RUSSIA : Russia began referendums on Friday in four regions – Luhansk, Donetsk (east), Kherson, Zaporizhzhia (south) – of Ukraine, according to Russian news agencies.
The voting, which began at 5:00 GMT, is scheduled to continue till Tuesday and has been considered ‘sham’ by both Kyiv and Western countries.
The votes on whether the regions should become part of Russia began after Ukraine earlier this month recaptured large swathes of northeastern territory in a counteroffensive against the invasion that began on Feb. 24.
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On Tuesday, the authorities appointed by Moscow in four regions of Ukraine announced their intention to organize urgent referendums on joining Russia, from September 23 to 27.
These referendums, which have been in the works for months, will be similar to the 2014 referendum in Crimea that formalized Russia’s annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula.
