War in Ukraine: How things will continue after the mock referendums

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"Polling station" in Melitopol: The affected areas roughly correspond to the area of ​​Portugal

Photo: IMAGO/RIA Novosti / IMAGO/SNA

On Tuesday, the Kremlin announced how voters in the Russian-controlled regions of Luhansk, Donesk, Zaporizhia and Kherson allegedly decided on annexation to Russia.

Accordingly, between 87 and 99 percent would have spoken out in favor of it.

The areas together roughly correspond to the area of ​​Portugal and make up 15 percent of Ukraine.

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The votes, which violate international law, were scheduled for Tuesday last week.

They are not recognized worldwide because they are held in violation of Ukrainian and international laws and without minimum democratic standards.

What happens now?

Russia will not want to lose any time after the hastily convened pseudo-referendums.

The leaders of the pro-Moscow militias in Luhansk and Kherson have already asked Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin to include those regions in the Russian Federation.

In order to complete the illegal appropriation from the Russian point of view, the Russian parliament only has to approve a kind of treaty for the admission of the regions.

The areas then become part of Russia for the Kremlin.

In his view, the front line would then run through Russian territory.

Then the government in Moscow could present the Ukrainian offensive to retake the territories as an attack on Russia.

Last week Putin said he was ready to use nuclear weapons to defend his country's "territorial integrity".

The two Russian chambers of parliament want to decide on the application on Monday and Tuesday.

The Duma has changed its schedule and will hold plenary sessions on both days, said the head of parliament Vyacheslav Volodin, according to the state agency TASS.

It had previously been speculated that President Putin could formally announce the annexation in a speech to both houses of parliament this Friday.

In military terms, the "minimum goal," as Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, was to conquer the entire Donetsk region.

So far, Russian troops control around 58 percent of eastern Ukraine.

The Russian Ministry of Defense had admitted that progress there was much slower than planned.

How is the West reacting?

Ukraine and the West do not recognize the alleged results.

"The EU condemns the holding of illegal 'referendums' and their falsified results," wrote EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell on Twitter: "This is another violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, which is accompanied by systematic human rights violations." The EU too -Council President Charles Michel condemned the sham referendums and their outcome.

The government in Kyiv meanwhile called for a "significant" increase in its military support.

The EU, NATO and G7 must increase pressure on Russia by imposing "tough new sanctions" and "significantly" increasing military aid to Ukraine.

Specifically, the statement from the State Department dealt with fighter jets, tanks, armored vehicles, long-range artillery and air defense and missile defense equipment.

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had already announced new sanctions against Russia in response to the so-called referendums: "We intend to impose new sanctions on individuals and entities who are complicit in this latest attempt to undermine the principles of state sovereignty and who share responsibility are involved in the ongoing senseless bloodshed across Ukraine.”

According to her information, the G7 states had already promised Ukraine's Economy Minister Julia Swyrydenko support for the plan to use frozen Russian state assets for the reconstruction of Ukraine.

Chancellor Olaf Scholz promised Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy continued political, financial and humanitarian aid as well as arms deliveries in a telephone call, a government spokesman said.

The chancellor and the Ukrainian president also talked about aid for reconstruction.

sak/dpa/Reuters