Ukrainian officials and Western allies have made public denouncements regarding Russia's elections regarding the potential annexation of four occupied regions in Ukraine.
Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk and Donetsk regions all voted highly in favor of Russia’s “referendums,” AP News reported Sept. 27. Emerging reports of armed soldiers going door-to-door in the regions to collect ballots further point to the vote being illegal, forced and rigged.
“Putin’s so-called ‘referendums’ in Ukraine over the last week were farcical, just like the ‘referendum’ in Crimea in 2014. The announcement of the annexation of four Ukrainian territories is just another attempt by Putin to save face as Russia loses its unjust and brutal war against Ukraine,” U.S. Sen. Jim Risch, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said according to a statement provided to State Newswire. “The international community must unequivocally denounce this illegal land grab and reaffirm our commitment to helping Ukraine defend itself. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to ensure Ukraine receives the tanks, drones and air defense it needs to end this war fast.”
Referendums asking Ukrainian residents if they wanted the four regions to be a part of the Russian Federation began Sept. 23, with many reports claiming armed officials went door-to-door to collect votes, AP News reported Russian-installed election officials said all regions voted in favor of the referendums – 93% of ballots were in favor of annexations in Zaporizhzhia, 87% in Kherson, 98% in Luhansk and 99% in Donetsk.
AP News reported the Kherson region may have been lower in favor due to a strong Ukrainian underground resistance movement that reportedly killed Moscow-appointed officials and threatened anyone who considered voting. In 2014, Russian authorities held a vote on similar referendums on Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula. The results of the vote lead to the annexation of Crimea.
Russia issued warnings that threaten the deployment of nuclear weapons to defend the territory as well as the mobilization of more than a quarter-million additional troops. According to AP News, the U.S. is calling the Kremlin's threats of nuclear weapons a scare tactic and has dismissed these threats.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced another $625 million in Ukrainian military aid Oct. 4 – the 22nd drawdown of U.S. arms and equipment since August 2021. Ukraine will be sent additional arms, munitions and equipment from the U.S. Department of Defense inventories, a news release reported. The new equipment will be used to assist in a counter-offensive.
The aid includes four more high mobility artillery rocket systems, bringing the total number of U.S.-supplied HIMARS so far to 20, AP News reported Oct. 3. Ukrainian forces have been using the HIMARS to repeatedly strike bridges across the Dnieper, as well as a dam that served as another crossing point for Russian forces.
