Russia holds sham 'elections' in occupied Ukrainian territory
Voting is underway in sham "regional elections" in occupied Ukrainian territories as Russia seeks to consolidate its control over these regions. The illegal so-called elections in the occupied territories come nearly a year after Russia held sham annexation referendums in Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Luhansk, and Donetsk oblasts, which Moscow only partially controls, and nine years after Russia illegally annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula. The sham elections have been widely condemned both in Ukraine and abroad, with officials saying the results will be rigged in Russia’s ...