Last week, Russia began holding “referendums” in the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine, and in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia, with the aim of annexing them.
“We are ready to quickly impose severe economic sanctions on Russia, along with our allies, if Moscow moves forward with annexing the territories,” spokeswoman Karin Jean-Pierre said. “We have clearly announced, and our allies have also done so, that the ‘referendums’ are not legitimate.” According to her, the US and its allies will never recognize territories that will be annexed to Russia.
According to a BBC publication, based on reports in Ukraine, armed Russian soldiers are going door to door in the occupied territories, “collecting” votes; “You have to answer the soldiers, and they mark the answer on the page,” a woman who lives in the city of Enrhoder told the BBC. In Bharson, Russian armed men stand near a polling station set up in the center of the city, to collect votes.
A resident of Melitopol told the BBC that two local collaborators came to her parents’ house with two Russian soldiers, and presented them with a document to sign; “My father answered ‘no’ (meaning he opposed the annexation to Russia), my mother stood nearby and asked what would happen to those who answered like that, and they answered her ‘nothing’. However, now she is afraid that the Russians will pursue them.” According to her, each household is given one ballot – even if it includes several people.
The fact that armed soldiers are participating in the procedure – contradicts Moscow’s claim that it is a “free referendum”.
The annexation of the territories to Russia will not be recognized by the international community, but it will allow Moscow to claim that territories belonging to it are under attack by Ukrainian forces using Western weapons – something that may lead to an escalation in the war.
In the meantime, Ukraine announced the downgrading of diplomatic relations with Iran due to a decision to supply Russia with suicide drones. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that his army shot down a total of eight Iranian-made drones, and defined Tehran’s move as “collaboration with evil.” The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that “in response to this unfriendly step, we decided to revoke the charter from the Iranian ambassador, and to reduce the size of the diplomatic staff at the Iranian embassy in Kiev.”