As the Kremlin continues to find themselves repeatedly humiliated by the Ukrainian people, desperation has become omnipresent. Moscow is the laughing stock of the world at the moment, save or the moments in which they are committing pure and unadulterated genocide. There is nothing to laugh about there, and the EU has already demanded that a war crimes tribunal be formed to investigate.
And now, in what will almost certainly be one of their final few acts of desperation – a Hellish Hail Mary, if you will – Russia is pretending to annex several regions of Ukraine.
Kyiv doesn’t appear too terribly concerned.
Russian-controlled regions of eastern and southern Ukraine announced plans Tuesday to start voting this week to become integral parts of Russia. The concerted and quickening Kremlin-backed efforts to swallow up four regions could set the stage for Moscow to escalate the war following Ukrainian successes on the battlefield.
The scheduling of referendums starting Friday in the Luhansk, Kherson and partly Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk regions came after a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin said the votes are needed and as Moscow is losing ground in the invasion it began nearly seven months ago, increasing pressure on the Kremlin for a stiff response.
Ukraine was not impressed.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba denounced them as a sham and tweeted that “Ukraine has every right to liberate its territories and will keep liberating them whatever Russia has to say.”
America was also not in the mood for the nonsense.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan slammed the planned votes.
“We will never recognize this territory as anything other than part of Ukraine,” he said, adding that they reflect Russia’s setbacks on the battlefield.
“These are not the actions of a confident country. These are not acts of strength,” he said.
Ukraine has suggested that they are also seeking to liberate Crimea from Russian rule, after the Kremlin “annexed” the region eight years ago.
