The Russian president also issued a decree to restrict movement in and out of Russian regions adjoining Ukraine, according to a report.
He announced the measures, designed to shore up his invasion of Ukraine, in televised remarks to members of Russia’s Security Council, the Reuters news agency reported.
Martial law in Russian-occupied Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson
Officials said martial law was being introduced in the four Ukrainian regions--Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson--which the Kremlin declared as new territories of Russia on September 30.
In addition, Putin decreed the creation of a special coordinating council under Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin to step up the faltering war effort, Polish state news agency PAP said.
Curfews, travel restrictions, bans on labour strikes
According to Kevin Rothrock, a journalist from the independent Russian outlet Meduza, the introduction of martial law entails “curfews, travel and residence restrictions, military censorship, more data hidden as classified, limits on and seizures of weapons and drugs, bans on labour strikes, forced defence labour,” among other measures.
Putin’s decree also foresees the creation of Russian territorial defence units in the four occupied Ukrainian provinces, the PAP news agency reported.
Restrictions on movement in Russian regions neighbouring Ukraine
Meanwhile, the Russian president also issued a decree restricting movement in and out of eight regions adjoining Ukraine, according to Reuters.
The decree places these provinces under "economic mobilisation," in a special regime one step below martial law, reporters were told.
The measures apply to Russia’s southern regions of Krasnodar, Belgorod, Bryansk, Voronezh, Kursk and Rostov, all of which lie near Ukraine, and the territories of Crimea and Sevastopol, which Russia captured from Ukraine in 2014, Reuters also reported.
Russia to evacuate Kherson City ahead of Ukrainian offensive
Putin’s latest moves come after the Russian-installed leader of Ukraine’s occupied southern Kherson region earlier this week announced “organised evacuation of the civilian population” from parts of the province, the PAP news agency reported.
The official, Vladimir Saldo, said evacuation of civilians was necessary because “the Ukrainian side is building up forces for a large-scale offensive" on Kherson City, according to Reuters.
Putin’s martial law ‘does not change anything for Ukraine’: Podolyak
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the office of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in a tweet: “‘Martial law’ implementation on the occupied territories by RF should be considered only as a pseudo-legalization of looting of Ukrainians’ property by another ‘regrouping.’”
Podolyak added: “This does not change anything for Ukraine: we continue the liberation and deoccupation of our territories.”
Meanwhile, Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of the National Security and Defence Council of Ukraine, warned in a Twitter post: “Putin's martial law in the annexed regions of Ukraine is in preparation for the mass deportation of the Ukrainian population to depressed areas of Russia in order to change the ethnic composition of the occupied territory.”
He added: “A crime that should be condemned by the UN and that was already committed by Russia in Crimea and remains unpunished," the Ukrainska Pravda website reported.
Wednesday was day 238 of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
(pm/gs)
Source: PAP, Reuters, apnews.com, meduza.io, pravda.com.ua