The Ukrainian parliament on Wednesday approved a declaration of “inadmissibility” of Russia’s accession referendums proposed by Russian-speaking separatist authorities in the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporyzhiya and Kherson.
The decision was confirmed by deputy Yaroslav Zhelezniak on his digital Telegram account, noting that the proposal was approved by 272 of the 450 deputies of the Kiev parliament’s Rada.
“The parliament approved the statement on the inadmissibility of holding pseudo-referendums on the territory of Ukraine,” Zhelezniak reported.
The pro-Russian authorities in the Donetsk, Lugansk, Zaporyjia and Kherson regions announced on Tuesday that they plan to hold referendums on the accession of these areas to the Russian Federation between September 23 and 27.
The announcement was immediately criticized by Western countries and international organizations, which in this measure detect another attempt to escalate the conflict by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Crimea’s Russian-speaking authorities held a referendum on accession to Russia in 2014, legitimizing Moscow’s annexation of the peninsula.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine on Feb. 24 has already resulted in more than 13 million people having fled — more than six million internally displaced persons and more than 7.4 million to European countries — according to the most recent UN data, which rank this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since World War II (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 international community at large, which has responded by sending arms to Ukraine and to impose political and economic sanctions on Russia.
The UN presented 5,916 dead civilians and 8,616 wounded as confirmed since the start of the war, stressing that these numbers are far below the actual number.
Source: DN
