Russia poised to annex Ukraine regions after ‘sham’ referendum

Russia is poised to formally annex components of Ukraine after the Kremlin performed a “referendum” in 4 occupied areas to affix Moscow’s rule – a transfer decried by the Ukrainian authorities and the West.

Armed troops had gone door-to-door with election officers to gather ballots in 5 days of voting in Russian-occupied areas that make up about 15 p.c of Ukrainian territory.

Moscow-installed administrations within the 4 areas of southern and japanese Ukraine claimed on Tuesday night time that 93 p.c of the ballots forged within the Zaporizhia area supported annexation, as did 87 p.c within the Kherson area, 98 p.c within the Luhansk area and 99 p.c in Donetsk.

The suspiciously excessive margins in favour have been extensively characterised as a bogus land seize by an more and more cornered Russian management following current navy losses in Kharkiv in northern Ukraine.

“Forcing folks in these territories to fill out some papers on the barrel of a gun is one more Russian crime in the middle of its aggression towards Ukraine,” Ukraine’s overseas ministry mentioned, including that the balloting was “a propaganda present” and “null and nugatory”.

The ministry requested the European Union, NATO and the Group of Seven main industrial nations to “instantly and considerably” step up strain on Russia with new sanctions and by considerably growing their navy assist to Kyiv.

European Fee President Ursula von der Leyen urged the EU’s 27 member nations to agree on a brand new package deal of sanctions on Russian officers and commerce in response to the “sham referendums”. She labelled the ballots “an unlawful try to seize land and alter worldwide borders by power”.

Professional-Russia officers within the 4 areas mentioned they might ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to include their provinces into Russia on the premise of introduced vote outcomes. Separatist leaders Leonid Pasechnik in Luhansk and Denis Pushilin in Donetsk mentioned they have been leaving for Moscow to settle the annexation formalities.

Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Moscow, mentioned Putin was anticipated to “formally declare” the annexation of the 4 areas following these conferences and after Russia’s parliament has given its approval for such strikes. Experiences recommend this might happen earlier than the tip of this week.

‘Liberate our territory’

Western nations, nonetheless, dismissed the balloting as a meaningless pretence staged by Moscow in an try to legitimise its invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24.

The US ambassador to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, mentioned Washington would suggest a Safety Council decision to sentence the voting. The decision would urge member states to not recognise any altered standing of Ukraine and embody a requirement for Russia to withdraw its troops from its neighbour, she tweeted.

The Kremlin remained unmoved amid the hail of criticism. Spokesman Dmitry Peskov mentioned that, on the very least, Russia supposed to drive Ukrainian forces out of the Donetsk area, the place Moscow’s troops and separatist forces presently management about 60 p.c of the territory.

In an interview with The Related Press, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy mentioned Ukraine was decided to reclaim all of the territory that Russia has seized throughout seven months of conflict. On the identical time, presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak insisted that annexation by Russia would change nothing on the battlefield.

“We are going to liberate our territory by navy means,” Podolyak mentioned. “And for us, our actions rely not a lot on what the Russian Federation thinks or needs, however on the navy capabilities that Ukraine has.”

Russia is looking up 300,000 reservists to combat within the conflict and warned it might resort to nuclear weapons after this month’s counteroffensive by Ukraine dealt Moscow’s forces heavy battlefield setbacks. The partial mobilisation is deeply unpopular in some areas – triggering protests, scattered violence and Russians fleeing the nation by the tens of 1000’s.

In the meantime, three explosions have been heard, after which electrical energy reduce out in Ukraine’s second metropolis of Kharkiv, Reuters information company reported.

US officers mentioned Washington is getting ready a brand new $1.1bn weapons package deal for Ukraine that will likely be introduced quickly.

Europe can be investigating what Germany, Denmark and Sweden have mentioned have been assaults that triggered main leaks into the Baltic Sea from two Russian fuel pipelines on the centre of an power standoff. Officers didn’t say who they believed could also be accountable.