‘Public movement’ asks for referendum on joining Russia in occupied part of Zaporizhzhia region

The “public movement ‘Together with Russia’” has asked the Russia-appointed “head” of the Zaporizhzhia region administration Yevhen Balytskyi to conduct a referendum on joining the Russian Federation “as soon as possible”, reports Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti.

The “national congress of Zaporizhzhia region citizens” is currently taking place in Melitopol.

Earlier today, the public council of the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine also asked to urgently hold a referendum on the region entering the Russian Federation. Yesterday, 19 September, the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” public chambers made similar statements.

“The referendum will take place, and no one will be able to cancel it. The Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as well as all the liberated territories will soon become subjects of the Russian Federation,” said “deputy head” of the Kherson region “administration” Kirill Stremousov.

At the beginning of September, Russian media outlet RBC, citing five sources close to the presidential administration, reported that the Kremlin had been planning to conduct referendums on joining Russia in the “LDPR”, as well as the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions by the end of autumn. Furthermore, the most “optimistic” scenario — holding the referendums in September — was unlikely to occur due to the “situation” at the frontlines, the sources said back then.

Later, Meduza reported that the Russian government had pushed back the referendums on the occupied territories of Ukraine “indefinitely” due to the successful counteroffensive led by Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region.