Public council of Ukraine’s occupied Kherson region asks to urgently conduct referendum on joining Russia

The public council of the occupied Kherson region of Ukraine has asked the so-called “head of the military civil administration” Volodymyr Saldo to urgently hold a referendum on the region entering the Russian Federation, reports Russia’s state news agency TASS.

“We think it’s the right time to make a resolute decision on urgently holding a referendum on the Kherson region joining the Russian Federation.

We are certain that this initiative will be wholly supported by the Kherson region residents,

while the region becoming a part of Russia will not only be a triumph of historic justice but also ensure the protection of its territory and provide new opportunities on the road to rebirth and restoration of the greatness of our land and to return to peaceful life,” said the chairman of the council Volodymyr Ovcharenko.

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of Russia Dmitry Medvedev declared in a post on Telegram today that the Donbas referendums would “carry a great significance not only for systemic protection of the residents” of these territories but also for “restoration of historical justice”.

Yesterday, 19 September, the Donetsk and Luhansk “people’s republics” public chambers asked the “republics’ heads”, Denis Pushilin and Leonid Pasechnik respectively, to urgently conduct referendums on the “republics” joining the Russian Federation.

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.

Update: Medvedev's quote was added to the article at 2:20 PM