Russia claims win in Ukraine referendums, paving way for annexation
- Unprecedented annexation of four Ukraine territories likely to begin in coming days
- It follows so-called referendums that Kyiv and allies have denounced as illegitimate
Russian-installed officials in occupied regions of Ukraine said on Wednesday they would ask President Vladimir Putin to incorporate them into Russia, a day after claiming that their residents overwhelmingly supported such a move in Kremlin-orchestrated votes widely viewed as illegitimate.
The preordained outcome sets the stage for a dangerous new phase in Russia’s seven-month war, with the Kremlin threatening to throw more troops into the battle and potentially use nuclear weapons.
The referendums asking residents whether they wanted the four occupied southern and eastern Ukraine regions to be incorporated into Russia began September 23, often with armed officials going door-to-door collecting votes.
Pro-Moscow officials in the eastern Luhansk region and the partially occupied southern region of Zaporizhzhia said they would make the request on Wednesday. The Russian-backed administration of the neighbouring occupied Kherson region said such a request to Putin will be made “in the coming days”.
Kyiv and its Western allies dismissed the votes as sham. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, speaking by video link Tuesday to the UN Security Council, said that “any annexation in the modern world is a crime, a crime against all states that consider the inviolability of border to be vital for themselves”.
Separatist officials in the Donetsk region, large swaths of which still remain under Ukrainian control, are also expected to follow suit.
