Eastern Ukraine will be annexed to Russia? The media in Russia reported this evening (Tuesday) that the referendum in the Donbas region, regarding the annexation of the region to the territory of the Russian Federation, will be held on September 26 and 27.
Earlier, the leader of the People’s Republic of Donetsk Oblast, Denis Pushilin, asked Russian President Putin to join the Russian Federation after the referendum takes place, as Luhansk Oblast in eastern Ukraine also announced a referendum. Most likely, the referendum will be held in both districts this weekend. This was reported by the Russian news agency RIA.
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“In the event of a positive response following the referendum, I ask you to consider the issue of joining the Donetsk People’s Republic to the Russian Federation this week. Its people have always considered Russia their homeland,” wrote the leader of the Donetsk region in his letter.
Also, the head of the regional government in the city of Kherson supported by Russia, Vladimir Saldo, announced that a referendum on the region’s accession to Russia will be held between this weekend and the middle of next week.
“As the head of the administration of the Kherson region, I signed a decree on the referendum on the region’s entry into the Russian Federation as the full responsibility of the city,” Saldo noted, “I am sure that the integration of the Kherson region into the Russian Federation will secure our territory and restore historical justice. This is a necessary decision in the context of actions Ongoing terrorism by Ukrainian militants”.
In Russia, they welcomed the moves by the regions in eastern Ukraine, and Foreign Minister Lavrov claimed that “the people of those territories should decide their own fate. The current situation shows that the citizens of the Donbas region want to be masters of their own destiny.”
Volodymyr Zelensky (Photo: REUTERS/Gleb Garanich)On the other hand, the office of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky responded to the sudden announcements about referendums and stated: “This is naive extortion with threats and horror stories of a ‘referendum’, this is how the fear of defeat appears. The enemy is afraid and carries out primitive manipulations. We will solve the Russian issue, we can eliminate the The only threat is force.”
Senior officials in the American administration also addressed the issue and warned that officials in Moscow may use this type of strategy to “falsely claim that part of the Ukrainian people want to join Russia.”