Pro-Moscow officials in occupied regions of Ukraine have asked Vladimir Putin to incorporate their provinces into Russia after initial “results” in referendums apparently showed a large majority of people wanted to break with Kyiv.
Officials in parts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia, made the plea to the Russian president on Wednesday.
The votes and the results have been derided as a “sham” by those in the West and say they will not be recognised.
Putin is expected to formalise the move to annex the regions by the end of the week.
According to Russia-installed election officials, 93 per cent of the ballots cast in the Zaporizhzhia region supported annexation, as did 87 per cent in the Kherson region, 98 per cent in the Luhansk region and 99 per cent in Donetsk.
Ukraine’s President Zelensky has called annexation “a crime”.
Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Washington would propose a UN Security Council resolution to condemn Russia‘s “sham” vote.
The resolution would also urge member states not to recognise any altered status of Ukraine and demand that Russia withdraws its troops from its neighbor, she tweeted.
European officials did the same, including Charles Michel, European Council president.
In Kyiv, Ukraine‘s foreign ministry blasted the ballots as “a propaganda show” and “null and worthless.” It asked the EU, NATO and the Group of Seven major industrial nations to “immediately and significantly” step up pressure on Russia through new sanctions, and significantly increase their military aid to Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that Russia’s “special military operation” must continue “at a minimum” until Putin’s forces take full control of east Ukraine‘s Donetsk region.
Moscow has struggled to hold the line against Ukraine‘s recent counteroffensive and has ordered a partial mobilisation to replenish its ranks. The effort is causing unrest, however, amid a reluctant public.
In a daily briefing, the Ukraine military’s general staff said 1st Tank Regiment of the 2nd Motorized Rifle Division of Russia‘s 1st Tank Army has received untrained new troops.
The Ukrainian military also said prison convicts are arriving in Ukraine to reinforce the Russian lines. It offered no evidence to support the claim, though the Ukrainian security services have released audio of allegedly monitored Russian phone conversations on the issue.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank cited one online video by a man who identified himself as a member of the 1st Tank Regiment, visibly upset, saying that he and his colleagues wouldn’t receive training before shipping out to the Russian-occupied region of Kherson in Ukraine.
“Mobilised men with a day or two of training are unlikely to meaningfully reinforce Russian positions affected by Ukrainian counteroffensives in the south and east,” the institute said.
The UK ministry of defense said Ukraine‘s counteroffensive, which has inflicted some humiliating defeats on Moscow’s forces, is advancing slowly.
In the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, which is partially occupied by Moscow, Russian fire killed five people and wounded 10 others over the last 24 hours, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, the head of the local military authority.
Authorities in the southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol said Russian rockets and artillery pounded the city overnight.
