start of annexation “referendums”, the UN confirms “war crimes”

by time news

► Beginning of annexation “referendums” by Russia

Russian annexation “referendums” began on Friday (September 23rd) in areas of Ukraine wholly or partly controlled by Moscow. Votes qualified as “simulacra” by kyiv and the West, and which mark an escalation of the conflict.

These votes, which began at 7 a.m. (French time), must be held until September 27 in the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk (East) and in areas under Russian occupation in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia (South ), in full invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.

The elections, announced at the start of the week and organized in haste, were strongly denounced by the Ukrainian government and its Western supporters, who accuse Russia of taking control of whole swathes of territory, like the peninsula of Crimea (South) in 2014. If the result of these referendums is not in doubt, they announce in any case an escalation of the conflict, Moscow going so far as to agitate the threat of nuclear strikes to defend what Russia considers to be « son » territory.

“The holding of this referendum is a historic step (…) We’re going home ! », said the leader of the pro-Russian separatist region of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, in a video posted Friday morning on Telegram.

As the fighting continues to rage, the Donetsk separatists electoral body has reported that, “for security reasons”, the vote would be organized mainly door-to-door for four days, the polling stations only opening “only the last day”, i.e. September 27. Several polling stations have also opened in Russia to allow the voting of “refugees” who fled the fighting, according to Russian news agencies.

► “War crimes have been committed” in Ukraine, according to UN investigators

The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said on Friday that “War crimes have been committed” in the country since the Russian invasion last February.

“Based on the evidence collected by the commission, it concluded that war crimes were committed in Ukraine”said the chairman of the commission, Erik Mose, during an initial report which listed Russian bombings of civilian areas, numerous executions, torture and ill-treatment and sexual violence.

► Volodymyr Zelensky calls on the Russians to “protest” against the mobilization

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday (September 22) urged the Russians to « protester » against the mobilization on the Ukrainian front announced by the Kremlin or ” surrender “ to the Kyiv forces. “55,000 Russian soldiers were killed in this war in six months (…). Want more? Nope ? So protest! Fight! Run away ! Or meet » to the Ukrainian army, he launched in Russian in his daily video message.

“You are already accomplices in all the crimes (of the Russian army), murders and tortures of which the Ukrainians are victims. Because you are silent. Because you are always silent, again accused the Ukrainian head of state, saying that the Russian authorities were preparing to mobilize “up to a million men”.

“It’s time for you to choose. For men in Russia, it is the choice to die or live, to become disabled or to preserve one’s health. For women in Russia, the choice is to lose their husbands, sons, grandsons forever or try to protect them anyway from death, from war, from the only man.”.

More than 1,300 people were arrested on Wednesday across Russia during improvised anti-mobilization demonstrations, according to the NGO OVD-Info.

► Russia on the bench of the accused in the Security Council

Foreign ministers of the UN Security Council on Thursday demanded accountability from Vladimir Putin’s Russia for its invasion. Convened by the French presidency of the Security Council, the meeting focused on the situation in Ukraine and the“impunity” crimes committed since the invasion of the country by Russia last February.

“There is no peace without justice”, French Minister Catherine Colonna said, noting that officials should ” answer “ of their crimes. “We can’t let President Putin get away with it,” reiterated US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, deeming it essential that“no country can redraw the borders of another country by force”.

Present in the room for his speech, slipping away when listening to his counterparts, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov rejected Western accusations and denounced “impunity” of Kiev. “There is an attempt today to impose on us a completely different narrative speaking of Russian aggression as the cause of this tragedy,” he pleaded, accusing Ukraine of “russophobia” and to be a “Nazi totalitarian state”.

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