KYIV | Russian annexation referendums began on Friday in four regions of Ukraine wholly or partly controlled by Moscow, while kyiv claimed further advances by its army in the east of the country.
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These polls are described as “simulacra” by kyiv and the West and mark a major escalation of the conflict that began on February 24.
At the same time, the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of Russian reservists continued in Russia, the Kremlin seeking a parade against the advances of the Ukrainian army, strong in Western arms deliveries.
On the side of the UN, a commission of inquiry has recognized that “war crimes have been committed in Ukraine”, referring in particular to Russian bombardments on civilian areas, executions, acts of torture, ill-treatment as well as sexual violence.
Ukraine also announced that it had exhumed 436 bodies from a mass burial site in Izium, a town recaptured from the Russians in the northeast, including 30 with “signs of torture” such as bound hands, broken limbs or “amputated genitals”.
International criticism has not stopped Moscow from pursuing its plans for referendums in Ukraine.
The votes, which began at 05:00 GMT, will end on September 27 in the separatist regions of Donetsk and Lugansk (east), and in areas under Russian occupation in the regions of Kherson and Zaporijjia (south).
China criticizes
Hundreds of polling stations must be opened in the four territories, and others in Russia to allow displaced people to vote.
“We hope that after the referendum, they will stop bombing us, that we will have peace and order,” Vladimir Chotov, from the Lugansk region and who came to vote at the Donetsk representation, told AFP. in Moscow.
In Moscow, St. Petersburg and other cities, the authorities organized demonstrations in support of the referendums with a lot of flags and slogans.
“These referendums are a step towards this peace,” said Viktor Suvorov, 40, present at the Moscow rally, a stone’s throw from Red Square.
In Ukraine, in Chevchenkové, the Ukrainian official Andriï Kanachevitch protested to AFP against “illegal” polls. “To be honest, it sucks,” he said.
Without going so far as to denounce the polls, China, Moscow’s closest partner, nevertheless went there with its criticism, calling for respect for territorial integrity.
A sign of this approach, a surprise meeting took place on Friday in New York between Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kouleba.
Ukrainian earnings
On the ground, Ukraine claimed Friday the capture of Latskivka in the Donetsk region (east). She also says that she has advanced south of Bakhmout, an eastern town that the Russian army has been trying to take for months without success.
In Odessa, a major Black Sea port, a Russian attack on an Iranian drone killed one person, according to regional authorities. An attack that prompted President Volodymyr Zelensky’s spokesperson to castigate Tehran, whose arms deliveries to Moscow “go against the territorial integrity” of Ukraine.
On the separatist side, the head of Donetsk Denis Pushilin spoke of an “extremely difficult” situation north of his city.
In the Lugansk region, another separatist official, Andrei Marochko, reported on Ukrainian bombardments, noting that kyiv forces “want to do everything to derail the referendum”.
The hasty announcement of these elections was accompanied by that, on Wednesday, by Mr. Putin to decree the immediate mobilization of at least 300,000 reservists. He also threatened to use nuclear weapons.
If television broadcast almost no images of the mobilization, several videos on social networks showed men with closed faces getting on buses after kissing their loved ones, some in tears.
Reached by AFP, Konstantin, 29, said he received his summons at his parents’ home. “I’m still in shock,” he says. “I’m not going to hide, but I’m not jumping for joy either.”
Others were given a summons after being arrested during demonstrations against the mobilization on Wednesday.
“I expected the usual (procedures): the arrest, the police station, the court. But to hear yourself say: + Tomorrow you are going to war +, (…) that was a surprise, ”told AFP Mikhail Souetin, 29, who refused to sign the document.
The announcement of the mobilization also convinced many Russians to leave the country, without it being possible to quantify the extent of the phenomenon.
Finland has thus decided to take measures to “significantly” limit the entry of Russian citizens on its soil, while the Baltic countries and Poland have already been drastically blocking entry for weeks.