The results of referendums in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine are pointing towards support for annexation, while the head of the upper house of the Russian parliament said the chamber might consider annexation on 4 October.
A ballot box being emptied at a polling station during a referendum in Luhansk, Luhansk People's Republic controlled by Russia-backed separatists, eastern Ukraine, Sept. 27, 2022.Russian-installed officials in four occupied regions of Ukraine have reported huge majorities of votes in favour of joining Russia.
"The results are clear. Welcome home to Russia!," Dmitry Medvedev, a former president who serves as deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said on Telegram.Within the occupied territories, Russian-installed officials took ballot boxes from house to house in what Ukraine and the West said was an illegitimate, coercive exercise to create a legal pretext for Russia to annex the four regions.
"Russia’s sham referenda, if accepted, will open a pandora’s box that we cannot close," she said at a council meeting. Russia's ambassador to the United Nations, Vassily Nebenzia, told the meeting that the referendums were conducted transparently and in line with electoral norms. But Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Mr Zelenskyy, told Reuters that Kyiv would not be swayed by nuclear threats or by the annexation votes and would press on with plans to retake all territory occupied by invading Russian forces.
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