Voting in Luhansk and Donetsk, self-proclaimed “independent republics” controlled by Moscow-backed separatists since 2014, and the southern provinces of Kherson and Zaporizhia will continue until September 27. The voting process in the four regions would be non-traditional, Russian news agency TASS reported. “Given the short deadlines and the lack of technical equipment, it was decided not to conduct 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 only open on the last day for residents to vote. Russian leaders of the four regions suddenly announced the plans on Tuesday, after Ukraine’s lightning counter-offensive recaptured swaths of territory in northeastern Kharkiv that Russia had seized after the February 24 invasion of the country. The results are seen as a foregone conclusion in favor of annexation, and Ukraine and its allies have already made it clear they will not recognize the result. A similar referendum, held in Crimea after Russia’s 2014 invasion, found 97 percent in favor of formal annexation in a vote closely monitored by Russian soldiers and not recognized by the international community. The votes are seen as a major escalation in Ukraine’s seven-month war – in which thousands have been killed and millions displaced – because integration would allow Moscow to claim it was defending its own territory. “If all of this is declared as Russian territory, they can declare that this is a direct attack on Russia, so they can fight without reservation,” Luhansk regional governor Serhiy Haidai told Ukrainian television. The referendums were condemned by the United Nations and world leaders, including United States 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). ). Voting is due to begin on Friday in the referendums, which have been condemned as unfair by Kyiv. There will be no outside observers to ensure the vote is free and fair [Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters] The OSCE, which is monitoring the election, said the results would not be legally binding because they did not comply with Ukrainian law or international standards, and fighting continued in the areas where voting was taking place.
“It’s all a scam”
There will be no independent observers and polling stations in Zaporizhzhia will be under heavy guard, 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. He told Al Jazeera he was part of an older generation nostalgic for the Soviet Union, which collapsed more than 30 years ago and included Ukraine. Russia recognized Ukraine’s post-Soviet borders under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum. “I kept my children at home,” she said, of life in the occupied 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 come home because after the referendum people will need special permits to get in and out.” In the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk – the self-proclaimed republics that Putin recognized as independent shortly before the invasion – residents will have to answer whether they support their “democracy’s entry into Russia,” according to TASS. The question on the ballots in Kherson and Zaporizhia will be worded differently: “Are you in favor of secession from Ukraine, the formation of an independent state from the region and its inclusion in the Russian Federation as a subject of the Russian Federation?” “This is all a scam. This is all a charade orchestrated by Putin,” Kurt Volker, who was the US special representative for Ukraine negotiations from 2017 to 2019 and is now a fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis, told Al Jazeera. “I don’t think this has any effect on the situation on the ground and will not change Ukraine’s determination to recover and retake territory. Nor will it hurt the determination in the West to help Ukraine defend itself against Russian aggression.” A billboard above a street in Luhansk reads: “With Russia forever, September 27,” ahead of voting that starts on Friday and runs until Tuesday [File: AP Photo] Ukraine said the referendums were a sign of Russia’s weakness, not strength. Russia controls most of Luhansk and Kherson, about 80 percent of Zaporizhia and just 60 percent of Donetsk. A day after the referendums were announced, Putin ordered the mobilization of reserves to bolster Russian forces in Ukraine and said he was ready to use nuclear weapons to repel any attacks on Russian soil. “Any decision that the Russian leadership may take does not change anything for Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Thursday. “We are strictly concerned with the tasks before us. This is liberating our country, defending our people and mobilizing global support [public opinion] for the performance of these duties”.
