Donbass annexation referendum: kyiv promises to liquidate the Russian "threat"

Europe 1 with AFP 2:58 p.m., September 20, 2022

Ukraine promised on Tuesday to "liquidate" the Russian "threat" in the face of the announcement of the organization of referendums for the annexation by Moscow of the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk and the region under Russian occupation of Kherson.

"Ukraine will settle the Russian question. The threat can only be liquidated by force," the head of the Ukrainian presidential administration, Andriy Yermak, wrote on Telegram.

Pro-Russians announce annexation referendums by Moscow for September 23-27

Pro-Russian authorities in several parts of eastern and southern Ukraine announced on Tuesday that Russia will hold annexation referendums from September 23-27, a major escalation in the dispute.

These elections will take place in the regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), whose independence Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized shortly before launching his offensive against Ukraine last February, as well as in the areas under Russian occupation in Kherson region (south).

Andriï Iermak denounced the announcement of the referendums as "blackmail" on the part of Moscow, motivated by "the fear of defeat", while the Ukrainian forces have taken back thousands of square kilometers from Russian troops since the beginning of September.

The Kherson region occupied by the Russian army

The regions of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the east of the country, have been under the control of pro-Russian separatists since 2014. That of Kherson, in the south, has been occupied by the Russian army since the start of its invasion launched on February 24.

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The integration of these regions into Russia would represent a major escalation in the conflict in Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized the independence of the separatists' self-proclaimed "republics" in Donetsk and Lugansk shortly before launching the invasion of Ukraine.

Russia has already annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea (south) in 2014, an attachment ratified by a referendum which had been preceded by a military intervention and which is denounced as illegal by kyiv and the West.