The Kremlin-orchestrated referendums, which have been widely denounced by Ukraine and the West as shams with no legal force, are seen as a step towards annexation of the territory by Russia. Voting is taking place in the Luhansk, Kherson regions and the partially Russian-controlled regions of Zaporizhia and Donetsk. The vote, which asks residents whether they want their regions to be part of Russia, is certain to go Moscow’s way. This would give Russia the pretext to claim that efforts by Ukrainian forces to regain control are attacks on Russia itself, dramatically escalating the seven-month war. The referendums follow Russian President Vladimir Putin’s order for a partial mobilization, which could add about 300,000 Russian troops to the fight. Voting will continue for five days until Tuesday. As voting began in the occupied territories, Russian social media was filled with dramatic scenes of tearful families saying goodbye to men leaving military mobilization centers. In cities across the vast country, men hugged their weeping family members before leaving as part of the army. Russian anti-war activists, meanwhile, planned more demonstrations against the mobilization. Election officials will bring ballots to citizens’ homes and set up makeshift polling stations near residential buildings during the first four days of the referendum, according to Russian officials based in the occupied territories, who cited security concerns. Tuesday will be the only day voters will be invited to attend regular polls. The polls have also opened in Russia, where refugees from the occupied territories can vote. Denis Pushilin, leader of Moscow-backed separatist authorities in the Donetsk region, called Friday’s referendum “a historic milestone.” Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of Russia’s lower house of parliament, the State Duma, addressed the occupied territories on Friday in an online statement, saying: “If you decide to become part of the Russian Federation — we will support you.” Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of Russia’s upper house of parliament, said residents of the occupied territories were voting for “life or death” in the referendums. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy only briefly mentioned the “fake referendums” in his overnight speech in which he switched from speaking Ukrainian to Russian to directly tell Russian citizens they were “flying to their deaths”. “You are already complicit in all these crimes, murders and tortures of Ukrainians,” he said. “Because you were silent. Why are you silent? And now it’s time to choose. For men in Russia, this is a choice to die or live, to become disabled or to preserve their health. For women in Russia, the choice is to lose their husbands, their sons, their grandchildren forever, or to try to protect them from death, from war, from one person.” The vote comes against the backdrop of ongoing fighting in Ukraine, with Russian and Ukrainian forces exchanging fire as both sides refuse to cede ground. On Friday morning, pro-Russian officials in the Zaporizhzhia region reported a loud explosion in the center of Melitopol, a city captured by Moscow early in the war. Official Vladimir Rogov did not provide details on what caused the explosion or whether there were any damage or casualties. Moscow-backed authorities in the Donetsk region also accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the city of Donetsk, the region’s capital, and the nearby town of Yasinuvata. Ukrainian officials, in turn, reported new rounds of Russian shelling in various parts of the country. Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv region in southern Ukraine bordering Kherson region, said the explosions erupted in the city of Mykolaiv early Friday. Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of Dnipropetrovsk region, said the Russians launched a barrage of shelling on Nikopol, a town across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, on Friday morning.
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