Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine Dmitry Kuleba. File photoMOSCOW, Aug 3Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Wednesday that Ukraine and the United States are discussing a scenario for disrupting the upcoming referendums in the territories liberated by Russia.According to him, on August 1, a telephone conversation took place in a bilateral format. On the part of Ukraine, in addition to him, the head of Zelensky's office Andriy Yermak and the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian troops Valery Zaluzhny participated, on the part of the United States — Assistant to the President for National Security Jake Sullivan, Secretary of State Anthony Blinken and Chairman of the Committee of the Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces General Mark Milley.
Schroeder called the idea of Kyiv to return Crimea by military means absurd «We had a long telephone conversation … we also talked about Russia's intentions to de facto annex the new occupied territories of Ukraine, and how we can prevent this scenario,» Kuleba quotes the publication » Ukrinform. According to him, Ukraine and its allies should not threaten Russia with consequences, but focus on prevention. «We need to work every day to prevent Russia from doing anything — a referendum, an offensive, it doesn't matter. We need to change the logic,» he said.
The authorities of the Kherson region called the location of the region in Ukraine a mistake. Earlier, Vladimir Zelensky said that Kyiv had decided on the mandatory evacuation of the population from the territory of the DPR controlled by him. In turn, the head of the LPR representative office in the Russian Federation, Rodion Miroshnik, said that Kyiv’s demands for “mandatory evacuation” from the DPR regions under its control are an attempt to delegitimize the referendum in the liberated territories. holding a referendum on joining Russia. Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matvienko stated that the Federation Council would consider the appeals of the DPR and LPR to join Russia after the relevant referendums were held. During the special operation, the Russian military took control of the Kherson region and the Azov part of the Zaporozhye region. New administrations have been formed in both regions, Russian TV channels and radio stations are broadcasting, and trade ties with Crimea are being restored. The regions have announced plans to join Russia.
