Residents of the occupied village of Snihurivka have gathered for a protest against the pseudo-referendum organized by Russia's proxies in Mykolaiv Oblast, local news outlet Prestupnosti Net reported on Sept. 23. "Snihurivka has always been and will be Ukraine. We never wanted and will not want to join the Russian Federation," protesters said at the rally.
Leader of Russia's proxies in Kherson Oblast Kirill Stremousov said on Sept. 21 that occupied villages Snihurivka and Oleksandrivka in Mykolaiv Oblast will now be part of Kherson Oblast and their residents will have to "vote" on joining Russia in pseudo-referendum, reported Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti.
In the morning of Sept. 23, Moscow's proxies in the east and south of Ukraine announced the start of the pseudo-referendums on joining Russia, which will be taking place in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia oblasts until Sept. 27. The proxies plan to announce the results on Sept. 27-28, according to Russia's RIA Novosti.
Kyiv warned that the illegal annexation votes would not change Ukraine's counteroffensive plans and there would be no peace talks in case these "referendums" take place.
