Separatist leaders in the two regions announced on Tuesday that the two referendums on the integration of Donbass and Luhansk into the Russian Federation will take place on Friday and run until September 27.
“The People’s Assembly decided to set the referendum days for September 23-September 27.”The Lugansk news portal quoted the separatist official, Denis Miroshchenko.
On Monday, the separatist leader from Donetsk proposed to his counterpart in Luhansk “to unite efforts between heads of republics and parliaments to draw up steps and procedures that will allow the start of preparations for the referendum.”
Denis Pushlin and his counterpart in Lugansk, Leonid Pashnik, discussed the need to “coordinate” both the organization of consultations and security measures to stop the advance of Ukrainian forces.
Therefore, he called for the referendum on integration into the Russian Federation to be held on the same day in both regions, as happened when the pro-Russian military uprising erupted in 2014.
The two public chambers, advisory bodies of the two separatist republics, on Monday addressed their leaders demanding that the consultations take place “urgently”.
“Today we receive requests from the public rooms. This is nothing more than a reflection of the opinion of our people, and it is something that has been breathing in the air for a long time,” Pushlin said.
The Donetsk Public Chamber’s demand calls for the permanent erasure of the “non-existent borders” with Russia.
“We want between us and Ukraine to find the borders of the Russian Federation,” said Mayor Alexander Kogman.
In the same vein, the Lugansk Public Council called for “an immediate referendum on the recognition of the Lugansk People’s Republic as a subsidiary of the Russian Federation.”
“We are convinced that the initiative will have the full support of the residents of Lugansk and that the entry into the Russian Federation will not only constitute a victory for historical justice, but also guarantee the security of the republic,” the petition reads.
However, the referendums were scheduled to take place between 23 and 27 September.
Ukrainian authorities in Lugansk say their forces have captured the town of Belhorivka, on the border between Lugansk and Donetsk.
According to British intelligence, any significant loss of territory in the Lugansk region, which Russia claimed in early July, would undermine the Kremlin’s strategy in Ukraine.
The Russian withdrawal from the Kharkov region on September 8 was accompanied by the advance of Ukrainian troops to the Donbass River, which crossed the strategic Oskil River.
However, on Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin ruled out a change in strategy in eastern Ukraine, after the Kremlin also denied the possibility of general mobilization after criticism from some politicians and regional leaders over the lack of slippers at the front.
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