These votes, which began at 07:00 HB, are to be held until September 27 in the pro-Russian separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), and in areas under Russian occupation in the regions of Kherson and Zaporizhia (south), in full invasion of Ukraine by Moscow.
These elections, announced at the beginning of the week and organized in haste, were strongly denounced by the Ukrainian government and its Western supporters, who accuse Moscow of taking control of whole swaths of territory, like the Crimean peninsula. (south) in 2014.
If the result of these referendums is beyond doubt, they announce in any case an escalation of the conflict, Moscow going so far as to threaten nuclear strikes to defend what it considers to be “its” territory.
“Holding this referendum is a historic step… We are going home!” said the leader of the pro-Russian separatist region of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, in a video posted Friday morning on Telegram.
While the fighting is still raging, the electoral body of the separatists in Donetsk indicated that “for security reasons” the ballot would be organized mainly door-to-door for four days, the polling stations opening “only on last day”, i.e. September 27.
Thus, 450 and 461 polling stations will be opened respectively in the region of Donetsk and Lugansk, to the east. Zaporizhia will have 394 and the Kherson region in the south 198.
Several polling stations have also opened in Russia to allow the vote of “refugees” who fled the fighting, according to Russian news agencies.
