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A woman votes during a referendum in a mobile polling station in Mariupol, Donetsk People's Republic, controlled by Russia-backed separatists, eastern Ukraine, Friday, September 23, 2022
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VOTING opened today on whether Russian-held regions of Ukraine should become part of Russia, referendums that Ukrainian officials and their allies condemned as an illegitimate attempt by Moscow to annex areas its forces have occupied during nearly seven months of war.
As the balloting got underway, United Nations experts and Ukrainian officials pointed to new evidence of war crimes in Ukraine. Kharkiv region officials said a mass burial site in the eastern city of Izyum contained hundreds of bodies, including at least 30 displaying signs of torture.
The referendums in the breakaway republics of Lugansk and Donestk and the partly Russian occupied Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions ask residents if they want the areas to be part of Russia.
Washington plays innocent bystander while pouring weapons and intelligence into Ukraine, just as it enables the Gaza genocide — but every US escalation leaves Ukraine weaker than the neutrality deal rejected in 2022, argue MEDEA BENJAMIN and NICOLAS JS DAVIES
