Under intense pressure from the Ukrainian incursion into their illegitimate territory, the leaders of the two Kremlin-puppet pseudo-states of the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics in the eastern Donbas region announced Tuesday they will be holding a referendum to annex their territories to the Russian Federation later this week, the Associated Press reports.
The vote would represent a serious escalation of the Ukraine-Russia war, as the no doubt rigged result showing “overwhelming support” for annexation would mean that Ukrainian forces would be fighting in what Russia is soon to declare is their sovereign territory. It appears to be a panic move by the Kremlin, as it comes just after former President and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said it would make Russian gains “irreversible,” enabling Moscow to use “any means” to defend them.