Russia intends to annex Ukraine’s Donetsk & Luhansk with 'sham' elections: US official

On May 2, a top US official warned Ukraine that Russia intends to annex Donetsk and Luhansk through 'sham' elections later this month. The US believes Kremlin also plans to recognise the southern city of Kherson as an independent republic, according to Michael Carpenter, the US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Neither action would be accepted by the US or its allies, he said.

Carpenter highlighted reports that Russia is arranging phoney referendums in the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics to "try to add a veneer of democratic or electoral legitimacy" to the entities and bind them to Russia. He also said that there were indicators that Russia was planning to stage an independence referendum in Kherson. Mayors and municipal legislators have been kidnapped, internet and telephone service has been cut off, and a Russian school curriculum will be implemented soon, he said.

"According to the most recent reports, we believe that Russia will try to annex the ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Lugansk People’s Republic’ to Russia. We think the reports are highly credible. Unfortunately we have been more right than wrong in exposing what we believe may be coming next, and so that is part of what we’re trying to do here. Such sham referenda - fabricated votes - will not be considered legitimate, nor will any attempts to annex additional Ukrainian territory," Carpenter claimed during a press conference on Monday.

Moreover, according to the Ukrainian government, Russia has also introduced the ruble as a currency in Ukraine. Carpenter speculated that Russia's authorities would try to seize control of other parts of Ukraine by installing "puppets and proxies" in local governments and ousting democratically elected officials. He claimed that this looked to be Moscow's intended goal in Kyiv — a plan that included the adoption of a new constitution for Ukraine — but that after failing to conquer the city, Russian forces were forced to retreat to the country's east and south.

Mariupol steel mill attacked again by Russia

A day after the first evacuation of residents from the Mariupol steel mill, which has become the city's last stronghold of resistance, the plant was attacked again. According to authorities and video released by both Russia and Ukraine, more than 100 people in bombed-out Mariupol, including elderly women and mothers with small children, left the rubble-strewn Azovstal steelworks on Sunday and set out in buses and ambulances for the Ukrainian-controlled city of Zaporizhzhia, about 140 miles (230 kilometres) to the northwest.

The refugees were making poor progress, according to Mariupol Deputy Mayor Sergei Orlov. The delay was not explained by the authorities. At least some of the residents were reportedly transferred to a village run by separatists backed by Russia. Some chose to remain in separatist territories, while dozens fled to Ukrainian-controlled territory, according to the Russian military.

Ukraine has previously accused Russian troops of abducting individuals and transporting them to Russia or Russian-controlled territories against their will. It has been disputed by the Kremlin. After the partial evacuation, the Russian assault on the huge complex by air, tank, and ship resumed, according to Ukraine's Azov Battalion, which is assisting in the defence of the mill.

Image: AP/ANI