Putin’s Plan to Try to Take Over the Rest of Ukraine

“We have information that Russia is preparing to annex more Ukrainian territory”, following a similar roadmap to that of 2014. This was stated by White House spokesman John Kirby, according to whom Moscow intends to adopt a strategy identical to that of Crimea eight years ago.

The Kremlin’s intention, according to American intelligence, was to keep “false” referendum in some Ukrainian territories as early as September, a bit like what happened in 2014 in Crimea with a popular consultation considered by many analysts to be completely illegitimate. “We want to make this clear to the American people,” Kirby told reporters. “No one is fooled. Russian President Vladimir Putin is tweaking his 2014 strategy.”

The White House spokesman accused Russia of illegally installing pro-Russian officials to administer Ukraine’s occupied regions, with the aim of organizing referendums on Russia’s membership in the coming months. The results of the consultations will be used by Moscow “to try to claim the annexation of Ukrainian sovereign territory,” Kirby said.

A similar dynamic took place in 2014 with Crimea, when – after a referendum hastily organized, considered illegal by the international community – voters chose to join Russia. On that occasion, however, many Kiev supporters boycotted the vote, deeming the referendum campaign neither free nor fair. Similar consultations, according to the US, are also being prepared in recent months for other Ukrainian territories currently under the control of authorities close to Moscow, in particular Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk. Kirby specified that he was “exposing” Russian plans “to let the world know that any alleged annexation is premeditated, illegal and illegitimate”.