Russia poised to annex 4 Ukraine regions after ‘sham’ referendum
Al JazeeraMoscow-backed officials will ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate the areas into Russia following votes. US State Department Spokesman Ned Price stressed the four areas “are and will remain part of Ukraine” and said that “additional measures” against Russia would be announcing in the coming days. We expect Russia to use these sham referenda as a false pretext to attempt to annex Ukraine’s territory.” Pro-Russia officials in the four regions said they would ask Russian President Vladimir Putin to incorporate their provinces into Russia on the basis of announced vote results. Al Jazeera’s Mohamed Vall, reporting from Moscow, said Putin was expected to “officially declare” the annexation of the four regions following those meetings and after Russia’s parliament has given its approval for such moves. “And for us, our actions depend not so much on what the Russian Federation thinks or wants, but on the military capabilities that Ukraine has.” Russia is calling up 300,000 reservists to fight in the war and warned it could resort to nuclear weapons after this month’s counteroffensive by Ukraine dealt Moscow’s forces heavy battlefield setbacks.