A referendum on accession to Russia is imminent in the Russian-occupied part of the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia. “I am signing a decree to the Central Electoral Commission to start and prepare a referendum on the unification of the Zaporizhia Oblast with the Russian Federation,” Russian-backed Governor Yevgeny Balitsky said Monday, according to the state agency Ria Novosti.
Balizkis was speaking at the “We are with Russia” forum organized by the occupying forces in Melitopol, the region’s second largest city with around 150,000 inhabitants. The regional capital of Zaporizhia, with a population of around 700,000, is still under Kyiv’s control. It is unclear how such a vote, which Ukraine would not recognize, will be organized. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already warned that referendums organized by the occupying forces would end all chances of peace talks with Russia. Balizki did not give a specific date for the planned vote. In the past, the beginning of September was discussed as a possible period.