Plan to organize a referendum Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-backed government in the region, said Ukraine’s Kherson region becoming part of Russia has been put on hold.
“The Kherson region was ready for a referendum on joining the Russian Federation, but the pause was made due to the security situation,” he said, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Ukrainian and American officials have long criticized Russia’s efforts to hold fake referendums in Kherson and other Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
Stremousov’s remarks came a week after Ukraine announced the long-awaited offensive to retake Kherson had been launched. Since then, there have been dozens of airstrikes targeting Russian forces and infrastructure in Kherson.
Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk described the referendum as “a farce and a circus”, and warned Ukrainian citizens not to take part.
“For our citizens who will be involved in this – in fact, this is a provision of the Criminal Code,” she said. “Not participating in any ‘referendum’.” She said: No pressure, or incitement, etc., would not be able to justify the fact that one person attended the ‘referendum’.
