower on the right, in Moscow, Russia, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. The signing of the treaties making the four annexed regions part of Russia follows the completion of the Kremlin-orchestrated "referendums." (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg speaks during a media conference at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Olivier Matthys) Pedestrians are reflected in a security glass as they walk along the Glass Bridge over the Dnipro river in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Ukrainian servicemen drive a tank on the way to Siversk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Inna Varenytsia) Ukrainian soldiers clean the muzzle of Ukrainian howitzer D-30 near Siversk, Donetsk region, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Inna Varenytsia) A man drives by motorbike on a destroyed bridge across Oskil river during evacuation in recently liberated town Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A woman poses for a photo session at the Dnipro riverbank in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Children play at the Dnipro riverbank in Kyiv, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Pope Francis blesses faithful at the end of the Angelus noon prayer from the window of his studio overlooking St.Peter's Square, at the Vatican, Sunday, Oct. 2, 2022. Pope Francis has appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin, imploring him to "stop this spiral of violence and death" in Ukraine. The pontiff also called on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to "be open" to serious peace proposals. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino) Mykola Mosyakyn shows scars on his back after torture by Russian soldiers in the recently liberated town of Izium, Ukraine, Friday, Sept. 23, 2022. He was beaten repeatedly, his feet shot, and he described how they covered his face with a rag and poured water from a kettle onto him to mimic the sensation of drowning. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - The body of a Russian serviceman lies on the ground near a destroyed van with a sign "Z" on its door, in the recently liberated town of Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Abandoned Russian tanks stand on the road in recently liberated town Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - The dead body of a driver is seen inside the truck in the recently liberated town of Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A man hauls his motorbike on a destroyed bridge across Oskil river during evacuation in recently liberated town Kupiansk, Ukraine, Saturday, Oct. 1, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Ukrainian soldiers remove metal pieces as they work on a bridge damaged during fighting with Russian troops in Izium, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Debris hang from a partially destroyed residential building at Saltivka neighbourhood in Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Ukrainian soldiers remove metal structure pieces as they work on a bridge damaged during fighting with Russian troops in Izium, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Locals and army vehicles cross a temporary bridge that replaces a destroyed one nearby, in Izium, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) In this handout photo released by The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, foreground center, addresses deputies during a session at the State Duma, the Lower House of the Russian Parliament in Moscow, Russia, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. Russia's lower house of parliament endorses treaties for 4 regions of Ukraine to join Russia. (The State Duma, The Federal Assembly of The Russian Federation Press Service via AP) Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman and head of the United Russia party Dmitry Medvedev speaks during a meeting on science at Gorki state residence, outside Moscow, Russia, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. Medvedev deplored the decision by Western nations to rupture scientific ties with Russia over its action in Ukraine.(Ekaterina Shtukina, Sputnik Pool Photo via AP) Russians lineup to get Kazakhstan's a Personal Identification Number (INN) in a public service center in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. Kazakhstan, together with the ex-Soviet nation of Georgia, comprised two of the most popular destinations for those crossing by land in an effort to avoid the call-up. At least 135,400 Russians have been reported to enter Kazakhstan between Sept. 21 and Sept. 30. (Vladimir Tretyakov/NUR.KZ via AP) Nikolai, 62, a resident of Izium, Ukraine, attaches a door on a wheelbarrow, to repair his home, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Remains of a destroyed Russian tank are scattered on the ground along the road between Izium and Kharkiv, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Ukrainian servicemen drive a motorbike past bodies of Russian serviceman in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Ukrainian servicemen find a body of their comrade on the destroyed petrol station in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Dead bodies of Russian servicemen lie on the ground in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Ukrainian servicemen smoke cigarettes after they find and identify a dead body of a comrade in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Dead bodies of Russian servicemen lie on the ground in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A Ukrainian serviceman gets a haircut in his unit position in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Ukrainian servicemen find a dead body while they search for comrades killed in fighting in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Dead bodies of Russian servicemen lie on the ground in recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) EDS NOTE: GRAPHIC CONTENT - Ukrainian servicemen put in a plastic bag a dead body of their comrade in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Ukrainian servicemen smoke a cigarettes after they find and identify a dead body of a comrade in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A Ukrainian serviceman smokes a cigarette after he finds and identifies a dead body of a comrade in recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A Ukrainian serviceman walks along road while searching for dead bodies of his comrades in recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A man pumps water in front of destroyed house in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. Lyman resident live without electricity, gas and running water since mid of May. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Ukrainian servicemen walk along road while they search for dead bodies of their comrades in recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) Ukrainian servicemen drives atop on an APC in recently recaptured area of Lyman, Ukraine, Monday, Oct. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Evgeniy Maloletka) A Ukrainian serviceman and journalists walk between destroyed Russian equipment placed in an area at the recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting with the winners and finalists of the School Teacher of the Year national contest via videoconference at the Novo-Ogaryovo residence outside Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (Gavriil Grigorov, Sputnik, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP) People wait in line as humanitarian aid is distributed at the recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) A Ukrainian serviceman stands next to destroyed Russian equipment placed in an area at the recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) A Ukrainian serviceman walks over the remains of Russian aircraft SU-34 in an area at the recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) A woman carries a box as humanitarian aid is distributed at the recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) A Ukrainian serviceman walks over debris in a heavily damaged school at the recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) A body of Russian serviceman lies on the side of a road in the recently recaptured town of Lyman, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Leo Correa) Yuri Shapovalov rows a boat carrying an injured Ukrainian serviceman and cross the Siverskyi-Donets river in Staryi-Saltiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. Shapovalov helps locals daily to cross the river with goods as the bridge was mostly destroyed during fighting. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Yuri Shapovalov, center, helps people to disembark after crossing the Siverskyi-Donets river in Staryi-Saltiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. Shapovalov helps locals daily to cross the river with goods as the bridge was mostly destroyed during fighting. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco) Ukrainian soldiers fire, on the front line in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Andrii Marienko) In this image released by the Police Press Service, dental crowns pulled out by the Russian troops from mouths of local residents and pows are seen in a box found in a torture chamber where the Russians reportedly tortured villagers and pows in the retaken village of Pisky-Radkivski in the Kharkiv region, Ukraine, Tuesday, Oct. 4, 2022.( Ukrainian Police Press Office via AP) A Russian army recruit holds his weapon during a military training at a firing range in Donetsk People's Republic controlled by Russia-backed separatists, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022. (AP Photo/Alexei Alexandrov)
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the final papers Wednesday to annex four regions of Ukraine while his military struggled to control the new territory that was added in violation of international laws.
Ukrainian law enforcement officials, meanwhile, reported discovering more evidence of torture and killings in areas retaken from Russian forces. In Lyman, an eastern town liberated after more than four months of Russian occupation, residents emerged from their destroyed homes to receive packages of food and medicine.
In a defiant move, the Kremlin held the door open for further land grabs in Ukraine.
Speaking in a conference call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that “certain territories will be reclaimed, and we will keep consulting residents who would be eager to embrace Russia.”
Peskov did not specify which additional Ukrainian territories Moscow is eyeing, and he wouldn’t say if the Kremlin planned to organize more such “referendums.”
Putin last week signed treaties that purported to absorb Ukraine's Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions into Russia. The annexation followed Kremlin-orchestrated “referendums” in Ukraine that the Ukrainian government and the West have dismissed as illegitimate.
The Russian president defended the validity of the vote, saying it's “more than convincing" and "absolutely transparent and not subject to any doubt.”
“This is objective data on people’s mood,” Putin said Wednesday at an event dedicated to teachers, adding that he was pleasantly “surprised” by the results.
Putin also signed a decree Wednesday declaring that Russia was taking over the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, the largest in Europe. Ukraine's Foreign Ministry called it a criminal act and said it considered Putin's decree “null and void.” The state nuclear operator said it would continue to operate the plant, which was occupied by Russian forces early in the war.
On the ground, Russia faced mounting setbacks, with Ukrainian forces retaking more and more land in the eastern and southern regions that Moscow now insists are its own.
The precise borders of the areas Moscow is claiming remain unclear, but Putin has vowed to defend Russia's territory — including the annexed regions — with any means at his military's disposal, including nuclear weapons.
Shortly after Putin signed the annexation legislation, the head of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, Andriy Yermak, wrote on his Telegram channel that “the worthless decisions of the terrorist country are not worth the paper they are signed on."
“A collective insane asylum can continue to live in a fictional world,” Yermak added.
Zelenskyy responded to the annexation by announcing Ukraine's fast-track application to join NATO. In a decree released Tuesday, he also ruled out negotiations with Russia, declaring that Putin's actions made talking to the Russian leader impossible.
In his nightly address, Zelenskyy switched to Russian to tell the Kremlin that it has already lost because it still has to explain to Russian society why the war and the mobilization are necessary.
“And more and more citizens of Russia are realizing that they must die simply because one person does not want to end the war,” Zelenskyy said.
In the eastern Kharkiv region, more disturbing images emerged from areas recently reclaimed from Russia.
Serhiy Bolvinov, who heads the investigative department of the national police in the region, said authorities are investigating an alleged Russian torture chamber in the village of Pisky-Radkivski.
He posted an image of a box of what appeared to be precious metal teeth and dentures presumably extracted from those held at the site. The authenticity of the photo could not be confirmed.
Ukraine’s prosecutor general also spoke of new evidence of torture and killings found Wednesday in the Kharkiv region.
Andriy Kostin told The Associated Press on the sidelines of a security conference in Warsaw that he had just been notified of four bodies found with signs of possible torture. He said they were believed to be civilians but an investigation was still needed.
Two bodies were found in a factory in Kupiansk with their hands bound behind their backs, while two other bodies were found in Novoplatonivka, their hands linked by handcuffs.
During his public speech, Kostin said officials found the bodies of 24 civilians, including 13 children and one pregnant woman, who had been killed in six cars near Kupiansk. It was not clear when the discovery was made.
On the battlefield, Russia and Ukraine gave conflicting assessments of a Ukrainian counter-offensive in the Russian-occupied southern Kherson region. A Moscow-installed regional official insisted that Ukrainian advances had been halted.
“As of this morning ... there are no movements” by Kyiv’s forces, Kirill Stremousov said Wednesday in comments to state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
However, the Ukrainian military said the Ukrainian flag had been raised above seven Kherson region villages previously occupied by the Russians. The closest of the liberated villages to the city of Kherson is Davydiv Brid, some 100 kilometers (60 miles) away.
The deputy head of the Ukrainian regional government, Yurii Sobolevskyi, said military hospitals were full of wounded Russian soldiers and that Russian military medics lacked supplies. Once they are stabilized, Russian soldiers were getting sent to Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
“Not everyone arrives,” Sobolevskyi wrote.
In the neighboring Mykolaiv region, the governor said Russian troops have started to withdraw from Snihurivka, a city of 12,000 that Moscow seized early in the war and annexed along with the Kherson region. A Russian-installed official in Snihurivka, Yury Barbashov, denied that Russian troops had lost control of the city, a strategic railway hub, but said Ukrainian forces were advancing.
In the Moscow-annexed eastern Donetsk region, where Ukrainian forces still control some areas, Russian forces shelled eight towns and villages, the Ukrainian presidential office said.
After reclaiming the Donetsk city of Sviatohirsk, Ukrainian forces located a burial ground for civilians and found the bodies of four people, according to Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko.
When Russian troops pulled back from the Donetsk city of Lyman over the weekend, they retreated so rapidly that they left behind the bodies of their comrades. Some were still lying by the side of the road leading into the city on Wednesday.
Lyman sustained heavy damage both during the occupation and as Ukrainian soldiers fought to retake it. Mykola, a 71-year-old man who gave only his first name, was among about 100 residents who lined up for aid on Wednesday.
“We want the war to come to an end, the pharmacy and shops and hospitals to start working as they used to,” he said. “Now we don’t have anything yet. Everything is destroyed and pillaged, a complete disaster.”
In the Luhansk region, also in the eastern Donbas, Gov. Serhiy Haidai said Ukrainian forces have retaken six villages. He did not name the villages, but said the retreating Russian forces are mining the roads and buildings.
Haidai also said the Russian forces were indiscriminately drafting men from the Luhansk region. "They no longer ask about health and marital status; sick people and those with many children are being taken away,” he said.
In central Ukraine, multiple explosions rocked Bila Tserkva, a city about 80 kilometers (50 miles) south of the capital, Kyiv. Regional leader Oleksiy Kuleba said six Iranian-made Shahed-136 drones struck the city and set off fires at what he described as infrastructure facilities. One person was wounded.
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Hanna Arhirova reported from Kyiv, Ukraine.
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Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
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