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The Russian occupation authorities in eastern and southern Ukraine, including Melitopol in the Zaporizhia region, announced plans to hold a referendum calling on Moscow to annex those areas.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky downplayed the importance of the “referendums” that pro-Moscow separatists plan to organize in Ukrainian regions occupied by Russian forces to annex them to Russia, and valued the West’s condemnation of this project.

newspaper says,The New York TimesRussia’s steps in eastern and southern Ukraine are similar to what it did to annex Crimea following it invaded, in 2014.

She says that following Russia’s apparent withdrawal from northeastern Ukraine earlier this month, Western officials were puzzled over what to do with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who appeared to be cornered.

Within 36 hours on Monday and Tuesday, the Kremlin gave its answer in a tightly tailored presentation in state media as four Ukrainian regions occupied in whole or almost partly by Moscow would hold “referendums” on joining Russia, a move widely seen as a prelude to annexation. Those territories and a possible escalation of the war.

For months, the Russian occupation authorities in eastern and southern Ukraine said that they were developing plans to hold a referendum calling on Moscow to annex these areas and declare them Russian territory.

However, Moscow remained ambiguous regarding when and whether that “referendum dance” would take place, and whether it would take place, and the newspaper indicated that the Kremlin was apparently seeking to leave its options open while Russian forces struggled to make gains. Great on the front line.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and deputy head of Putin’s Security Council, posted on Telegram that the two referendums were of “great importance”, because the Kremlin would regard an attack on them as an attack on Russian soil.

“The encroachment on the territory of Russia is a crime, the commission of which allows you to use all forces of self-defense,” Medvedev wrote.

The annexation of the territory is a precedent that Putin set with Crimea in 2014, which came following a referendum widely dismissed as a hoax in the West, but which Putin used to justify his threat that he was ready for all-out war if Ukraine sought to retake the peninsula by force.

On Tuesday, White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan cited the “sham” vote as a possible prelude to the Kremlin’s attempt to get more Russian public mobilization for the war.

“The United States will never recognize Russia’s claims” regarding any parts it allegedly annexed from Ukraine, Sullivan told reporters.

On Monday, Russian propaganda released what appeared to be a written offer intended to show that the upcoming referendums stem from a popular desire by residents of four regions in eastern and southern Ukraine to join Russia.

The move came as Russia prepares for an intensified Ukrainian counterattack, and following Russia’s embarrassing withdrawal from the Kharkiv region in northeastern Ukraine this month.

The Zaporizhia region is still partly under the control of Ukraine, including its main city, Zaporozhye.

In the Kherson region in the south, which Russia quickly captured following its February invasion, Ukraine is launching a counterattack, although its advance has been deliberate and costly in terms of casualties.

By Tuesday followingnoon, the occupation authorities in the four areas announced that the two referendums would start on Friday and last for five days.