russia. we will look at how the vote could have a real impact on the war. canadians now are preparing for what could be the strongest storm ever to hit the eastern coast of nova scotia. we are tracking hurricane fiona at the cnn weather center. plus. walking out on court. having the chance to play with the likes of raf or novak in the past has been an amazing experience for me. tennis great roger federer gets ready to say good-bye to the sport. we have a look at the final match today. it s 10:00 a.m. across ukraine where occupied parts of the country are voting today on whether to become a part of russia. ukraine and the west call the referendums a sham. but, the votes could result in russia annexing about 15% of ukraine s territory already controlled by russian armed forces. vladimir putin s mobilization of 300,000 russians to join the fight is already underway across the country. video from social media shows families in the country s far east saying tearful good-byes
hello and welcome. friday, september 23rd. 9 a.m. here in london. 11 a.m. in ukraine. voting begins today in the four occupied regions on whether to become a part of the russian federation. the areas make up about 50% of ukraine s territory. if they join russia many believe that will provide vladimir putin the pretexts to claim russian territory is under attack and escalate the war. it s prompting people to flee the country in all directions. a long line of cars backed up at russia s border with finland. the government in helsinki is thinking of new restrictions to keep russians from entering. they re crossing into armenia and turkey. according to one witness, traffic at one checkpoint stretched 5 to 6 kilometers. it was a similar scene along the border with kazakhstan. trucks lined up as far as the eye could see. ticket prices are soaring for flights out of moscow. most of which is sold out for the next few days. the kremlin calls reports exaggeration and fake news. the mobi
sparked protests across russia leading to more than 130 0 arrests. we ve seen the emotional farewells. look at this, russian men leaving behind families to board buses for military service. others trying to get out of the country altogether. in this video long lines of traffic are growing as men seemingly are trying to escape the war. the demand for flights out of moscow is spiking dramatically. tickets to countries where russians don t need a visa are sold out. and on google trends the term leaving russia saw a spike in searches over the past 24 hours. according to a ticket agri gaiter one way tickets out of moscow to istanbul start at $2,000 a ticket. before putin s announcement, the tickets cost about $350. let s bring in ben wedeman live for us in kharkiv, ukraine. you re in the region where the gains by the ukrainians seem to have prompted this new phase by vladimir putin, ben. reporter: ye and you know, as these referendums go ahead. yesterday we were in areas occup
you re in the region where the gains by the ukrainians seem to have prompted this new phase by vladimir putin, ben. reporter: ye and you know, as these referendums go ahead. yesterday we were in areas occupied by russian forces and i can tell you in those areas you would be hard pressed to find anybody who wants to live under moscow s thumb. antoli is trying to make his demolished house a home again one nail at a time. but without a roof, plastic sheeting on the windows won t make much of a difference. this is all they could salvage. he was overwhelmed by what he and his wife found when they returned to their village. what can i say, he asks, you can see for yourself. his wife was born in this house 53 years ago. her reaction pain, she says,
spiral that leads to nuclear changes and at that point, the whole world loses so i don t see how using tactical nuclear weapons achieves anything beyond ensuring the certainty of the destruction of russia and certainly bringing down the putin regime. yeah, well let s hope certainly that doesn t happen. really appreciate your analysis. thanks so much for joining us. thank you. now, some ukrainians are returning home to find many homes are simply gone. they are coming back to the newly liberated areas in the east which have been under russian control for months. many people are finding out there is not much let to come back to. he is trying to make his demolished house a home again one nail at a time. but without a roof, plastic sheeting on the windows will not make much of a difference.