Ukraine won’t give in to rhetoric on nuclear weapons: Foreign Minister Kuleba

Ukraine has requested an urgent U.N. Security Council meeting over the referendums, accusing Russia of violating the U.N. Charter by attempting to change Ukraine’s borders, foreign affairs ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said on Twitter.

Putin on Wednesday ordered the first mobilization since World War Two, sending some Russian men heading swiftly to borders, with traffic at frontier crossings with Finland and Georgia surging and prices for air tickets from Moscow rocketing.

More than 2,000 people have been detained across Russia for protesting the draft, including 798 people detained in 33 towns on Saturday, according to independent monitoring group OVD-Info.

Frustration has even spread to pro-Kremlin media, with one editor at the state-run RT news channel complaining that problems like call-up papers being sent to the wrong men were “infuriating people”.

When asked on Saturday why so many Russians were leaving the country, Lavrov pointed to the right of freedom of movement.