The occupying government of Ukraine’s Kherson region is planning on addressing Russia’s president Vladimir Putin and asking him to accept Kherson Oblast as the new region of Russia, says Kirill Stremousov, the so-called ‘deputy governor’.
“The city of Kherson is Russia, there will be no ‘people’s republic’ here, there will be no referendum. There will be one single decree based on our appeal to the President of the Russian Federation, and there will be a request to integrate our region into the Russian Federation,” he said.
Stremousov added that the Kherson region is planning to be under full Russian jurisdiction before the end of the year.
Kherson has been occupied by the Russian army since 2 March, Russian TV channels are broadcast in the region, and the local internet provider has switched to the Russian infrastructure.
Russia’s Ministry of Defence reported on 26 April that Ukraine had lost control over the entire Kherson region. Shortly before that, Hennadiy Lahuta, the legitimate governor, said that the Russian army had appointed their own ‘authorities’. Volodymyr Saldo, Kherson’s ex-mayor, was appointed ‘governor’, while Oleksandr Kobets, a teacher in the local nautical school, became the city’s ‘mayor’.
The occupying government also announced that the region would switch to the ruble zone starting from 1 May.
