The referendums currently underway within these territories are scheduled to conclude on Sept. 27, the Defence Ministry said in its daily briefing on Twitter.
“Russia’s leaders almost certainly hope that any accession announcement will be seen as a vindication of the special military operation and will consolidate patriotic support for the conflict”, it said.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 27 September 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/xG1CgXqeKM
#StandWithUkraine
— Ministry of Defence
(@DefenceHQ) September 27, 2022
REFERENDUMS
Voting on whether to join Russia in four Ukrainian regions partly controlled by Moscow — Kherson, Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia — entered its fifth and final day. The West has said it will not recognise the outcome of what it regards as illegal sham referendums.
Russia issues new nuclear warning
Russian government officials have repeatedly warned they might use nuclear weapons to defend the new territory if Kyiv’s forces, who are already in control of some of it, try to take what Moscow says it will soon regard as its sovereign territory.
NATO and the United States have not detailed publicly how they would respond to a Russian nuclear attack on Ukraine, but Jake Sullivan, White House national security adviser, told CBS on Sunday that Washington had spelled out to Moscow what he described as “catastrophic consequences” for Russia.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said in an interview with Swiss newspaper Blick that Ukraine was preparing for the possibility of a Russian nuclear strike, but said the onus was on nuclear-armed states to deter Russia.
“…Where exactly should we evacuate people in the event of a Russian nuclear strike against Ukraine?” he asked. “That is why the use of nuclear weapons is a question of global security – this is no longer just about Ukraine.”
Podolyak said in the same interview that Ukrainians who had helped Russia organise the annexation referendums would face treason charges and at least five years in jail.
“We have lists of names of people who have been involved in some way,” he said, adding that Ukrainians who were forced to vote would not be punished. Ukrainians officials have reported ballot boxes being taken door to door and residents being coerced into voting in front of Russian troops.
None of the provinces are fully under Moscow’s control and fighting has been under way along the entire front line, with Ukrainian forces reporting more advances since they routed Russian troops in a fifth province, Kharkiv, earlier this month.
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