Since September 23, the occupation authorities have held referendums in 4 regions of Ukraine. On the evening of September 26, Russian news sources began to report on the end of ballot processing and "the massive desire of Ukrainians to become subjects of the Russian Federation. However, neither Ukraine nor the world recognizes elections in the form in which they were allegedly held by the invaders in the Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Lugansk, and Donetsk regions.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said that Russia's actions on the occupied territories and the supposedly conducted poll of residents do not change anything for the Ukrainian territorial integrity. So America is confident that Ukraine will continue to do everything necessary to liberate its lands, at least until February 24, 2022. The US, in turn, does not object to the Ukrainian army's use of Western weapons in its struggle for independence.
"We and many other countries have already been very clear: we do not recognize and, in fact, we will never recognize the annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia ... Ukraine has the absolute right to defend itself throughout its territory, in particular, to return territories that were illegally seized Russia in one way or another," Antony Blinken.
"Ukrainians will continue to do what they need to return the land taken from them. We will continue to support them in these efforts," the US secretary.
On September 26, president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy said that the army will continue to return to its territories despite "referendums". At the same time, everyone remembers Putin's threats. The dictator of the RF, even before the start of referendums, said that he would use any weapon in case of an attack on "its territory". Despite this, the West is ready to continue to support Ukraine.
