• Ukrainian President praises Western partners for rejecting referendum on joining Russia.
• Zelensky minimized the significance of elections in Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia.
• Elections replicate 2014 referendum through which Russia annexed Crimea.

On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised Western partners for rejecting proposals by pro-Moscow Ukrainian authorities to organize referendums on joining Russia.

“I thank all the friends and partners of Ukraine for their massive and firm condemnation of Russia’s intentions to organize yet more pseudo-referendums,” he said in his daily address.

Zelensky minimized the significance of the pro-Russian authorities’ plans to organize elections in the regions of Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhia from September 23 to September 27.

“Today, there was pretty big news from Russia. But what actually happened? Have we heard anything we didn’t hear before?” he said.

“Our position does not change according to this noise or any other announcement. Let’s preserve our unity, protect Ukraine, liberate our land and not show any weakness.”

The Western friends of Kyiv were quick to denounce the announced referendums. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and French President Emmanuel Macron called them “sham” elections.

The United States described them as “an affront to the principles of sovereignty and territorial integrity” and vowed never to recognize Russian claims to annex Ukrainian territory.

The planned annexation referendums have been designed for months as Ukrainian forces have made significant gains in Kharkiv’s eastern and northeastern regions.

The elections replicate the 2014 referendum through which Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula in southern Ukraine, a move that Kyiv and the West refused to recognize.

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