The pro-Russian separatist territories of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the Donbas region (eastern Ukraine) as well as the Kherson (south) and Zaporizhia (southeast) regions, all occupied by the Russian Army, announced these votes, a few days before the country enters its eighth month of war and while all these areas are the scene of combat and bombing.
“These referendums are an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity that underpin the international system,” said White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan. “The United States will never recognize Russia’s claims to any allegedly annexed part of Ukraine,” he added.
Meanwhile, the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, rejected that such “fictitious referendums” are “acceptable”. Meanwhile, NATO considered that the consultations represent an “additional escalation” of the conflict.
These referendums, based on the model that confirmed Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014 – denounced by the international community – have been in preparation for several months, but their schedule seems to have been accelerated by the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which forced the army Russian to withdraw in the northeast of the country.
Meanwhile, preparations for an all-out war are accelerating in Moscow.
The Duma –Lower House of Parliament– approved in record time amendments that facilitate the general mobilization of the population and the state of war. These legal changes, aimed at forcing soldiers and, if necessary, other sectors of the population, to march to the front, come at a time of unprecedented criticism from the most hardline sectors of Vladimir Putin’s military strategy.
On the other hand, the Russian president ordered the military industry to “increase the production capacity of various companies and, when necessary, modernize them” in pursuit of the war effort.
Initiative
It was the head of the self-proclaimed parliament of Luhansk, Denis Miroshnichenko, who first announced that the popular consultation would be held, over four days from Friday.
Shortly after, the official Donetsk press agency announced an identical schedule, which was followed by the head of the Kherson occupation administration, Vladimir Saldo, and a pro-Russian official from the Zaporizhia region.
“Ukraine is going to solve the Russian question. The threat can only be liquidated by force,” the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andri Yermak, wrote on Telegram, denouncing “blackmail” by Moscow motivated by “fear of defeat.”
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba assured that kyiv will “continue to liberate its territories, whatever Russia says.”
These announcements come after Russia has suffered severe military setbacks since the beginning of the month. She had to withdraw from Kharkov, in northeastern Ukraine, after an advance by troops from kyiv, who benefit from Western supplies of weapons and military equipment. The Ukrainian army has also launched a counter-offensive in the Kherson region, which is less impressive but is making progress. And it also attacks in the Lugansk region, which Russia fully conquered in the boreal spring, after bloody fighting.
About twenty kilometers from Siversk, Ukrainian artillery shelled Russian positions.
“We shoot all night, we’re going out to reload [municiones] and come back later”, explained one of the artillerymen.
goad
Former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev and current number two of the Russian Security Council, urged yesterday to hold referendums on the annexation of the Lugansk and Donetsk regions as quickly as possible.
The referendums in Donbas “are of great importance to restore historical justice,” Medvedev said on Telegram. The Kremlin regards Ukraine as historically Russian.
“Violating Russian territory is a crime and if it is committed, it allows the use of all legitimate defense forces,” he warned.
For the independent Russian analyst Tatiana Stanovaya, “Putin is going to hold these referendums to have the right to use the atomic weapon to defend Russian territory.”
Putin has already recognized the independence of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, shortly before launching his offensive in Ukraine on February 24. These regions were already under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014, but their integration into Russia would clearly escalate the ongoing conflict.
Source: Ambito
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