Moscow's proxies in occupied Ukraine regions report big votes to join Russia

Russian-installed officials from occupied Ukraine reported large majority support for joining Russia on Tuesday after five days of voting in so called referendums that Kyiv & the West branded a sham.

Voting was organized in a hurry in four areas: the eastern regions of Donetsk & Luhansk, the Zaporizhzhia & Kherson. These areas make up approximately 15% of Ukrainian territory.

According to Luhansk authorities, 98.4% had voted for Russia. A Russian-appointed official in Zaporizhzhia put the figure at 93%. Kherson was the head of the voting commission and put the "yes vote" at over 87%.

Denis Pushilin of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic stated that 99.2% had voted for Russia. All four regions claimed that all ballots were counted.

In the occupied territories, Russian-installed officers took ballot boxes from one house to another in what Ukraine and West called an illegal, coercive exercise to create legal pretexts for Russia to annexe the four regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin could use any attempt by Ukraine to capture them as an attack against Russia. Last week, he stated that he was ready to use nuclear arms to protect Russia's "territorial integrity".

Dmitry Medvedev (a Putin ally who is now the deputy chairman of Russia’s Security Council) posted a short celebratory message via Telegram. He said, "The referendums have ended. The results are clear. Welcome home, Russia!"

People from these four regions were able vote in Russia. The state news agency RIA reported that early counts indicated that more than 96% of the population favored Moscow's rule.

Seven months after Russia invaded Ukraine, Ukraine repeatedly warned that Russian annexation would end any chance of peace negotiations. According to the report, Ukrainians involved in organizing the vote will be charged with treason.

Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister, urged the European Union for further economic sanctions against Russia in order to punish it. He said that this would not change Ukraine’s actions on the battlefield.

These votes were a mirror of a referendum held in Crimea following Russia's 2014 seizure from Ukraine of the southern peninsula. In that year, Crimea's leaders declared that 97% wanted to seize from Ukraine and join Russia.

On Tuesday, Putin stated on state television that the votes were intended to protect citizens from what he called persecution of ethnic Russians by Ukraine. This was something the Kyiv government denied.

He said: "Saving people in all the territories where the referendum is being held" was at the top and centre of his mind.

Moscow has taken steps to "Russify", areas it controls, in recent months by issuing Russian passports and revising school curriculums.

After Ukraine gained momentum on the battlefield and defeated Russian forces in the northeastern Kharkiv, the referendums were quickly moved forward.

Valentina Matviyenko (head of the Russian parliament's upper house) stated that, if the results of the vote were favorable, the Russian parliament could consider the incorporation the four regions on 4 October, three days before Putin's 70th birthday

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