Ukrainian Prez Zelensky urges world to condemn Russia’s ‘pseudo-referendums’ in annexed territories
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Friday urged the world to condemn “pseudo-referendums” as Kremlin proxies began voting on annexation by Russia in Moscow-held areas of Ukraine.
“The world will react absolutely justly to pseudo-referendums — they will be unequivocally condemned,” Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
Four provinces in Ukraine that are fully or partially controlled by Russia — Donetsk and Lugansk in the east as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in the south — are holding votes on whether to be annexed by Moscow.
In Donetsk and Lugansk — which Putin recognised as independent just before invading Ukraine in February — residents are answering if they support their “republic’s entry into Russia”, TASS reported.
Ballots in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia ask the question: “Are you in favour of secession from Ukraine, formation of an independent state by the region and its joining the Russian Federation as a subject of the Russian Federation?”
Western nations dismissed the referendums in Kremlin-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine, as Ukrainian and UN officials revealed what they said was more evidence of Russian “war crimes”.
The voting, on whether Russia should annex these parts of Ukraine into its own territory, opened on Friday, dramatically raising the stakes of Moscow’s seven-month invasion.
Even as polling got under way however, Ukrainian forces said they were clawing back territory from the Moscow-backed separatists in the very lands Russia wants to assimilate.
US President Joe Biden vowed “swift and severe” costs if Russia followed through and annexed the regions.
Even China, Russia’s closest ally since the war began, acknowledged to Kyiv that the “sovereignty and territorial integrity of all countries must be respected”.
Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi made the comments to his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba at the UN General Assembly on Friday.