The Ukrainian army said on Friday that it struck Russian positions in the Kherson region of southern Ukraine, a region almost entirely under the control of Russian forces where kyiv fears that Moscow will soon organize a referendum for a annexation to Russia.
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“Our air force struck Russian positions, sites where equipment and personnel are concentrated and depots around five localities of the Kherson region“, said the general staff of the Ukrainian army Friday on Facebook. Almost the entire Kherson region, including the regional capital, has been occupied by Russian troops since the early days of the Russian invasion launched on February 24. Bathed by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, this region of an area of some 28,000 square kilometers had more than one million inhabitants before the war.
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One of the Russian negotiators on the conflict in Ukraine spoke on June 1 of the forthcoming organization of a referendum in the territories occupied by the Russians, with a view to annexation, which could take place in July, a project denounced by kyiv. Russia had organized a referendum in Crimea in 2014, before annexing the peninsula in stride.
SEE ALSO – There is “no risk of an attack on kyiv at the moment”, according to the Ukrainian Interior Minister