The United States and NATO said Tuesday that the call for referendums on the annexation of the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Lugansk republics, and the Kherson and Zaporizhia administrations in Ukraine, is a sign of Russia’s weakness.
For Washington, the calling of the two separate referendums is a sign of Russian weakness in Ukraine and NATO said that they could constitute a “new escalation of the war” to hide the weaknesses of the Russian military forces.
“Russia is holding fake referendums three days early because it keeps losing ground on the battlefield,” said White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan.
“They are an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity. (…) We know that they will be manipulated and that Russia will use them as a base to annex these territories, now or in the future”, denounced el Nacional. Security advisor.
For NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the “mock referendums” organized by the authorities installed by Moscow in four regions of Ukraine are “a new escalation of Putin’s war.”
“These fake referendums have no legitimacy and do not change the nature of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” Stoltenberg wrote on his Twitter account, arguing that “the international community must condemn this blatant violation of international law.”
The pro-Russian separatist territories in the Ukrainian region of Donbass will hold referendums from September 23 to 27 to decide on their annexation by Russia, local authorities announced today.
The elections will take place in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, whose independence Russian President Vladimir Putin recognized shortly before launching his military offensive against Ukraine on February 24.
In response to calls from the pro-Russian authorities in Donbass, representatives of a pro-Russian consultative body in the Zaporizhia region, controlled only partially by Russian troops, today joined their colleagues in Lugansk, Donetsk and Kherson, calling for an immediate referendum. on its accession to Russia.
The military offensive launched on February 24 by Russia in Ukraine has already caused the flight of more than 13 million people -more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.2 million to European countries-, according to the latest data from the UN, which places this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
The Russian invasion – justified by Russian President Vladimir Putin, with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the generality of the international community, which has responded by sending weapons to Ukraine and imposing them on Russia. political and economic sanctions.
Source: TSF
