Russia's sham referendums with the goal of annexing nearly one-fifth of Ukrainian territory

[Swede]

Reports of local residents in Russian-held territories in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts being forced to vote under duress are emerging.

In occupied Mariupol, a port city in Donetsk Oblast that has been brutally besieged and almost destroyed by Russia, local residents are being given big bottles of water in exchange for a “vote,” Petro Andriushchenko, an advisor to the mayor of Mariupol, reported.

https://kyivindependent.com/national/ukraine-war-latest-sham-annexation-referendums-in-ukraines-occupied-regions-continue-putin-allies-react-to-mobilization-in-russia

[Turbineguy]

1. If Ukraine attacks this territory

Then Putin can use nuclear weapons under the Russian protocol.

[harumph]

2. he "can" but he won't

[BeyondGeography]

3. The Biden Administration and NATO have already told Russia what that would mean for them

Info that will probably be factored into any potential “protocol” application.

[Takket]

4. meaningless vote. no one not named putin will take it seriously, and even putin knows its bullshit

[moondust]

5. Can't Putin annex other countries

just by thinking about it?

[Crunchy Frog]

6. The only reasonable response

is to make sure that Ukraine keeps getting types and quantities of weapons to enable them to continue taking back their territory.

If we allow Putin to set a precedent of using fake "referendums" to annex other countries territories, backed up by nuclear threats and blackmail, we're practically guaranteeing a future in which there will be a nuclear war.

We simply can't afford to give this ANY kind of legitimacy.