Status: 09/26/2022 8:03 p.m
The sham referendums in the occupied territories of Ukraine will continue until Tuesday evening. Russia reports a high voter turnout, but this cannot be proven. Bitter fighting is reported from the front.
“More than half of those eligible to vote in the Cherson region have already voted,” says Marina Zakharova, the Russian head of the local election commission. In other regions it should even be up to 70 percent. These numbers cannot be verified.
However, there is plenty of evidence that the so-called referendums take place under the threat of violence and intimidation. They are not recognized under international law.
She interprets Ivanna Klimpush-Tsintsadze, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and responsible for the country’s European integration, as a sign of weakness. “It makes no difference what Russia wants to annex,” she says:
Because the Kremlin feels it is losing this war and is trying to escalate it. Everything the occupying government is doing in the occupied territories of Ukraine is illegal.
“As fast and as many weapons for Ukraine as possible”
Before the war began, about eight million people lived in the four areas where the mock referendums are held. It is unclear how many there are today – how many refugees have left the contested regions, how many have stayed. The Ukrainian political scientist Volodomyr Sonyuk estimates that there are still two to three million people in the occupied territories, but there are no reliable figures.
Klimpush-Tsintsadze calls on other states to take a clear stance over the next few days:
We now need to talk about a quick response from the civilized world to the actions of the Russian Federation. And that means as soon as possible and as many weapons as possible for Ukraine. This also means additional sanctions. It means not accepting these pseudo-refugees from Russia who suddenly became worried about the war when mobilization in the Russian Federation was announced.
“Fierce fighting” at the front
Meanwhile, fighting continues in the east of the country. Among other things, according to Ukrainian information, a military facility in the port city of Odessa was hit by drones. There was also fighting along the voting areas, says Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelenskyy: “Bitter fighting is taking place in many sections of the front with a total length of more than 2,000 kilometers. This affects the Donetsk region, our Kharkiv region, the Kherson region and the regions Mykolaiv and Zaporizhia. We have positive results in several directions.”
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
The mock referendums should end on Tuesday evening, and the annexation by Russia is expected by the end of the week. Russian President Vladimir Putin had stressed that Moscow would treat attacks by Ukraine on the annexed territories as attacks on its own territory and would defend itself with all means.
The current situation in Ukraine
Thomas Spickhofen, WDR, 26.9.2022 6:23 p.m