MOSCOW
\nRussian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote for him at a \u201cdifficult\u201d time for the country, hours before polls open and as Kyiv launched a barrage of deadly attacks on Russian border regions.
\nThe former KGB agent is set to extend his rule by another six years this weekend in a presidential election the Kremlin says will show that the country is fully behind his assault on Ukraine.
\nAhead of the vote, Kyiv has ramped up its aerial bombardment of Russian regions just across their shared border.
\nAt least two people were killed and nine wounded in the Russian region of Belgorod Thursday, and the Russian national guard said it was fighting off attacks from pro-Ukrainian militias in Kursk \u2014 the latest in a string of border clashes.
\n\u201cI am convinced: you realize what a difficult period our country is going through, what complex challenges we are facing in almost all areas,\u201d Putin said in an address to Russians on the eve of the vote.
\n\u201cAnd in order to continue to respond to them with dignity and successfully overcome difficulties, we need to continue to be united and self-confident,\u201d he added.
\nAll of Putin\u2019s major critics are dead, in prison or exile and authorities blocked the few genuine competitors who tried to stand in the March 15-17 contest.
\nAlexei Navalny, Putin\u2019s most high-profile opponent over the last decade, died February in an Arctic prison colony.
\nHe was serving 19 years for \u201cextremism\u201d \u2014 charges widely seen as retribution for his campaigning against the Kremlin leader.
\nKyiv has this week launched some of its most significant aerial attacks since the start of the two-year conflict.
\nThe governor of Russia\u2019s Belgorod region, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said Thursday one person had been killed in an overnight drone attack.
\nA second aerial attack killed another woman and injured several more, he said in a post on social media, without specifying what weapons had been deployed.
\nPro-Ukrainian paramilitaries also claimed to be escalating attacks and incursions in Russian border regions.
\nIn a joint statement Thursday, three pro-Kyiv volunteer groups \u2014 claiming to consist of Russians who oppose the Kremlin and have taken up arms for Ukraine \u2014 called on authorities to evacuate civilians from the regions of Belgorod and Kursk.
\n\u201cCivilians should not suffer from the war and any casualties in the process of fighting will be on the conscience of Starovoit and Gladkov,\u201d they added, referring to the regions\u2019 governors.
\nRussia has rejected the militias\u2019 claims to have gained ground.
\nThe national guard said Thursday its units had beaten back \u201can attack by enemy diversion groups near the village of Tyotkino in the Kursk region.\u201d
\nThe defense ministry said it had fended off another attack by Ukrainian forces trying to enter the Belgorod region via the village of Spodariushino, without saying when the clash had taken place.
\nIt published video showing a series of air strikes on what it said was a Ukrainian sabotage group.
\nThe fighting come just hours ahead of polls opening in Russia\u2019s Far East for the March 15-17 presidential election.
\nIn power as president or prime minister since the final day of 1999, Putin has ushered in a sweeping crackdown of domestic dissent and an aggressive foreign policy
\nVictory will allow him stay in the Kremlin until at least 2030, longer than any Russian leader since Catherine the Great in the 18th century.
\nHe called on Russians to use the election to show their unity behind his leadership.
\n\u201cWe have already shown that we can be together, defending the freedom, sovereignty and security of Russia,\u201d he said in a video message, flanked by flags of the Russian tricolor and the president\u2019s state insignia.
\n\u201cToday it is critically important not to stray from this path,\u201d he said.
\nEarly voting is already underway in occupied territories of Ukraine, and the vote will also take place in Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
\nKyiv says staging the election on Ukrainian territory is illegal.
\nIn the Ukrainian city of Mariupol \u2014 under the control of Russian forces \u2014 election officials on Thursday opened pop-up polling stations at small tables in the street and on the hoods of cars.
\nBanners were unfurled sporting a red, white and blue \u2018V\u2019 logo \u2014 an army symbol used as a sign of support for the military offensive.
\nUkraine\u2019s foreign ministry on Thursday dismissed the vote as a \u201cfarce\u201d and called on the international community not to recognize the results.
\nRussia\u2019s opposition has called for anti-Putin protests at midday on Sunday, the final day of voting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MOSCOW Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday urged Russians to vote for him at a \u201cdifficult\u201d time for the country, hours before polls open and as Kyiv launched a barrage of deadly attacks on Russian border regions. The former KGB agent is set to extend his rule by another six years this weekend in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":393879,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-393851","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n