There will be no sham "referendum" on 11 September the way happened in Crimea – Melitopol Mayor
OLENA ROSHCHINA — FRIDAY, 9 SEPTEMBER, 2022, 12:05
Ivan Fedorov, the Mayor of Melitopol city, said that on 11 September, there will be no illegal "referendum" that Russians want to arrange in the occupied territory; it was postponed, particularly due to the lack of support for the vote for "joining" the Russian Federation.
Source: Ivan Fedorov at a briefing at the Ukraine-Ukrinform Media Centre on 9 September
Quote from Fedorov: "As for the sham referendum. Today, another [case of] deception [happened], the outcome of which we will see on 11 September.
The whole world has heard that on 11 September, on the "unified voting day", the Ruscists [Russian soldiers] will try to hold a fake referendum on the territory of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts. This failed.
11 September comes in a few days – and we can already say for sure that there will be no referendum."
Details: Fedorov noted that the Russians tried to hold a sham referendum in late August, and in the middle of August, they went door-to-door to understand the mood of the population, and they did not see the support they had expected.
Quote from Fedorov: "Today, they clearly saw that less than 10% even agreed to participate in this sham referendum. After that, they refused to hold it, and now they are saying that there will be some kind of poll.
And we can already clearly see: what happened in Crimea will not happen in our territories. No one knows what they want to do in our territories. But today, they postponed this fake thing for several months – and we understand that it means it will never happen."
Reference: On 9 September, three-day voting began in Russia: until 11 September, Russians will elect governors in 14 regions of the Russian Federation, deputies of six legislative assemblies, councils of deputies of 12 administrative centres and other representatives of local self-government.
Meanwhile, in Ukraine, the Russians are failing to fully capture Donetsk Oblast until 15 September; instead, the counteroffensive actions of the Ukrainian army continue in Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts.
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