(Washington) Moscow may announce as early as this week that one or more “illegal” referendums will be held in occupied Ukraine, in an attempt to justify the annexation of Ukrainian territory to Russia, White House spokesman John Kirby said.
Posted at 2:52 p.m.
“We have information that Russia continues to prepare for sham referendums” in Kherson (south), Zaporizhia, in the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, as well as in Kharkiv, said Mr. Kirby, a spokesman for the Executive Authority for National Security Affairs. .
He added that “the Russian leadership has instructed to prepare for holding these referendums.” “In fact, we expect a Russian announcement of the first or first of these bogus polls before the end of the week.”
“The United States and the international community have been very clear that any attempt to gain control of Ukraine’s sovereign territory would be considered illegitimate,” Kirby said.
The United States expects Russia to “manipulate the results of these referendums to pretend that the Ukrainian people want to join Russia,” the US spokesman accused. “It’s just plain wrong.”
He cited several polls conducted in recent months among the Ukrainian population in the territories controlled by Kyiv, which show that more than 90% of Ukrainians do not want to be associated with Russia.
President Joe Biden, who just announced a new round of nearly $3 billion in military aid to Ukraine, the largest to date, will speak by phone Thursday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, announcing Mr. Kirby.
“We will continue to mobilize the free world, to encourage our allies and partners to support Ukraine, which defends its sovereignty,” he stressed.
