Ukraine: annexation referendums by Russia in the Donbass from September 23 to 27

Donetsk, an area controlled by Russian-backed separatist forces, in eastern Ukraine, September 17, 2022. AP - Alexei Alexandrov

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The administrations of the self-proclaimed republics of Donetsk and Luhansk are preparing to set up a so-called annexation referendum in order to “legalize” the Russian presence in the occupied regions of Donbass.

Advertising

Read more

The pro-Russian separatists have already chosen their calendar: from September 23 to 27, a coordinated annexation referendum will be held in each of the two self-proclaimed republics, Luhansk and Donetsk.

"

," they say.

It is difficult not to see a link with the Ukrainian counter-offensive because proclaiming the official affiliation of the Donbass to Russia would make it possible to legitimize the Russian presence on the spot.

This would also make it possible to affirm that in attempting to reconquer the lost regions, it is no longer in Ukraine that the Ukrainians are advancing, but on Russian soil, making themselves guilty of an act of war.

Acts of war punishable, according to Kremlin propagandists, of reprisals against NATO troops.

In the meantime, the Ukrainian counter-offensive towards the East continues: the troops of kyiv would be about twenty kilometers from two big cities on the border of Donbass: Lyman and Lyssychansk.

► To read also 

: 

Newsletter

Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

• Ukraine

• Russia

• Defense

• NATO