Updated 2130 EAT September 23, 2022
The eastern Donetsk, Luhansk, the southern Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine begun voting Friday Sept. 23, 2022 on whether to become part of Russia, in referendums that Kyiv and the west have dismissed as 'sham'.
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| Four Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine are voting in referendums on joining Russia (23-27 Sept 2022) |
This week, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a mandatory troop mobilization of about 300,000 reservists, which also sparked resounding condemnation from the West.
The mobilization comes after Ukrainian forces seized back most of the northeastern Kharkiv region in a huge counter-offensive that has seen Kyiv retaking hundreds of villages under Russian control for months.
The four regions' integration into Russia, which for most political and security analysts is already a foregone conclusion, would represent a major new escalation of the Russia - Ukraine conflict.
The U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a UN Security Council session on Thursday, that U.S. will not allow President Putin to get away with war crimes as he lashed out against today's referendums as "sham".
Today's referendums are reminiscent of a similar sort in 2014, which saw the Crimean Peninsula in Ukraine annexed by Russia. The official result from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was a 97 percent vote for integration of the region into the Russian Federation with an 86 percent voter turnout.
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| Referendums to join Russia is currently underway in the Donetsk and Luhansk People's Republics, as well as Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions on Sept. 23-27. |
Ballots in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions are having this question: "Are you in favor 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?"
The voting process in the four regions is untraditional given the short deadlines and the lack of technical equipment. It was decided not to hold electronic voting and use the traditional paper ballots.
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| A billboard in Kherson region encouraging residents to turn out and vote |
In addition, Referendum officials are going door-to-door for the first four days to collect votes, and then polling stations would be open on the final day, that is on Tuesday, for residents to cast ballots and the results of these referendums will be announced on the same day.
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