UKRAINIAN forces continued to advance in the Kherson area today — even as Russia’s Duma formally annexed it alongside three other conquered territories.

Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov admitted that “with superior tank units in the direction of Zolataya Balka, the enemy managed to penetrate the depths of our defence.

“Russian troops have occupied a prepared defensive line and continue to inflict massive fire damage,” he added.

The lower house of the Duma voted to incorporate two regions which split from Ukraine in 2014 — Donetsk and Lugansk — and two that have been the site of fierce fighting since this year’s invasion, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia — today, with the Senate expected to follow suit on Tuesday. The votes follow referendums staged in the territories by the Russian military.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Pskov suggested Moscow was still open to dialogue on the exact borders of the latter two regions, saying “we will continue to discuss that with the residents of those regions.” The gesture could be an olive branch to Ukraine or a way to allow it to back down if it is unable to secure control of them — both remain front-line warzones.

Ukraine insists it will not surrender any of the territories, and responded to the referendums by signing application papers to join Nato. 

A commitment to Ukraine remaining outside Nato was one of Russia’s original war demands, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appeared ready to accept in the early weeks of the war.

Sweden has sent a vessel with divers to investigate ruptured Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic. Russia and the United States have accused each other of sabotaging the Russia-to-Germany pipes.