ER Editor: Below is a short compilation of relevant stories around these game-changing referenda, which, as many analysts have noted, turn a ‘Special Military Operation’ into a war if events should turn in that direction. Attacks on any of these regions, having voted to join Russia, would constitute an attack on Russian territory. See Medvedev’s reaction via Zerohedge to any military activity against Russian territory: Russian Nukes Can Be Used To Defend Annexed Ukraine Regions, Kremlin Warns
A reminder that the referenda are taking place in Donetsk, Luhansk (both making up the Donbass region in the east, which has been under attack by the Ukraine govt. since 2014), Kherson (south) and Zaporozhyia, where a nuclear plant is located.
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From Readovka:
Queues line up at polling stations in Kherson from early morning
Vera Belousova
People came to vote for joining Russia
Kherson residents came to the referendum from the very morning – a queue of those wishing to vote for joining Russia has already lined up at the Naval Academy. On the territory of the port of the city, in turn, it will be possible to come during the entire election period and cast your vote for joining the Russian Federation.
“Residents have been waiting for this for a very long time, everything turned out spontaneously, but everything goes with a bang ,” said Tatiana Yesenchuk , a member of the election commission .
Voting will last until September 27, and on September 28 the first results will be known. The final results in the electoral committee of the region promised to be announced within five days.
Earlier, Readovka wrote that referendums in the DPR, LPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions have started.
Source
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For more precise information about the voting, including the types of questions put to voters, see this TASS report (browsers will translate):
In the DPR, LPR, Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, referendums began on joining the Russian Federation
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Meanwhile, Ukrainians who participate in this voting have been threatened by the government thus:
Ukraine Threatens 5-Year Prison Sentence For Anyone Voting In “Sham Referendums”
Starting last month Ukrainian lawmakers began seeking to implement severe consequences for those participating in Russia-sponsored referendums in occupied territories of Ukraine. For example, a law is being pushed through parliament which criminalizes obtaining a Russian passport in temporarily occupied territories, Ukrainian sources reported last week, according to Yahoo News.
Proposed possible punishments have included losing Ukrainian citizenship, or even lengthy jail sentences. But other officials have argued for a more compromising approach given the necessity of survival in occupied areas. But now the Ukrainian government has reiterated its willingness to impose steep penalties for even participating in any Kremlin-sponsored vote to join the Russian Federation.
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Russian President Putin’s Wednesday morning address announcing partial mobilization also affirmed plans to move forward with referendums in the LPR, DPR, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions.
Ukraine has responded by warning its citizens that any official who promotes or organizes the voting faces a “prison term of five to ten years” – as well as possible asset seizure by the state, and being barred from employment in select positions for up to 15 years.
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The Ukraine government naturally decides to bomb Donetsk city centre once again on the eve of the voting, killing six people.
UKRAINIAN ARMY SHELLS DONETSK CENTRE WITH FRENCH SHELLS, KILLING SIX CIVILIANS
Continuing its policy of terror bombing, the Ukrainian army fired 155mm French shells into the central market of Donetsk at noon today, killing six civilians, including a 14-year-old boy, and wounding seven others.
It seems that Ukraine has decided to terrorise the population of Donbass on the eve of the start of the referendum on the region’s attachment to the Russian Federation. After the bombardments of 17 and 19 September 2022, which had already resulted in a bloodbath among civilians, the Ukrainian army began bombing the centre of Donetsk again on 22 September 2022 at lunchtime, this time with French shells.
The shelling was carried out from Ukrainian positions in Novoselovka Pervaya, 30 km northwest of the capital of the DPR (Donetsk People’s Republic).
Several French NATO standard 155 mm shells hit the dome of the central market in Donetsk, on Artioma Street (Donetsk’s main thoroughfare) and especially on Chelyuskintsev Street, where a shell exploded on a bus of the No. 38 line near several small florists’ shops. It was this shell that killed six civilians, including Maxime, 14, who was sitting on the bus.
His mother arrived quickly on the scene in a state of shock. A firefighter from the Ministry of Emergency Situations comforts her as best he can, but she cannot bring herself to admit that her son is no more.
See the report filmed on the spot:
ER: Someone asked to comment says that such attacks on the population by the Ukrainian government, which have been going on since 2014, will not deter residents as they are probably designed to, but will instead mobilize them even more to vote yes in the referendum.
WARNING: GRAPHIC
Photographs of the shrapnel found on site by the JCCC (Joint Monitoring and Coordination Centre for War Crimes in Ukraine) leave no doubt about its origin. The markings found on the shrapnel in the centre of Donetsk match those of the French 155 mm LU 211 shells supplied by Paris to the Ukrainian army.
Like Anatoly Bibilov, the former President of South Ossetia, whom I was able to interview on the spot, I think that the Ukrainian army’s terrorist bombardments against the population of Donbass will not intimidate the population, but will instead push them to vote to quickly integrate the Russian Federation.
On the other hand, the systematic use by the Ukrainian army of NATO-supplied weapons, including frequent use of French shells and guns, to bomb civilians in Donetsk and other cities in Donbass, makes France a willing accomplice to Ukraine’s war crimes. For Paris continues to supply arms to Kiev, while the French authorities cannot ignore their use by the Ukrainian army. This is what the French government is doing with your taxes! Supplying Ukraine with arms and ammunition that are used to massacre civilians in Donetsk, Gorlovka, and other cities in Donbass.
Christelle Néant
Translation: Vz. yan for Donbass insider
Source
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Published to The Liberty Beacon from EuropeReloaded.com
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