Voting Ending in 'Sham' Annexation Polls in Four Ukrainian Regions 
US says Russia will face ‘swift and severe economic costs’ if annexation goes forward 
Voting is set to close Tuesday in annexation polls organized by Russia-installed authorities in four parts of Ukraine as the Ukrainian government and its western allies reject the polls as a sham. “We stand with our partners around the world in rejecting whatever fabricated outcomes Russia announces,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters Monday. “As far as what we are doing, we are prepared to impose additional swift and severe economic costs on Russia, along with our allies and partners, in response to these actions that we’re seeing currently if they move forward with annexation,” Jean-Pierre said. “We’ve been very clear about that.” The voting began Friday in the Russian-controlled Luhansk and Kherson regions, and in occupied areas of the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions. In some instances, Russian soldiers have been going door to door to order Ukrainians at gunpoint to vote. Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council and the country’s former president, said Tuesday that if Russia is threatened above a certain limit, it has the right to respond “without asking anyone’s consent and holding long consultations.” “Let’s imagine that Russia is forced to use the most powerful weapon against the Ukrainian regime that has committed a large-scale act of aggression, which is dangerous for the very existence of our state,” Medvedev wrote on his messaging app channel. “I believe that NATO will steer clear from direct meddling in the conflict in that case.” U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News’s ’60 Minutes’ show in an interview broadcast late Sunday that the United States has made it clear publicly and privately to Russia to “stop the loose talk about nuclear weapons.” “It’s very important that Moscow hear from us, and know from us that the consequences would be horrific, and we’ve made that very clear,” Blinken said. A U.S. State Department official said Putin gave the United States and its allies a gift last week by engaging in nuclear saber-rattling, calling for the troop mobilization and announcing the referenda while the U.S. was at the United Nations “talking about sovereignty and international peace and security.” The official said Russia “couldn’t have timed it better to put a spotlight on the grave offenses that Russia is committing to Ukraine and the international order.” At a commemoration of the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons in New York, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said Monday that nuclear weapons do not offer security, just “carnage and chaos” and said eliminating them would be the greatest gift humanity could offer future generations. “Let me be clear: the era of nuclear blackmail must end,” Guterres said. “The idea that any country could fight and win a nuclear war is deranged. Any use of a nuclear weapon would incite a humanitarian Armageddon. We need to step back.” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported heavy fighting in several areas of Ukraine as he gave his nightly address Monday. “The situation is particularly intense in the Donetsk region,” he said. “We are doing everything to curb the enemy activity. That is where our number one goal is right now, as Donbas is still the number one goal for the occupiers.” Zelenskyy called Russia’s mobilization of 300,000 reservists “a sincere attempt to give commanders on the ground a constant stream of cannon fodder.” Widespread protests against Putin’s troop call-up have erupted in Russia, with police arresting hundreds of demonstrators participating in street protests in Moscow and elsewhere. In Russia’s Siberia region Monday, a 25-year-old man shot a military commandant at an enlistment center, the local governor said. Many men opposed to Putin’s war or fearful of being killed on the battlefield have abruptly fled Russia on flights to other countries, while others have joined long queues of cars on land routes headed to the Russian borders with Finland, Georgia and other countries.