'Referendums' on Russian annexation of occupied Ukrainian territories likely to be postponed again
Kremlin-organized “referendums” on Ukraine’s occupied territories joining Russia are unlikely to take place on September 11, five sources close to the Putin administration told Vedomosti.
Three of the sources attributed the decision to the fact that Russian forces still have yet to capture the entirety of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. One noted that the Kremlin’s plan of timing the referendums to coincide with Russia’s “single voting day” is impractical.
The Russian Defense Ministry announced in April that one of its main goals for the “second phase” of the “special [military] operation” was to capture all of the Donbas and southern Ukraine. As Meduza reported earlier, Russian authorities’ backup plan would involve pushing the referendums to the winter.
