The public chamber of the self-proclaimed Donetsk “people’s republic” (“DPR”) has asked the head of the “republic” Denis Pushilin to urgently conduct a referendum on joining the Russian Federation, reports Russia’s state news agency TASS, citing the chairman of the chamber Alexander Kofman.
“We want for there to be a Russian border between us and Ukraine. We want to once again become a part of one great Motherland — Russia. The Donbas population has earned this. In view of the foregoing, I ask the head of the republic Denis Pushilin and the DPR People’s Council to make this historic decision to hold the referendum,” he said.
Earlier, the same request was announced by the Luhansk "people's republic" (“LPR”) public chamber.
At the beginning of September, Russian media outlet RBC, citing five sources close to the presidential administration, reported that the Kremlin had been planning to conduct referendums on joining Russia in the “LDPR”, as well as the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv regions by the end of autumn. Furthermore, the most “optimistic” scenario — holding the referendums in September — was unlikely to occur due to the “situation” at the frontlines, the sources said back then.
Later, Meduza reported that the Russian government had pushed back the referendums on the occupied territories of Ukraine “indefinitely” due to the successful counteroffensive led by Ukraine’s Armed Forces in the Kharkiv region.
