<div style="text-align: justify; "><span style="font-size: 1rem;"><b>Russian-backed officials in four occupied regions of Ukraine are holding self styled referendums on joining Russia.</b></span><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Denounced as illegitimate and a sham by Ukraine and the West, these so-called votes are taking place over five days while all four areas - two in the east and two in the south - are on the front line.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">An annexation could lead to a claim by Russia that its territory is coming under attack from Western weapons supplied to Ukraine.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>What makes these votes a sham?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">We have already seen how Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014. While the Kremlin claimed 96.7% support, a leaked report from Russia's Human Rights Council said only around 30% had voted and barely half supported annexation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Not a shot had been fired in Crimea, and yet in this latest case voting is expected to take place in the middle of a war.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The four regions involved are either partially or completely under occupation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the south, the city of Kherson is not a safe place right now, with Russian soldiers struggling to hold back a big Ukrainian counter-offensive. The central administration building was hit by a series of missiles only last week.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A secure vote is impossible, and yet officials talk of 750,000 people registered and plans to incorporate occupied parts of another Ukrainian region, Mykolayiv, into the annexed area.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russian media reported that electoral officials would go from door-to-door with portable ballot boxes from Friday to Monday.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Polling stations will only operate on the fifth day, 27 September, with officials citing security reasons.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Hundreds of stations are scheduled to open that day, with voters also able to cast ballots in regions outside their own - and refugees eligible to vote in parts of Russia itself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Then there's Zaporizhzhia's capital, which remains securely in Ukrainian hands, so any vote to annex that region makes little sense.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Donetsk in the east is only 60% under Russian occupation and very much at the heart of the conflict.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia does control most of Luhansk in the north-east even if it has begun to lose ground. Russian news agencies showed flyers being handed out entitled "Russia is the future".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Much of the pre-war population has fled the conflict. The head of Russia's proxy authority in Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, ordered a mass evacuation days before the invasion.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russian-backed leaders have been keen to stage votes for several months, but the decision to hold the vote was taken just three days in advance and smacks of desperation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There will be no independent observers. Much of the voting will be online, although officials have promised extra security at polling stations.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>What will change?</b></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b><br></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ukrainian defence ministry adviser Yuriy Sak told the BBC the so-called referendums were doomed. "We are seeing that local populations are all in favour of returning to Ukraine, and this is why there's so much guerrilla movement resistance in these territories."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In any event, Kyiv says nothing will change and its forces will continue to push to liberate the territories.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Russia analyst Alexander Baunov says merely redefining the occupied areas as Russian territory is unlikely to stop Ukraine's army, but it does send a message of intent to the populations under their control. And the Kremlin's hope is that the West will baulk at having its weapons fired at land declared by Moscow as Russian.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Alarmingly President Putin has spoken of using all means at his disposal "to protect Russia". And in case there was any doubt at all. the deputy head of Russia's security council, Dmitry Medvedev, made clear that nuclear weapons could also be used to protect annexed territories.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has spoken of a "dangerous escalation", but reaffirmed Washington's position that no Russian claim to Ukrainian soil could take away Ukraine's right to defend itself.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Even Turkey, which has sought to play a mediating role, has damned the vote as illegitimate. Source:BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>