The United States on Monday reported “very credible” information that Russia intends to organize “mid-May” referendums to “attempt to annex” the pro-Russian separatist “republics” of Donetsk and Lugansk, in the east from Ukraine.
“According to the latest information, we believe that Russia will try to annex the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and the ‘Lugansk People’s Republic’,” the US ambassador to the United States told reporters in Washington. Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Michael Carpenter.
“This information shows that Russia intends to fabricate referendums” in this direction “around mid-May”, he added. “Moscow is considering a similar project for Kherson”, a Ukrainian coastal city which the Russian administration took control of thanks to the Russian invasion of Ukraine launched on February 24, he added.
“We believe that this information is very credible,” assured the diplomat.
“A mock referendum”
According to him, “such sham referendums, fabricated votes, will not be considered legitimate, nor will any attempt to annex other Ukrainian territories”. “We must act urgently,” he insisted, without saying more about the Western reaction.
The city of Kherson, close to Crimea annexed by Moscow in 2014, is the first and so far the only city of Ukrainian importance that the Russians have taken complete control of since the start of their invasion of Ukraine on February 24. . They claimed to have taken it on March 3.
kyiv also accuses Russia of wanting to organize in this region – as in the neighboring region of Zaporijjia – a “referendum” on independence.