Four regions of Russian-occupied Ukraine have begun holding referendums, which have been condemned as illegitimate by Kyiv and are seen as paving the way for Moscow’s formal annexation of around 15% of Ukrainian territory.
Voting in Luhansk and Donetsk, self-proclaimed “independent republics” controlled by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014, as well as the southern provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhia will continue until September 27.
The voting process in the four regions would not be traditional, Russian news agency TASS reported.
“Given the short deadlines and the lack of technical equipment, it was decided not to organize electronic voting and to use traditional paper ballots,” he said.
Authorities will go door-to-door for the first four days to collect votes, and polling stations will not open until the last day for residents to vote.
Russian-installed leaders in the four regions abruptly announced the plans on Tuesday after a blitz counteroffensive by Ukraine recaptured swathes of territory in northeast Kharkiv that Russia had occupied after invading the country on February 24.
The results are seen as a fatality in favor of annexation, and Ukraine and its allies have already made it clear that they will not recognize the outcome.
A similar referendum, held in Crimea after the 2014 Russian invasion, found 97% in favor of formal annexation in a vote that took place under the close watch of Russian soldiers and went unrecognized. by the international community.
The votes are seen as a significant escalation in Ukraine’s seven-month war – in which thousands have been killed and millions displaced – as incorporation would allow Moscow to pretend it was defending its own territory.
“If all this is declared Russian territory, they can declare it a direct attack on Russia so that they can fight without any reservations,” Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai told TV. Ukrainian.
The referendums have been condemned by the United Nations and world leaders, including US President Joe Biden and French President Emmanuel Macron, as well as international bodies such as NATO, the European Union and the Organization for Security and cooperation in Europe (OSCE).
The OSCE, which monitors the elections, said the results would have no legal force because they do not comply with Ukrainian law or international standards and fighting continues in areas where voting is taking place.
“Everything is a fraud”
There will be no independent observers and polling stations in Zaporizhzhia will be under heavy surveillance, local officials told the RIA news agency.
Some residents continued to leave before the vote. Yulia, who fled Melitopol and preferred to share only her first name for fear of reprisals, traveled to Ukrainian-controlled Zaporizhzhia but left her parents behind.
She reportedly told Al Jazeera they were part of an older generation who were nostalgic for the Soviet Union, which collapsed more than 30 years ago and included Ukraine. Russia recognized Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders as part of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum.
“I kept my children at home,” she said, of life in the busy city. “At school, there was too much pressure on them. They would be punished if they spoke Ukrainian. I’m afraid I won’t be able to go home because after the referendum people will need special permits to enter and leave.
In the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk – the self-declared republics that Putin recognized as independent just before the invasion – residents will have to respond if they support “the entry of their republic into Russia”, according to TASS.
The question on the ballot papers in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will be worded differently: “Are you in favor of Ukraine’s secession, the region’s formation of an independent state and its joining the Russian Federation as what about the Russian Federation?
“This is all a sham. This is all a Putin-orchestrated charade,” Kurt Volker, who served as US special representative for negotiations with Ukraine from 2017 to 2019 and is now a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Al Jazeera. “I don’t think it will have an impact on the situation on the ground and will not change the Ukrainian determination to recover and retake territories. Nor will it harm the West’s determination to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.
Ukraine said the referendums were a sign of Russia’s weakness rather than strength.
Russia controls most of Lugansk and Kherson, about 80% of Zaporizhzhia and only 60% of Donetsk.
A day after the referendums were announced, Putin ordered a mobilization of reservists to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine and said he was ready to use nuclear weapons to repel any attack on Russian territory.
“Any decision the Russian leadership might take changes nothing for Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Thursday.
“What interests us are strictly the tasks ahead of us. This is the liberation of our country, the defense of our people and the mobilization of global support [public opinion] to carry out these tasks. »
