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In Ukraine, they reacted with fury to the Kremlin’s announcement about the annexation of the four districts that were conquered in the war and passed “referendums” last week. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced this evening (Thursday) that an emergency discussion on the issue will be held tomorrow, with the participation of security officials and senior Ukrainian military officials.
President Zelensky’s senior advisor, Michaelo Podoliak, harshly attacked the Russian government for the ceremony planned to take place tomorrow to confirm the annexation, and claimed that it was a “Kremlin circus”. “The announced ‘ceremony’ makes no sense from a legal point of view. Entities that do not exist cannot be annexed to a disintegrating state,” he said, referring to the separatist regions of Donetsk and Luhansk that have declared independence from Ukraine.
He also addressed the public and read: “Don’t waste time on an imaginary Russian agenda. Real life will be more interesting: a counterattack, the lifting of the occupation and prosecution.”
As mentioned, the Kremlin officially announced today that the four occupied districts in Ukraine will be annexed this coming Friday, after they passed “referendums” this week and asked to join Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that President Vladimir Putin will participate in a special ceremony tomorrow in which the districts will be officially annexed.
In Moscow they claimed that over 96% of the residents of the districts where the referendums were held – Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – voted in favor of joining Russia. Despite this, the West made it clear that they would not recognize the results of the referendums and the annexation to Russia, as they said the referendums were held in an undemocratic manner and their results were known in advance.
In Israel, too, they announced in no uncertain terms that they do not accept the results of the referendum. The Israeli statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated: “Israel recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and will not recognize the results of the referendums in the eastern regions of Ukraine.”
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