The heads of the Russian-appointed regions have called on President Vladimir Putin to annex Ukraine’s Luhansk and Kochan regions.
The regional leaders made the call after it was reported that a majority of the population supported joining Russia in a referendum held in the region – declared illegal by the West.
In this regard, the head of the Luhansk regional administration, Leonid Pasheshnik, said in a Telegram post:
In a referendum held in the Luhansk region, a majority expressed their desire to join Russia. Therefore, Russian President Vladimir Putin should annex this region to his country.
Basheshnik said in his post that President Putin should take this step to prevent the massacre of the people of Luhansk region by the Ukrainian army.
Head of Kozan regional administration, Vladimir Zalto, expressed the same opinion on social media and requested Vladimir Putin to join his region with Russia.
The leaders of the two other Russian-occupied Ukrainian territories where referendums were held are expected to make similar demands soon.
In 2014, Western supporters engaged in intense protests against President Viktor Yanukovych, who ruled Ukraine. After that, his regime was overthrown.
Following that, the Klachik forces, with the help of Russia, captured large parts of Luhansk and Donetsk provinces in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. At the same time, Russia also invaded the Crimea region of Ukraine and annexed the peninsula.
Ahead of the merger, a referendum was held to seek public opinion on the matter. It was ignored by the Ukrainian supporters who left the area. However, the majority of voters in the referendum expressed their desire to join Russia.
Based on that, Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula. However, the United States and the West rejected the annexation of Crimea, calling the referendum a sham.
In this context, Russia invaded that country on February 24 last year, protesting Ukraine’s joining NATO.
As part of that, Russian troops are fighting and advancing in Donetsk and Luhansk provinces to capture areas still held by government forces.
In addition, Russian forces have also captured areas in between to establish a land link between the Crimea peninsula and the Donbass region.
In this situation, the referendum on joining Russia started last Friday and ended on Tuesday in the Ukrainian regions under the control of that country such as Luhansk, Khozan, Zaporizhia and Donetsk.
‘Willingness to connect with Russia?’ Western countries have speculated that the referendum, which is to be answered with a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, will be in favor of Russia.
Similarly, Russian officials said that 97 percent had voted for war, expressing a desire to join Russia.
In this context, regional leaders appointed by that country have called for their regions to join Russia.
Already, this call has caused a sensation as the British intelligence department has expressed fear that Putin will announce the annexation of Ukraine to Russia in his speech to be delivered in the Parliament on Friday (September 30).