The express referendums called by the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk (DPR) and Luhansk (PLR), as well as the pro-Russian authorities of Kherson and Zaporizhia have begun this Friday in the first step so that these four Ukrainian territories can be annexed soon by Russia. .
The votes, rejected by the Government of Ukraine and by the West as a "farce" to comply with the Kremlin's plans for its neighboring country, will last five days: from this same Friday, September 23, to Tuesday, the 27th.
Alleging security reasons, during the first four days, citizens can vote at their homes and in places specially enabled for it. Only in the last one will the usual polling stations open," Galina Katyushchenko, head of the electoral commission of the Zaporizhia region, told Interfax. The same system will be used in the other regions.
The pro-Russian chiefs of these territories announced the organization of these race votes earlier this week, September 19-20.
The DPR and the RPL, in eastern Ukraine, declared themselves independent in 2014 but Russia only recognized them as sovereign states last February, a few days after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the start of the " special military operation" and began the largest armed conflict in Europe since the Second World War.
The authorities of these entities will ask the voters if they support entry into Russia. In the Kherson and Zaporizhia regions in the south, the ballot paper will also contain the question of whether the formation of an independent state in these regions, in the style of the first two, is supported.
The decision they intend to take affects the entire territory of the Ukrainian province, although by far the Russian troops control everything. The Russian authorities in Zaporizhia also intend to declare the independence of the entire region, including the capital (of the same name), which remains under Ukrainian control.
Russian and pro-Russian troops control Luhansk province almost entirely, but after the counteroffensive that this month dislodged the Russians from Kharkiv, and depending on the Ukrainian push, they could retreat. On Monday, Ukraine announced that its troops had recovered several towns in Luhansk, including Bilohórivka, just 6 kilometers from Lisichansk, the last city that the Russians took last July, when they considered the entire region fully controlled.
After seven months of military intervention, Moscow has not been able to overcome the Ukrainian resistance in Donetsk and they control only 55%.
In Kherson most of the territory is in Russian hands, but the Ukrainian army still has a presence. And in Zaporizhia, more than half are controlled by the Russians, somewhat less by the Ukrainians.
On Wednesday, September 21, one day after the announcement of the referendums, Putin decreed a partial military mobilization to recruit and incorporate 300,000 reservists into his Ukrainian campaign. Recruitment centers began summoning future soldiers on Wednesday, and in the days since, images of young men on their way to training centers before their final destination, in most cases the war front in Ukraine, have been released. .
In his message to the nation broadcast on television, Putin assured that he will support the result of the referendums.
After the votes, the pro-Russian leaders of these territories will formally ask Moscow to join the Russian Federation. The Kremlin could accelerate the process, just as it did in 2014 to annex the Crimean peninsula, considered illegal by the international community.
The Ukrainian president, Volodímir Zelenski, assured that these votes do not change anything in his task to free his country from the Russian presence. Dimitro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign minister, said that Kyiv "in the future will liberate" these territories, "regardless of what they say in Russia."
Western countries, led by the United States, France and Germany, are not going to recognize the results of the referendums, and have described these days as "fictitious" or "farce". The European Union has warned against applying new sanctions against Russia.
António Guterres, Secretary General of the UN, also condemned these referendums. This Thursday he recalled that any annexation of territory by force is a violation of international law.
