The referendums held in recent days in four occupied regions of Ukraine have overwhelmingly voted in favour of joining the Russian Federation, referring to Russian media, informs the news media CNN.
According to Russian officials, after the pseudo–referendum in the four regions on Tuesday, 27 September, it was announced that the votes ranged from 87% to 99.2% in favour of joining Russia. The head of the upper house of the Russian parliament said the chamber could consider annexation on 4 October.
At the same time, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council and ally of President Vladimir Putin, posted on Telegram after the results were announced: «The results are clear. Welcome home, to Russia!»
President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to address both houses of the Russian parliament on Friday and may use the address to formally announce the accession into Russia of the Ukraine territories that held referendums, the British Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update. Putin said on Tuesday that Russia wanted to “save people” in the territories, as reported by British media The Guardian.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Ukraine will «defend» its citizens in Moscow-held regions that authorities have claimed voted in favour of merging with Russia. Zelenskiy said in a video on Telegram: «We will act to protect our people, both in the Kherson region, in the Zaporizhzhia region, in the Donbas, in the currently occupied areas of the Kharkiv region, and in the Crimea.»
The president also said that the Ukrainian military is «moving forward» on the frontline, but he did not go into details.
«As for the front, I will say briefly and without details, although there will be good news: we are moving forward and liberating our land,» Zelensky said during his nightly briefing.
The Institute for the Study of War said in its latest assessment that Russian officials may try to justify their occupation of soon–to–be–annexed Ukrainian territory as a «counterterrorism operation.» Sergey Aksyonov, the Russian-appointed head of Crimea, said on 26 September that that Russian officials may temporarily close down the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) while conducting their counterterrorism operations in newly–annexed territories.
the Danish government announced that the gas leak detected on Tuesday, 27 September, was deliberately caused.
European commission president Ursula Von der Leyen said the leaks were due to «sabotage» and threatened the «strongest possible response» to any deliberate disruption of European energy infrastructure.
«Any deliberate disruption of active European energy infrastructure is unacceptable and will lead to the strongest possible response,» she warned, and urged and investigation to get full clarity on the «events and why».
While, White House requests USD 35 million to assist Ukraine’s nuclear security. The funds would be used «to support procurement and maintenance of additional sensors, data assessment, and analysis, and to supply the Ukrainian National Guard with protective capabilities at nuclear power plants,» CNN reported citing an unnamed U.S. official.
The U.S. is also preparing a new USD 1.1 billion arms package for Ukraine which will be announced in the coming days, Reuters reports citing U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.