Ukraine war
The United States sees signs that Russia intends to annex parts of eastern Ukraine in May
A Russian soldier in the town of Stanislav in the Kherson district of Ukraine
© Russian Defense Ministry / Picture Alliance
Since Russia failed to capture the capital Kyiv in Ukraine, it has concentrated its attacks on the south and east of the country – and may already be preparing annexations there.
Russia plans to annex part of eastern Ukraine later this month, according to a senior US official. In addition, the US assumes that the Kremlin will also recognize the southern city of Kherson as an independent republic, said Michael Carpenter, US Ambassador to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). the Associated Press (AP) news agency. Neither move would be recognized by the United States or its allies.
Pseudo referendums like in Crimea?
The regime in Moscow wants to hold sham referendums in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine that are intended to “give the appearance of democratic or electoral legitimacy” and annex the areas to Russia, Carpenter reported. There are also signs that Russia will host an independence vote in the seaport city of Kherson, similar to the pseudo-referendum on the status of Crimea hosted by the Kremlin six years ago, which was followed by the Russian Federation’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula.
Speculations about the preparation of such a referendum in Cherson had recently increased. Among other things, leaflets with corresponding calls are said to have appeared in the region.
Kherson was the first Ukrainian city to be captured and fully taken by the Russian army after the February 24 invasion. Since then, mayors and local lawmakers have been abducted and Internet and cellphone connections have been cut, Carpenter said. A Russian curriculum should soon be introduced in schools. And last Sunday, the Russian armed forces began according to the New York Times to force the conversion from the Ukrainian hryvnia to the Russian ruble.
Attacks, people fleeing, nuclear power plants and the proportion of gas: graphics on the conflict in Ukraine
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“The question of a return of the Cherson region to Nazi Ukraine is out of the question,” said Kirill Stremoussov, who was appointed by Moscow as ruler, to the Russian state agency Ria Novosti last Thursday. “That’s impossible.” And Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko avoided a clear denial of a possible referendum a week ago and only replied to a corresponding question that he had “not heard anything” about such plans.
Cherson has an important meaning in the Ukraine war
Since Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin’s troops failed to capture the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, they have focused their attacks on the south and Donbass, where Moscow-backed separatists have been fighting Ukraine since 2014. The city of Cherson and the province of the same name at the mouth of the Dnieper and the Black Sea are an important hub.
Cherson is about a two-hour drive north of Crimea and is a possible hub for a land bridge to the Donbass, ie to the already occupied “people’s republics” of Luhansk and Donetsk. Permanent control of Kherson and its transport links would increase Russia’s ability to sustain advances in northern and western Ukraine and secure control of Crimea, the British Defense Ministry said on Sunday.
Source: Associated Press, “New York Times”, Federal Agency for Civic Education