Today, Wednesday, the pro-Russian governor of Lugansk asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to formally annex the region, and the governor of Khersonsk formally asked the Russian president to annex the region to Russia.
“Dear Vladimir Vladimirovich … I ask you to consider the issue of the accession of the Lugansk People’s Republic to Russia as a member of the Russian Federation,” said pro-Russian separatist leader Leonid Pasichnik in a text published in ” Telegram “, and sent a similar message to Vladimir Saldo, who leads the administration of the occupation. In Kherson, in occupied southern Ukraine.
As the United States intends to pass a UN resolution condemning Russia’s referendums to annex Ukrainian lands, the Donetsk authorities have announced The final result of the citizens’ referendum for accession to Russia, before today. The correspondent of Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath said that the result recorded 99.23% of the votes of the electorate who wants to enter the Russian Federation.
As for the other provinces, according to our correspondent, the province of Lugansk registered 98.42% of the votes wanting to enter Russia, while the province of Zaporizhia registered 93.1%, while the province of Kherson has registered 87.5% of the votes who want to enter Russia.
US officials said on Tuesday that Washington was also preparing a new round of sanctions against Russia in the event of … annexation of the Ukrainian territoryAdd to A $ 1.1 billion weapons package For Kiev it will be announced soon.
The hastily organized vote took place over five days in the four regions of Donetsk and Luhansk in the east and Zaporizhia and Kherson in the south, which together make up about 15 percent of Ukrainian territory.
For its part, Ukraine said that Moscow’s vote in four Ukrainian regions on joining Russia was “null and void” and that Kiev would continue its efforts to liberate its lands occupied by Russian forces. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry urged its international partners to impose new severe sanctions on Moscow and provide more military aid to Kiev: “Ukraine will never accept any ultimatum,” the ministry said in a statement.
On the other hand, the president of the Council of the Russian Federation (the upper house of parliament) said that the Council could discuss The annexation of these areas on 4 October.
“The results are clear. Welcome home to Russia!” Dmitry Medvedev, the country’s former president and now deputy head of the National Security Council, said on Telegram.
“This farce in the occupied territories cannot even be described as a simulation of a referendum,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video speech Tuesday.
United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas Greenfield, said at a Security Council meeting that her country It will introduce a Council resolution urging member states not to recognize Any change in the situation in Ukraine and forcing Moscow to withdraw its forces.
Russia can veto any Security Council resolution, but the US envoy said this would prompt Washington to refer the matter to the UN General Assembly.
The Russian ambassador to the organization, Vasily Nebenzia, said during the meeting that the referendums were conducted transparently and in line with electoral standards.
And if Russia annexed the four Ukrainian regions, Putin could portray any Ukrainian attempt to take them back as an attack on Russia itself.
Putin said last week that he is ready to use nuclear weapons to defend his country’s “territorial integrity”.
But Mikhailo Podolak, Zelensky’s adviser, said Kiev would not be affected by the nuclear threats or the annexation referendum and would continue his plan to reclaim all of its territory occupied by invading Russian forces.
He added that the Ukrainians who helped organize the referendums would be charged with treason and a prison sentence of at least five years. Ukrainians forced to vote will not be punished.
None of the four regions where the referendums took place are entirely under Moscow control, and Ukrainian forces have announced further progress following the defeat of Russian forces in the Kharkiv region this month.
Zelensky described the Donetsk region in the east as still a strategic priority for his country and also for Russia, pointing to fierce battles in many cities.
The Ukrainian army general staff said Tuesday that Russian forces bombed seven cities in Donetsk.
The army said 20 cities in the Zaporizhia region in south-central Ukraine and 35 towns and villages in the Kherson region in the south were also bombed.
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