Russian proxy forces in Donbas announce first ‘results’ of sham referendums
Sham referendum in Kherson Oblast (Photo:REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko)
Russian proxy forces in the Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine’s Donbas have announced the first “results” of the Kremlin’s sham annexation referendums, Russian propaganda media outlets reported on Sept. 27.
The Russian invaders claimed to have processed 12% of the “protocols” in Luhansk Oblast, according to which almost 98% of the local population voted for the region’s “accession” to Russia.
The situation is the same in the occupied territories of Donetsk Oblast, with 98% allegedly supporting “joining” Russia.
The propagandists also reported on the “results” of the sham referendum in Kherson Oblast, where 97% of the local population allegedly voted “for.”
Apart from the results being entirely fictitious, they are entirely impossible, as large sections of the populations of the “voting” oblasts are not currently residing there, having evacuated to government-controlled parts of Ukraine either after the initial Russian invasion in 2014, or in 2022.
Russia started holding sham referendums in the occupied parts of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhya, and Kherson oblasts on Sept. 23 to create an allegedly legal pretext for their annexation. At the same time, the Russian army does not fully control any of these oblasts.
Ukraine and the vast majority of Western countries have declared that the results of pseudo-referendums will not be recognized. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy also noted that the holding of a “vote” and the proclaimed annexation of Ukrainian territories would not affect the process of their liberation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
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