The Sham Referendums In Temporarily Occupied Regions Of Ukraine

Russian rushes to annex the occupied regions and mobilise the men

The news around the world has been dominated by the sham referendums held in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia. The Russians are eager to annex and then implement a mobilisation programme. Images show residents being forced to vote at gunpoint and with ballot boxes brought to their homes by Russian soldiers.

Ukraine has also stated those who assisted or observed the sham referendums will be considered as Russian accomplices.

Meanwhile, as Russia can’t ban men from leaving Russia yet, they have set up camps at border checkpoints where draft papers await those trying to flee Russia. We have also seen those who were mobilised last week, surrendering to the Ukrainians as soon as possible in order to survive.

When a group of students from Belgorod were mobilised by ‘accident’ the authorities claimed that they will be returned. However, the reality most that have been shoved in the front line as cannon fodder are either dead or have saved themselves by surrendering.

Russian tanks and weapons are left behind as soldiers choose to see their own necks, and the Ukrainians capture more Russian prisoners of war in as their camps are raided. In Pisky (eastern Ukraine) a film crew reported on dead Russian soldiers left on the ground and their abandoned weapons. Some Russian soldiers were not so lucky as to have escaped.

The EU discuss more sanctions, and the Nord Stream II leak appears to be an act of sabotage. Russian propaganda blames the UK as their ships were in the area recently, but as we know, when a party is quick to attribute blame it’s usually because they are trying to deflect attention from themselves!

Day 217 (28 September)

• Investigations into the leaks in the Nord Stream II pipeline begin and sabotage is suspected as there are indications that there were two unexplained explosions in the Baltic Sea before the leak was discovered. As the pipeline is not active, this has raised suspicions

  

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• The Ukrainian National Guard has been hunting down Russian soldiers and taking them as prisoners of war. This comes as Ukraine has been heavily promoting their position—if Russian soldiers surrender, then they will be protected under the Geneva Convention and will survive. Many Russian soldiers choose to live rather than to risk death for a war that many do not seem to agree with.

  

• Meta (Facebook) has taken down a Russian propaganda network that posed as faux European media platforms that disseminated pro-Kremlin propaganda. Why on earth has it taken them 7 months to do this when they can check if an outlet is genuine or not?

  

• The sham referendums held in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia closed, with the Russians declaring that all regions wished to leave Ukraine and become part of the Russian Federation. This was of course expected and it was also expected that all other states would not acknowledge the result of referendums where people were held at gunpoint to vote.

  

  The Russian propaganda claims that there was a 98% support rate people voting!

  

  This action has been threatened for months, and what has the rest of the world done about this, especially the UN? Nothing much except make public statements admonishing such action.

  

  They all know that Russia has done this to mobilise the annexed region, and by claiming it is Russian soil, they can claim that Ukraine is attacking them on their soil, even though they invaded the land in the first place. It is a way for Russia to validate their actions to the Russian people and to the world at large, even though the world knows that such acts are illegal and are criminal.

  

• After the illegal annexation of Crimea, the international community condemned the Russian action in 2014, but that's all they did and words didn't really help the Ukrainians stuck in an occupied region. So how is the international community going to respond this time? It seems that sanctions are their solution to everything, but it is not an immediate solution, but a short-term deterrent. Through inaction, where Russia knows there will be no physical action taken against them, then surely this may encourage them to occupy more territories and annex then illegally annex them?

• The EU has proposed more sanctions in addition to the energy price cap and a ban on Russian exports. Can these actions save the lives of Ukrainians under attack though?

• Kazakhstan, a former Soviet state has indicated that they do not support Putin's war. A major television provider has ceased to broadcast the Russian propaganda channels, and the country has stated that they will ensure the care and safety of Russians that flee the country. That means that they will take in the men that are fleeing Russia to avoid being drafted into the military.

  

• There is further recent evidence that Hungarians have been supporting the Russians spies for a number of years. A former Hungarian MEP ( Bela Kovacs) was found guilty of being a Russian spy and has been sentenced to 5 years in prison. However it seems that the Hungarian authorities did not pursue this and he has been living in exile in Russia.

• The queues to get into Georgia continue to grow while Russian officers at the Verhniny Lars border crossing wait there with drafting papers to summon those of a mobilisation age. Men are leaving with their families, by car, bike, and some are even walking across the border with their suitcases. Some have travelled for thousands of miles to get to the border. Other border countries such as Mongolia and Kazakhstan have also seen an increase of men of mobilisation age crossing the borders. Instead of sending trained troops to Ukraine, Russia is sending them to the border crossing to draft in new cannon fodder instead.

• How is the mobilisation working out? According to reports, 10-20,000 teenagers/youths were sent to the front line within days (the mobilisation was announced a week ago only) already without much training, where many are feared dead. While others are taking up Zelenskyy’s offer of surrendering and becoming a prisoner of war immediately without any resistance in order to save their lives.

  

• The UN will introduce a resolution to denounce the sham referendums held in the occupied regions in Ukraine. What good is such action? Not much because all it does is put on record that the UN disapproves of the action and that they do not recognise the referendums. That isn’t going to push Russia out of the occupied territories though is it? Previous resolutions have not led to any proactive action other than vocal support for Ukraine.

  

• There are suggestions that Russia might try to call the ‘special military operation’ a ‘counter terrorism operation’, which would justify (in their minds) the shutting down of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and other energy plants.

  

• The battle for Lyman continues where Nove was liberated and Zelena Dolyna, and Torske. The Russians are still pushing back, holding Drobsheve and Shandryholove.

• The US Embassy in Moscow has urged US citizens with dual nationality to leave the country, as the Kremlin may not recognise dual nationality and they may get draft papers. They also believe that the war has escalated with the partial mobilisation and that US citizens should leave if possible.

  

• In response to the sham referendums, the US has sent 18 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) to Ukraine, which is more than double than the 16 that they currently have. The US recognises that Russia is slowly escalating the war.

Day 218 (29 September)

• Finland will close its borders to Russian tourists as from midnight (Friday 30 September 2022). Russians may visit family, enter for work or study purposes but all other visits will be banned. This is because of the Baltic states all agreeing to limit Russians moving around the EU, and the partial mobilisation that was decreed last week. There had been increased numbers crossing the border since the declaration, where men of mobilisation age have chosen to flee Russia to avoid being drafted. All over border countries in the EU (Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania ) had already closed their borders to Russian tourists with Schengen visas

  

  

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• Russia is annexing Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia in a signing ceremony in Moscow tomorrow. There is a concert being planned and billboards stating that the areas are now part of Russian have been erected in the capital. At 15:00 in the St George Hall of the Grand Kremlin Palace, a signing ceremony will be held, where the self-imposed leaders of the breakaway Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic will sign an agreement (both backed by Russia). Two Russian appointed puppets in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia will sign separate agreements.

  

  

  Putin is expected to make a speech ahead of his birthday, yet Russia does not control these regions fully. While we all know this annexation is illegal, what has the West and UN done about it? Not much more than what happened in Crimea, and Russia continues with the bullying behaviour.

  

• NATO has made a statement that the leaks from the Nord Stream pipelines were a ‘deliberate, reckless and irresponsible acts of sabotage’.

  

  

• Officials from 40 countries are meeting at the NATO headquarters to discuss how to replenish the military defensive equipment that has been donated to Ukraine. This means there must be a plan to produce more weapons as each country has had their supplies depleted. This was expected of course, and it might be a tactic by the Russians to make the West weary of the war and to stop supplying Ukraine. The war in Ukraine has impacted the entire world in terms of energy, food, businesses, and also how each country can defend itself.

  

• In Russia, state television is counting down the hours before the illegally annexed regions in Ukraine will in the eyes of the Kremlin become part of the Russian Federation.