Authorities in the occupied territories of Ukraine are looking to expedite so-called referendums on joining Russia as Ukrainian troops continue to offer fierce resistance to Moscow’s unprovoked invasion.
Russian news agencies reported on September 20 that the so-called public council in Ukraine’s Kherson region, large parts of which have been under Moscow’s military control since March, urged the occupying authorities to “immediately” hold a referendum on joining the Russian Federation.
Moscow had been moving ahead with plans to stage such referendums in the occupied regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhya.
The day before, groups calling themselves public councils also urged the Kremlin-backed separatists who have controlled parts of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014 to hold referendums on joining Russia.
Russia has officially recognized the separatist-controlled territories that are called by Moscow and the separatists in those regions as independent states just days before launching its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February.
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who is currently the deputy chief of Russia’s Security Council, wrote on Telegram on September 20 that the referendums on Ukraine’s occupied territories were “important” to “reinstate historic justice.”
“After [the referendums] are conducted and the new territories become part of Russia, the geopolitical transformation in the world will take on an irreversible character,” Medvedev wrote, adding that attempts to encroach on Russia’s territory are a crime and Russia could use “all means of self-defense” after the Ukrainian territories become part of Russia.
Last week, media reports quoted sources as saying that Moscow had decided to delay holding referendums in the occupied regions on annexation by Russia.
While Moscow has not announced a clear date for the referendums, Andrei Turchak, a member of ruling United Russia party, recommended holding them on November 4 to coincide with the Russian Day of National Unity.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive in the northeast and southeast earlier this month, driving Russian forces from most of the Kharkiv region while also regaining territory in Donetsk and Kherson.
Kyiv and its Western allies have said they will not recognize any referendums in the Russian-occupied regions.
