Russia holds ‘referendums’ in occupied regions

of Ukraine

Hello welcome many Russians are trying to leave the country to escape the military mobilization announced by Vladimir Putin tickets for direct flights between Russia and Serbia have sold out and there were long queues at several border crossings as

Federation

Russians leave Moscow are holding self-styled referendums in full contested areas of Ukraine on whether residents want to join the Russian federation the west has described as those

votes as a sham he is the U. S. Pentagon press secretary John Kirby we believe that these we sham referenda they won’t be legitimate he certainly will be free or fair they’re designed their third preordained to allow Mr. Putin to say look this is Russian territory and

Politics

now you cranium attacks are on right on the motherland not on Ukrainian territory which is of course not true and as you heard Jake Sullivan our national security adviser said

yesterday when I can recognize that and so many other nations around the world are going to recognize that this is nothing more than a ploy by Vladimir Putin to try to gain some legitimacy through politics and electoral issues that you cannot gain militarily.

Militarily

but it’s not gonna work no one’s going to recognize it and what needs to happen is Mr. Britain is to leave Ukraine to need to stop this war John Kirby let’s sit home services you go by

and check who’s eating Keefe. He goes to a just tell us what you’re hearing from those full regions occupied by Russia where those votes are beginning what do we know about the process. So POs have opened a car and you these 4 regions what these so-called.

Security

the referendum is being held in the regions of Luhansk continue asking the east also had sold and it’s up to 40 Shia in the south in Zaporizhzhia of polling officials are going door to door

with police officers, they say this is a security measure but critics say that this is a sign that this is a referendum so-called referendum that is not fast and free now officials here say these doesn’t have any legitimacy has no legal force and authorities here in Ukraine say

Response

that this is Russia’s response to aid a military defeat on the battlefield 4 weeks we’ve been talking about the Ukrainians going ahead with this counter-offensive of reclaiming

territory and to the authorities in Kyiv I believe that this is the way Bosco is responding to that so the vote was announced on Tuesday it begins today and it will be held until next Tuesday and I think to give you a sense of what we can expect in terms of results today the

Suggested

tags news agency which is the Russian state news agency said that posing a poll that was conducted in those regions where this so-called referendum is being held suggested that

between 80 and 90 percent of voters are in favor of joining Russia so that gives us a sense of what we can expect you to miss of the results from this so-called referendum on the consequences of a yes result is as widely expected to be Hugo this will enable to

Justification

Russia and Russia claim with no legal justification these regions all parts of Russia and any attacks on them when the fighting against the menu from Ukraine is an attack on

Russia itself. Exactly and I think this is the biggest fear he had that as a result of the so-called referendum the Russians will say look any attack on those areas are now an attack on Russian territory and we’re going to react to that now you crane is a saying that nothing

International

changes they’re going ahead with that cultural offensive that what is happening today has no legal basis and the international community is still recognizing this so called

referendum as well and remember the backing 2014 when the Russians invaded Crimea the Ukrainian peninsula they also carried out a referendum that wasn’t recognized internationally before they are next the peninsula so I think the fear is that this is going to

Before

happen again with these with parts of these 4 regions are now under Russian occupation that this so-called referendum is the first step towards the next station of these territories by Russia. Thank you guys for now thank you very much you have a ticket to Kyiv.